Valley View Chapel November 28, 2010 Essentials, Part 9 The Church I believe in...the holy catholic Church, the communion of the saints...

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1 1 Valley View Chapel November 28, 2010 Essentials, Part 9 The Church I believe in...the holy catholic Church, the communion of the saints... Introduction In preparation for today s message, I went through my file of newspaper clippings and magazine articles about the church. Here s a sampling of the headlines: Church Membership Slips Dwindling Congregations Presbyterians Slash Budget $7 Million National Council of Churches Faces Uncertain Future Congregation Says Goodbye...Uptown Church Closes after 92 Years Report Says Church Attendance Is Half What Studies Claim Empty Pew Syndrome Growing The verdict is in: Many people in America are turned-off on church. And the question is Why? Dan Kimball wrote a book about the postmodern world in which we live entitled They Love Jesus but Not the Church. That s an oxymoron. Either the Jesus they love is not the biblical Jesus or the church they don t love is not the biblical church. Jesus loved the church enough to give his life for it. I ve been reading the gospel of John in my devotions for a few months. Recently I came across John 15: where Jesus said: "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? 'A slave is not greater than the master.' Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. Jesus never expected the secular world to love him or the church. But if the world is going to hate us, then at least may they hate us for the right reasons! But there s no doubt that something happened to the church between the first century and the twenty-first century. The first century, church was the most dynamic, most relevant, most transformational movement in the world. Every place where a church was established, the people and their community were never the same. That can hardly be said today, at least in the western world. I don t think the secular world hates the church today. The secular world just thinks that the church is utterly irrelevant. Is there hope for the church? Can the church regain her place of leadership, influence and authority as the voice of God in the postmodern world?

2 2 The Importance of the Church To answer this question, we need to take a look at what the Bible says about the church. The Greek word for church - ekklesia - means those who have been called-out. The church consists of men and women, boys and girls who have been, called out by God for the purpose of belonging to God. Christ s church has rejected the darkness of spiritual error for the light of God s truth. The New Testament never used the word church in reference to a building. The church is a called-out people who have identified themselves with Jesus Christ through conversion and baptism and with one another through commitment to a local church. The word Church in the New Testament is used in two ways. First, there is the universal church which is comprised of every person - past, present, and future - who belongs to Christ. The universal church transcends time and space. But when the New Testament uses the word church, it most often has the local church in mind. In fact, 9 of Paul s 13 epistles were addressed to local churches. The New Testament teaches a strong commitment to the local church by those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. One of the verses that summarizes the practices and priorities of the first-century church is Acts 2:42: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. The word devoted means to be earnest towards, to be constantly diligent. The firstcentury church, the church did not consider times of worship, teaching, prayer and fellowship to be optional. Commitment to the church was not something to be squeezed-in around life s many responsibilities of life. Other responsibilities were arranged around the purposes and mission of the church. Hebrews 10:25 urged the people of God: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching. The Bible never suggests that we can afford to be careless or negligent toward church services and fellowship opportunities. After being immersed in church life for almost 40 years, I ve come to the conclusion that one of the first signs of spiritual decline in a Christian is when he or she is absent from the public services and fellowship times of the church. People who are growing, fruitful, and passionate about their relationship with Jesus Christ don t want to miss an opportunity to worship, pray, learn, and serve together with others who love the Lord.

3 3 In his book, The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren wrote: You were called to belong, not just believe. If you only attend Valley View Chapel occasionally, then I invite you to become fully involved in the life that we share together here at Valley View Chapel. Make a commitment to attend public worship. Join a small group or Sunday school class. Become involved in a ministry. Invest your tithes and offerings in the work that God is doing. Identify with us fully in church membership. If you believe in our message and in what we re doing, then go all the way! Discover the satisfaction of total commitment to a Savior, a people and a cause that is will outlive your time on earth. The Identity of the Church We have seen the importance of the church from the Word of God. Let s look at the identity of the church as articulated by The Apostles Creed. The church is called holy. There are two kinds of holiness in the Bible. First, there is positional holiness. Positional holiness is inseparably linked to the doctrine of justification. The Apostle Paul wrote extensively about the correlation between positional holiness and justification. I only have time to cite two references. Romans 5:1 1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (NIV) Galatians 2:16 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. (NIV) When we repent of their sins, trust in the work of Christ on the cross to pay for our sins, and ask Jesus to live in our hearts, something wonderful and supernatural happens. God removes our sins and replaces them with the righteousness, perfection, and holiness of Jesus Christ. So, judicially, legally, positionally, we appear in the sight of God just as if we had never sinned. But Christians are also called to practical holiness. Our outward conduct should demonstrate the presence of Christ in our lives. Paul constantly called the recipients of his letters to a high level of practical holiness. Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. (NIV) Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (NIV)

4 4 1Thessalonians 4:7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. (NIV) To be holy means to be separated by God to live uniquely for him. Holy people live differently from those who are not holy. Holy people live by the principle of purity instead of license; by the principle of selflessness instead of greed; by the principle of humility instead of pride; by the principle of servanthood instead of self-interest. The Apostles Creed said that the church is to be holy. It also says that the church is to be catholic. The word catholic is often confused with Roman Catholic. This is a mistake. We use the word orthodox without meaning the Eastern orthodox religious traditions. The Latin word catholicus means universal or general. St. Cyril of Jerusalem ( A.D.) defined the meaning of catholic : The church is thus called catholic because it spread throughout the entire inhabited world, from one end to the other without leaving anything out which people need to know relating to things visible and invisible, whether in heaven or on earth. It is also called catholic because it brings to obedience every sort of person whether rulers or their subjects, the educated and the unlearned. It also makes available a universal remedy and cure for every kind of sin. The true church of Jesus Christ is catholic because she is: 1. Spread throughout the entire inhabited world; 2. doesn t leave anything out ; preaches and teaches the pure and apostolic gospel; 3. is capable of saving every sort of person; (Gal. 3:28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. NLT) 4. offers a universal remedy for sin; the gospel can meet every human need. The thirteenth-century Dominican priest and theologian Thomas Aquinas described the catholicity of the church this way: The church is catholic, first, with respect to place, because it is throughout the entire world. Secondly, the church is universal with respect to the condition of people, because no one is rejected, whether master or slave, male or female. Thirdly, it is universal with respect to time.will last to the end of the world. Matt. 28:20 Catholic for Aquinas meant that the gospel we preach is universal in terms of geography (the whole world); anthropology (for all people); and chronology (for all time it will never grow outdated). You don t have to be nervous or uneasy about saying that you believe in the holy catholic church. The church is comprised of saints. Don t let that word scare you. Most of us wouldn t describe our selves as saints because the English word has taken on a meaning far

5 5 different from the way the New Testament writers used it. Dictionary.com defined a saint as any of certain persons of exceptional holiness of life, formally recognized as such by the Christian Church, especially by canonization. By that definition, none of us would qualify for sainthood. We have not been canonized or formally declared to be a person of exceptional holiness by the organized church. Francis of Assisi may be a saint but not me! Mother Theresa may one day be a saint, but not me! But the New Testament doesn t look at sainthood that way at all. Look at how Paul addressed the Roman Christians: To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. Romans 1:7 (NIV) Paul started his letter to the Ephesians this way: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus. Ephesians 1:1 (NIV) He ended his letter to the Philippians with the words: Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. Philippians 4:21-22 (NIV) The Greek word for saint is hagioi and it means separated from the principle of sin and separated unto the worship and service of God. It is intimately related to the word for holy hagion. A saint therefore is someone who has been called by God to be positionally holy (justified, declared righteous in God s sight) and who has been equipped by God to live a life of practical holiness, reflecting the character of Christ in all situations and relationships. Conclusion Recalling his boyhood as Prince of Wales, Edward VII, the Duke of Windsor said: "My father [King George V] was a strict disciplinarian. Sometimes when I had done something wrong, he would admonish me, saying, 'My dear boy, you must always remember who you are.' " Who was he anyway? He was the son of the king, the prince and the heir to the throne. In commenting on that story, John Stott said: It is my conviction that our heavenly Father says the same to us every day: My dear child, you must always remember who you are. " Peter put it best in his first epistle, reminding the church of our identity and our mission: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. I Peter 2:9 (NIV)

6 Let us constantly remind ourselves of who we are in Christ. And let our character and conduct reflect our privileged standing. 6