The Holy Catholic Church, The Communion of Saints

Introduction

This morning if I wanted to be provocative I could stand up here and say, “Happy Halloween”. I am sure that if those were the first words out of my mouth you would feel a sense of discouragement that I did so, or you would notice that something wasn't right or on the other end you might say Happy Halloween back to me. I think the context is key for the interpretation of my remarks. For those who know me and my views would understand that for me to say Happy Halloween in the worship service there must be a reason behind it. Honestly, for me writing a sermon or a blog post, trying to figure out the wording is the hardest part. If you place a word in a sentence that doesn't mean exactly what you want it to, it will cause issues with the hearers.

For you there were probably two parts in the apostles creed that you were unsure of. I dont think that the problem stems from the author, like in the instance of me saying happy Halloween. I think it stems from our own lack of understanding behind the content of the Creed itself.

If I were able to read your minds months ago when we started the creed the two part that you may have been unsure of were The section of , “he descended to Hell” the second one being this section that we come to today, “The Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints”. Our protestant Baptist ears tingle hearing the Holy catholic church just as much, if not more, as it would if I had started with “Happy Halloween”.

This is because of the work of God through the Protestant Reformation. The beginning of the Reformation of the Church is attributed to Martin Luther. Luther on this day October 31st in 1517 an Augustinian Monk nailed his 95 Thesis on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. This act of defiance by Luther to the Roman Catholic church caused a catalyst, in which much needed reform happened. This reformation began then in the Roman Catholic church And we are still influenced it today.

This may be why when we get to this section in the Apostles Creed we tend to struggle with it. We tend to turn our noses to the word Catholic in this early church creed. For us to understand the language that is used here we must understand its context. We must understand who the church is. For us to understand the dynamic of the church and the universality that encompasses such an organism, we must see what the church is supposed to do.

This morning as you turn to Ephesians 4:1-16 The writers of the creed knew what they were doing. When they placed The holy catholic church, the communion of saints in this spot. For everything is built upon another throughout the creed. We have confessed that we believe in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As we saw last week, because of Jesus’s work, because of Jesus’s death burial and Resurrection, on behalf of our sins. Because of our faith in Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit, and one of the gifts that we are given through the Holy Spirit is that we are brought into the Holy Catholic Church which is the communion of saints.

This confession in the way that it is written shows that the communion of saints is the Holy Catholic Church. Those who are in Christ, have been united with one another through which they commune together. We see this in a local manner of the gathering of the Church. Here today as we worship God. We as those who have been saved by God’s glorious grace, gather together to participate in Worship to our Lord and Savior. That is the reason we come this morning. We come in hopes of bring praise and honor to Jesus. This is why we sing. We lift up our voices in Praise and honor to Jesus. This is why we pray corporately. This is why we take offering. This is why we preach the word. It is all for the purposes of the worship of Jesus in the local church.

If we were to define what a local church is we would say, that the Local church is the gathering of believers who covenant together to love God, love people, share Jesus through making Disciples. Simple right. Its in our mission as the church and it is on our website. We as members of Macedonia Baptist church gather together in covenant with one another to love God, love people, share Jesus through making Disciples. We are the local church here on Macedonia Rd in Edenton, NC.

For the Catholic Church, we should understand that Catholic also means universal. The catholic church is where we see all of the local churches in all nations, all people groups, all tongues, all tribes, and throughout all time are encompassed. There is a unity in the gospel and in Jesus Christ that is seen both in the local church and the catholic church. The Catholic church is expressed and seen in and through the local church. My hope today is that you will see this section of this creed in new light, I pray that you will see this section not as something to mumble through but as a means in which your confessing the universality of the Christian Church and through this confession it would bring you joy and hope in the gospel. Knowing that you are united together with one another throughout the world in past and present. This morning, Lets Stand as we Confess what we believe through this creed.

The Apostles Creed

Read Ephesians 4:1-16

Pray.

As I stated in my introduction We as members of Macedonia Baptist church gather together in covenant to love God, love people, share Jesus through making Disciples. We as the church should strive to fulfill our mission. We as a church have made a promise to each other and to God to gather together for the purpose of Loving God, Loving people and making disciples. This morning I want to show you through this these couple verses how we should accomplish these tasks set forth in the mission statement of the church and through this mission statement, we can be the Catholic Church, the communion of saints.

Unity is the key to maintaining the communion of the saints. (1-6)

First, I want you to see that We as a church should be unified in everything that we do.

Paul before this section this portion of scripture states that we all were alienated from the people of God, We were dead in our sins but Christ has made us alive to and he has saved us through faith so that we may walk in good works through Jesus. Paul describes that We were far off but we have been brought near to God. Because of Jesus we have been brought reconciliation to us and God and has caused us to become part of one body. This is the Body of Christ. This is the church. All of those who have been saved in Christ have been given one spirit and a citizenship with all the other saints in the household of God.

See the Church is not build on anything else but Jesus Christ. Jesus himself is the cornerstone of the church. He is means in which the church is built. Jesus is the means in which the church is joined together.

We even understand that in Acts. The church gathered together because they had everything in common. This communal aspect concerning the body of Christ wasn't in politics, It wasn't in football team, It wasn't the type of car or truck they preferred. This commonality was in Jesus and him alone.

The church should be unified in Christ alone. Paul then demonstrated through Chapter 3 That there should be unity because the gospel had been made known to him and the church. Through the gospel the God had brought together both Jews and Gentiles into one family. Paul then prays that the church would be grounded in love for Christ and that the church in Ephesus would be filled with the fullness of God.

Paul leaving the doctrine portion of his letter then begins in Verse 1 of Ephesians 4. stating that he is a prisoner of the Lord. This is the second time that Paul states this. The first time is in chapter 3 verse 1. Paul is describing his personal union with Christ. He is situated as a prisoner of the Lord. He is held captive by the grace of Jesus Christ. Paul is situated with Christ because of his union with Christ, and that union with Christ causes him to be different. His doctrine influences or fuels his devotion. The things that he knows about God and his church, the things that he knows about his savior, causes him to live in a different way.

We must as Christians take what we know in our minds and let it influence how we live. We learn so that we may participate. The local gathering of the church is not just a come and learn, but it is also a go and do. We gather in the local church so we can scatter.

When we Love God, as the bible says to love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength then that is what causes us to be able to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is what Paul gets to in the next couple of verses. Paul explains that those who are in the church need to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling in which you have been called.”

Brothers and Sisters, this is Paul reminding the church of the calling that they have been called to in Christ. We who are in the church have to continue in working for the glory of God. We must make sure that we are balancing out our doctrine with our devotion. If all we do is intake, intake, intake then our devotion is missing.

If we come to church every Sunday just to be given information, intake, bible study, intake, prayer meeting, intake, and we don't do anything with it, we do not have devotion. This is one of the problems in the modern church that in which we need reform. Our society has made us as in-takers. Materialism has caused us to intake everything that we can. Social Media has caused us to just want more and more easily at our fingertips while we are sitting on the couch.. Facebook live has caused us to become in-takers, we have the ability to watch from home without gathering with the body, we are neglecting that aspect of our devotion, we are in-takers. (I do want to say that Covid is still much a thing no matter if we act like it or not) We need to make sure that we are clear if you are worried about your health and that is not why you are gathering i understand. But i am also speaking to those who are not gathering and who are going to the store, to the mall, to the activities throughout town. Then on Sundays you intake, you are not balanced.

If something doesn't entertain us, or satisfy our needs, then we quit paying attention to it. Those in the church has become consumers rather than participates. The local Church has become what I get out of it rather than how can I serve God in, around, and through the local church.

We are not balanced.

Now, The opposite can happen to. Our metaphorical scales can tip, we can have the devotion to God, we can do all these wonderfully good things for Christ. We can serve in Sunday school, nursery, choir, with the youth, with the children. but we miss our doctrine. We don't study the word of God, we don't listen to the sermons, we don't pray. Our doctrine is not balanced with our devotion. How often does this happen? When we don't balance our doctrine with our devotion then we are not walking in a manner worthy of the calling that we have been called.

As Christians in the local church we must strive for unity. Unity begins with a balance of our doctrine and our devotion. For the Ephesian church, Paul has laid our the doctrine portion, so he moves on the the devotion portion of his scripture.

Those who have been called to Christ have been called into a community of believers who gather together and put effort to be unified. Our walk must change. See we are called to unity. We are called to be one, we are called to come together balanced and worthy. We are to be the local expression of the universal church here in Edenton.

what does this look like for us to be walking in unity? It begins in our holiness. The way that we look different than the world.

verse 2 - 3. We are to walk in all humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We must be walking with all humility. Pridefulness destroys unity. Note that Paul doesn't say some humility. That would be as if you say I will place your needs above mine unless it comes to my preferences. I will place your needs above mine unless you touch something that is dear to me. We are to walk in all humility. It is a all encompassing act that we are to do nothing our of selfish ambition but in humility we are to count others better than ourselves. As one author writes, “For unity to exist, humble selfless people must be living for the good of others.” (CCE, Merida, 95)

Paul says that we should walk in gentleness. we should be gentle with others. Remember Paul restates gentleness as a fruit of the spirit. Jesus says that he is gentle and lowly in spirit. We must imitate Christ’s gentleness with one another in the way that we approach and act. Gentleness is not harsh or domineering, but is kind and loving.

Next Paul says we need to be patience, bearing with one another in love. We need to be slow to speak and slow to anger. Patience is a endurance that does not abandon hope. Just as the farmer is patience and bears the weather and the scorching heat to see the crop grow to maturity so must we be patience knowing that sanctification of other believers is a process.

All of these can be summed up as being eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit the bond of peace. Can this be said about us brothers and sisters? Are we eager to maintain unity? Or are we eager for dissatisfaction? Are we eager for hearing our opinion? Are we eager for conflict? We must not be divisive! We must be united as a body of Christ! Why?

Paul tells us… why… because we are one. verses 4-6.

There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We must strive for the unity that is found in God, for we confess one body, which is seen in the universal Church. I think that it is clear here The importance of unity in the church. Seven times Paul uses the word one. We are unified in the Spirit. The same spirit that indwells us also indwells all of those in Christ. This is the same spirit that has been given to us as a guarantee of our inheritance. This spirit unites us to other believers.

We have one hope, that one day we will be without sin and be able to be with our Lord worshiping him for all of eternity.

Our one Hope is through our one Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot have other Lords, or allegiances in the church. You cannot make yourself Lord over the church. I cannot be lord over the church. Pastor Chris cannot be lord over the church. We have one Lord and his name is Jesus.

Through one Faith, believing in Jesus. We all in the church have faith in Jesus Christ.

One baptism everyone who is baptised is now united to all those before them in the church. baptism is the entry way into the church

one God and father of all. We confess that there is one God, not many different Gods. We confess the most high God. That is why we can be unified over this.

For those of you who may not believe any of this and are just here because of whatever reason. I don't want you to think that this gathering of people is just like any other. We are different than a crowd that comes together at a football game, we are different than a crowd that comes together at a concert. We are different than those who come together to support our political campaign. All of these different things we go to for entertainment. We don't come gathering as the church to be entertained. I hope you see that. We all come from different walks of life, but we have everything in common. We have a savior who has saved us by his wondrous grace for his own praise and glory.

See the end goal for the local church here in its unity. That God be the one over everything that we do here at Macedonia Baptist, through everything we do here at Macedonia, and in Everything we do in Macedonia. See the church, the church is important. The church is important because when we come together we are aligning ourselves with something. We are aligning ourselves with Jesus as our king. We are pledging our alliance to Jesus only. The things that we do here at Macedonia should be only about God. If we all focus on this truth, there can be unity. It is only when we place ourselves above God and others that unity is destroyed. Lets be eager to maintain unity through our humility, gentleness, patience, seeking to lift up Christ alone.

Another, aspect of the church is seen in the gifts that we all have been given.

unity is developed from our gifts (7-12)

Even though we all are one, each of us have been given a gifts that are to be used in ministry. We want to make sure that we see the Christ centered nature of our spiritual gifts. I don't think I could put it better than this one writer. “Christ Jesus died, rose, and ascended into heaven as the victorious king with all authority and gave gifts to his people, displaying extravagant generosity.” (97)

We see here clearly that Jesus isn't an intaker, but he is a giver. He gives and provides gifts for his people so that they may do the same in return. These gifts are how we participate in ministry. We use them in service to one another. 1 Peter 4:10 says that “As each has recieved a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” When we use these gifts that we have been given, that should cause us to Praise Jesus. When we see these gifts in others that should cause us to praise Jesus. Spiritual gifts are a blessing to be used. They are not to be used for a time and then forgotten about. They are to be used daily to love people. We should not take these gifts and hide them, they should be on display for the congregation to see. God has provided each person in this church gifts to be used for this church. If your here and you are thinking well i am not sure what my gifts are, Come talk to me or Pastor Chris and we will show you where you are gifted and where you can serve king Jesus. Our spiritual gifts don't retire. We have them for all of our life. They may change but they are still there and still need to be used.

I love it when you give a small child something that they didn't have before. They take it and show it to everyone. If you remember the first time i met you all, Hudson had broke his arm. he ran to everyone and showed them his cast on his arm. Then when we moved here, Hudson continued to show everyone that his arm no longer had a cast.

Then the I am sure if someone provided for you to own and drive a brand new, 0 miles driven, 2022 Ford F250 King ranch, you would drive it around showing the whole town of Edenton that you have this beautiful gift. You would tell people about it. You would use it. You wouldn't place it in the garage. It would be on full display for the world to see. How much more should we be with the gifts that we have been given from King Jesus. This is what Paul is getting at. See these gifts that you have been given and use them for the building up of the communion of saint. Use them in loving people. And you will show your love for God through them.

We all are given gifts but some are used in different ways. (11-12)

The leaders of the church equip the saints to use their gifts. Paul here describes four types of leaders in the church that are used to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

First he says the Apostles. These are the sent out ones. Apostles are those who saw Jesus, who believed in Jesus, and who were sent out by Jesus directly to go share the gospel. Paul was an Apostles. Currently, we do not have apostles in the church.

Next Paul says that God has given the prophets. In the Technical sense prophets are those who were the mouth piece of God. Those who said “thus saith the Lord”. We see Prophets in the Old Testament, and some in the new testament. Again we do not have any more prophets. Hebrews 1 makes it clear that Jesus was the final prophet. We can see that the apostles and prophets in the technical sense are no longer seen in our churches today.

Thirdly, he describes the evangelist. Everyone is called to share the gospel, to evangelist. There are some who are gifted in this area than others. The church at this time had many evangelist. Timothy was an evangelist. He was seen as a church planter or a missionary. Those who are gifted to be sent out from the church to share the gospel.

Finally, We have the shepherds and the teachers. These are the Pastor-teachers that are in the church. Shepherd is another word for pastor or elder or overseers. These qualified men have been given to the church so that they may equip the saints for the work of ministry.

The leaders, the elders, of the church are instrumental in the growth of the church. The pastor-teachers are the ones who teach God’s word, who prepare the saints, who disciple the saints, who train the saints for the work of the ministry. The Pastors ministry is to train the congregation to participate in ministry. This is what we do on Sunday mornings, evenings, on Wednesday, throughout the week.

Pastor Chris and my main purpose as pastors of this church is to train the congregation to do the work of ministry. We disciple you all through the preaching and teaching of the word so that you may go and teach other. This is discipleship. We disciple so that you may disciple. Discipleship is the means in which we build up the body of Christ.

Brothers and Sisters, see that your gifts are given to you to be used in the building up the body of Christ. Your training is to be used build up the body of Christ. Your equipping is to be used to build up the body of Christ. You must be active. there are no benches or arm chair coaches in the church. You are to be active in serving. We all have a responsibility in the body of Christ to add to the body of Christ and help each other mature. Discipleship is the best pyramid scheme there is. Plus it is the only one that the king has commanded us to do.

This isn't just for a time till someone else comes along. This is as verse 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Your work in ministry doesn't retire. It is to continue until all of the world attains to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. In other words, until Jesus comes back our responsibility is to build up the body of Christ. How are you serving the church? When we serve the church we are participating in the walk that we have been called to. We are loving God, loving people, and making disciples when we are serving. When we work in children's and youth ministry, make meals on a meal train, contribute financially, visit the sick and elderly, we are edifying and building up the body.

Unity is heightened through our growth (13-16)

Until Jesus comes back we should be growing. If we are building the church up we should see that it come to maturity. We don't want to pick a persimmon before it has reached maturity. We want to wait and grow it to maturity. We should be growing to maturity. A person who is maturing in Christ is not a consumer or an in-taker but they are eager to serve the body. See those who mature have way to measure themselves. Our goal is to be just like Jesus Christ himself. He gave his whole life for the body of Christ. He now sits at the right hand of the father interceding on their behalf, he continues working on our behalf. What better way to live you life, than to spend every moment for the glory of Jesus christ and the advancement of his gospel. This is what our lives should be about.

Unity is brought about through our growth in doctrine. As we grow in maturity in Christ we must be focused on our doctrine. Again here we see this balance of doctrine and devotion in these last couple of verses. We grow in maturity so that we are no longer children. As children don't understand much and are easily deceived. False teachers can easy come in a prey on those who are gullible. They come tickling the ears saying things like all religions are the same. The bible is just a religious book like the others. You don't need Jesus to be saved you can go to heaven if your a good person. We have to be taught what is considered right and wrong doctrine. This is part of the reason that we are going through the Apostle Creed series. We should strive to grow in Christ, in our doctrine because false doctrine can easily disrupt unity in the church.

For unity to continue we must mature in loving one another. There are times where we are to speak the truth in love to one another. This generally hurts when done. We must make sure that we are not doing it for any other reason than love. We cant just walk up to someone and tell them that their hair cut stinks and call it speaking truth to them in love. Speaking truth to someone in love means that we bring the truth of Jesus Christ to others in love. The literal Greek translation to this means that we must be truthing in love. (stott Ephesians 172,Merida CCEC 102) being mature in Christ means that we are to be maintaining the truth and love in our doctrine and our devotion. We cannot tell someone about Jesus and offer them salvation and then proceed to kick their dog. Neither can the opposite happen. We must have all things proceed out of love. We love because Christ loved us first.

For unity to happen we must be one body. our maturity should cause us to grow in Christ, grow in love, and it should cause us to grow together. The church builds upon each other. The church is to be united in Christ. When each part is working properly it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

For those who are here today who are just visiting and do not know Christ. I hope you see Jesus through the way that we do things here. You are welcome to join us for worship. I hope you see a people who have been united together in Christ. I hope you don't see the church as a country club. I do want to be clear to you that we don't gather together like this out of religious duty. We gather together because we have been saved from our sins through our faith in Jesus’s Death. This church is a testament to who Jesus is. We all were far off, we all had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but we all have been brought near. Jesus has saved us, through his death burial and Resurrection he has united us together as the church. He has united us together with him. You are welcome here. However, you are not a part of the church. To be apart of the church, to be among the people of God, you must know Jesus. You must repent of your sins and have faith that Jesus died on your behalf. This is how you are brought in the church.

Church, Lets grow, lets be a church that is seeking maturity. Lets be a church that is hearing the doctrine and letting it impact our devotion. Lets be eager to serve one another. Haven’t we been served by a loving God that didn’t leave us in our sins but he has made us righteous in Jesus Christ. Lets be unified in the gospel. For we confess there is one holy catholic church in which we are saints that are unified in Christ. Let us love God, love others and make disciples through sharing Jesus as we grow into maturity. One day, we will be fully mature. When we get to stand with the universal church and praise King Jesus whom we have devoted our lives to serving.