Who are the Church, and What is Her Mission?

Apostles Creed…I believe in the Holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints

Let’s break this phrase down before we dig into our text for the day.

Holy, Pure, set apart, becoming holy, consecrated to the Lord, righteous, supernatural, in right standing with God.

catholic, means universal, or global church. Does not mean Roman Catholic Church. Quick history:

There was only one church, as we defined church, up until 1054, Great Schizm happened and the church split in half, making Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church. Each believed different things. Eastern priests could get married, Roman catholic could not. Eastern despised statues and preferred icons, where Roman Catholic did not do icons, but preferred statues. Probably most important, Roman Catholic church thought the Pope to be infallible and without error, truly representing the apostle Peter, upon whom Christ said He would build His church. Eastern Orthodox however, believed the pope to be just a man, and therefore infallible, and subject to error, thus creating their own network of bishops and priests working together, and not one pope to settle all matters. The catholic church were trying to play the role of God so to speak, and standing by the belief that they had the keys to heaven, and it is only through them that you can get there.

Fast forward to early 1500’s a few men, most notably Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and a few other reformers pushed back at the then current church, citing that we receive the gospel of Christ through faith, and faith alone. The catholic church at the time heavily emphasized the sacraments, most notably communion, and giving alms or tithing. Catholic church was on a power trip, thinking that one must tithe, partake of the Lords’ Supper in order to be saved and forgiven. A significant reason for this is that up until this time, there was not a printing press and most people did not have their own Bibles. The Scriptures were only in the hands of the elite, the catholic priests. At this time, Luther was ushering in what we now know to be the great Reformation. The church needed reform. The printing press was just being invented, Luther translated what was mostly up to this point in latin, to the modern vernacular, and presto, people started to read the Bible for themselves, which in turn sparked a revolution of what we now call denominations. There are a staggering 200 denominations in U.S. Today and 45,000 globally. I want to bring this up because I think it is important to show that though we have many different denominations, we, who profess, declare, and believe in Jesus Christ are a part of the same body. Denominations really just emphasize different parts of the Christian faith. Worship style, baptism, partaking of communion, philosophy of carrying out mission, different vocabulary used to express worship and make disciples, are the most notable distinguishing marks of why their are different denominations today. We are a part of the Friends denomination.

Some notable distinguishing marks of Friends:

Christ is the head of His Church, He teaches, He is in our midst, and the preacher facilitates what He wants spoken.

Equality. Men, women, both have ability to hold offices within the church, where some denominations interpret scripture different where women are not allowed to hold an office.

Sacraments, means of divine grace to lean into. Some denominations say you are not saved until you are baptized by water submersion, where we say baptism is a spiritual endeavor to be saved, and water baptism is an outward act, confirming an inward reality of new life in Christ. For instance.

That is a brief history of the church, now let’s take a look at, and clarify who the church is.

Who is the Church?: The church is One with Trinity

John 17:11

John 17:11 NRSV

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

that they may be one, even as we are one. Despite the radical difference between the infinite, mysteriously triune Creator and His finite human creatures, the unity of persons in the Trinity is the pattern for the unity of believers with one another through their union with Christ . There is a unity of purpose and essence in the invisible church, the body of Christ. This perfect unity (Eph. 4:12–16), to be manifested on the day of Christ, already forms and shapes God’s people and should be observable in the visible church as well, so “that the world may believe” (v. 21) and know that the Father has sent Jesus the Son (v. 23). Organizational unity is no substitute for spiritual unity, although organizational divisions and separations among Christians undoubtedly bear a negative witness to Christ in the world.

John 17:20-21

John 17:20–21 NIV

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

SO THAT, the world may believe that You have sent me. AS the Church becomes one, the world sees, and they believe.

Construction Illustration:

Anyone ever been a part of a construction site, either a new building, or a remodel?

Starts with a plan/divine plan. Hundreds of different pieces wording together to accomplish the goal of a present blueprint realized. Massive amounts of people working on project with hundreds of different sets of skills and gifts. All working together, dancing around each other, sacrifice for each other, coordinating with each other, animating one another... all for a common goal. The common goal is what unites us. THAT they world may believe. My wife and I have some very good news to share with you at the end of this message about fulfilling our part of the common goal of showing the world Jesus and believing in Him.

Who is the Church?: The Body of Christ

Apostle Paul has a few lists when He talks about the Body of Christ:

Romans 12: 3-5

Romans 12:3–5 NIV

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Romans 12:6-8

Romans 12:6–8 NIV

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

In speaking about the gifts in God’s people:

Read 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

Read 1 Corinthians 12: 14-18

No gifts more important the other. Body language of backdrop of Paul’s teaching in body. This was a way to describe the society of the day, where there are individuals that are more important than the others. Class was a sign of identity, good or bad. Paul wants to radically re-interpret that word for the Church. We need all gifts represented to build the house. Need to have a good general contractor/Holy Spirit. So it is with church universal, building house is a microcosm of universal church. Think universal church builds a housing developing area of hundreds or thousands of houses that are under one umbrella, all requiring unique and distant gifts to accomplish.

God has gifted every single one of His people with a supernatural gift, for the common good of the church, for the building up or edification of the entire church.