************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 54 ************
Doctrine: The Apostles' Creed, "a holy, catholic church"
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on November 26, 2000
Q & A 54
Ephesians 1:1-14
"A Holy, Catholic Church"
Introduction
With the church of all ages, what do you and I confess? We say, "I believe ... a holy catholic church."
Now, don't forget, we are talking about true faith, about saving faith. In order to be saved, in order to be washed and cleansed and redeemed and forgiven, in order to be called God's child, in order to have a place in the new heaven and new earth, we need to believe "a holy catholic church."
In the Bible talk of the church always involves talk about two things: God and His people. So what we are looking at this evening is what the triune God does in, to, and with His people.
I The Work of Christ
A Let me start off by observing that within the church believers spend far too much time watching and talking about what Satan is doing. Instead, we should be watching and talking about Jesus. For instance, when a prominent minister is caught in adultery, it becomes a hot topic of conversation. Or, if a church has a big fight and a split, and leaves the denomination, that becomes the subject of conversation. In focusing their attention on these kinds of things, do you see what people are doing? They are watching and talking about the work of Satan. But, as the Catechism makes clear, to speak of the church is not to speak of Satan and believers and their sins but to speak of the work of the eternal Son of God in and with believers.
Another problem that exists is that within the church believers spend far too much time watching and talking about each other. You know what I mean. This reminds me of what happened to the apostles Peter and John after they healed a crippled beggar in the name of Jesus. An ever-growing crowd focused their attention upon the apostles instead of the Lord. "Men of Israel ... why do you stare at us?" asked Peter (Acts 3:12). The crowd was supposed to see that it was Jesus Who was at work in the healing.
I am sure that some of you, like me, have read books on the apostles or about the great missionaries of the church. Too often I find myself wishing to be like them, with their faith and selflessness. But, we should not be staring at them; rather, we should be seeing the Lord Who accomplishes great things through them or in spite of them.
When it comes down to it, there are two ways of looking at the church. The first way is to look at the church with the eyes of the world. Those who look at the church with these eyes only see sinners like ourselves; they see only the adultery, the suicide, the divorce, the homosexuality, the fighting, the splits, and so on. Those who look at the church with these eyes, they are the ones who say the church is full of hypocrites, and either want nothing to do with it or go from church to church vainly looking for the perfect church.
There is also a second way to look at the church, and that is with the eyes of faith. Those who look at the church with these eyes are the only ones who see it right. Yes, they see sin and evil; but that's not all that they see, nor is it the first thing they see. Those who look at the church with the eyes of faith, do you know what they see? They first of all see the Son of God; they see Him gathering, protecting, and preserving for Himself, through His Spirit and Word, a community chosen for eternal life.
B When we look at the church we are to see the ingathering work of Christ. It is Christ Who compels Christian parents to baptize and dedicate and train their children in the ways of the Lord, perpetuating the line of the covenant from generation to generation. It is Christ Who compels people to publicly profess their faith and become full members of the church. It is Christ Who compels the church to go out and evangelize the nations.
I need to emphasize that in His ingathering work Jesus draws us together into a community. I say this because too many so-called believers today see religion and faith only as a personal matter between a person and his or her God. I'm afraid that here the individualism of American society is rubbing off upon the church. You see, in saying this many are saying they no longer think the institutional church is very important to their faith life. Yes, all of us must personally know Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Yet, none of us gets a personal Savior and none of us are saved as individuals. We are gathered, saved, and sanctified not as individuals but as members of a believing community.
Those whom Christ gathers He also "protects" against the evil one. And, in spite of their weakness and the powers of demons, He "preserves" them until the day they are promoted to the church triumphant.
When we look at the church, then, we are to see the gathering, protecting, and preserving activity of Jesus Christ. It is only because of Jesus that the church exists and it testifies to His invisible presence.
It is in this light that we must make more careful use of our language when talking of the church. Too often within the Christian Reformed Church I hear talk of "church planting ministries," of "starting a church," of "growing a church," of "church planters." Talk like this can make light of Christ's ingathering, protecting, and preserving work. Obviously, we never really "start" a church. We merely join. And, it is Christ Who compels us to join.
C It is Christ Who gathers, protects, and preserves the church. This He does "through His Spirit and Word," says the Catechism. It is possible to gather crowds and form communities through other means and attractions. But churches are built only through God's Word and God's Spirit. And, it is through the Word and the Spirit working together that Jesus builds His church. That's why churches start to flounder when they skip the sermon. That's why music programs and videos and plays can never be a substitute for the sermon – because that is not how Jesus builds His church.
D The Catechism tells us that Christ gathers, protects, and preserves the church "for himself." She belongs to Him. The Bible tells us she is His bride.
Again, we must be careful in our use of language when talking of the church. Because the church belongs to Christ it is totally inappropriate to refer to her by the name of the minister, as though First CRC is "Vink's church," or Trinity is "Dieleman's church."
The New Testament talks another way. So many of the Bible's descriptions impress upon us that we are not our own. Nor do we belong to any preacher. Rather, the church is the body of Christ, the temple of God, the bride of Christ, God's own people. Out of the whole human race Christ gather "for himself" a community. Even the word "church" reflects this fact. The English word "church," like the German "kirche" and the Dutch "kerk", derives from a Greek word, "kyriakon," which means "belonging to the Lord." The church belongs to the Lord.
It follows from this that we are wrong when we shape the church merely to suit ourselves and to meet our religious needs; we are wrong when we try to mold the church to our image of what we think she should be; we are wrong when we try to make her fit us like a comfortable suit of clothing. The church belongs to Christ. He molds the church after His image, not ours.
E In the Creed we confess belief in the church's oneness, saintliness, and universality. We say, "I believe a holy catholic church." Here too we must see the hand and work of Christ.
That little word "a" expresses the church's oneness. Jesus gathers, protects, and preserves for Himself "a" community. Not numerous communities of believers, but one community is gathered, protected, and preserved by the Lord Jesus. All true Christians and churches are formed by the Lord into His one body. The Lord Jesus, through the work of the one Spirit, has called one church into being. And of that one church all true congregations and denominations are a part. And of that one church all true Christians – whatever their skin color or nationality – are a part.
We are also to see the hand of the Lord Jesus in the church's holiness. The church is not holy in and of herself. She is only holy in Christ. In Scripture something holy or sacred is separated from the world and consecrated to the service and glory of God. The furnishings and vessels of the Temple, for instance, were holy; they were not to be used for ordinary or profane uses – they were set apart for the service of the Lord. Jesus Christ makes the church holy – He calls her out of the world and into the service of God. This is reflected in the Greek word for church, "ekklesia," which means "called out." The church is also holy because she is indwelt with the sanctifying presence of Christ's Spirit. Because of Christ, we are rightly called the saints of the Lord.
Finally, we are to see the work of Jesus in the church's catholicity. Catholic means "world-wide, universal." "I believe a holy catholic church," we say. "I believe a world-wide, universal church." Every true believer – whatever their skin color or nationality – and every true congregation of believers, is a member of this world-wide, catholic church.
Here too we are to see the work of Jesus. The Catechism can say that it is Jesus Who gathers, protects, and preserves a community
out of the entire human race,
from the beginning of the world to its end.
With His own blood, says Scripture, Jesus purchased men for God "from every tribe and language and people and nation" (Rev 5:9).
What do we see when we look at the church with the eyes of faith? First of all, we should see Jesus. We should see Jesus gathering, protecting, and preserving the church. We should see Jesus making the church one, holy, and catholic.
II The Work of the Father
When we look at the church with the eyes of faith we should also see the work of God the Father. In the words of the Catechism, all those people of all times and all races who are gathered, protected, and preserved by Christ Jesus are "chosen for eternal life." And, the gracious choosing, the election, is a work the Bible ascribes to God the Father. Says Paul,
(Eph 1:3-5) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... For he chose us in him before the creation of the world ... In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.
It is Christ Who does the gathering, but He gathers the elect of God. That throws a special light on the conditions for church membership. We do not enjoy the privileges of church membership because we have decided to join but because God has chosen us to join. Nor do we enjoy the privileges of church membership because we are qualified but because we are chosen.
If church membership depended upon qualifications, no doubt we could think of all sorts of conditions: moral excellence, a particular spiritual experience, a certain level of knowledge or understanding, a suitable donation, to name only a few. Any or all of these conditions might be applied if church membership were a matter of qualification. But church membership is NOT a matter of qualification; rather, it is a matter of God's election or choosing. We become members of the church because God loves us, not because we are so lovable or because we have the right kind of theological viewpoint. We become members of the church only because of the electing grace of God. People can come forward for Profession not because they are qualified but because God has chosen them for church membership.
When we look at the church with the eyes of faith we should see God the Father and His electing or choosing grace.
III The Work of the Spirit
When we look at the church with the eyes of faith, do you know what else we should see? We should see God the Spirit. As I already said, the Son of God gathers, protects, and preserves the church. But He performs these activities through the Spirit.
As you may know, in the Old Testament era God's dwelling place on earth was either a building of stone – the Temple – or a tent of cloth – the Tabernacle. Of course, God never lived visibly in these; nevertheless, these were once His divine residences. The temple in Jerusalem was His earthly address, and those who sought the Lord had to go there.
The Scriptures teach us that with the coming of the Spirit this has all changed. It is the church which is now the temple of God; it is believing men, women, and children who are now the earthly dwelling place of the Almighty.
For some reason God's people don't want to accept this; they have always been tempted to return to the Old Testament here and elevate the importance of buildings. For example, consider the massive cathedrals of Europe – great masterpieces of architecture, filled with priceless paintings, adorned with jewels and gold, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet, I can't help but think that these reflect a time when the church was building-centered. Rather, in Christ Jesus she is to be people-centered – for the assembly of believers, the congregation, NOT a building, NOT this building, is the temple of God. It is the congregation and not the building that is holy and filled with the glory of God.
When we look at the church with the eyes of faith we should see God the Spirit Who lives within her and makes her holy.