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TRANSCRIPT
Revealing the Local Fellowship (koinonia)
Acts 2:42-47 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching
and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many
wonders and signs were being done through the
apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had
all things in common. 45 And they were selling their
possessions and belongings and distributing the
proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by
day, attending the temple together and breaking bread
in their homes, they received their food with glad and
generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with
all the people. And the Lord added to their number day
by day those who were being saved.
Matthew 16:13-2013 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that
the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the
Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of
the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say
that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered
him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is
in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”20 Then he strictly
charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the
Christ.
Introduction
A few minutes ago we again rehearsed our core
conviction as a church that we worship a Triune God:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; three and yet one. God is,
in himself, a picture of perfect unity and the sharing of
common ministry.
Most scholars divide the Apostles’ Creed into 12 clauses,
12 different things “I believe” that are mentioned there.
However, as I have studied the Creed and for our
purpose of confirming and reconfirming our faith, I
think it is more convenient – and certainly more
important – that we recognize it is The Trinity we are
confessing. So I break the Creed into three main
sections.
Using this approach, the clauses that have to do with the
Church and the eternal destiny of the Christian are all
tied together and they all hang on the work (mostly
behind the scenes) of the Holy Spirit. In saying this I do
not want us to drift even for a moment: the principal
work of the Holy Spirit is to witness to the Person and
Work of God the Son: Jesus, who is the Christ.
Colossians 1:28 says, “Him (Jesus) we proclaim, warning
everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we
may present everyone mature in Christ.” That is the
purpose of this series, and that is the only goal Pastor
Chris and I have for you. Everything we do as a church
must ultimately serve that one purpose or else is
worthless and must fall away.
With Christ firmly in view then, “I believe in the Holy
Spirit,” and his works: “the holy Catholic Church, the
communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”
Last week we revealed that the church is One, Holy,
Catholic or Universal, and Apostolic. That is, there is
only one true church; it is set apart from the world, and
yet wherever the name of Christ is honored around the
Globe, the church is the same and has the one mission of
spreading the salvation that is in Christ Jesus to all
persons everywhere. This is a work of the Holy Spirit.
The Missing Piece
But there’s something missing from the Creed’s
description of the church. When we talk about the one
holy Catholic and apostolic church, we’re really talking
about the impact of the Holy Spirit in the world. What’s
missing is a description of the impact of the Holy Spirit
on the Church. That’s the function of clause we’re going
to look at today.
Most scholars think this phrase “the communion of
saints” was a late addition to the Creed and probably
originated in the Armenian Church in the late 300s. I
have an Armenian heritage on one side of my family; so
I’m quite proud of whatever obscure group of
theologians realized this needed to be a part of our
common confession.
Common Sharing
Common for All Eternity
Literally, the phrase should be translated, “the common
sharing (or participation) in what is set apart.” By way
of full disclosure, the word “saints” never appears in the
original Latin of the Creed. And yet, we already know
from what we studied last week that the church herself
is “set apart” from the world, and therefore, we who
believe Jesus are and must be set apart.
It should come as a comfort to you that I said, “Are and
must be;” because if you are a believer in Jesus, in the
Holy Spirit it is true that you are set apart from the rest
of the World, whether or not you behave that way. You
are set apart now. Right now; right where you are; just
as you are. You are set apart for all eternity. This is the
first great thing we share in common.
The Gospel this morning from Matthew 16 contains the
fearsome phrase, “I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” I have heard
well-meaning Christian teachers twist that phrase to
suggest that Christians need to be very careful; very
discerning in all their choices in life for fear they will
bind lovers or friends or possessions or ill-gotten gain
to themselves for all eternity and that they’ll be judged
by what they bring along with them to heaven.
There’s an old Far Side cartoon that shows a distraught
woman leaning out the window of her house as
furniture, rugs, the piano, even the cat fly out the door
upwards toward heaven. The woman is screaming, “It’s
George! He’s taking it with him!” That kind of thinking
is utterly and entirely a false teaching, and does not
come from faith. Your salvation and mine does not
depend on our works, our possessions, or our
associations. Your salvation depends on Jesus Christ,
and him alone.
So what does Jesus mean when he says this to Peter? “I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” –
“Peter, I’m going to teach you by confession and
suffering to be my witness in the World. And everyone
devoted to me will ultimately rise to find their proper
place before me in eternity.”
Listen to John’s account of the first day after the
reconciliation of all things in Jesus. This is Revelation
19:6-9
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great
multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the
sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those
who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And
he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Last week I said the Church is nearly always identified
in Scripture as “she.” Here’s why. We – all who were
bound to Jesus on Earth – will one day sit at table with
our husband, Jesus Christ; bound to him eternally. We
are now and will be forever in common union with all
believers who ever lived.
Communion and Common Union
When you and I come to the table to share the bread
and the cup; what we call “Communion” is both a way of
us receiving spiritual sustenance from Christ (though
the Holy Spirit) and participating with one another in
Christ. This table is a great mystery, and it is meant by
God to do us profound good every time we gather here.
I wish though that the Protestant churches had never
called The Meal “Communion”; because it hides the true
sacramental nature of what’s happening here from our
view.
We who believe Jesus are in Common Union with all the
other “holy ones” – those set apart in Christ – who have
ever lived, and we share together in their blessings,
prayers, and especially in the common confession of
Christ. When you come to the Table, in that moment,
you are sharing a meal with every believer all down
through the years. This is not the Marriage Supper of
the Lamb – that is yet to come. This is an unfinished
Passover Supper; for Jesus left the fourth cup – the Cup
of Restoration – on the table and didn’t drink it with the
disciples.
The Cup of Separation
The Cup of Judgment
The Cup of Redemption
The Cup of Restoration
We who believe Jesus sit at table and share in
fellowship with all the saints; with all the holy ones
devoted to Jesus. We do it here and now; we will do it
again one day when Jesus sets all things right and raises
the fourth cup; completes the Passover, and drinks it
with his Bride.
Common Union Here and Now
We are in common union with them, but how about
with one another? That’s a bit more problematic. The
saints worldwide aren’t of any concern to me
personally; they are elsewhere and I don’t generally
worry about them except with the perfunctory prayer
when I hear of their persecution, for example.
It doesn’t strike me what I might contribute to the saints
already worshipping before the Throne; they are with
God and I take great comfort in that.
Where I experience common union most often with is
with those who are right here; right now; those I must
do business with and who I run into at the store and
who I worship falteringly with week to week.
The Church as we experience her is not primarily a
missionary enterprise, reaching out to the lost,
though that is our commission from Christ.
The Church as we experience her is not primarily a
social service agency for those in need, though the
love of Christ urges us to help whenever and
wherever able.
According to Jesus, the church as we experience it
is a vine in a garden. She has a common root and it
draws her nourishment from a common source
through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said (John 15), “I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears
much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” And
Paul, writing to the Church at Colossae (2:6) said, “Just
as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in
him, rooted and built up in him and established in the
faith, just as you were taught, abounding in
thanksgiving.”
It is that common union that should motivate us to
gather regularly the way the Church did at the time of
the Apostles.
Nothing has changed; though the World would like you
to think that it has: We read our charter from Acts 2:42-
46 already: “All who believed were together and had all
things in common.” That’s what the new bulletin board
in the Loggia is all about. “And they were selling their
possessions and belongings and distributing the
proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by
day, attending the temple together and breaking bread
in their homes, they received their food with glad and
generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all
the people. And the Lord added to their number day by
day those who were being saved.”
These words are remarkably compact for what they tell
us about a Church whose first priority is Christ:
Common wealth
Common worship
Common witness
That is the common union – the communion of saints in
action.
We’re going to put a bit of that into practice after I
release you. I’m sure you noticed that we’ve removed
the back wall of the church this Sunday. The way into
Robertson Hall isn’t open in a publicity effort to
demonstrate that we’re having Family Brunch after
church. Those First Century Christians worshipped in
the synagogue and then had to move to another location
entirely in order to break bread and share the Lord’s
Supper together. We don’t. On Wednesday evenings we
begin by eating together and then worship together.
We move from one Table to another seamlessly. This
morning we reverse that process by moving from this
Table to that, also without seamlessly.
My challenge to you this morning is to stick around. I
know how uncomfortable it can be when you don’t
know people or when you’re someone who hates coffee
hour fellowship, particularly if you’re an introvert. But
this is an chance to experience the communion of saints
up close. As you sit at table ask about each other’s lives;
what are your joys and sorrows right now? Propose
new ideas to one another about how we can extend our
witness to Jesus and bring him to the table in real ways.