Word of Salvation – Vol. 40 No.37 – October 1995

 

The Communion Of Saints

 

Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma on Lord’s Day 21, Q & A 55

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the great privileges which we as Christians enjoy is the communion of saints.  Some of you will know the joys of that privilege better than others, because the communion of saints is something which we seem to sense and appreciate best when we are at our lowest.  And that is small wonder because the heart of the communion of saints is that we see what God has given us in Christ.

In Christ, God has not only given us such tremendous gifts as the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, peace with God and the hope of glory on the new earth.  But in Christ, God has also given us brothers and sisters who support and encourage us with their prayers and acts of love.

Time and again in my ministry I have heard members say how much they have appreciated the support and comfort which they received from the love of fellow Christians in times of personal trial and struggle.  They have been encouraged by the concern, the prayers and the kindnesses of their fellow saints.

And this to me emphasises the second point of God’s message to us today, namely that every living member of the church of the Lord Jesus should use his or her gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of their brothers and sisters – for no one will enjoy or benefit from that part of the communion of saints if no one is doing anything, and everyone is waiting for someone else to act and do something.

But, as I said, that is the second point of the message.  The first and more important one is that the communion of saints is first and foremost a communion with and in Christ.  Without this communion with Christ there can be no communion of saints, for without Christ there are no saints.

Perhaps I should first make clear what the Bible and the Catechism mean with the word ‘saint’.  What, or who, are saints?  As most people will be able to tell us, saints are holy people.  They are special people.  They are people who have been set apart from the rest, from other people.

Now, this is what makes some Christians sometimes say that they are no saints.  They don’t want to be different from anyone else.  Maybe you have said it yourself: Oh, but I’m no saint!  With that you may have wanted to say that you don’t consider yourself different from others.  Or you might have meant that people should not expect too much from you.  But it seems to me terribly sad that any believer in Christ should deny that he or she is a saint… because, in essence, that is a denial of Christ himself.

You see, saints are people whom God has chosen in Christ – whom God has brought to faith in Christ – whom God has set apart in Christ to be His own people.  Saints are persons who, in the words of St Peter, are “a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

Saints are ordinary men and women who have been set apart by God, and equipped by God’s Holy Spirit to serve God and the cause of His kingdom.  It is a great privilege to be a saint, for saints are the handiwork of God.  God makes saints.  And every believer in Christ is a saint.  Every believer, every living member of the church of the Lord Jesus is a product of God’s wonderful saving work.

And I’m sure every believer will gladly admit that – that God has brought them to faith and repentance.  That it was God who, one way or another, opened their eyes to see the simplicity and marvel of the Gospel.  It was God who has shown us what tremendous gifts He has showered upon us in His Son Jesus Christ.  Saints are people who have been bought with the blood of Christ.  Saints are holy people, men and women, boys and girls whose holiness is that they belong to Jesus.  Jesus, in the words of the apostle Paul is their holiness as well as their righteousness and redemption (1Cor.1:30).

The communion of saints is a communion of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, of dependence on Him, of life and joy in Him.  It is the fellowship of people who live in the love of God who is their Father in Christ.  That’s why I said there can be no communion of saints without communion with Christ.  If there is one problem that is plaguing the church today, it is the lack of communion with Christ.

I am more convinced than ever that this is at the heart of most, if not all, problems in churches throughout the world.  Christ is not preached.  Church members do not know what it means to believe in Jesus.  They don’t know what it means to belong to Jesus, to be joined to Him and to depend on Him for everything they need for life and godliness.  There are earnest church members who don’t know what God has given sinners in Christ, and who therefore don’t know what it means to rejoice in the Lord.  They are people who know nothing of the grace or Spirit of God.  Is it any wonder such people make a mess of church affairs and church life?

Such people are found in virtually every church community.  I am sure they are in this church, too.  There are people who think that they know how things ought to be done.  People who think they know what is wrong with others, but who really need to be converted themselves.  I say, true Christian fellowship is first and foremost a fellowship, a daily communion with Christ.  It is a daily walking with Jesus, with whom God has united us to Himself and to each other.

To all believers God says, look at what I have given you in my Son, the Saviour Jesus Christ.  Look at, appropriate, take to yourself that Christ and all His benefits, all the things which He has done for poor and helpless sinners.  That is also what the communion of saints with one another is basically about.  It is sharing in Christ – rejoicing in Him, exercising His gifts to us.  The communion of saints is the communion of needy people whose needs are met by God in Christ.

I cannot emphasise this strongly enough – that we must realise that we are, individually and together, totally dependent on God’s provisions in Christ.  This is so necessary for a Christ-like attitude towards each other and even towards people outside the church.  Only as we are aware of our own dependence on Christ will we be able to show real compassion for those who are in the grip of sin.  Only as we know that without Christ we are nothing, and can do nothing pleasing to God, will we refrain from talking to people as if they can just change their life and lifestyle by their own decision and effort.

Pride says: just do what I have done; come up to my level.  Faith says, look up to Jesus the Saviour who has come to preach good news to the poor and freedom to those who are in the terrible grip of sin, unable to free themselves.  In communion with Christ who became one of us, we will stop condemning struggling, failing brothers and sisters.  Instead we will go and stand next them and speak to them of the Saviour of the hopeless.

Let us together confess our weakness – our dependence on the Lord and His Spirit.  That’s hard.  It’s hard to expose yourself.  It is not easy to admit your struggles, your weakness, your failures, your doubts.  We prefer to pretend that we are doing very well, thank you very much!  We bite our lips and refuse to cry.  But do we realise that by our hardness we cut ourselves off from each other.  Do we realise that by refusing to admit our sin and weakness, we are denying Christ and we are denying our complete dependence on Him.

Why do we find it hard to talk about Christ?  Is it not because we find it difficult to admit our total dependence on Him.  We don’t like to expose our weakness.  One sad result of our shyness and pride is that there is little shared joy in the Lord.  And there is also little attraction in us for people in need.  People in need feel uncomfortable in the presence of ‘perfect’ people who have got it all together.  Only when Christ is believed and proclaimed, will believers practise real communion of saints.  Only when they know how rich they are in Christ will they readily and cheerfully use the gifts God has provided in the service of others.

If you think there is something wrong with the communion of saints in your church, if you find something missing, then God says to you: Do something about it.  Do your part as a living member of the body of Christ.  Don’t make excuses now.  Don’t say: but what can I do?  What can anyone do in their own strength?  What can anyone do without the Spirit of God?  Well if someone else depends on the Spirit, so must you.  If someone else can do something for the body, so can you, in the power of the Spirit.  So ask.  Do something.

How can the body function well unless every part is doing its job?  How can there be a living communion of saints unless we all acknowledge that we are saints?  Saints in Christ.  Saints in Him who says, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you will and it shall be done for you.  Abide in me, and you will bear much fruit.”  Saints are called to holy action.

From time to time I hear the complaint: there is no love in our church.  If that is your complaint, may I ask you something?  Are you giving love, rather than waiting for it?  Are you truly doing something for others in the Spirit and power of Christ, or do you get pleasure out of finding fault with others?  Finding fault is an easy pastime.  It is no trouble at all to find lots of faults all over the place in the church.  The hard part is to tell yourself, “We are brothers and sisters bought by the blood of Christ.  The Lord asks me – no, He commands me – to love faulty brothers and sisters just like He loves them.”

Ask yourself, am I rejoicing in the love of God in Christ who gave Himself for me?  Am I thankful that through the blood of Christ I am a child of God and I have the hope of eternal life?  A lot of fault finding is a sly and nasty way of trying to direct attention away from ourselves, our own failures and shortcomings.

Look, there is forgiveness with God.  Forgiveness for you and forgiveness also for your brothers and sisters.  Let me tell you something: a lot of miserable thinking and behaviour is simply the expression of a hunger for love.  You are miserable not because of what your neighbour says or does.  You are miserable because you have no peace with God.  You are not sure of God’s love for you.  You need to know that only God, in Christ, can satisfy your hunger for love, your need for acceptance.

When you know that you are loved by God, you can stop demanding love from your neighbour.  When you enjoy the assurance and comfort of God’s love for you, you will be free to give loving attention and care to your fellow human beings.  It is by faith in Christ, it is in communion with Him, that you will know the love of God.  And in the knowledge and joy of that love we will really begin to love one another, because He has loved us first.

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Amen.