I Believe --- Apostles' Creed --- Communion of Saints

I Believe --- Communion of Saints

Ephesians 4:1-16 & Hebrews 12:1-3

“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.” Ephesians 4:4-6

We have a lot of ground to cover before we get to communion. We have been working our way through the Apostles’ Creed over the past seven weeks. We know that this creed was used as a baptismal confession and was an early teaching of the church. Creed means believe, so the Apostles’ Creed would mean what the apostles believed. And—I’m really happy that we will be doing an actual baptism this week.

Join with me the reading of the Apostle’s Creed.

The Apostles’ Creed

1. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

2. and in Jesus Christ, His only (begotten) Son, our Lord;

3. who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,

4. suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried;

He descended into hell;

5. the third day he rose again from the dead;

6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

7. from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

8. I believe in the Holy Ghost,

9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,

10. the forgiveness of sins,

11. the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen

We have two New Testament readings for today. The first reading comes from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. Paul loved the church in Ephesus and spent three years there with the saints. The second reading comes from the letter to Hebrews. No one knows for sure who wrote the book but many scholars believe that Paul was the author.

Let us come to the throne of grace and pray before we open God’s Word.

“God, You are the creator and sustainer of life. We give You our lives and ask that the Holy Spirit would come and transform these written words into the living word of life that will forever change our heart and mind. Thank you for the living example of Jesus and help us to walk in the light and truth of Your Words. Amen”

Ephesians 4:1-16

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.[i]

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.[ii]

I am amazed and overwhelmed to think that for over 1800 years the faithful followers of Christ have gathered week after week. They have repeated these simple words of faith. From homes, to caves, to ships, to prisons, large and small churches have gathered to confess what they believe. “I believe in God the Father! I believe in Jesus Christ! I believe in the Holy Spirit! I believe in the church … communion of the saints! I believe in the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting! Amen!”

So What?

What do you believe? Who do you believe today? Why do you believe?

Let’s jump into the deep end of the pool of faith.

I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church

What does it mean when we say that we believe in the holy catholic church? First, we need to note that words holy catholic church are not capitalized as in the Holy Roman Catholic Church; no, the letters are all lower case. If you’d look it up in the dictionary, you’d learn that it means, “all embracing.” When we say we believe in the holy, catholic church, we are saying we believe in the all-embracing—backwards and forwards—church. From the time of Jesus Christ through today, we believe in this holy, all embracing body of Christ.

Someone told me the other day that their son had a tattoo on his shoulder. “IBIB” I believe! I belong! When we say that we believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are saying that we belong to body of Christ called the church. The Greek word for church is “ekklesia” and it literally means “those who are called out.” The word “catholic” simply means universal, all embracing. Stop and think for a minute. Imagine all of the churches throughout the past almost 21 centuries. Think of all of the different continents (7) on earth. Think of all of the different cultures. Each local gathering of believers belongs to the one universal, all-embracing church because of the very profession Paul wrote about in Ephesians … “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.” The word “one” is used 7 times in these three-short verses. Seven is the number of completeness. “One Body --- One Spirit --- One Hope --- One Lord --- One Faith --- One Baptism --- One God and Father of all!” The church is universal or catholic because it makes up an all embracing microcosm of human society. The church --- “the ekklesia” --- “the called out ones”--includes every kind of person: rich or poor, male or female, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, white, black, brown, yellow, red, all colors. And it is the waters of baptism that makes all of our social divisions irrelevant. The thirteenth-century Italian theologian, Thomas Aquinas, wrote, “because no one is rejected, neither lord nor servant, neither male or female.”[iii]

Stop and think about this for a minute. Jesus gathered around Him twelve disciples. He taught them for three years and then commissioned them to go out and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching all that he had commanded. This was the beginning of the church, the called out ones and we are a part of this all-embracing community.

Matthew 28:18-20 says … Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

When we confess that we believe in the holy catholic church, we are saying that from the very beginning of the Christian church in 33 AD…through to this very day…we affirm and we believe in the fact that this church is holy, all-embracing and universal. Not just this church, the SEED, and not just the other 37 million churches around the world (thank you, google) TODAY but we are saying that we believe that the body of Christ from the days of Christ to today—we believe in this body—past, present and future.

I Believe in the Communion of Saints!

First, the word “saint” means “someone who is holy.” Have you ever thought of yourself as holy? Have you ever thought of yourself as a saint? Christians are holy, not because of anything we have inside of us, or anything that we have done or could do. Christians are holy because of the ONE who called us is HOLY! The fact that we are called saint or holy has nothing to do with our merits, our piety, or sanctity of life, it has everything to do with the fact that God is HOLY and we responded to His call to come home and belong to Him. To say that we believe in the “communion of saints” does not mean that we believe in a holy club, it means we believe in a HOLY GOD who has called us to belong to a community of believers. I love how Paul opens his letter the church in Corinth, Corinthians 1:2; “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:”

When Jesus called Levi, the tax-collector, Levi was a sinner and an outcast. Yet Jesus called him. When Jesus joined Matthew (Levi) for dinner in Matthew’s home, the people became upset. Jesus was hanging around hypocrites, tax-collectors and sinners. Yet, Jesus responded this way, “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” (Mark 2:17)

Saint Augustine, a great writer and theologian of the late fourth and early fifth century, said “the church is a hospital.” The church is full of sick people who are desperately in need of a cure. The church is really a fellowship of forgiven sinners. We are sinners who walk in the “ONE BAPTISM, ONE HOPE, ONE FORGIVENSSES, ONE FAITH, in the ONE LORD JESUS AND GOD THE FATHER OF ALL.”

We are the communion of saints because we live in the hope and faith of God’s outrageous grace. A grace that is so outrageous that it calls us, the most excellent of sinners, holy!

I believe in the holy catholic Church, and I believe in the communion of saints. Communion means a sharing of something we have in common. Each time we meet, we are sharing in the fellowship of Christ. It’s one of the reasons we called THE SEED…the SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP…instead of church. Each time we meet, we are sharing our common fellowship in Christ—and we believe in this sharing. We believe in the community we have here, and in the community of Christ that we share with the other 3 billion believers on planet earth!

I am reminded of the story written by Walter Wangerin called, “The Ragman”.

I saw a strange sight. I stumbled upon a story most strange, like nothing in my life, my street sense, my sly tongue had ever prepared me for. Hush, child. hush now, and I will tell it to you.

Even before the dawn one Friday morning I noticed a young man, handsome and strong, walking the alleys of our City. He was pulling an old cart filled with clothes both bright and new, and he was calling in a clear tenor voice: 'Rags!' Ah, the air was foul and the first light filthy to be crossed by such sweet music.

'Rags! New rags for old! I take your tired rags! Rags!'

'Now this is a wonder,' I thought to myself, for the man stood six-feet-four, and his arms were like tree limbs, hard and muscular, and his eyes flashed intelligence. Could he find no better job than this, to be a ragman in the inner city?

I followed him. My curiosity drove me. And I wasn't disappointed.

Soon the ragman saw a woman sitting on her back porch. She was sobbing into a handkerchief, signing, and shedding a thousand tears. Her knees and elbows made a sad X. Her shoulders shook. Her heart was breaking.

The Ragman stopped his cart. Quietly, he walked to the woman, stepping round tin cans, dead toys, and Pampers.

'Give me your rag,' he said gently. 'and I'll give you another.'

He slipped the handkerchief from her eyes. She looked up, and he laid across her palm a linen cloth so clean and new that it shined. She blinked from the gift to the giver.

Then, as he began to pull his cart again, the Ragman did a strange thing: he put her stained handkerchief to his own face; and then he began to weep, to sob as grievously as she had done, his shoulders shaking. Yet she was left without a tear.

'This is a wonder,' I breathed to myself, and I followed the sobbing Ragman like a child who cannot turn away from mystery.

'Rags! Rags! New Rags for old!"

In a little while, when the sky showed grey behind the rooftops and I could see the shredded curtains hanging out black windows, the Ragman came upon a girl whose head was wrapped in a bandage, whose eyes were empty. Blood soaked her bandage. A single line of blood ran down her cheek.

Now the tall Ragman looked upon this child with pity, and he drew a lovely yellow bonnet from his cart.

'Give me your rag,' he said, tracing his own line on her cheek, 'and I'll give you mine.'

The child could only gaze at him while he loosened the bandage, removed it, and tied it to his own head. The bonnet he set on hers. And I gasped at what I saw: for with the bandage went the wound! Against his brow it ran a darker, more substantial blood -- his own!

'Rags! Rags! I take old rags!' cried the sobbing, bleeding, strong, intelligent Ragman.

The sun hurt both the sky, now, and my eyes; the Ragman seemed more and more to hurry.

'Are you going to work?' he asked a man who leaned against a telephone pole. The man shook his head. The Ragman pressed him: 'Do you have a job?"

'Are you crazy?' sneered the other. He pulled away from the pole, revealing the right sleeve of his jacket -- flat, the cuff stuffed into the pocket. He had no arm.

'So,' said the Ragman. 'Give me your jacket, and I'll give you mine.'

So much quiet authority in his voice!

The one-armed man took off his jacket. So did the Ragman -- and I trembled at what I saw: for the Ragman's arm stayed in its sleeve, and when the other put it on, he had two good arms, thick as tree limbs; but the Ragman had only one.

'Go to work,' he said.

After that he found a drunk, lying unconscious beneath an army blanket, an old man, hunched, wizened, and sick. He took that blanket and wrapped it round himself, but for the drunk he left new clothes.

And now I had to run to keep up with the Ragman. Though he was weeping uncontrollably, and bleeding freely at the forehead, pulling his cart with one arm, stumbling for drunkenness, falling again and again, exhausted, old, old, and sick, yet he went with terrible speed. On spider's legs he skittered through the alleys of the City, this mile and the next, until he came to its limits, and then he rushed beyond.

I wept to see the change in this man. I hurt to see his sorrow. And yet I need to see where he was going in such haste, perhaps to know what drove him so.

The little old Ragman -- he came to a landfill. He came to the garbage pits. And I waited to help him in what he did but I hung back, hiding. He climbed a hill. With tormented labor he cleared a little space on that hill. Then he signed. He lay down. He pillowed his head on a handkerchief and a jacket. He covered his bones with an army blanket. And he died.

Oh how I cried to witness that death! I slumped in a junked car and wailed and mourned as one who has no hope -- because I had come to love the Ragman. Every other face had faded in the wonder of this man, and I cherished him; but he died. I sobbed myself to sleep.

I did not know -- how could I know? -- that I slept through Friday night and Saturday and its night too.

But then, on Sunday morning, I was wakened by a violence.

Light -- pure, hard, demanding light -- slammed against my sour face, and I blinked, and I looked, and I saw the first wonder of all. There was the Ragman, folding the blanket most carefully, a scar on his forehead, but alive! And, besides that, healthy! There was no sign of sorrow or age, and all the rags that he had gathered shined for cleanliness.

Well, then I lowered my head and, trembling for all that I had seen, I myself walked up to the Ragman. I told him my name with shame, for I was a sorry figure next to him. Then I took off all my clothes in that place, and I said to him with dear yearning in my voice: 'Dress me."

He dressed me. My Lord, he put new rags on me, and I am a wonder beside him. The Ragman, the Ragman, the Christ![iv]

This is exactly what we say when we say that we believe in the holy, catholic church and that we believe in the communion of saints. For all of our sins, for all of our wrongdoings, for all of our bad choices, we believe that Jesus Christ will trade us our rags for His.

There’s an Irish tale told of a young woman and a priest. She never went up for communion. She felt she was too much of a sinner. One day, the priest walked over to her and whispered, “Take it, Lassie, it’s for sinners.”

As we say the Apostles’ Creed, may we understand what it is that we believe.

Let us pray …

The Seed Christian Fellowship

Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

August 4, 2019

Pastor Dave Peters

[i] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Eph 4:1–16). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[ii] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Heb 12:1–3). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[iii] Thomas Aquinas, Sermon- Confessions of St Thomas Aquinas on the Apostles Creed

[iv] Ragman by Walter Wangerin, Jr.