Community & Mission

Welcome and Recap

Good morning, Cornerstone Fellowship!  Welcome back to week nine of our Apostles’ Creed series—we are in the third stanza, which concerns the Spirit, where we have several “I believe” statements, such as today’s “the holy catholic Church, [and] the communion of saints…” this is because it reflects the idea that the Holy Spirit’s work is active and present in the Church and in the life of the believer.

Introduction We find ourselves in the middle of God’s salvation story with three phases:

There’s, justification: This is a moment when God declares a person righteous and forgives their sins.  

I say it’s a moment because this is, of course, a Calvary reference; it happened once for all; it doesn’t happen again.  There’s a point, however, where we pass from being under condemnation to instantaneously being counted as righteous to God.  No virtue and no works of ours brought this about.  It happens when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see Christ for who He is and unites us, by faith alone, to Christ.

Then there is, in the future, glorification.  It’s the final stage of our salvation model, our eventual ‘end state,’ when a person is completely and forever holy, the moment when a person is free from the presence of sin, standing faultless before God in eternity.

We look forward to this; unfortunately, we find ourselves between the two, in what is referred to as “the already/not yet.”  This is the process of sanctification, and where we are, all of us, right now.  This is where believers are set apart for God and made holy.  This is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ and being freed from the power of sin.

It is in reference to this period that Jesus tells the disciples in John 16:7, “It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you.  If I go, I will send him to you.”

Proposition

Today I want to briefly explore our purpose as a church and what sanctification looks like—corporately and individually.  My prayer is that you leave with renewed purpose to build up the Body of Christ through your unique gifting.

Illustration

Show of hands, how many of you just love your job?  If you don’t currently have one, then think of your last one, or the pursuits that fill up your typical day.  Many of us feel unmotivated—or even demotivated—by our jobs.  And Joseph certainly didn’t aspire to be a slave.  Yet, his performance wasn’t predicated on his employer; it was predicated on his savior.  He didn’t even know him to that point; Joseph’s story in the Bible is in Genesis, chapters 37–50.  God hasn’t even delivered on the promise he’s given his ancestor Abraham yet.  In fact, to this point, Joseph’s obedience only brought more trouble!

But in the most simplistic manifestation of faith, like the disciples’ realization in John 6:68, where “Simon Peter declares to Jesus, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life,’” he knew that God was his only hope.  So, he doesn’t face day-to-day life, saying, “I’m not going to work for that master,” he says, “My work will be my worship to God, and my work will be my witness to those who work with me—I’ll work for that master.”

So, the first point I want to make is that sanctification is a test we can fail.  Like the parable of the talents: “To whom much is given, much will be required.”  We could say to ourselves, “I don’t like where I work, I don’t like my job, and I don’t feel like I’m appreciated, and I don’t feel like I’m compensated well enough.”  Adversity often means you’re exactly where God wants you.  If you’re successful, “much more will be given…” in failure, “Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

Only in passing through sanctification do we graduate to glorification; it’s the prize.  Only in doing well in our calling and walk through sanctification, are we given increased levels of leadership and responsibility—and promotion in the Kingdom rarely feels like promotion.  Jesus said the greatest amongst you will be your servant (Matt 23:11).  You can’t have a testimony without a test.

Point 1

So, my first point is that the meaning of “Holy catholic Church” is that it is “Holy” because God sets it apart for His purposes.

You’ve probably figured out, since the first time you had reflux from saying the words “I believe in the holy catholic Church,” that the etymology of the word “catholic” is simply the Greek word for “universal.” I tell my children that they can tell the word “catholic” is an adjective and not a proper noun because it’s placed directly adjacent to a word that is capitalized, so it’s not part of the title of something, it’s describing it!  Some denominations take it out, but I think it’s important.  It transcends denominations, cultures, and time, for that matter.  It makes this thing we do about more than just a building.  The Body of Christ is the whole people of God.

Alliteration

The Kingdom of God and the people of God are not interchangeable words for each other.  They’re very closely related, but one is a visible body with a set purpose.  In his work “City of God,” St. Augustine distinguishes between the visible and invisible church.  He uses this framework to explain the spiritual and earthly aspects of the Church.

The visible church is the Earthly institution.  These are the people of God.  This includes institutions like churches, but, as in The Marvel portrayal of Ragnarök, Asgard is a people, not a place!  And, not everyone in the visible church is truly saved; people can outwardly belong to the church but lack genuine faith.

That which is visible is a reflection of the invisible; participation in the visible church is participation in the invisible Church, which is the Kingdom of God.

Transition

The visible church is the earthly institution—flawed, mixed wheat and chaff—while the invisible Church is the true elect, known only to God.  Sacraments, all we do, have spiritual implications; they represent things in the invisible church.  Scripture reminds us that our struggle is spiritual; Ephesians 6, particularly verses 10-20, what many of you know as the “Full Armor of God” passage, clarifies in verse 12, that:

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Also, in Colossians 1:16, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

People can outwardly appear to belong to the visible church.  Still, not everyone in the visible church is saved—Jesus lets wheat and weeds grow together until harvest.  That’s why confessions matter: they define our identity—“We are this, and not that.” Like Israel at Shechem, recorded in Joshua chapter 24, verse 15.  “If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Application

Ministry sometimes means sanctified troublemaking—I’m talking trouble with the wrong people for right reasons (Joseph, Daniel, most every prophet).  Heresy is coming, and in fact is here.  And all the more as we see the day approaching.  I’m not saying the end is near, but it’s coming.  It’s closer today than it was yesterday, and heresy will increase.  You need to be able to tell the difference between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the thief.  We have an identity given to us in Christ.  We are this—and not that.  The Apostles’ Creed is the litmus test for orthodoxy.

I’m not saying that you have to be a particular denomination of Christianity, not even that you have to accept each of the outcomes of the ecumenical councils; the Eastern Church accepts the first 7, protestants—typically the first 4; we are all, at a minimum, Nicaean Christians, meaning the institution of the first recognized creed.  If someone can’t say and mean the Apostles’ Creed—or say you have to believe in another prophet, whether his name is Joseph Smith or Mohamed—they are simply a different thing.  

“My fear for you is that you may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  If someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, that you put up with it!”  Those are actually Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 3 and 4.

Transition

Acts 4:32 claims “All the believers were one in heart and mind,” sharing everything.  Yet Ananias and Sapphira’s story follows immediately, showing that not all in the visible church belong to the invisible Kingdom.  True unity is inward grace.  So, the first point was that the meaning of “holy catholic Church” is that it is “holy” because God sets it apart for His purposes.  It’s about the unity of believers.

My second point is like it, that we need each other.  It’s weird, right?  We’re confessing our beliefs and see this line that we have to say because if we don’t, we’re heretics, right?  But we sometimes question how serious this whole communion thing is.  The answer is very.

Point 2

Six of the Ten Commandments concern relationships with other people.  Sanctification can’t happen in a vacuum.  It requires trial.  

John 13:35 says that “By this, others will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Matthew 5:46 says about those who only love those who love them, “Even tax collectors love their friends.”

Of course, what wedding isn’t complete without a reading of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the ‘love chapter,” “Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud… It doesn’t dishonor others, it isn’t self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong… 6 [It] doesn’t delight in evil… rejoices [in] truth.”  This is the true work of loving—again, to my children—the “ing” makes it a verb—it’s work!

In the same way that exercise stretches muscles, sanctification stretches us.  Sanctification is a process that happens through your spiritual suffering.  You’ve heard from meatheads, “Pain is the feeling of weakness leaving the body.”  Jeet Kune Do prodigy and theologian Bruce Lee said, “Pain will leave once it’s done teaching you.”  Some people will feel pain more than others!  I can hear the soundtrack of my, and most other young men’s, youth playing now—scoring the montage of pain and err with Roger Alan Wade’s “If You’re Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough.”

And life is certainly not without its woes, but like Joseph and the Disciples, to whom else shall we turn?  Who else has the words of eternal life?  We can rejoice because Jesus is with us.  We can rejoice because God is steadily putting things right.  We can rejoice because one day, God will wipe away every tear (Rev 21:4).  The glory of God will cover the earth like the water covers the seas (Hab 2:14).

Application

That is our future hope; our current hope is in fellowship.  We are agents of God’s presence.  This is why this communion is paramount—because reconciliation is our task.

And no one cares what you know until they know you care.  Harsh legalism drives people away; your witness should inspire hope—Paul commended the idol-worshipping Athenians before proclaiming the unknown God, to whom they also had a shrine on Mars Hill (Acts 17:23).  Convincing isn’t part of our job—it’s the Spirit’s.  If you struggle with this, before you’re tempted to speak anything to someone and realize you’re trying to convince them, stop.  This is an indication that you should be praying for these individuals instead.  Convincing is not part of the equation; that’s the Spirit’s job!  When tempted to argue, pray for them—and yourself.  This is maturation and self-control.  This is sanctification, which is living in communion, becoming an active part of the Body of Christ, and doing the Kingdom work of reconciliation.  The Communion of Saints refers to the unity of all believers, living, deceased, and those yet to be born. 

Our mission is reconciliation: first personal (repenting, conforming to Christ), then corporate (The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19)).  In teaching and nurturing believers to grow in their faith, living out the teachings of Jesus in their daily lives, we are wearied.  I MEAN SANCTIFIED!

But really, we can’t develop true faith, which is repentance, forgiveness, patience, all of these things, without dirty, smelly sheep.  We need fellowship because Christ doesn’t look like any one of us.  He looks like all of us.  Seeing the Christlikeness in one another, viewing one another as an image bearer, is seeing one another in the way in which God intended.  That is sanctification.

And our instructions from Jesus and the Apostles are all about other people, that we will bear one another’s burdens; we’re told to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who need comfort, and celebrate with those who celebrate!

Illustration

During my chaplain residency, I struggled with a colleague with whom I had little patience for.  He was the John Mark to my Paul—he disappointed me on every occasion and abused everyone’s tolerance and boundaries.

One day before a 4-day weekend, I had a patient on my floor who was actively dying, but the family was completely unwilling to accept that.  There was no chance to start any kind of bereavement counseling because they weren’t grieving.  They’re asking for prayers for healing; they wanted a very particular miracle.  The kind where they have in mind a specific way for God to manifest within the confines of what they’re expecting.  When we do that, and I’m not saying that God doesn’t do the miraculous or answer prayer, but also, if you’re putting God in a box, buckle up for some disappointment.  Those were ‘inside thoughts’ I didn’t say out loud.

As I reviewed the weekend’s duty roster, I ensured my peers who would be working would check in with them, because there was a high chance that, given where they were spiritually, they would go from hope to hopelessness.  So I briefed everyone except one guy.  I instead tried to shield this family from my perceived incompetence of this guy.  He was often inappropriate, ignorant, awkward—even obstinate toward social norms—to the point that he was frequently asked to leave patients’ rooms, not only by patients themselves but also by medical providers.  I thought I was doing them a favor.

Coming back from the weekend, however, I’m immediately filled with frustration when he starts sharing about the family he had found.  I prepare for the worst.  When he reports that they had hit it off—the patient’s husband having previously served a tour in Africa as a pilot instructor for members of the Nigerian Air Force, this guy, being Nigerian, somehow provided exactly what they needed.

So, I swallowed a huge slice of humble pie, realizing that God can use anyone.  Praise the Lord that this guy wasn’t me because, in fact, I was the ineffective one in that situation.  It’s okay to not be on mission with everyone; again, there’s a reason I think we have the Acts 15 account of the fallout between Paul and Barnabas.  But if we give way to judgment, we put ourselves in God’s role and concede to this kind of thinking.

And I think to some extent we all do it from time to time—if we let that fester, we’ve lost our focus.  We’re no different than the Pharisee and the Tax Collector of Luke 18, the Pharisee praying, 11 “‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.’” The tax collector saying, “‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’”  Jesus says in verse 14, “I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified.”

If you’re wearied by your work, perhaps you don’t like your job, or feel like you’re appreciated or compensated well enough—remember your performance isn’t predicated on your employer, but your savior.  Let your work be your worship and witness to those working with you.  “[His] yoke is easy and [His] burden is light” (Matt 11:30).

Father Dan Reehil puts it like this:

When God wanted to make David a king, he didn’t give him a crown; he sent him Goliath, and when God wanted to raise up Joseph to the palace, he didn’t give him a shortcut; he gave him prison.  When God wanted to make Esther a queen, he didn’t give her comfort; he gave her a crisis.

The lesson here, the truth being communicated, is that anything that is worthwhile is going to require some sort of price, whether it’s a loss or some sort of risk; it’s going to carry a price or require work.

The blessing is always on the other side of a trial, and you need to get through your trial to get to the blessing.  We want the blessing, and when we’re unwilling to go through the trial or sacrifice whatever is required, maybe your trial is a tough season that feels like a beating, and you just need to endure it. 

Satan’s goal wasn’t to see Job suffer.  Satan’s goal was to make Job sin in his suffering.

Summary:

Believing in the “holy” catholic Church and communion of saints means committing to be set apart and ‘all in:’ saying, “God, whatever you want, I’m in.  ‘Here I am, send me!’”  And if you say that, buckle up!

Paul describes this outlook in Philippians 1:21 in a very solemn, somber tone: “To live is Christ, but to die is gain.”  Because one is to be present with Christ, while the other means living on in fruitful labor.  This is a guy who knew that performance was predicated on his savior.

Close

So be bold, but especially through prayer—greet and treat people as you would the Christ-likeness within them.  Because internal reconciliation is only half, corporate reconciliation establishes the Kingdom on earth.  And it’s only really Kingdom work when it’s done by participation in the Holy Spirit.

It’s “holy” because God sets it apart for His purposes.  Our mission is about other people; sanctification can’t happen in a vacuum.  We are fishers of men.  But it is the greatest comfort knowing that our performance is not predicated on any other measure of performance but in Christ alone.