"Identification, Please"
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Have you ever been on a trip that required you to go through customs at the airport or cross the border to the United States? If you have, then you know the tension of waiting as they ask for your passport, give you a good once over to make sure that you are who you say you are, and then eventually allow you to proceed. I remember my first trip leaving the country, I was about 13 years old and travelling to Mexico with my best friend’s family. For some reason I was very nervous that they would decide, at the airport customs, that either I was not the girl on the passport, or that I did not belong with this family. We had all the documents, but as the man behind the counter examined them I shifted nervously from foot to foot. Was he taking an extra long look at me? What if he said something to me and I gave the wrong answer? But no, everything went smoothly and we proceeded without incident. I needed proper identification in order to leave the country. Well, the Church as a whole certainly does not need a passport, but if we were asked for our identification, what would it say? Today we are going to be discussing the identity of the Church, looking at what the Penetecostal Assembly of Canada’s Statement of Essential Truths (or SOET for short) says, and comparing that with the Bible to see how the SOET lines up. Before we dive into that, let’s open with a word of prayer.
Father, thank you for the opportunity to gather together as Your Church and explore what that really means. Thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus that gave us this identity and the salvation that we have access to because of Him. Draw us closer together as a Body and closer to Him through our exploration today and help us to be ever more united. Amen.
Alright, so before we head to Scripture, let’s look at what the SOET says so we can compare that to the Bible. We’ll look at the first 2 paragraphs from the section on the Church today and then next week Pastor Josh will lead us through the last paragraph.
“Jesus Christ is the head of the church. All who are united with Christ are joined by the Spirit to his body. Each local church is an expression of the universal church whose role is to participate in the mission of God to restore all things.
Central to the church is the shared experience of the transforming presence of God. The church responds with worship, prayer, proclamation, discipleship, and fellowship, including the practices of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism by immersion symbolizes the believer’s identification with Christ in his death and resurrection. The Lord’s Supper symbolizes Christ’s body and blood, and our communion as believers. Shared together, it proclaims his death in anticipation of his return.”
So right away we start off with vital information. Let’s break this down into 3 questions that are answered here and the big idea that they all connect to. Our questions are: Who are we, what do we do, and why do we do it and we’ll chat about our big idea closer to the end. Let’s start off with:
Who are we?
Who are we?
Well, the SOET starts off by telling us that:
Jesus Christ is the head of the Church.
Where does it get that and what does that even mean? If you’ll turn with me to Colossians 1:18, we’ll see exactly where this is found. It says:
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Now, is this saying that Jesus is literally a head and the Church is the literal body attached to that head? No, hopefully that is clear. This is a metaphor for the Church and one that is used often. So what does it mean for the Church to be a body and Christ to be the head of that body? Well, first off it speaks to the unity of the Church. Each believer is part of something called the Universal Church - Church with a capital C - and we are connected by the sacrifice of Jesus for us which also makes us all God’s children, part of His family. This connection is supposed to include a unity that is far greater than you would find in any human family - like a body all of the different parts should work together in harmony, each one doing the job given to them and doing it well. Unfortunately, we see that this is not the case yet, since each member of the family, each part of the Body is a fallen human being still. Just like a human family, we fight, we disagree, we miscommunicate, and sometimes we just don’t get along. One day, when Jesus comes back and we are finally perfected and our hearts are fully transformed, we will have the unity that a Body is supposed to have. Until then, we are stuck with a Body that has parts that don’t work together, parts that are trying to do a job that isn’t theirs to do, and sickness that can invade. The good news is, even if most of the parts of the Body are not perfect, the Head is. What the Bible is saying by putting Jesus as our metaphorical head, is that He has complete authority over His Church. Each body part is controlled by the head, and although sometimes the body parts don’t get the message or don’t listen to the head - like when there’s a disconnect between a signal our brain is sending and how the body part is receiving it - the head is over all, takes care of it all, and works to make it all work together. In Matthew 16:18 it says:
18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Jesus chooses how to build His Church, how to build the Body, and how to utilize it. And although sometimes us body parts are really bad at listening to instructions, at the end of the day, Jesus has the authority over us. Now, the statement goes on and it says
All who are united with Christ are joined by the Spirit to his body.
This continues on the theme of the Church being a body and also that of Christ being the head - being over the body and having all authority over it. When a new believer comes to faith in Christ, they experience salvation and are united with Christ by the Holy Spirit, right? When we talk to kids, we might call this inviting Jesus to come live inside your heart. It’s a bit of an abstract concept and difficult to fully grasp how it all works, but in essence, we receive the Holy Spirit who indwells us and transforms our spirit into one that is no longer in the kingdom of darkness. So, what this statement is explaining then, is that not only are we joined to Christ by the Holy Spirit upon salvation, but we are also joined to the Body of Christ - the Church. When we come to faith we become part of the Universal Church. Ok, no problem, where does it say that in the Bible? Well, we find it in 1 Corinthians 12:12-14.
12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
This is telling us that through the Spirit we all became part of this Body that has many parts - all those who believe in Jesus - that is under Christ. It’s His Body, and we are part of it. Cool! So that explains the Universal Church… what about individual churches like this one? Let’s look at the next part of the statement.
Each local church is an expression of the universal church whose role is to participate in the mission of God to restore all things.
So, as you may have gathered, making up the Universal Church we have lots of little local churches (and people who aren’t necessarily in a church as well, although church is an important tool for keeping us on track). Some of these local churches are small, like ours, and I will admit those are my personal preference, and some of these local churches are absolutely huge like Hope City in Edmonton which has far more people than our whole town. What is the role of these local churches? Amazingly, regardless of the size of the church, our role is the same. To participate in the mission of God to restore all things. Ok… The mission to restore all things… No pressure, hey? But actually, less pressure than sometimes I place on myself. Because sometimes I think that it’s my mission to restore all things and I forget the important parts of that sentence… “the mission of God to restore all things”. And suddenly, instead of huge pressure being placed on my shoulders, I am priviledged to participate in the grand story of restoration and redemption. So, where do we see this mission for the local church in Scripture? Well, let’s start off with Acts 1:8.
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Ok, now before we start to unpack that let’s jump right into Matthew 28:18-20.
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
And back to Acts for Acts 13:1-3…
1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
And lastly let’s hop over to Revelation 21:5.
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
Ok, so what do all these passages have to do with the local church participating in the mission of God to make all things new? We see through the first 2 passages that Jesus has a mission for His people, for the Universal Church - to be His witnesses, to make disciples, and teach those disciples His ways. We see from the third passage, the sending out of Paul and Barnabus, that this mission is also for the local church to participate in. The church in Antioch were the ones to send out Paul and Barnabus and pray over them. The mission is for both the Universal and local church, and as the SOET helped to make clear, the local church is the expression of the Universal Church in this mission. We are the part of the larger whole, doing what we can in the area we are in. And the last passage shows us what God’s mission is ultimately - to make all things new. He will accomplish this through the salvation plan, which we participate in as witnesses and recipients, until all who are willing to be saved and restored, will be. Wow.
So… that was a lot of information, and a long first point, but I think the question of identity can be a long one to answer, hey? So, now that we know who we are… With Christ as our head, we are a body united to Him, participating in His mission… we can look at:
What do we do?
What do we do?
Moving on to the next section of the SOET, we find an interesting sentence.
Central to the church is the shared experience of the transforming presence of God.
That’s one of the things I absolutely love about relationship with Jesus - it is a journey of constant transformation and growth. He doesn’t leave us the way that we are, instead He makes us more like Him until eventually the process is completed when we go to be with Jesus. We see this experience with the transforming presence of God talked about in several places in Scripture.
42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
The Presence of God is transforming not only their lifestyles and their focus, but is also performing signs and wonders through the apostles. We’re going to come back to this verse when we talk about the next sentence in the statement, but continuing on, we’ve also got 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, where it says:
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
We are being transformed by the presence of God into a reflection of Him and His glory. So this is an experience that connects us all as believers, as the church. Ok, great. That’s biblical and, I hope you’ve experienced it as well. I know I have! Although I do not tend to have wildly dramatic experiences with God, despite sometimes longing for them, I have certainly had experiences with His transforming presence. One that comes to mind is of fairly recently. We were at District Gathering in October and during one of the times of worship I was prayer journalling a bit. The conversation that I had with God was one that not only convicted me of areas in my life that still need growth, but also gave me a glimpse into the deepness of my calling that could be explored as I continued in that growth. I drew closer to God, and through the knowledge that each person there had also experienced God’s calling on their life and even just His presence, as I had, I felt closer to the believers around me. So, how do we respond to this transforming presence? We caught a glimpse of it in our passage from Acts a moment ago. The SOET puts it really nicely:
The church responds with worship, prayer, proclamation, discipleship, and fellowship, including the practices of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
That’s a lot of responses, and if we did a deep dive into each one, they could all be a sermon series on their own. So let’s just go through with broad strokes. Worship is a natural response to encountering God’s presence and also something we do as a response to show gratitude. The Psalms often exhort us to worship God - like Psalm 100 - and worshipping God is a big theme throughout the Bible along with making sure we are not worshipping anything but God.
Colossians 4:2-6 shows us us how necessary the response of prayer is.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;
4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Prayer also plays a role in our transformation, because the more time we spend talkking with God and seeking His will and heart, the more like Him we become.
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1 Peter 2:9-10 talks about proclamation - how we are called to proclaim who God is and what He has done for us.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
For discipleship and fellowship, Acts 2:42 demonstrates this, it says:
42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
And in Matthew 28:19 we are commanded to engage in discipleship and water baptism.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Then in Matthew 26:26-29, which many of us read on Good Friday, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper.
26 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;
28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
29 “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
So all this leads us into…
Why do we do it?
Why do we do it?
It’s good to know what we do, but on some topics in particular like water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, maybe it’s not so obvious why we do it. This is also something addressed by the SOET, so let’s look at that and then the Scripture and see how we arrived at the statement that we have.
Baptism by immersion symbolizes the believer’s identification with Christ in his death and resurrection. The Lord’s Supper symbolizes Christ’s body and blood, and our communion as believers. Shared together, it proclaims his death in anticipation of his return.”
Wow, there is a lot of depth and meaning to water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Let’s look at Romans 6:3-8 for Paul’s explanation about baptism.
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Baptism is a highly symbolic act. It physicially acts out the decision to follow after Jesus, to engage in His death and burial and resurrection, and to die to our old selves - to put aside the old ways and thoughts that we have which are contrary to God’s ways - and to find new life and new identity and even a new spirit in Him. What depth of meaning! This is the first step of obedience that a believer can take, stating for the whole world, and the spiritual realm, the committment to Jesus that has been made. Often this was the first natural response of the early believers when they came to Christ - the Ethiopian eunuch, for example, stopped his chariot by a body of water so he could be baptized immediately. As the local church, we facilitate this public declaration and make opportunities available - which seems especially necessary in our frozen province where you can’t just go out at any time in the year and hop in a body of water… half of the year that will result in a concussion and/or hypothermia. So, we understand why we engage in water baptism, and why this is a response to God’s transforming work. What about the Lord’s Supper? Wasn’t this just a meal that Jesus had with His disciples before He died? Yes, it was, but it is also a way that we now remember the work that He did on the cross for us. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, after rebuking the church in Corinth for the way they were making the Lord’s Supper - or communion - all about themselves and a chance for gluttony and drunkeness, Paul gives instruction on how to participate in the Lord’s Supper.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
That last line is vital. Whenever we partake in the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim, we remember, we honor… His death for us. I can remember as a child, Communion Sunday was also Family Sunday, the Sunday every month when there was no Sunday School so the family was all together in the service. I wanted to participate in Communion so badly, but my mom would not let me until I was quite a bit older. Why? Because I did not really understand the reason for Communion, all I saw was a chance for a little bit of juice and a fishy cracker. That’s not the point. The whole point is to pause and really think about what Jesus has done for me, for all of us. It is a truly somber and thankful occaision, and I am grateful my mom waited to let me join in until I could handle it with respect. We participate in Communion with the rest of the church because this symbolises our communion as a body - our unity, which we talked about at the beginning. We are united by the sacrifice of Jesus for us and our acceptance of that gift.
So, all of this leads us to the big idea that I think we find as we look at the identity of the Church - Who we are, what we do, and why we do it… and it’s the idea that is conveyed throughout Scripture and summarized in the SOET.
Big Idea: The Church is followers of Jesus reaching out and up.
Big Idea: The Church is followers of Jesus reaching out and up.
First and foremost, we are followers of Jesus under His authority. He is the head of the Church. We are participants in the mission of God to restore all things and so we reach out through witnessing - discipleship and baptism fall into that category. We respond to God’s transforming presence by reaching up - through worship and prayer and everything we do. Always seeking to be closer to Jesus, to be more like Him, and to have more of Him.
Big Idea: The Church is followers of Jesus reaching out and up.
Big Idea: The Church is followers of Jesus reaching out and up.
Conclusion