On Sunday, August 14, Pastor Ryan Alsheimer of Community Gospel Church invited me to share with his congregation, Anchor Oneonta, and continue their teaching series "This I Believe," by going over church unity, as expressed in the line of the Apostles' Creed "I believe in the holy catholic church and the communion of the saints." What follows is the sermon preached that night to the good folks of CGC. Enjoy!
Here’s the deal, when you become a Christian by giving your life to Christ, you’re uniting yourself to the body of Christ, i.e., the church, and you automatically become a part of something much bigger than yourself: “the holy catholic church, the communion of saints.”
Now, don’t get confused by the word “catholic,” in this creed, it actually means “universal,” so you're saying, “I believe in the universal church.” Therefore, when you confess this creed, you’re affirming the scope and size of the church that you’re a part of (or you're in communion with), which essentially includes every Christian from around the world.
This large fellowship is what is meant by “communion of the saints."
Again, don’t get confused by the word “saints.” This is not referring exclusively to the official saints of the Roman Catholic Church, instead, this is referring to every follower of Christ. Meaning that, if your identity lies in the righteousness of Jesus Christ instead of your own merits, then, going by the Bible’s definition of a saint, you are one. I am a saint. Those who are confessing Christians are all saints, and when the saints come together, there’s union with each other and with God--which is a great picture of what "communion" is.
Now, this communion extends to all the saints from all around the world. And it gets bigger and better: the communion of the saints extends to the “church universal," which is a church that includes all of the saints who have gone before us.
The application here is profound. Did you know that the Bible paints a picture of Christians in Heaven as cheering on the saints here on earth as they push forward with the mission of the church and do God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven?” For your part, viewing Heaven as a continual communion with the body of Christ on Earth has incredible ramifications as to how you live out your faith today.
Therefore, Heaven isn’t some place of harps, clouds, mansions, family pets, and soft lighting. No, in Heaven you see clearly the eternal ramifications of the mission of the church on present day earth. Consequently, now that you finally get it and see the big picture (or have the blinders removed), you watch intently from Heaven the mission of the church on earth and cheer on the saints and missionaries from around the world in a display of passion that far surpasses the excitement, unity, and diversity of even the Rio Olympics.
Let that eternal reality sink in for a moment and think of the ramifications this means for your finite actions that equate to only a sliver of your existence, yet these actions will help determine the eternal destinies of so many souls.
How is this connection to such a massive church even possible?
The creed alludes to this answer in line number 1; “I believe in God the Father, almighty.”
You see, the church universal isn’t some organization that’s determined by participants having a membership card issued by a single denomination. Instead, the church universal is one giant spiritual family where the saints are brothers and sisters who have God as a Father. A saint is grafted into this family tree that dates back to Abraham, allowing for adoption by God himself, all thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit (the previous line in the creed). This happens upon one’s confession of faith in Jesus Christ--who is our brother in this family, the true and only son of God. And, because of Jesus’ victory on the cross, we can be adopted sons and daughters of God with full family rights and privileges, including communion with this awesomely-large and loving family.
Practically speaking, this means that you, me, and every believer in this community and planet, are connected in a deeper way than each of us probably realize. Herein lies a major obstacle to the mission of the church that the enemy loves to use against us: for us to be sooo distracted with our own affairs (like our day-to-day routines, and even the agenda of our own local church or denomination), that we totally lose sight of this spiritual reality. Or worse, we understand the concept that we’re all one big family of God, but we don’t really think anything of it other than, “Oh, that’s a nice thought.”
Guys, communion with the saints of the church universal, means that you’re completely overjoyed when meeting someone new and finding out that they too are a Christian! It’s like finding out that you have a long lost brother (only it’s not because of some weird adulterous affair your parents had back in the day). Or, better example, it’s like when you travel out of state and you meet someone from your hometown. You instantly hit it off and you're excited to run into each other and you spend time chatting about what you have in common. Yet, while living in your hometown, you may see this person routinely and take them for granted.
God, forgive us for not viewing our brothers and sisters in this light, as one body. Forgive us for taking for granted being surrounded by so many Christians, and not celebrating this reality or doing enough to unite for the sake of the mission of the church and to work together in the ripe harvest fields.
Ask yourself, if every Christian is united by the Holy Spirit and made into one big spiritual family with God as the Father, then what is God’s will for how different Christians from different churches treat each other? It's that we be united, that we get along, that we love each other, and that we work together.
For an example of this I can look to my own family. I am a new dad and the experience has changed me immensely in how I relate to God the Father, by giving me a father’s perspective with my two sons. Currently, my boys are 2.5 and 7 months, and do you know what brings my heart more joy than most anything? It's seeing my two sons interact with each other. To see them laugh and play and enjoy each other’s company--and, I’m sure I have years ahead of being saddened to see the two brothers fight and not get along.
Similarly, this is God the Father’s perspective as he watches all of his beloved children interacting with one another. He’s smiling big when Christians (from all different backgrounds and churches) get along and fellowship together and work together to advance the Kingdom of God, and he’s saddened and disappointed when churches avoid each other and fight with each other.
How do we know that this kind of unity is what God longs for?
It’s because these were the very words that Jesus prayed to God the Father before he gave himself up to the authorities to be crucified in John 17. Which, you’d think the final recorded prayer of Jesus before his arrest would be about himself and his unthinkable sacrifice, but instead, he was praying for the unity of the future church--the very thing he was willfully about to die for!
I do not pray for these alone (the apostles), but also for those who will believe in Me through their word: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us. -Jesus, John 17:20-21a, NKJV
Truly, an incredible prayer that also serves as a challenge for every person who considers themselves to be part of the body of Christ.
Sadly, from the very moment this prayer left Jesus’ lips, the challenge to live in the reality of unity has only grown harder over time.
- As Jesus prayed, with his divine perspective, he could have had in mind 2,000 year’s worth of Christians and you and me when he said, “but for all those who will believe in Me.” But I think that when he said, “through their word,” he was praying primarily for the 1st generation of Christians that will grow out of the apostles’ testimony. Because, if this first generation can’t get along, then the Jesus movement dissipates and the impending sacrifice is all for naught.
- Fast forward a year or so: If the Apostles really did get together to pen this creed before they all went on seperate missionary journeys (as the tradition goes), then the “holy catholic church universal” at this time is nothing more than themselves and their homies. Unity is an easy task for such a small group.
- If the 4th Century church authored and finalized this creed, then they did so to try and unite the various churches scattered throughout different cities full of house churches being overseen by one bishop in each city. Again, not a terribly difficult situation to bring unity to.
- No, today is the most difficult time in church history to unite with the Christian church splintered off into thousands of denominations (many because of hostile or petty reasons). This, is an incredibly sad reality because the world stands to gain a powerful witness that would change civilization as we know it for the better if all the Christians united under one purpose and one mission.
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| Kaler and Ryan are serious about church unity. |
This is why unity is so important to Jesus. It’s not for the sake of unity that Jesus wants God's children to unify. No, this mission, this harvest of souls for an eternal Kingdom and an eternal family is the primary reason why Jesus prayed that his brothers and sisters would "be one." Jesus himself gives this as the very reason for unity in John 17:21b when he says that the church should be one, “that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
Do you realize how much the world mocks religion and the claims of Christ when they see thousands of different denominations and nobody seems to be getting along? However, there’s hope. Whereas hundreds of churches fighting with each other draws mocking from the world, all it takes is few churches to unite to create a powerful witness and change a community. This unity then spreads to more churches in more communities, and, before you know it, it steamrolls into a powerful movement and a revival that the world clearly sees--and believes!
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| #OneontaRides @Anchor! |
Now, as missionaries and as ambassadors for Christ, uniting God’s people and the universal church is a major part of this mission, which is why I stand before you today. Brothers, sisters, we share the same calling, to reach these same people (your neighbors). Oneonta’s mission field is ripe with so many people who have nothing to hope for and do not believe that Jesus is the risen Lord. If the local churches united in a clear way and shared in the missionary work of spreading the Good News of the Gospel, the community would take notice of our witness and more lives would be changed than we could ever dream of seeing if one church was doing it on their own.
Since moving our church to a downtown storefront in April, we’ve been paying attention to the rhythms of Oneonta’s culture happening right outside our door, and adjusting our strategy accordingly to meet its needs and better connect with its people. One success comes from an idea so simple it’s a wonder why more churches don’t try it--powering on an open sign!
Another way of how we’ve seen the open sign affect ministry is that it actually changes the tone and posture of a worship gathering.
They have become famous here in Oneonta by students and the community by providing a Kindness Station throughout the year, usually of Fridays or during events like OH-Fest and the bar crawl. The Kindness Station provides free drinks, snacks, breathalyzer testing, and even a safe ride home, all free of charge. 
This laundry list of goodies is an absolute hit. In fact, we’ve already reached a point where most of this stuff is cleared out by the end of the night. This means a major trip to the grocery store is required before we can do it all again the next week. It also means that we end up reaching well over a hundred people per night in giveaways alone.
