Saints Sufferers and Sinners

“We love well when we affirm and encourage a person’s identity in Christ, pointing out where we see the Spirit at work. We love well when we bring consolation, hope, and help in the midst of a friend’s affliction. We love well when we bring admonition to highlight and correct sin.”

Mike Emlet, Saints, Sufferers and Sinners: Loving Others as God Loves Us

Your friend just learned that her husband has received a devastating diagnosis. A teen in your church shares that she is struggling with friendships at school. Your neighbor, a single mom, was laid off from her job. A woman in your small group quietly admits she is battling anxiety and depression. 

How do you help? What biblical comfort and wisdom can you offer?

Life is rarely simple, and there isn’t a book in the Bible that outlines a neat, step-by-step formula for walking alongside those who are suffering. However, Scripture does give us wisdom and principles for caring well for others. The nuanced descriptions and practical examples Emlet provides help bridge the gap between biblical truth and real life, boots-on-the-ground, messy, complicated situations. In his book Saints, Sufferers, and Sinners, Mike Emlet defines the biblical categories of saints, sufferers, and sinners—and explains how they shape the way we help one another grow in Christlikeness. 

As I read, I often found myself stopping to reread sections—not because they were unclear, but because they were uncomfortably familiar. The principles and examples applied directly to my own experiences, both past trials and present difficulties. I was also reminded of times when I failed to help someone well. Like Job’s so-called friends, I didn’t always take the time to truly listen before offering what I thought might be a quick fix.

Yet even as he gently corrects our tendency toward “quick fixes,” Emlet offers hope to those of us who have, at times, been miserable comforters. He reminds us that God is patient with His people and that He graciously works even through our weaknesses. In this way, the book compassionately and constructively reflects Paul’s instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:14:

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

Emlet acknowledges that believers are all of these—saints, sufferers, and sinners—at the same time. Throughout the book, he consistently points us back to Christ and the gospel. He urges us to examine our own hearts as we minister to others. Drawing from both the Old and New Testaments, Emlet prompts us to remember our identity as saints, persevere with hope in suffering, and renew our minds as we confront sin in our own lives.

Chapter 6, Ministry Priorities for Loving Saints, was one I especially needed to read. Emlet reminds us to actively look for evidence of God’s grace at work in others. It is often far easier to spot flaws in someone else—while remaining blind to similar flaws in ourselves. Instead, he urges us to be eager to point out where a person’s character reflects Christlikeness. While there are appropriate times to confront sin, our first instinct should be to go on a “grace hunt” rather than an “idol hunt.”

At the end of the book, Emlet lifts our eyes to our certain hope. One day, the categories of sufferers and sinners will no longer exist. The promise of our future in the new heavens and the new earth is so sure that it can be considered a fait accompli—already done. Until then, we walk together through the “already, not yet” of the Christian life, with our minds and hearts set firmly on Christ.
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Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.
1 John 3:2-3

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