Good Morning Friends,
Today we continue our exploration of our beliefs reflected in the Apostles’ Creed. Previous posts have covered the meaning and importance of the components of our faith that help us to keep the faith. The phrase we explore today is “holy catholic church.” And it is not about the Holy Roman Catholic Church so much as a unifying symbol in our belief in the universal church that includes all believers across time and space, rather than a specific denomination. It signifies the enduring importance within the faith in Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and hope that we be as one and as such is intertwined with our belief in the Communion of Saints, which is also a phrase in the Apostles’ Creed that we will explore next week. But today we explore the difference between feeling what we believe and being what we believe, as the people of the church and in submitting to a oneness in Christ and in Christ’s redemptive purpose for us. You see disunity can be assured if the church becomes a normative religious institution. The greatest risk for the church is if its focus is on the preservation of an institution and not a focus on the mission of the church that boils down to loving God, loving others and making disciples.We see this played out in the stories of the Bible that give us a better understanding of the purpose of the Church from the Hebrew perspective. The beauty in reading the Bible is often found in the images that help us to understand the idea of church. At the risk of providing too much information, there are at least seven images used to describe the church in the Bible, and they are pastoral, political, familial, agricultural, architectural, organic and cosmic. All the images are helpful, but it is the cosmic and universal aspect of the church that relates most clearly to today’s topic. Once the people in the pews get it together it leads to a transformation and clarity of their nature and purpose in Christ. As a member of Christ’s cosmic body, we are to become one with the poor and distribute the Lord’s compassion to duplicate Christ’s compassion and forgiveness as a mediator of God’s love. The challenge is to not only proclaim the Good News but become that Good News as stewards in the Kingdom. There are several questions to ask in this regard but most of them boil down to whether our efforts in evangelism are compassionate and real. In other words, Is Our Concept Of the Church Formed Out Of A Motivation To Serve And Love The King?
Scripture: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Revelation 21:2-3 (KJV)
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
John 17:20-26 (KJV)
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:18-19 (KJV)
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Ephesians 1:9-10 (KJV)
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:3-5 (KJV)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1:15-20 (NRSV)
Message: Something Pentecost showed in the birthing of the Church is that we are to have hope in overcoming all those powerful cultural, economic, ethnic and social pressures and barriers to share the Gospel of Christ in a way that is beyond denominational characteristics. The hope is that we would build the Biblical concept of the importance of community that leads to no separation from God and others at all but ultimately embraces the image of one Body made in the image of Christ. When we say we believe in the Holy catholic Church we are affirming our belief that we are the people of The Church and the people of the Kingdom of God. For the Church is greater than the churches. We are not the people of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic or Lutheran faith or even people of good will who realize the importance of the churches to society. For humans have been given the keys of the Kingdom as stewards until the King returns. The Church we are to hope for therefore is all the members of the community of God that have heard the sound of the Kingdom of God across all time in all places where we become the Body of Christ. Like the New Testament Church, we are called to be proclaimers of the true faith to the Gentile as well as the Jewish world. We are called to be and then to act. The message of the Church is essentially a summons to faith that realizes that until we find something beyond ourselves to impart to life meaning and purpose, we are incomplete. The redemption of humans is the missionary task of the Church and is the pivotal activity in all of history. I is of critical importance. In this we must keep our focus.
And So, the Universal Church and the Communion of the Saints which we will explore next Sunday are closely related. In the Church on earth there is an intimate relationship between the invisible communion and the visible communion…the visible and invisible church. But everything benefits when things improve because of our connection with Christ. The church redemptive in time becomes the church triumphant. So, the church is holy because it is the Body of Christ, founded by Christ, the bride of Christ and the people of God’s rule, the covenant people first the Jews and then extended to the Gentiles but we are unable to bring in the Kingdom on our own but are still victorious through the cross. That is the Gospel message of the Holy catholic Church. For though the Kingdom is not the visible church yet there are similarities that connect them clearly in the invisible Church. It is in what we have faith in but do not see that we must believe. Jesus is a unique bridge to our experience of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the first born of a new creation and is that bridge we need to embrace our purpose in the holy catholic church.
Pray we realize that we really cannot explain the love of God aside from expressing that love with another person that has been manifested in us by the Holy Spirit.Pray we realize that it is a marriage made in heaven when the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of those sharing the Gospel as well as those hearing it. Pray we realize that the whole Church is greater than the sum of its individual members and as such the corporate… The community has a value that is more important than the sum of individual interests. Pray we realize that whoever we are and whatever our status, we are citizens of one planet, and are born of the same cosmic Father, who desires to make us a redemptive community in which we are made one in His Christ. Pray we realize that there is no substitute for involvement and that pity or sorrow or sympathy or even encouragement is of little value if it bypasses actual engagement. Pray that we realize that our Creeds are not comprehensive confessions but only outlines or our faith and no substitute for diving into the Word of God. Pray we realize that insights arise out of relationships with people. Pray we realize that the visible church is not the not yet reality of the Kingdom of God but the invisible Church, the form the Kingdom assumes now, becomes our hope of enjoying the regenerating blessings of God all because the invisible church realizes the Kingship of God and so too we.. Pray the visible Church partake of this same character. Pray we not be militant in our expression of being the church together.Pray we believe in the Church triumphant.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 