SAY AGAIN - “The Resurrection of the Body” - 

I Corinthians 15: 12-28

¹²  Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? ¹³  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; ¹⁴  and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without foundation, and so is your faith.

¹⁵  In addition, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified about God that He raised up Christ—whom He did not raise up if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶  For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised.

¹⁷  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸  Therefore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

¹⁹  If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. ²⁰  But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.

²²  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
²³  But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ. ²⁴  Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when He abolishes all rule and all authority and power.

²⁵  For He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶  The last enemy to be abolished is death. ²⁷  For God has put everything under His feet. But when it says “everything” is put under Him, it is obvious that He who puts everything under Him is the exception. ²⁸  And when everything is subject to Christ, then the Son Himself will also be subject to the One who subjected everything to Him, so that God may be all in all.

I have had other pastors ask if my church recited the Apostles’ Creed and I said believe it should be said every Sunday. You would not believe how many churches think a statement of faith or a quick statement from a bible verse is just as good.

I think that “modern men and women need the mental discipline of saying the Creed every Sunday because it serves as an antidote to the prevailing secular unbelief and the rampant skepticism they face daily. There is one phrase from the creed that every Christian needs to say every Sunday: “I believe … in the resurrection of the body.”

That’s the hardest phrase to believe because it goes against everything we are taught and everything we see with our eyes. We have lots of funerals; the last resurrection happened 2,000 years ago. And if you have walked away from the grave of a loved one, you know how the harsh reality of death can erode your faith.

Death is the fundamental human problem. It is our greatest fear, the sum of all other fears. You can see it in the way we treat the dead. An entire industry has grown up to help us deal with death. When a person dies, we do our best to make them look as if they were not dead.

Funerals cost thousands of dollars to make us feel better that we did honor and respect to the departed in a public manner.

Many times I have heard someone stand by a casket and say, “She looks so natural.” Well, no, she looks like she’s dead. But death is so awesome, so final, so forbidding, so shocking to our senses, that we can’t even say the word.

We say that someone “passed on” or “departed” or “slipped away.” Somehow that softens the blow a bit. I fully understand the need to use euphemisms when a loved one has died. And I believe the funeral industry plays an important role in bringing comfort to grieving families. But even after we have done our best to mask the reality, death stands as a stark reality, the Grim Reaper that visits every home sooner or later.

And so we come face to face with a question asked by philosophers, theologians and especially by grieving families, a question Job asked thousands of years ago:

“If a man dies, shall he live again?” (Job 4:14 ESV).

Consider how Paul faces the same question in I Corinthians 15:33, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die’” (ESV).

If … If … If … If the dead are not raised, then why not live it up? Why not go for all the gusto? Why bother going to church? Why suffer for Christ if this life is all there is? Why serve the Lord if death ends everything? Down deep in our souls, we want to know the truth. When we die, will we live again? Or does death win in the end? Mark it down, my friend. If we do not have an answer to death, then our religion is useless.

And it is precisely at this point that the Apostles’ Creed provides help. As we come to the end of the creed, we find that it ends on a very positive note of Christian hope. The penultimate phrase says, “I believe in … the resurrection of the body.” Note how specific this is. Not “the resurrection of the dead” but “the resurrection of the body.” Older versions of the creed were even more specific when they used the phrase “the resurrection of the flesh.”

Paul wrote extensively about this truth in the resurrection chapter—I Corinthians 15. In order to understand what the resurrection of the body involves, we need to know about three things—the bodies we have, the death we’ll face, and the resurrection we’ll enjoy.

First - The Bodies We Have: Most of us have a love/hate relationship with our bodies. Let me illustrate. If you had the power to change your body, would you use it? Suppose you could instantly change the way you look, would you do it? That may be the dumbest question I’ve ever asked. The question is not—would you use that power, but would it be a simple repair or a complete makeover? Would you say, “Lord, let’s just start all over again.” Would we even recognize you?

This week I ran across an article called, “51 Signs You’re Getting Older.” Years ago I wouldn’t have paid any attention to an article like that, but nowadays I find those articles fascinating. It helped that the subtitle said, “Large Print Version.”

Here are a few items that caught my attention:

You know you’re getting old when …

1. Everything hurts and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work.

2. The gleam in your eyes is from the sun hitting your bifocals.

8. You look forward to a dull evening.

9. Your favorite part of the newspaper is “20 Years Ago Today.”

11. You sit in a rocking chair and can’t get it going.

12. Your knees buckle, and your belt won’t.

15. Your back goes out more than you do.

19. You sink your teeth into a steak, and they stay there.

23. You’re asleep, but others worry that you’re dead.

39. You have a dream about prunes.

47. Your ears are hairier than your head.

51. When you bend over, you look for something else to do while you’re down there.

I have a bit of news for you. Your body won’t last forever. You can eat all the low-carb ice cream you want, but your body will still fall apart in the end. Did you know your body disintegrates all the time? You’re falling apart even while you are reading this sermon.

So this is the first point: Your body is a gift from God that won’t last forever.

Second, The Death We’ll Face: Most people fear death and don’t want to talk about it. Death remains the “final frontier” that we all must cross sooner or later, and though we all know that death is coming, we prefer to live as if it will never come at all.

Suppose you issued an invitation along the following lines to your friends: “I’ve got pizza and Coke—all you can eat. Let’s get together on Friday night and talk about death.” How many people would come?

You’d end up spending a quiet Friday night all by yourself. The Greek playwright Sophocles said, “Of all the great wonders, none is greater than man. Only for death can he find no cure.” He’s right about that. The wonders of modern science help us live longer, but for death itself there is no cure.

What does the Bible say about death?

A. Death is certain. “It is appointed for man to die once” (Hebrews 9:27a ESV).

B. Death is not the end. “And after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27b ESV)

C. Christ defeated death. “Christ Jesus … abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (II Timothy 1:10 ESV).

D. Death remains the last enemy. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26).

The conundrum for Christians lies between #C and #D. If Christ has abolished death, why do we still die? How can death be both abolished and yet the “last enemy” of the people of God?

Actually the notion that death is a “natural” part of life is wrong. There is nothing “natural” about death. It’s the most “unnatural” event in the universe. According to the Bible, death came into the world because of sin (Romans 5:12).

Death exists because sin exists. When sin has been removed once and for all, death will no longer exist. That’s why there will be no death in heaven (Revelation 21 : 3).

Third, The Resurrection We’ll Enjoy: If death is the fundamental human problem (and it is), what is the Christian answer? Listen to Paul’s soaring words in I Corinthians 15: 51-55 (ESV).

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

The Positive Power of Forgiveness: “I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins”

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.  If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.                                                                                      Psalm 130: 1-4

Before I start this sermon I want to be clear – in only one way does God’s acts of forgiveness of sins allow the receiver to avoid the punishment for same sins- that as a sinner before God. His forgiveness doesn’t remove restitution or punishment requirements for harm done to others, neighbors, or community. The shame of sin can be used to change lives and do good in God’s Kingdom. We have forgotten.

There is a joke that supposedly dates to the Pharisidic period: As the rabbi began his lecture on repentance, he asked the class, "What must we do before we can expect forgiveness from sin?" After a long silence, one of the men in attendance raised his hand and said: "Sin?"

Forgiveness of sin is obviously only valuable to a sinner in need of forgiveness.

Up until the 1400’s or so the concept of forgiveness of sins was being perverted by being offered for sale by the Catholic Church, but if you know church history, you know that before Martin Luther became the father of the Protestant Reformation, he was a Catholic priest. As part of his training, he spent years studying Greek, Hebrew, Latin, the church fathers, and the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.

No matter where he turned in church doctrine during his studies did he find relief from his burden of sin. His soul was deeply troubled by the perception of sin.

Burdened with the haunting sense that his sins were not forgiven, he felt that God’s judgment hung over him like a heavy weight he could not lift. Being a priest only made matters worse. No matter what he did, he never felt the assurance that his sins were forgiven. In desperation, he went to Rome, hoping to find answers, but he came away even deeper in despair at the corruption and hypocrisy found there.

Several years later, while studying the book of Romans, he encountered the phrase, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1: 17). Slowly his eyes were opened and he saw clearly that God forgives us, not because of anything we do, but solely on the basis of what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross and rose from the dead. He called that truth “the gate to heaven.”

So it is not surprising that Luther said that the phrase, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins” was the most important article in the rediscovered Apostles’ Creed. He wrote, “If that is not true, what does it matter whether God is almighty or Jesus Christ was born and died and rose again? It is because these things have a bearing upon my forgiveness that they are important to me.”

We need to see how everything hangs on believing in “the forgiveness of sins.”

Before we look at what this phrase means: First, we are near the end of the creed. After today, there are only two phrases left—"I believe in the resurrection of the body,” and “I believe in life everlasting.”

Second, our phrase for today summarizes the entire Christian life. That’s amazing when you think about how the creed is constructed. I started preaching through the creed at the beginning of February and will not finish until July 3^rd.

The Apostles’ Creed is a God-centered statement of the Christian faith. I’ve spent five months preaching basic Bible doctrine to you—nearly all of it about God himself. When we finally get to the Christian life, the creed sums it up with this one phrase—"the forgiveness of sins.”

That’s certainly not how we think about things today. Go to any Christian bookstore and you’ll see a small shelf called “Bible Doctrine” or “Theology,” and then you’ll see a huge section called “The Christian Life.”

There you will find books on prayer, growing in faith, enduring hard times, spiritual gifts, spiritual growth, overcoming temptation, sharing your faith, and growing in holiness. Stuff like Joel Osteen’s “Your Best Life, Now.”

There are books on marriage, books for men, books for women, books on the family, raising children, overcoming addiction, forgiving others, spiritual warfare, singleness, sex, health, the purpose-driven life, and the end times, to name only a few. To us the Christian life is all about these different categories.

But the creed takes the whole Christian life and boils it down to this one essential thing: “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” As if to say, “If your sins are forgiven, everything else is just details. And if your sins are not forgiven, nothing else really matters.”

Father’s day also could be fit in there for what father doesn’t hope that his sins will not destroy his relationship with his family or doesn’t try to teach responsibility for one’s actions? A good father should teach his children how to remit their sins.

I find that a fresh way to look at the Christian life. It’s simple, clear and direct. So let me ask you a question that I will ask again at the end of this message: Are your sins forgiven and do you know it? Remember Psalm 130: 1-4?

1) Why do we need forgiveness? Verse 3 says, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?”

Novelist Franz Kafka wrote in his diary that the problem with modern people is that we feel like sinners, yet don’t feel guilt. We sense that something is amiss in our lives, something is wrong. We live in a society that tells us to get rid of guilt by getting rid of the rules that make us feel guilty. So we do our best to ignore pesky things like the Ten Commandments.

All those “Thou shalt nots” make us nervous. So the best way to get rid of guilt is to get rid of the rules—or so we think. We do away with the rules, but the rules won’t go away because they weren’t written by man in the first place.

It’s as if they are written in indelible ink. Even when you try to erase them, the image keeps coming back. So we cheat and steal and lust and sleep around. We mock God by killing the unborn and trying to redefine marriage to fit our own twisted desires.

But the rules don’t change! You can’t get rid of guilt by pretending the rules aren’t there anymore. When God makes the rules, he doesn’t ask for our opinion. God has spoken—and he did not stutter. “Thou shalt not” still means “Thou shalt not.” Even so we feel like we can ignore the rules and get away with it.

Sadly, even after we’ve changed the rules so we can do what we want, we still aren’t happy. We’ve relativized the rules, normalized guilt, but still something is wrong. Despair, shame, restlessness, dissatisfaction are rampant. Kafka was right—we feel like sinners, but independent of guilt. We know something is wrong with us, but we don’t know what, and we don’t know how to fix it.

2) What hope do we have of forgiveness?  By that I mean, what are the chances that we can be forgiven?

Look in the mirror and consider your own soul. If you do, the outlook will not be hopeful. One British writer put this way: “There is no man who, if all his secret thoughts were made known, would not deserve hanging a dozen times a day.”

To which I reply: Only a dozen times? I would think it would be much more than that. The first part of verse 4 brings us some very good news; “But with you there is forgiveness.” Or to say it another way, God makes a habit of forgiving sin. He does not delight in punishing our sin. He looks for chances to forgive us because forgiveness is in his nature.

3) What happens when we are forgiven? The last part of verse 4 has the answer: “Therefore you are feared.”

Another way to say it is, “Therefore we worship you.” Once we are forgiven, that vague feeling of unease is removed. Our slate is wiped clean. The prison cell swings open and we walk out. We’re free at last. Sometimes that’s the hardest part to accept.

The only way to deal with Satan’s accusations is go back to the character of God: “With you there is forgiveness.” Have you ever worried about the day when you stand before the Lord?

Some Christians fear that God is going to project all their sins—even the sins of the mind—on some huge screen for the entire universe to see. We have this mental image of God pressing a button and then our life begins to unfold on a giant screen so huge that millions of people can see it. We fear that in that day all our ugly words and deeds, all our secret sins that no one else knew about, and every dark thought filled with anger, lust, pride, hatred, rage and greed will be displayed.

How could we endure such a moment? And how could God ever welcome us into his kingdom after putting our depravity on public display?

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, if you gazed on our sins, who could stand? No one. We’d all be doomed and damned. But that’s the whole point of Psalm 130. We cry from the depths of shame and guilt, and God says, “Good news. With me there is forgiveness.” The Bible uses a number of images to describe how God deals with our sins:

God blots out our sins as a thick cloud (Isaiah 44:22).

God forgets our sins and remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34).

God puts our sins behind his back (Isaiah 38:17).

God buries our sins in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

When God forgives, he forgets our sins, he clears the record, he erases the tape so that when he pushes the button, nothing shows up on the big screen in heaven.

Our sins are forgiven, forgotten, removed, buried, and blotted out. They can never condemn us again. Let that thought grip your soul, and you will never be the same.

But how could it be this way? How could God forgive us? Why doesn’t he look at our sins? Here’s the answer: A long time ago God fixed his gaze on the cross of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are honest enough to admit that we are wicked and evil, a stream of mercy flows out from the cross of Christ and our sins are covered by his blood. We discover in one shining moment that with God there is forgiveness.

That’s why Luther said this was the most important part of the Apostles’ Creed. That’s why this is the only part of the Christian life mentioned in the creed. This is the whole ballgame right here. Everything else is just details.

If someone is full of vague uneasiness because of the way they have been living, if they are feeling guilty and don’t know what to do about it, and are in the pit of despair, they don’t have to stay there. Run to the cross! Run, don’t walk, run to the cross and lay hold of Jesus Christ. Trust in him as your Lord and Savior.

With God there is forgiveness. That’s why the creed says, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” Nothing is more important. So I come back to the question I asked earlier: Are your sins forgiven and do you know it?

Softly and Tenderly:

O for the wonderful love He has promised,

Promised for you and for me!

Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,

Pardon for you and for me.

Then the chorus makes the appeal:

Come home, come home,

You who are weary, come home;

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,

Calling, O sinner, come home.

That invitation isn’t just for special people:  It’s for all of us. “Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon. Pardon for you and for me.” God has done everything necessary for you to be forgiven. All you have to do is come. Come home to God. Come in Jesus’ name. Come by way of the cross and you will be forgiven.

Last week you saw the riddle of the 2 parrots: Here’s the answer:

Ask either parrot what the other parrot would say. If you ask the Parrot who tells the truth: "which door would the other parrot say is freedom?" The truth parrot would point to the door to hell. Go to the other door.

Jesus is the only way to heaven and the only way to forgiveness of sins – many will try to trick and lead people astray. Stay firm and steadfast in Jesus.

One final word. Sometimes Christians can hear a sermon like this and wonder how to apply it. If you already know the Lord, let me tell you how to apply it:  Get on your knees and say, “Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving my sins.” Or stand up and say, “I bless the Lord for taking my sins away.” Don’t take your forgiveness for granted. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If God has forgiven your sins, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. This is the good news of the gospel. Amen.

COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS

Hebrews 12: 1 - “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.”

In 1979 John Bass interviewed Ronald Reagan as he was preparing to run for president against Jimmy Carter. An excerpt follows:

John Bass: Governor Reagan, do you feel there is a need for spiritual renewal in America? Ronald Reagan: Yes. The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America. We need to join forces to reclaim the great principles embodied in the Judeo-Christian tradition and in Holy Scripture. As a Christian I commit myself to do my share in this joint venture. Our country is in need of and ready for spiritual renewal that is based on spiritual reconciliation—first man with God, then man with man.

John Bass: Do you have a favorite Bible verse? Ronald Reagan: Yes, I do. John 3: 16, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

John Bass: What does this Bible verse mean to you personally? Ronald Reagan: It means that, having accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I have God’s promise of eternal life in Heaven, as well as the abundant life here on earth that He promises to each of us in John 10: 10.

John Bass: Do you think the Bible is of divine origin? Ronald Reagan: I never had any doubt about it. How can you write off the Old Testament prophecies that hundreds of years before the birth of Christ predicted every single facet of His life, His death, and that He was the Messiah? (Source: Ronald Reagan: A Man of Faith, quotes taken from Internet website)

Ronald Reagan died on the eve of the 60th anniversary of D-Day, 12 years ago, with his family at his side. Though harshly attacked by his critics, the American people loved him.  He grew up in Dixon, Illinois, and he never forgot his humble beginnings. Speaking of his mother, he recalled, “I remember a small woman with auburn hair and unquenchable optimism.

Her name was Nelly Reagan and she believed with all her heart that there was no such thing as accidents in this life. Everything was part of God’s plan.” He talked about the town where he grew up: “Our neighbors were never ashamed to kneel in prayer to their Maker nor were they ever embarrassed to feel a lump in their throat when Old Glory passed by. No one in Dixon, Illinois ever burned a flag and no one in Dixon would have tolerated it.”

When he informed the nation in 1994 that he had Alzheimer’s Disease, he closed his statement with these words: “When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

He was a Christian and a statesman and he was one of the greatest presidents of the 20th Century. He embodied all that was good about America. He restored our national confidence and helped us feel good about our nation once again. I do not doubt that he is in heaven today.

I say that not because of his politics, and not because of his accomplishments, but because of his faith in Jesus Christ. He may have been the most powerful man in the world, but when he came to the end of his long battle with Alzheimer’s, it was not as a powerful man, but as a sinner saved by grace. One of the millions of saints who do so every day.

The Church Transcends Time: The Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in the communion of saints.” Because these words come near the end of the creed, we may tend to overlook them, but we shouldn’t because they teach us something important about the Christian church.

Last week I emphasized that the church is not a building or a denomination; the church is the people. You can find churches more or less like us in every nation of the world. There is also a sense in which “the church” refers to all true believers scattered everywhere in every nation.

In studying for this sermon, I was surprised to discover that the phrase “the communion of saints” was a late addition to the Apostles’ Creed. It was added several centuries after “the holy catholic church.” It’s worth finding out exactly what this phrase was supposed to add that wasn’t already covered.

We can put it this way: The Holy catholic Church teaches us that that the church spans the world while The Communion of Saints teaches us that the church transcends time. So what exactly does the phrase “communion of saints” mean? Let me break it down for you.

The word “communion” translates the Greek word koinonia. That’s a very common word in the New Testament that means fellowship or partnership. It means to share together in a close relationship.

In secular Greek it was used for a marriage, a business partnership, a community, or a nation bound together by common goals. Preeminently the word applies to friendship. Acts 2: 42 uses this word to describe the intimate closeness of the early Christians who lived together, ate their meals together, and shared all things in common.

The word “saint” simply means “holy one.” In the New Testament the word “saint” is a synonym for “Christian” or “believer.”

The Apostle Paul used the word “saint” in several of his letters to describe ordinary believers. He wrote to the saints in Rome and to the saints in Corinth and to the saints in Ephesus and to the saints in Philippi.

To many in the church “saint” refers to an extraordinary Christian, one who has been canonized by the Church of Rome. But the New Testament never uses the word that way. It always applies to all believers.

We are all saints of God. It is perfectly proper to speak of “Saint Don” or “Saint Butch” or “Saint Roxann” or “Saint Mark” or “Saint Becky.” If you know Jesus, you are a true saint of God. (And we don’t have to verify miracles either!)

To say that we believe in the communion of saints means that we believe there exists an intimate connection between all true believers in Jesus. We can say it this way: Everyone who belongs to Jesus belongs to me, and I belong to them.

I draw a simple conclusion from this: Our fellowship ought to be as wide as the whole body of Christ because anywhere God is served and Jesus worshipped you have something in common.

The Gospel is for Everyone: Romans 1: 16 is very helpful in this regard: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The last phrase introduces the universal dimension of the gospel. The Jews were God’s chosen people.

Although most of the Jews have not become followers of Christ, the gospel still has the power to save them if they will only believe. The “Greeks” were the Gentiles, that is, all non-Jews. No wonder Paul was not ashamed. The gospel has the power to save people without regard to the distinctions that divide us. It has the power to save without regard to:

>Race    >Education     >Age    >Income     >Skin Color      >Family Background

>Religious Preference   >Moral Degradation.

The gospel of Jesus has the power to build a bridge over the chasm of race, education, age, social status, skin color, family background, language, culture, and all the things that divide the human race.

This used to be true about our patriotism and nationalism around our feelings of American Exceptionalism, but that has been hacked away due to political correctness and individual identities separated by hyphenation.

Sometimes we are tempted to “soften” the gospel in order to broaden our feel good fellowship, but the reverse is closer to the truth. When we are firm on the gospel, we can have joyful fellowship with God’s people from many different backgrounds.

We have communion with Christ. We see this clearly in I John 1: 1-4:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

That’s the whole point of the Lord’s Supper. We call it “communion” because it represents our fellowship with Christ through his broken body and his shed blood. As we receive the elements, we enter into personal communion with our Lord. And we share that communion with other believers in Christ.

II. We have communion with the saints on earth. Back to I John 1 for a moment.

In verse 7 he adds an important dimension to what he has already said: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

I take it that the “one another” refers both to God and to other believers. Walking in the light allows us to have fellowship with God and with other believers. Because God is light, and we are the children of light, when we walk in that light, we are where God is and where his children are. We’re no longer alone in the darkness of sin and rebellion.

Once we begin to grasp this, all our relationships will be radically changed. We may be sinners, but we are sinners saved by God’s grace. That changes how we treat our spouse and our children. And that changes the way we relate to our friends and relatives. Once we understand what God has done for us, we realize, “It’s not about me because I’m not the center of the universe. It’s about reaching out to other people in Jesus’ name.”

We have communion with the saints in heaven. Hebrews 12: 1 speaks of this when it says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

Several of our hymns speak of this aspect of our communion with the saints in heaven. The last verse of “The Church’s One Foundation” mentions it quite clearly:

Yet she on earth hath union

With God the Three in One,

And mystic sweet communion

With those whose rest is won.

O happy ones and holy!

Lord, give us grace that we

Like them, the meek and lowly,

On high may dwell with Thee:

The great hymn “For All the Saints” contains a verse that speaks to this truth:

And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,

Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,

And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

What does this mean? Death cannot destroy our fellowship with the saints of God.

We are one with them and they are one with us. I DO NOT mean that we can talk or communicate with them. The Bible specifically forbids that. When you see that man on the TV show “Crossing Over” claiming to receive messages from the dead, he is deceiving himself and others.

We are not talking about ghosts or visions or dreams or anything like that. We mean that the saints of God are alive in heaven while we are alive on earth. And they are not that far away from us. One day we will be reunited with them. They are gone from our sight but they are not gone from God. And they aren’t really gone from us either. As we praise God this morning on earth, they join us in praising God in heaven. That is the “mystic sweet communion” the hymn writer had in mind.

Theologians sometimes speak of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant. We are the church militant because the battle rages around us every day and we are called to fight the good fight and to take up the whole armor of God. But one day we’ll lay our weapons down, our battles will be over, and the victory will be won. In that happy day we’ll join the Church Triumphant in heaven. But whether we are on earth today or in heaven tomorrow, we are still part of the church of Jesus Christ.

There is another verse of “For All the Saints” that brings all the strands of truth together:

O blest communion, fellowship divine!

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;

All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

In 1981 when President Reagan was nearly assassinated, his pastor from California came to see him in the hospital in Washington, D.C. Pastor Don Moomaw took the president’s hand and asked him, “How is it with you and the Lord?” “Everything is fine with me and the Lord,” replied Mr. Reagan. “How do you know?” The answer was simple and profound: “I have a Savior.”

That’s the difference that Jesus Christ makes. When you have a Savior, you can face your own death with courage and grace. Do you have a Savior? If you don’t, or if you aren’t sure, I urge you to place your life in the hands of Jesus Christ right now. Run to the cross. Lay hold of Jesus Christ. Trust him as Lord and Savior. Ask him to take away your sins and to give you new life. Come to Christ now and your life will never be the same again. Amen.

“Church” is created by Faith In Jesus Christ

Matthew 16: 18 - Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in the holy catholic church.”  People say, “I like Jesus, but I don’t care for the church.” “I believe in God, but I don’t believe in the church.” “I’m spiritual, but I’m not religious so I don’t go to church.”

They go to on spew: “The church is full of hypocrites.” “I can worship God on the golf course. That’s my church.” “I believe in my own way. I don’t need to go to church and have someone tell me what to believe.” “The church is just after my money.” “I hate the organized church.”

Then we have “THE” problem with this part of the Apostles’ Creed. Some of us stumble over the “c” word. If we are a Protestant church, why do we say we believe in the “catholic” church? There is something about that phrase that makes us feel vaguely uncomfortable, as if we’re doing something wrong if we say the Creed that way.

It’s as if we think we’re secretly (or not so secretly) saying the Catholic Church is right—or something like that. Since I started this sermon series, I know that at least one of you is waiting to hear what I had to say in this sermon because this particular phrase bothers them. Why do we say it and what does it mean?

To help us get the proper focus, let’s begin with the word “church.”

When we move from the English back to the original Greek, we encounter the word “ekklesia.” That Greek word is almost always translated by the word “church.” When you break it down, you discover that ekklesia comes from two other Greek words: ek, meaning “out of” and the verb kaleo, meaning “to call.” When you put those concepts together, you get ekklesia, the assembly of those called out of the world and into the family of God.

Think of everyone living on the face of the earth. That circle encompasses over six billion people. Now draw a smaller (and still substantial) circle within the larger circle. That smaller circle is approximately two billion professing Christians that represents the church.

The word church refers to those people who have been called out of the world by God to join together as followers of Jesus Christ. So a church is a “called-out assembly of believers.” That definition helps enormously because it tells us several key facts:

1. The Church is not the building.

2. The church is not a denomination.

The founder of the "home church" movement in England, Canon Ernest Southcott, said it best:

"The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God’s people—strengthened by preaching and sacrament—go out of the church door into the world to be the church. We don’t go to church; we are the church."

The Bible uses the word “church” three different ways:

We see the word church used three different ways: First, as the body of Christ, the church is often defined as a local assembly or group of believers (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1-2). Second, it is defined as the body of individual living believers (1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13). Finally, it is defined as the universal group of all people who have trusted Christ through the ages (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 5:23-27).

These are helpful distinctions when you think about the religious confusion in America. There are approximately 350,000 local churches in the United States—but that number shrinks by about 7 churches per day.

With that as background, we come to this phrase of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the holy catholic church.” The very wording makes you stop and think. Up until this point, everything in the Creed has been either invisible or distantly historical.

When the Creed mentions “God the Father Almighty,” we understand that we cannot see God in his essence. He is hidden from our eyes. The same goes for the Holy Spirit. When we speak of Jesus Christ, we proclaim our belief in a Person who last walked on the earth 20 centuries ago.

The Creed so far has led us to confess our faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But now we make a sharp right turn when we say, “I believe in … the church.” Forget the “holy catholic” part for a moment.

After so many exalted phrases, it almost jars the ear to say, “I believe in the church.” With these words the Creed plunges us deep into the nitty-gritty of life in the 21st century.

It means we’re being asked to affirm our faith in the church—an institution that all too often seems unworthy of our trust. The historical record is checkered at best.

Critics like to point out that many of history’s bloodiest wars took place because of religion—often men killed each other mercilessly in the name of Jesus Christ.

Cardinal Francis George commented that sometimes the church has looked more like a mob than a holy family of God. In our day we have seen respected Christian leaders fall prey to immorality and greed. There was a day when society looked to the churches to provide moral and spiritual leadership. That day (for better or worse) is long gone.

Perhaps you remember folding your hands together, with your finger interlaced downward and saying, “Here is the church, here is the steeple. Open the door and see all the people.”

In the end that’s what we see as the problem and the challenge and the blessing and the hope of the church—"all the people.” People! If we didn’t have to deal with people, church would be a breeze. But inside every church you find …

Difficult people, Contentious people, Mean-spirited people, Greedy people,
Unreasonable people, Unkind people, Thoughtless people, Critical people,
Angry people, Cantankerous people.

If you doubt that these people exist in the church, just take a good look in the mirror. We’re all sinners in need of God’s grace. As I’ve told you before, if we knew the naked truth about every other person in the church, and they knew the naked truth about us, we’d all run screaming from the sanctuary.

The problem of the church is the problem of the people. One writer said it this way:

To live up above with the saints that we love, that will be glory. But to live down below with the saints that we know, that’s another story.

But if people are the problem, they are also the hope of the church. Take away the people and there would be no church left. So the Creed challenges us to set aside our misconceptions and our frustrations and say, “I truly do believe in the church.”

The Church is One: The first key word is one—the church is one. When Jesus said, “I will build my church,” he used the singular, not the plural—"churches.” Jesus promised to build one church and one church only.

There is only one true ekklesia—the assembly of those who have been called out of the world to follow Christ. The oneness of the church is the basis for true Christian unity. Ephesians 4: 4-6. “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.”

One Body - One Spirit - One Hope - One Lord - One Faith - One Baptism - One Father.  The church is one because it is built on Jesus Christ: 1 Corinthians 3: 11 tells us: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Samuel Stone said it well in his famous hymn:

The Church’s one foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord,

She is His new creation

By water and the Word.

From heaven He came and sought her

To be His holy bride;

With His own blood He bought her

And for her life He died.

Elect from every nation,

Yet one o’er all the earth;

Her charter of salvation,

One Lord, one faith, one birth;

One holy Name she blesses,

Partakes one holy food,

And to one hope she presses,

With every grace endued.

Before we go forward, we need to be perfectly clear about this. There is only one church because we have one Lord—not two. No matter what we may think about the incredible religious confusion of our day—that confusion does not come from God. The church is one because Christ is one.

We have the real church and we have a "religious" idea of church which is sullied by the hands of humanity.

The great biblical doctrine of the unity of the church flows from this truth. When Jesus prayed in John 17: 21 that “all of them may be one,” he was asking for believers to demonstrate on the earth the perfect unity that exists in heaven between the Father and the Son and not some human concept of "perfect robotic church" moving and swaying to a kumbaya around some mystical campfire.

Sometimes I hear people talk about “creating” unity in the church. But we are never told to “create” unity; God has already done that in Christ. We are to “maintain” and “keep” the unity God has already created among all true believers. This is a doctrine that is easier to talk about in theory than it is to work out in practice.

But I don’t want to leave the matter there. Protestants are indeed divided into many groups. In response to those divisions, the mainline denominations have attempted to come together through the ecumenical movement. This desire to merge the various churches came from a noble impulse—"Let’s put aside our differences and form one large church.”

After 50 years of talk, the movement has very little to show for itself. The major result has been to almost totally de-emphasize Bible doctrine. How else will you get the Baptists and the Lutherans and the Episcopalians and the Methodists to worship together in the same church?

This de-emphasis on doctrine led to a “lowest common denominator” approach to belief. And that led to more and more people coming together who believe in less and less until everyone believes in nothing at all. That’s how you get gay pastors and that women pastors have grown from 5% in 1985 to almost 25% today.

You just keep stripping away the truth until virtually nothing is left. But when everything is up for grabs, no one can tell right from wrong, and why not have gay pastors?

So when we say the church is one, what church are we talking about? We mean the church in the New Testament sense–the assembly of those who have been called out of the world to follow Jesus Christ. Those who truly believe in him are truly members of the church, regardless of their denominational affiliation.

We extend Christian fellowship to all true believers everywhere because we are fellow members of the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Not everyone who joins a church—any church—is born again. Many people just go through the religious motions. Some never clearly understand the gospel. Others prefer a religion of good works instead of the gospel of grace. There are unsaved church members in every church and every denomination.

But the Lord knows his own sheep. He calls them by name, they hear his voice, and they follow him (John 10:27). The Lord knows his own (2 Timothy 2:19). He is building his church one person at a time as men and women leave the world and begin to follow him. That church—the full number of true believers—a number known only to God—is the “one church” Jesus has been building for 2,000 years.

All of us are concerned about the growing rejection of Christian values in our society. We seem to be on a self-propelled descent into the pit of cultural anarchy.

But in the pressure of these days, Christians have begun to realize that we can disagree over secondary matters as long as we stand together on the essentials of the faith. Perhaps we will return to being “Christians first” and everything else second.

Christians first. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” God has a big family—and if you know Jesus, if you have trusted him as your Lord and Savior—you are part of that family. The church is one because Jesus is the foundation. If you are built on that foundation, you are part of the one true church. Amen. 

One last BTW – The Church is “catholic”

Some evangelicals are troubled by the word “catholic” because they think it has something to do with the Roman Catholic Church. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Note that when we come to this phrase, the word “catholic” is always spelled with a small “c.” If it were “Catholic,” that would indeed refer to the Roman Catholic Church. But catholic with a small “c” simply means “universal.”

When applied to the church, it means that the message of the gospel is for all people everywhere, in every generation and in every situation. We find this emphasis in many places in the New Testament. Mark 16:15 instructs us to preach the gospel to every nation. Jesus commands us to go and make disciples of every nation (Matthew 28:19). He said that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations (Luke 24:47). We are to be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

So on one hand, to be “catholic” means that we intend to preach the gospel by every means possible, to reach as many people as possible, in every place possible, so that by God’s grace we can win as many people as we possibly can to saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The church is to be “catholic” or universal in its outreach.