JAMES 5:19-20 BEING THE CHURCH
19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
It is fitting that a sermon to the Church about being the Church should end with an exhortation about church discipline. The witness of the Church is only as effective as the God-ward obedience of its members. If the Church is the Body of Christ, then it can only be healthy if it is acting under the control of its head. The inadvertent or intentional introduction of another “truth” within the Church cannot but diminish the Church’s role of announcing and demonstrating the purpose and direction of God in the world through Jesus Christ. This has been born out in the sad history of the Church. Factions and heterodoxies have plagued the Church since the time of St. Paul and the Apostles. These are a distraction to the community of believers as well as the on- looking world.
To ignore our differences, or broaden our understanding of orthodoxy, in order to maintain unity does nothing to further the Gospel. On the corporate level, the Church becomes irrelevant to the world. At the individual level, the Church disobeys the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor. To recognize that a fellow member of the Church is growing away from the truth as it is revealed in Scripture and not say something to him is to put your social comfort above your neighbor’s eternal well-being. Both the motivation and the mechanism need to be based on love. As God demonstrated to us through Jesus, love is the only effective vehicle for reconciling human beings to God. We are not living by the truth if our motivation is our need to be right, or to protect ourselves from false teaching. We must stay focused on the will of God and the good of our brother or sister.
When we testify to the truth of God’s Word, in the manner in which God has shown us, in our relationships with those who live by another “gospel,” we are participating in the saving work of God in this world. We are not only believing in the saving love of God, we are “doing” his love. Through the demonstration of his love, the objects of that love are brought into God’s presence – the only place where their sins can be forgiven.
Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 816)