Apostles' Creed Sermon - 12

Apostles’ Creed – the communion of saints

John 12:1-8

1. Introduction – Today we are finishing our look at the word ‘holy.’ It has appeared in the last couple of lines.

a. I believe in the Holy Spirit – hagios. I believe in the holy catholic church – hagios.

i. And today the line we’re studying simply states “I believe in the communion of the saints – and again the word is hagios, which literally means ‘holy.’

b. Holy is what the Spirit is because he is part of the Godhead. We believe that our God is three-in-one. There is only one, but that one God exists eternally in 3 parts – known as Father, Son and Spirit.

c. Last week we learned that the church is holy. But we realized that it is holy not based on anything we do or anything we are.

i. The church isn’t holy because of the moral perfection of its members, the church is holy because of the Spirit’s presence in this place.

1. We learned last week that this holiness is both a divine gift and an urgent task. It is something we are, yet something we must strive towards.

a. It is a status of identity and a desperate plea for God to help us become what he has called us to be.

d. And so today we come to the line “I believe in the communion of saints” – communion of the holy.

i. And here’s what we’re going to do today. We’re going to examine this word ‘saint.’ We’ll look at what it means and what it looks like to be a saint.

1. And then we’ll dive head first into this word ‘communion’ and look at the importance of meeting together as a local church.

2. Saints, what it means – Did you know the term the apostle Paul used most often in reference to Christians in this word hagios – saint.

a. Look at the opening verses of most of his letters and more often than not, you will see the word saint or ‘holy ones.’

i. Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Ephesians, and so one.

1. They all repeat this word – to the ‘saints’ to the holy ones, to the saints. What does this mean?

b. Well, much like what we looked at last week in regards to the holiness of the church – to call a Christian a saint is both a statement of identity and a desperate plea.

i. The title ‘saint’ has nothing to do with being canonized by the church, but has everything to do with living a life dependent on God.

c. The title ‘saint’ is a reminder of what we are in Christ. Because of who Christ is, because of his status as Saviour and Lord of your life, upon your conversion you were sanctified. You became hagios – holy. You became a saint.

i. But, this is also a call to become what we already are. It is a reminder that we need to always be striving towards holiness. We need to progress in our sanctification, progress in becoming more Christlike in our attitude, our character and our actions.

d. And this title should fill us with humility. When we hear this title, saint, it causes us to recognizes that sometimes I’m not very holy – sometimes you’re not very holy.

i. This should cause us to do an honest assessment of our character and our shortcomings – and so then in turn we pray more earnestly for God to do a work in those areas of our lives.

1. Wherever your shortcomings may be; wherever you are still struggling to put to death the deeds of the sinful nature…

a. Whether you’re prone to anxiety, fits of rage, jealousy, gossip, slander, greed, selfishness, lush, or apathy.

i. Hearing this word, hearing this title – you are a saint – hearing it repeated over and over again, it has to cause us to strive toward that holiness – that calling to which we have been called.

e. It shouldn’t fill us with apathy and complacency. We can’t think to ourselves, “I’ve said the sinner’s prayer, I’m going to heaven when I die or Jesus comes back – what more do I need to do?”

i. And if that is your attitude toward holiness, then you’ve completely missed the point of your salvation.

1. You were saved in order to be sanctified. You were saved in order to be a new creation. And yes, you became that immediately at your conversion. You were positionally sanctified, your status before God changed from sinner to saint.

a. But hearing this, knowing that you are already a saint, that you have been made holy – that must cause us to strive toward holiness, as we recognize that there are areas in our lives where we are not only.

f. To see those flaws in our character, to see those sins that are still defeating us – that must cause us to grow in our dependence on God and put to death, continually, our sinful nature.

i. Will we ever reach perfection? Not in this lifetime, but thank God, we don’t have to. Thank God, he sent Jesus to be our Saviour.

3. Saint, what it looks like – So what does it look like to be a saint? I want to tell you a story and then we’ll apply some truths from this story. The story is found in John 12 and also in Mark 14 and Luke 7.

a. In this story, Jesus was at a dinner party and we’re told that at this dinner party, Mary came to the table, smashed open a perfume bottle and proceed to wash Jesus’ feet.

i. This is an absolutely incredible scene. Picture this. Mary kneels a Jesus’ feet. She snaps the lid off a pottery flask and begins to pour the content on Jesus’ feet.

1. Onlookers are startled, stunned, and then they are mortified when they see, and smell what is going on.

b. I can see the onlookers starting to mutter to each other… “I recognize that smell! I think that’s pure nard, imported from India. My wife had some, it’s expensive. And look, it’s soaking into the cracks in the floor. It’s being wasted. Nard perfume is too valuable, too precious to be wasted like that.

i. I didn’t make enough money in the last three years combine to buy a bottle of that stuff, and now, all that pure nard is just gone…wasted.”

1. But it wasn’t wasted, because in this scene Mary gives us a wonderful example of what it means and what it looks like to be a saint.

c. In this scene, Mary exemplifies sainthood. She is excessive, spontaneous, and even a little reckless in her devotion to Jesus.

i. The difference between Mary and the rest of us is this. We go at life from this way. We get our lives in order – organized over time. We have our commitments, our busy-ness, our work, our hobbies, socializing, tackling the mortgage, striving for a promotion, and getting the kids to soccer.

1. We aren’t evil, we may even be doing good. But our lives are pretty much booked up.

a. Then we come to God with whatever we’ve got left. “Well God, I want to be a Christian,” we say, “I’ve got 5 minutes and 5 bucks left over, so here you go.”

d. But Mary came to Jesus, saints come to God and say, “It’s all yours. No prior commitment is sacred. Whatever you want me to do with my time…

i. Whatever you want me to do with my possessions, with my energy, it’s all yours.”

1. Mary came to Jesus with perfume that costs 3 years’ wages – something she couldn’t really afford, something she had no business having – it was probably her most prized possession…

a. And she literally poured it out at Jesus’ feet.

i. That’s sainthood – giving our all to him.

e. At the end of our lives, all of us will end up in a cemetery somewhere. And be assured that God will not ask you, “Hey., what did you do with that 5 bucks and 5 minutes you had left over?”

i. No, God will ask, “What did you do with all that I gave you? All those possessions? All that energy? All that time? All that talent?”

1. “Were you stingy and complacent? Or were you like Mary? Did your salvation, your sanctification, your sainthood, make a difference in your life, in your attitude, in your priorities and in your striving toward holiness?”

a. Sainthood is coming to God with all that you have, no matter the cost.

4. Communion – For the rest of our time this morning, I would like to examine this word ‘communion.’

a. Very simply put, this line could easily say, “I believe in the fellowship of believers.”

b. Last week, we studied that fact that we are part of the holy catholic church. We learned that God is at work through gospel preaching, Christ glorifying churches all over the planet.

i. But we were also introduced to the fact that as Christians, we are also to be part of a local church.

1. The church simultaneously exists on 2 levels. At a worldwide universal level, but that worldwide church is made up of locally established church bodies.

a. Each church is fulfilling their purpose and gospel mandate in their own communities.

c. But as we dive into this topic of the fellowshipping of believers, I have to point out a bias of mine right away. I love the church. Specifically, I love the local church. I think the local church and belonging to a local church is of utmost importance for your Christian growth and development.

i. The apostles lived and died to establish local churches. Half of the NT are letters written to local churches.

d. A few years ago, I was at the Global Leadership Summit, and Billy Hybels was giving one of his presentations and in it he said this line, “the local church is the hope of the world.”

i. And you want to know something…he’s right!

1. It’s the local church that drives the universal church. Local churches are commissioned to share the gospel within their communities.

a. Local churches are commissioned to support and send our missionaries.

i. The local church, as Hybels said, is the steward of the gospel.

e. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or looked around you lately, but our society and the world around is deteriorating rather quickly.

i. Having morals seems to be a thing of the past, and truth in our society is a relative term.

1. Whatever is good for you is good for you, but don’t try to push your beliefs on me.

f. The church is being pushed to the margins of society – and while this is something to be lamented, it isn’t altogether a bad thing.

i. As a church, as the people of God, we are to offer the world an alternative – something different than what the rest of the world has to offer. If we are going to make a difference than we have to actually be different.

1. And what we have is a message of hope in hopeless world.

a. We have a message of belonging in a desperately lonely world.

i. And as a local expression of God’s church, that is what we offer. Hope. We have the good news of Jesus Christ to offer.

g. If we are relying on institutions, or something in the government’s budget or programs or education to change our society, then our hope is in the wrong things.

i. God uses his church to change to society – he uses his church to offer the message of Jesus; God uses to the church to reach out to people with the love and grace and forgiveness offered in Jesus Christ.

1. Government isn’t the hope of the world, you are. The local church, it really is the hope of the world.

5. Communing Together – So what does this communion look like?

a. What does it look like to fellowship together in the local church?

i. We said last week that church is community. We belong to a church to know others and to be known by others – to love others and be loved by others.

1. We recognized that sometimes that causes friction – but that friction, if we allow it to, can actually be used to smooth down the rough patches of our own character.

a. But I’ve been using a word strategically this morning, the word is ‘belong.’ Belonging to a church is so much more than attending.

b. The local church is the place where the 59 ‘one another’ statements of the NT are lived and worked out.

i. The local church is the battleground of the ‘one another’ statements.

1. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these statements, the NT is filled with these statements that contain these two words ‘one another.’

a. Some are stated in the positive – do this for each other.

i. And some are stated in the negative – don’t do this to each other.

c. So, the local church is the place where you put down roots and say, “This is my church family. Through thick and thin, I commit myself to work out the ‘one anothers’ in this place with these people.”

i. No matter my faults, no matter their faults, this is the place where I want to know people and have them know me.

1. This is the place where I want to grow in my love for other people and experience the love other people have for me.

a. This is the place where I want to love, exhort, encourage, bear burdens, and so on and so on.

i. It won’t be easy, but we are never promised that it will be easy. Belonging to a church is so much more than attending – belonging means being willing to work out the ‘one anothers’ no matter how hard it gets.

d. Every so often at our church, I talk about church membership. The NT actually assumes that Christians will share in the life of the local church together.

i. In this church, a Baptist Church, we believe in formalized church membership.

1. It is completely voluntary, but I believe it is really important.

e. Church membership is a covenant between members. That you will be faithful, you will grow, support, give to, and pray for this church.

i. And in turn, the church – it’s leadership and members – covenant with you to pray for you and to aid and assist you in your spiritual growth.

f. Being a church member or not being a church member is kinda like the difference between being marred or just living together.

i. If a couple is just living together, there’s no formal covenant keeping them together – and one member and split at any time.

1. But in marriage, there’s been a formal, public covenant made. To love and to cherish, to have and to hold – all of those good things.

g. Well, with church membership, it’s the same thing. It’s the formalization of a relationship. It’s the forming of a covenant between two partners.

i. Just like marriage is the formalizing of the covenant of love between a man and a woman...

1. Church membership is a formal, public covenant stating that this church is the place where you are willing to work out the one anothers with the people who call this church home.

6. Conclusion – I believe in the communion of saints. It’s hard to imagine a Christian who doesn’t have a love for God’s people and God’s church.

a. It’s hard to imagine a church without an enjoyment of corporate worship.

i. As Christians, we must be committed to the communion of saints – serving one another, serving our community, nurturing ourselves on the gospel and hungering for a regular diet of biblical instruction.

b. To be committed to this communion, this gathering, this fellowship means to live out those beautiful yet difficult one another statements.

i. It involves meeting together for worship and encouragement, for teaching from the Word.

1. It also meets humbling ourselves and submitting ourselves to accountability.

a. And it means sharing in the work of our common mission.

c. I love the local church. It is the most frustratingly beautiful entity in the whole world.

i. And if we are wholeheartedly committed to holiness, to one another and to our common mission of spreading the gospel, then Bill Hybels is right – the local church is the hope of world.