The Communion of Saints

Introduction

Over the last several years, I’ve met many people, talked with a good number of folks, and heard about lots of people who think of themselves as Christians even though they don’t participate in the communion of saints.

Why do some people try to live a Christian life apart from the structured and meaningful relationships that can only be found among the local church?

Why do some of our friends and family members believe that they will most definitely participate in the communion of saints on the last day even as they neglect or even run from the communion of saints now?

I wonder if some of us here today think of the Christian life mostly in terms of personal fulfillment or in terms of our individual preferences. Today, I’m going to do my best to blow up that sort of thinking.

Today, we’re continuing our study through the affirmations of the Apostles’ Creed, an ancient confession of Christian faith that dates back at least to the fourth century… and it’s likely that Christians were affirming these truths in some form or another during the time when Apostles were still walking around.

It’s important to remember that these affirmations aren’t true because they’re old… They’re true because the Bible teaches them. But Christians, from the beginning, were summarizing the faith once for all delivered to the saints in short confessions which aimed to condense the substance of Christian belief.

We believe in the communion of saints because we believe that the Bible teaches us such a thing… for our comfort, for our courage, and for our contentment.

Let’s read a passage that speaks especially to the communion of saints, which is to come… and let’s consider what implications this affirmation and this passage has for our lives in the here and now.

Scripture Reading

Revelation 7:1–17 (ESV)

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.

2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Main Idea:

We believe all Christians are truly joined with Christ and one another, that this will be a visible reality in the end, and that this is a present reality among local churches now.

Sermon

1. Joined in Communion

We believe all Christians are truly joined with Christ and one another.

The passage we’ve just read alludes to this concept, but it is not explicit there. In fact, the passage I just read likely raises more questions for some of us than provides answers, but I’m going to ask you to hang in there with me today and not get distracted. There is much good we might do in exegeting and explaining this passage, but that’s not my aim today. Instead, my aim is to grab a topic, which is found in the passage, and explain it by drawing upon the general teaching of Scripture, not focusing so much on a single text.

If you’re a guest here with us, and you came wanting to hear expositional preaching, then don’t despair… we’ll be back in Acts 20 next Sunday (Lord willing), and expositional preaching is our normal or main diet of preaching. But today is a topical message on the concept of the communion of saints as one part of a very old and widespread Christian creed – the Apostles’ Creed.

And, as I said, Revelation 7 does allude to this concept… specifically to the union of or the joining together of Christ and His people – all Christians. Let me point your attention to the notion of “sealing” in v3. The picture we get in Revelation 6 is that the opening of the “scroll” with its “seven seals” (Rev. 5:1, 6:1) discloses or brings about God’s judgment upon the sinful world of humanity.

While Christians might disagree about the details, all Christians agree that the book of Revelation clearly teaches that the whole world is under God’s curse nowand that it will experience the full outpouring of God’s judgment in the end. But those who are the “sealed… servants of God” will in some sense be spared from enduring the wrath of God (v3). But why? Are they spared because they are better? Because they are more noble or moral or rich or poor or smart or ignorant?

No! They are spared because the “God” of “salvation” graciously “washed” them clean of their sin by “the blood of the Lamb” (v10, 13-14). Of course, this is all foreign Bible and church language, unless you’ve been in church long enough to have heard and understood it. So, if you’re a non-Christian, or maybe you didn’t grow up in church, or maybe you’ve been in church a long time, but your church didn’t really explain churchy words like this, then listen carefully to what I’m about to say. This is the red-hot core of Christianity.

God is holy and just, good and beautiful, powerful beyond measure and glorious beyond compare. This infinitely wonderful God decided to make Himself known by creating. And the pinnacle of His creation was humanity, made to know God and to make Him known. Man (male and female) was made in the image of God, and all people everywhere were and are designed and intended to reflect God’s own character and nature in the world.

But, as you probably know, our first parents were not content to live within the boundaries of God’s good authority, and they sinned. Because of Adam’s sin, God cursed all of creation, humanity became corrupted by sin in every way (in his body, mind, emotions, and his will or desires), and man was then doomed to suffer and die, and, finally, to suffer eternally under God’s judgment. But even as God pronounced His curse, in Genesis 3, God also promised salvation… which He repeatedly said would come through the ministry of a Messiah or Christ.

Despite man’s sin, and despite the fact that God would have been perfectly just and right to condemn everyone, God showed His great love and mercy by sending His own Son to save sinners. The Bible teaches us that Jesus was and is the Son of God and God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. And He was also truly man, born of a woman, and under the legal obligations of God’s law.

Jesus lived a perfectly obedient life, but He died as a guilty sinner, not because He was guilty, but so that He would suffer God’s judgment in the place of all those He came to save. That’s what it means to be “washed” by “the blood of the Lamb” (v14). Jesus was God’s sacrificial “Lamb” who suffered and died, and thereby “washed” away the sin of all those sinners who look to Him in faith.

Friend, if you’ll admit your damnable sin, and confess your guilt to God, you can turn from your sin today and believe the promise of God’s word that you will be saved by the atoning work of Christ for you!

All Christians everywhere are those who have been joined together in Christ and with one another, all condemned as guilty upon the cross, and all raised to glorious life afterward. This is what the Apostle Paul was saying when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

And, brothers and sisters, this is not only true of you as an individual Christian… this is true of all Christians who repent and believe along with you.

All Christians share a unity, a communion, a bond of brotherhood that is unlike anything else in the world. We know what it’s like to be loved despite all our inadequacies and wickedness, because Christ has loved us, and so we are glad to share that supernatural kind of love with others. We know what it’s like to receive gracious grace, to receive a blessing when what we deserved was a curse, and so we are glad to be gracious toward others. We know what it’s like to have a single reality supersede all others – we are Christ’s, and He is ours! And so, we understand that we have more in common with our Christian brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and Russia and China and Malawi than we do with our non-Christian neighbors who vote like us and talk with the same accent as us and cheer for the same sports teams as us. We are Christians more profoundly than we are anything else because we are joined in communion with Christ and with one another.

2. Destined for Communion

We believe the communion of saints – all Christians truly joined with Christ and with one another – will be a visible reality in the end, or in the world to come.

This really is the whole point of Revelation 7, I think. It’s the repeated destination with each cycle of John’s visions throughout the entire book. The seals, the trumpets, the bowls, and the allegorical depictions of human history all finally end with the same scene – the people of God in the presence of God singing a song of praise to God for the great salvation He has brought through the person and work of the Lamb!

In Revelation 7, the emphasis is on the size and diversity of the great gathering of the saints on that last day. It is “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (v9). Notice that this “multitude” or “group” is both united and varied… they are gathered together “before the throne and before the Lamb” (v9), but they are also variously distinguished by their “nation” or ethnicity, their “tribe” or family heritage, their “people” or nationality, and their “language” (v9).

Now, I don’t want to get too far into the weeds of interpreting this whole chapter, but it’s worth noting here the continuity and the discontinuity between the two halves of Revelation 7. The first half (v1-8) highlights the covenantal relationship between God and ancient Israel… God’s “servants” are numbered by the largest biblical quantity of perfection or completion, with an equal number being “sealed” from every “tribe of the sons of Israel” (v3-4). And this is all according to what the Apostle John “heard” (v4).

But then, John “looked” and “saw” (v9) God’s “servants” (v15) in the second half of the chapter (v9-17), and they are obviously not physical descendants of Israel. They are “from all tribes and peoples and languages,” and they are “from every ἐθνος” (v9). This chapter, then, is showing us that one of the ways the New Covenant is better than the old is that it includes all kinds of people, not just those who are physical children of Israel.

See v13-14… the question is asked, “Who are these…?” (v13). And the answer is given: they are the ones who have been “washed… in the blood of the Lamb” (v14). The New Covenant, then, is a promise of God’s blessing and favor, not on the basis of family or national or ethnic lineage, but on the basis of repentance and faith in Christ! As the song (written in 1878) goes, “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? …Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”

Friends, this song is a call to respond with repentance and faith… and the Bible teaches us that all repenting and believing sinners shall one day be gathered together in a grand communion of joy and celebration… “before the throne and before the Lamb” (v9).

Simon Goulart, a pastor in Geneva during the late 1500s and early 1600s, wrote a book for devotional use among Christians. He concluded the first volume of the two-volume set with a great description, which I think fits very well here. I’m going to read a lengthy chunk of it, but it’s so good…[1]

“The eternal and blessed life with God in heaven, accompanied by rest and unspeakable glory, is the goal of the faith of Christians. This is the harbor of their hope, the refuge of all their desires, the crown of their consolation that they will certainly enjoy, having escaped from the travails of this miserable and fleeting earthly life, indeed, from death itself…”

“They will enjoy fully and completely the Lord their God, the fountain and inexhaustible treasure of all good things, who will pour out on them all his goodness [and] his infinite joy, with which he will satisfy all their thoughts and desires. They will see him and contemplate him face-to-face, without any clouds to obscure him… The eternal Father will disclose his burning and unspeakable love for them, which he demonstrated by sending his Son into the world to draw them from death into eternal life. His children will be moved by his gracious work, filled with wonder, contentment, and ineffable delight, and will love their heavenly Father with a burning love, submitting themselves fully to his wisdom with eager joy… and they will rejoice with continuous joy in his presence, magnifying his glory, singing of his goodness along with the holy Angels and the entire Church triumphant. There they will see Jesus Christ… the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Apostles, and all the faithful who have preceded them, including their family members and friends who died in repentance and faith.”

“This entire company together, with one heart and voice, will recall the goodness and infinite blessings God has shown them, celebrating with songs of thanksgiving the praises of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…”

Brothers and sisters, we believe the communion of saints will be a visible reality… that all Christians truly joined with Christ and with one another will gather together in a re-created world, which Christ Himself shall establish. As the last verse of our passage says, “the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God [Himself] will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (v17).

To that I say, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).

3. Tasting of Communion

We believe that the communion of saints, which is enjoyed by all Christians truly joined with Christ and one another, and which will be a visible reality in the end… we believe that it is a present reality among local churches now.

Some weeks ago, I preached on the phrase of the Apostles’ Creed which comes right before the one we’re studying today – “We believe… in the holy catholic church.” In that sermon, I focused on the universality of the people of God, that sense of catholicity we should have as Christians who are part of something far bigger than our own local church and our own personal relationship with Jesus. I argued that Christianity is something sinners are invited to “come into,” not something we adapt to our own preferences or experiences.

I am still affirming that statement today – “I do believe in the holy catholic church…” Not in the Roman Catholic Church, but in the universal body of Christ, which includes all believers from all time and space. In this present world, the universal church is invisible, but (as I just argued in point 2) one day the universal or catholic church (i.e., the communion of saints) will be made visible.

And yet, today, I want to use the remainder of our time to emphasize the communion of saints that is a present reality among true local churches… even if it’s only a foretaste of that communion that is to come. You see, local churches are designed by God to shape our understanding of and our expectations for that ultimate gathering of the saints on the last day.

Let me point out 3 features or characteristics of the local church that must shape our perspective of the communion of saints.

First, the sacraments or ordinances of the church. The communion of saints is marked off or defined by the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This shapes our perspective of that final day when all the saints shall gather together in praise before the throne of God by teaching us in a tangible and unmistakable way that only repenting and believing sinners are welcome.

I love John 3:16 as a brief summary of the gospel… many of you know it by heart. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Amen! And praise God! God loves sinners! And He has displayed His love for sinners by sending Christ to die for us “while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8)! Indeed, this is how we know what love is, “that he laid down his life for us” (1 Jn. 3:16)!

But do you know that John 3:16 includes a qualifier? God’s love for sinners, His offering of salvation to sinners is limited. It is limited to “whoever believes in him” (Jn. 3:16). Salvation comes to those who not only hear the gospel, who not only think the message is true, but to those who believe or trust or give themselves over to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

The local church shapes (by design) what belief looks like…

In baptism, the sinner publicly acknowledges his or her sin, publicly confesses that Christ alone can save (professing personal belief or trust in Christ), and commits him- or herself to be Christ’s disciple from that time on. And, in baptism, the local church publicly affirms that such a sinner is indeed counted among the saved, that Christ has washed him or her clean of sin, and that congregation commits to take responsibility for discipling him or her from that time on… until or unless he or she joins another church who will do the same.

In the Lord’s Supper, a local church publicly and repeatedly acknowledges that we are all (even as Christians) still sinners in need of God’s grace and Christ’s atoning sacrifice, a local church publicly confesses that we are all continually putting all our hope and trust in the sacrifice of Christ (symbolized in the elements of the bread and the cup), and a local church reaffirms their shared discipleship (their communion with Christ and with one another).

Friends, the ordinances of the church teach us that there is an “in” and an “out” to the communion of saints, and they tangibly mark off who’s in and who’s out. The ordinances are designed by Christ to assure those who are in and to both warn and beckon those who are out… “Don’t be out!” “Come into this communion by repentance and faith, so that you too may enjoy all the blessings of the gospel… both in this life and in the life to come.”

Second, the communal nature of the church shapes our perspective of the communion of saints. Friends no one will have a private faith in heaven, and the Bible teaches us that no one can truly have a private or isolated faith in this world either. The New Testament is full of commands that are designed to regulate Christian living, and all of them require the participation of other Christians.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are already examples of this (no one can baptize himself or observe the Lord’s Supper on her own), but there are many others. We are to “pray for one another” (James 5:16), to “instruct one another” (Rom. 15:14), to “submit to one another” (Eph. 5:24), to “build one another up” (1 Thess. 5:11), and to “love one another” even as Christ has loved us (Jn. 15:12). And we can’t do any of these on our own! We need one another!

In Paul’s first letter to the church of Corinth, he repeatedly uses the phrase “when you come together” (1 Cor. 11:33). The instructions there are intended to regulate especially what Christians do when they gather as a church. You might take some time later today to read through 1 Corinthians 12-14, and think about all that God has said in just three chapters about what we ought to do as a church.

The Scriptures teach us that our gifts and talents are from God, and that He has given them to each of us to use for the benefit of fellow church members… “for the common good” (1 Cor. 12: 4-11). We are instructed not to be envious of the gifts of others, but to use what we have as members of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:14-20). And think about the “love” chapter… 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 4 begins, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, [and] endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

In 1 Corinthians 14:26, the Scriptures explicitly remind us that we are to do all of this “when you come together.” We are to do “all things” for “building up” one another (1 Cor. 14:26). This is not to say that we aren’t to act in such ways at all other times… as though we are allowed to be arrogant and irritable and resentful throughout the rest of the week! No, but it is to say that our repeated and rhythmic gathering on the Lord’s Day, as a communal body of Christians, who know each other’s faults and failings, is to be a sort of hub from which our whole lives are shaped and regulated.

The communal nature of the church is designed by God (it’s not just one way to do Christianity). God has set it up this way, so that we will learn patience and forgiveness, so that we will know what it means to love and to bear one another’s burdens, so that we will understand that Christ is the Savior of a people, not just individuals who happen to be at the same place at the same time. Christ intends us to practice now what we will enjoy in full in the world to come… the communion of saints.

Third, mission or goal of the church must shape our perspective of the communion of saints. What is the purpose of the local church?

You know, I was talking with a guy this week who is an employee of the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. And he was asking me about my “vision” for FBC Diana. After a long pause, I told him that my plan was to make disciples by baptizing new converts and building up church members for the glory of God. He also paused for a moment, and then he went on to tell me that such a plan was good and biblical, but that I should have a “unique vision,” something that will set our church apart.

But, brothers and sisters, I just hate that kind of thinking! That’s modern American, consumeristic thinking about the local church. That’s the sort of thinking that may indeed increase a church’s numbers for a time, and it’s definitely a recipe for being busier and having more church activities on the calendar. But the most important stuff we do as a church is that stuff we have in common with all other true churches! The “vision” of our elders, the mission of our church should never be exclusive to our own town or our political climate or our cultural moment.

As individual Christians, we should most definitely live in our own context, and we should do what we can to live as faithful witnesses of Christ in whatever circumstances God has placed us. But, as a church, we should guard with a vengeance the all-encompassing and transcendent mission which Christ Himself has assigned to us. Jesus commissioned His disciples (and all those who would come after them) to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:18-20).

Formally and as a gathered body, we aim to make disciples by preaching the gospel, by baptizing those who believe, by teaching one another all that Christ has commanded us, and by “stirring” each other up toward “love and good works” (Heb. 10:24-25). And our formal church meetings – Sunday mornings, monthly Sunday evenings, and occasional members’ meetings – form the structure for when and how we do all of this as a united body.

Informally and as a scattered church out in the world, we aim to make disciples in a thousand different ways. We have gospel conversations with our friends and family, we host Bible reading times with our families and others, we invite fellow church members into our lives, we share meals together, we open our homes, we initiate probing conversations, we challenge each other’s errors, we ask clarifying questions, and we generally show love and care as we have the opportunity. Some of us will even have targeted people or demographics, structured ministries, or particular methods for our witnessing techniques.

But our formal and shared mission is the one that shapes our perspective of the communion of saints by reminding us that all sorts of Christians will be with us before the throne of God. There will be Christians who love and serve the homeless and Christians who love and serve single moms… Christians who adopt orphans and Christians who advocate for just laws… Christians who write books and Christians who don’t know how to read… Christians who work with their hands and Christians who’ve never done a day’s work of manual labor… Christians who like old country music, Christians who like classical music, and even Christians who like pop music.

Healthy churches are those that are marked, not by some stylistic preference or by some particular mission that is distinct to their time and location, but healthy churches are marked by a genuine unity that supersedes all our pet projects… a unity in love for Christ, in love for one another, and in the shared commitment to make disciples in the world… in anticipation of that coming day when we shall all participate in the communion of saints… even as we taste of that communion in our local churches here and now.

Brothers and sisters, we believe all Christians are truly joined with Christ and with one another… we believe that this will be a visible reality in the end… and we believe that this is a present reality among local churches now.

May God create and grow our unity in such a belief… May God grant us joy in tasting of this communion among our own local church… May God grant other churches (near and far) the same joy… And may God grant us all comfort and courage and contentment with what God grants us… as we anticipate that coming day when we shall enjoy the communion of saints in full.

Endnotes

[1] All that follows is taken from: Scott M. Manetsch, Calvin’s Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). 297.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Holcomb, Justin S. Know the Creeds and Councils. Know Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.

Manetsch, Scott M. Calvin’s Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Mohler Jr., R. Albert. The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2019.

Packer, J. I. Affirming the Apostles’ Creed. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. 2015 Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.