The church (1)

Introduction

So far we’re studied what the Creed says about God the Father and about God the Son and about God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is the maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. God the Son is the Father’s only begotten Son, who is begotten and not made and who has the same being as the Father. And he came down from heaven for us and for our salvation and he is coming again to judge the living and the dead. And God the Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son and who is be worshipped and glorified as God with the Father and the Son.

Today we come to the next line in the Creed, where it says: ‘And [we believe] in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.’ It’s possible to view this line as the first line of a new section in the Creed. So, after confessing and proclaiming what we believe about the three persons of the Trinity, we’re now confessing and proclaiming what we believe about the church. However, it’s perhaps better to view this line, and the ones that follow, as the continuation of what the Creed says about the Holy Spirit. And that’s because these lines tell us about his work. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes us members of the church, because it’s the Holy Spirit who enables us to repent and to believe in Christ so that we’re united with him and with our fellow believers in the church. And as members of the church, we rejoice in the forgiveness of our sins and we look forward in hope to the resurrection of our bodies and to everlasting life in the presence of God. If it were not for the Holy Spirit, uniting us with Christ through faith, then we wouldn’t be members of the church and we’d know nothing about forgiveness and we’d have no hope.

So, this line and the ones that follow it are a continuation of what the Creed says about the Holy Spirit. And this line is about the church. And when we say this line, we’re confessing and proclaiming our belief that the church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. We’ll focus on the words ‘one’ and ‘holy’ this evening and we’ll come back to the ‘catholic’ and ‘apostolic’ next week.

One

And so, we confess and proclaim that the church is one. And it is one because the Holy Spirit has united every member of the church through faith to one and the same Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God the Father Almighty.

In many ways Christians are very different. We are male and female. Young and old. Rich and poor. Educated and uneducated. There are so many things that make the members of the church different from one another. So in what sense are we one? And in what sense is this congregation one with a congregation on the other side of the world? Well in this sense: we are united with one another because the Holy Spirit has united us through faith with Christ, who is the Son of God the Father. The one thing we have in common is our faith in Christ. We might be different in every other way, but we’re united in this. So, someone comes here from another part of the world. And their background or nationality or skin colour doesn’t matter, because it’s not background or nationality or skin-colour that unites us. What unites us is Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 1:10 we read how Paul appealed to the Christians in Corinth to agree with one another so that there would be no divisions among them and that they might be perfectly united in mind and thought. What had happened in Corinth was that various divisions had been created in this church. It seems the members had their favourite teachers. Some were saying that they were followers of Paul. Some said they were followers of Peter or Cephas. Some said they were following Apollos. Some said, no, they were followers of Christ. And they were arguing with one another.

And so Paul wrote to them and said that’s not the way it’s supposed to be in the church. We’re meant to be united. We’re meant to be in agreement. We’re meant to be one. And do you see how Paul appealed to them? What’s the basis of his appeal? He said in verse 10: ‘I appeal to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ That was the basis of his appeal, because that’s the basis of our unity and of our oneness. Jesus Christ is your Lord and he is my Lord. He is our Lord and together we’re united under him. Or as Paul says in Romans 12:5 ‘in Christ we who are many form one body.’ The church is made up of many people, who may be very different from one another. But we who are many are one in Christ. We learn something similar in Colossians 2:19, where Paul refers to Christ as the Head of the whole body. So, Christians are united together as one body or as one church under one Head, Jesus Christ. Or in John 15, we have the image of the vine and its branches. The Lord Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Every believer is attached to Christ through faith and we are therefore united with one another through him. And in Ephesians 4, Paul tells his readers — which includes us — to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. He then says: ‘There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.’ There’s only one body, or one church. And there’s only one faith and one baptism, because the one Holy Spirit has united us through faith to the one Lord Jesus Christ, who is from the one Father.

Christians are commanded to love everyone, no matter what they believe or do. But while we’re to love everyone, we’re not united with everyone. We’re united with those who share our faith in Christ. And if we’re united with them, then we should do everything we can to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. And we do that, Paul tells us, by being completely humble and gentle with one another; and by being patient with one another; and by bearing with one another in love.

Holy

The church is one. It is also holy. Does that mean we’re all perfect and good and upright and sinless? No. We know we’re not perfect. And so, one of the things believers do when we gather together on Sundays is to confess our sins before God and to ask for his forgiveness. We know that we’re sinners and we will remain sinners until the day we die or until the day Christ returns. So what does it mean to say that the church is holy?

The church is called holy for three main reasons. First of all, because God has begun to make us holy and to sanctify us and to renew us to a holy life. In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul wrote about how the Lord Jesus loved his bride, the church, and gave up his life for us so that we could become a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. That’s what we will be like one day. And right now, Christ is working in us by his Spirit to teach us to say ‘no’ to our sinful desires from within and from every temptation from without and to live obedient and holy lives. So, we’re holy in the sense that God is at work in us to make us holy.

But secondly, the church is called holy, because the members of the church have been set apart by God to belong to him. That’s what holiness means. So, in Old Testament times, every priest wore a sign on his forehead which said ‘Holy to the Lord’. Every priest had been set apart from his fellow Israelites to serve the Lord in the temple. And the utensils in the temple were holy because they were set apart to be used for the worship of God. And Christians have been set apart from the rest of humanity to belong to God and to serve him.

And thirdly, although there are still many sins and shortcomings in us, our sin and shortcomings are nevertheless totally covered over with the perfect obedience of Christ our Saviour. Our purity, our sanctification, is imperfect right now, but we are covered with the perfect purity of Christ, so that when God looks at us, he regards us as holy in his sight, for the sake of Christ.

That’s another reason why the church is holy. Firstly, we’re holy, because God is at work in us to make us holy. Secondly, we’re holy, because we’ve been set apart by God to belong to him. And thirdly, we’re holy in God’s sight, because of Christ’s perfect obedience, which he shares with us. And so, in the Bible every believer is called a saint. The word ‘saint’ means ‘holy one’ and every believer is holy in God’s sight through Christ.

Look how Paul addressed the members of the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1:2. He wrote: ‘To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy.’ The word ‘sanctified’ means ‘made holy’. And what’s remarkable about the way Paul addresses his readers in Corinth is that he’s about to say some stern things to this congregation. There were all kinds of problems in the church in Corinth: all kinds of problems and all kinds of sins. And yet, though they were sinners who sinned against one another day after day, nevertheless through faith in Christ they were holy in God’s sight. And so we say the church, despite her sins and shortcomings, is holy.

Or as Peter puts it in 1 Peter 2:9, not only are we a chosen people, and not only are we a royal priesthood, and not only are we a people belonging to God, but we are also a holy nation. The church is a holy nation, because our sins and shortcomings are covered by God’s perfect obedience; and because we’ve been set apart from everyone else to belong to God; and because God has called us to live a life of holy obedience.

Conclusion

Before we finish, notice that this line of the Creed is about something we believe. Just as we believe in God the Father and in God the Son and in God the Holy Spirit, so also we believe in the church. We believe in the church: that it is one and that it is holy.

The church may not always seem united. It may seem divided, because of the many denominations and because of the way members of the same congregation treat one another sometimes. It seems divided. But we believe that the church is one, because this is what God has said about the church in his word.

And the church may not always seem holy. Often we dishonour the Lord by the things we say and do. And we’re often known in the world by our mistakes and failures and shortcomings and not for our holy obedience. But we believe that the church is holy because this is what God has said about the church in his word.

For now, we walk by faith and not by sight. So, we believe in God, through we have never seen him. We believe he created all things in the beginning, through we were not there to see it. We believe in the resurrection, though we did not see what Doubting Thomas saw. We believe that our sins are forgiven, though we only have God’s promise to rely on. We believe that Christ will build his church through the reading and preaching of his word, though the preaching of his word often seems weak and powerless. We believe in these things because of what God has said to us about these things in his word. And in the same way, though the church often seems divided and unholy, we believe that what God says about the church is true: that we’re one and we’re holy.

And one day, not only will we believe it, but we’ll see it, when all of God’s people from every nation of the world are gathered as one, holy people around God’s throne to worship him for ever and for ever and to be loved by him for ever and for ever.