I Believe - One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

I Believe: Living the Catechized Life

4 – The Church

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship on this unofficial last weekend of Summer. Labor Day originated in 1882 when some guy by the last name of McGuire (2 different McGuires take credit) proposed a day to celebrate labor. Now, I know many of us in here don’t like Unions… but you can thank the Unions of New York for your day off and all the festivities we enjoy on each Labor Day weekend. The Labor Unions were originally designed as a way for the power of the people to be drawn together for the benefit of all. We could argue about the eventual outcome of Unions, but I’ll save that debate for another time. What I will say is, I hope you enjoy your weekend and the celebrations you and your family might have.

Here, on this Labor Day Weekend, we are in the final week of our “I Believe Series” as we talk about what it looks like to live the Catechized Life. We’ve been looking at the first part of the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church… this statement of beliefs based on the Nicene Creed and the Wesleyan Distinctives passed on through the founders of the Methodist Movement, John and Charles Wesley. If you just can’t seem to get enough of this, join me starting this Wednesday at 5:00 for a continued study. You will receive a copy of the Catechism, and then we will begin looking at what it is that we say we believe as followers of Jesus who happen to be Methodist.

Sermon Slide

We will start over from the beginning in the study… but today, we wrap up the sermon series looking at the fact that we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. If you remember, we started with the Godhead – looking at God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – God, revealed in three persons, but one God. Today, we look at the next statement in the Nicene Creed, and maybe one that give some of you the most trouble. It’s similar to the one we say from the Apostles Creed… that we confess that we believe in the one holy catholic church… and there’s that word that give some of us heartburn… catholic. Don’t worry, we will get there…

But first, let’s go to God’s word and then take a moment to pray. Turn with me to my favorite chapter of my favorite book of the Bible, Ephesians 4. Paul is taking time to write to the people of Ephesus about the importance of the Unity of the Body of Christ. He reminds the readers that they are to no longer live as they did before they knew Christ, instead… well, let’s read Paul’s words from the New Living Translation of the Bible, beginning in verse 15:

Ephesians 4:15-16

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I think we sometimes think of the church as a Union for believers in Jesus. We come together, have our meetings, benefit one another, do the things that help us grow, and go on our way… we even pay our dues to keep the organization afloat, right? Well, I think we’ve gotten it all wrong. One definition I have heard recently is that “The Church is the Power of God in the presence of the people for the sake of the world.” (J.D. Walt) Let me read that again… The Church is the Power of God in the presence of the people for the sake of the world.

This is where the church is vastly different than the Unions that gave us this week’s 3-day weekend. The Church is the only organization that exists, not for its members, but for those outside the organization. We exist for the world… not for ourselves.

That’s why I often say that church membership doesn’t have privileges, it has responsibilities.

As we say it in our Mission statement, We exist to make NEW Disciples of Jesus Christ, helping others to know, love, and serve God. That is our purpose, that is our reason for being here. We aren’t here to perpetuate an organization. We aren’t here to further our agendas. We aren’t here to grow our own kingdom… We exist to further God’s Kingdom, we are here to make earth as it is in heaven. Now, what we believe and what difference that makes:

We believe in ONE

Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 4:4-6:

I don’t know if you counted, but that is 7 Ones there. I don’t think that was an accident. 7 is considered the complete number. What Paul is saying is, no matter what is on the list, there is only one! The focus is on the One! The one God revealed to us physically, visibly, personally as Jesus.

We believe that there is one way to God, the Father, that there is one way to heaven… that is through the life, teaching, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We believe in one HOLY

Jesus was, is, and ever will be holy. Our English definitions don’t really do this word justice. The easy definition is that holy means “set apart” like the 7th Day of creation is holy, it is set apart from the others.

We as a church, as the Church are holy, the Church is set apart from the rest of the world. It isn’t like our home, it isn’t like our work, the Church is holy. And I’m not talking about the place, the building. This building represents the holy, but it in itself is not holy. The Church is the gathering of believers, who together are holy. As the gathering of believers, we are set apart from all that is in and of the world… we are of God. The Church is beyond the common use, it is set aside, it is Holy… We are Holy, but not as God is holy. We are defined by God as holy, we do not define God as holy. One of the dictionaries I referenced put it this way:

Holy, Holiness. One does not define God. Similarly, the idea of holiness is at once understandable and elusive. Nevertheless, there is no term equal to the fullness inherent in holiness. All of heaven’s hosts, Israel, and the church ascribe praise to a holy God because that idea sets him apart from everything else (Exod. 15:11; Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). Holiness is what God is. (Ury, M. William. 1996. “Holy, Holiness.” In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., 340–41. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)

So, the Church is holy, and…

We believe in one holy cATHOLIC

Ok, here’s that word again. Don’t worry, I was once a critic of this word too. I was raised to believe that the Catholic church was a cult that worshipped Mary as much as Jesus. I thought they didn’t believe in the Resurrection, since they left Jesus on the Cross. My youth group went to 6-Flags twice a year, once as a fun trip, the other as a mission trip – we picked up the Catholic Church youth group and it was our job to convert them to Christianity by the time we got home. I’m serious…

I was taught that my church, denomination shall remain nameless, preceded the Catholic Church, and there was a reason Jesus’ cousin was named John the Baptist… not that I’m naming any denominations. Right…

I later came to realize that we should all be catholic. Not with a capital “C” like the denomination or religion, but with a lower case “c”. Why, because that word means universal, it means united in Christ, it recognizes the unity of the Spirit as the one church, the one body of Christ put on this earth as the power of God in the presence of the people for the sake of the world. We should revel in the fact that we are the one holy catholic church… but our statement doesn’t stop there.

We believe in one holy catholic and APOSTOLIC church.

We read a lot from the Book of Acts last week, but that is not the full name of the book as named by the author, Dr. Luke – Yes, the Luke of the Bible was a doctor… and Dr. Luke titled his writing, The Acts of the Apostles. Why, because the book details the work of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit in the lives of the Apostles.

We believe that the church we are a part of – whether you are Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Disciples, Evangelical Free, Friends of God, Greek Orthodox, Huguenot, Independent, Jesus Army, Kiribati Protestant, Lutheran, Mennonite, Nazarene, Old Brethren, Primitive Baptist, Quaker, Redeemed Christian, Seventh Day Adventist, Tewehedo, United Pentecostal, Venezuelan Catholic Apostolic, Wesleyan, X(Chi Rho), Yahwist, Zionist or Methodist or any other denomination… we believe we are part of the ONE BODY OF CHRIST on earth! We are here as the power of God in the presence of the people for the sake of the world.

We are one church, passed down from the Apostles that started in Jerusalem, then went to the 4 corners of the world.

Here’s one last thing that I think is pretty amazing. My Ordination and the ordination of every Methodist Pastor – United or Global – can be traced back to the Apostles. We’ve had some ups and downs in denominational history, even our Methodist history, but from the hands of Jesus, to the hands of the Apostles, namely Peter, to Paul, to Linus, and Anacleutus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, and Sixtus and on and on through to the time of John Wesley, and Thomas Coke, and Francis Asbury, on and on through the years to Mike Lowery and to me… the succession of ordination by hands being laid on one pastor or priest to another from the beginning of the church to today can be seen.

That’s not to say that I am special because I was touched by someone who was touched by someone who was touched… all the way back to Jesus.

Sermon Slide

What I am saying is that this church, founded in 1875, that meets in this building erected in 1967, stands in the succession of those who have gone before us, including the Apostles of the 1stCentury.

We believe that this church, is a part of a greater body of Christ that has been perpetuated by the Holy Spirit and that we exist, not for our own sake, but for the sake of the world.

You exist that others may know of Jesus Christ, that their lives may be transformed, and that person by person, life by life, we will begin to make this place, this earth, as it is in heaven. And that starts with taking Christ into our lives, letting Christ transform us… that Christ be indwelt… incarnate in us as we partake of this great mystery we call Holy Communion.

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