Word of Salvation – Vol.46 No.32 – August 2001

 

The Communion of Saints – the Church’s Body Life

 

Sermon by Rev MP Geluk on Lord’s Day 21B (Q&A 55 Heid Cat)

Scripture Readings: 1 Corinthians 13; Philippians 2:1-11

Suggested Hymns:

BoW 217; 51:3; 73:1,2,3; 428; 451

 

Beloved in the Lord…

Have you done your bit in criticising the church lately?  You know, giving vent to our frustration about this not being right and that not getting done as it should?  Or getting irritated by others in the church?  Like, “John had no right to say that, and I won’t be talking to him for a while.”  Or, “Susan really let us down, she’s just no good.”  Or, “Terry should have done it in a different way and I won’t be working with him for a while.”

Many of us have discovered over the years that every church has members who are critical of each other.  How do Christians share Christ together?  How do we relate to each other in a local church in such a way that we experience a communion and not a division of saints?

What we are now talking about is how to live together as members of the same church to Christ’s glory.  It is not always easy because members have different cultures and backgrounds, different characters and temperaments.  There are different demands and expectations.  We all want a church in which it is a blessing to be a member and where there is a fellowship that is positive, upbuilding and rewarding.  Or to say it differently, we all would like the church to be warm, loving, caring and reaching out to the lost, so that when any of them come into the church, they will appreciate the fellowship and stay.

Now how do we achieve this?  Do we just sit back waiting for it to happen or can we do something towards it?  Well, we need to look at our fellowship with Christ.  For outside of Christ, it is even pointless to talk about the fellowship of believers.  When we are in Christ and open to His teaching and commandments, only then can we experience this fellowship, this communion with others who are in Christ.

1.  Our Fellowship with Christ

Fellowship with Christ is the same thing as union with Christ.  We need to have a deep and meaningful fellowship with Christ if we are to have a meaningful fellowship with one another.  There is no communion of the saints if there is not first of all union with Christ.

So what can we learn about our fellowship with Christ that helps us in our fellowship with one another?  The first thing we can say is that it is a sharing of Christ and all His benefits and gifts.  If I am going to help my church have a spiritually healthy fellowship then I must begin by knowing Christ and believing that He has opened the storehouse of His treasures and gifts to all the Christians in my church.

I can’t stand back and say, “there are so many people in this church that I don’t like, so I am going elsewhere.”  The only time we can separate ourselves from the church in which we are members is when that church is consistently unbiblical in its beliefs and practices and refuses to let Scriptural truth reform it.

You see, we will always find something wrong with the people in the church.  But to do something about whatever the church lacks, I must remember that the same Lord who is my Lord is also the Lord of these other Christians.  The same Saviour who has saved me has also saved these others who believe in Him.  Now if you and I are in fellowship with Christ, then the Lord will also help us cope with others when they do wrong things.  When you and I are in close union with our Lord, then He will give us the strength and wisdom to do the right thing by Him and others in the church.

But not only do I as a Christian have to live in fellowship with other Christians in the church, they also have to live with me.  I may be the troublemaker.  I may be the one that makes it hard for other Christians to live with me.  So again, how necessary for us to be united with our Lord, to be one with Him in spirit (1Cor 6:17).  For if we as Christians walk close with Christ, are in tune with Him, love what He loves, have the same concerns, then we will sin less.  If Christ’s gentleness and graciousness are present in us, then the easier it will be for others Christians in the same church to live with us.

Christ has given many treasures to us.  In the church we find that Christ has supplied the members with a variety of gifts that various Christians may use for the well-being of the church.  I should rejoice and be glad when I can see that the Lord has given you a different gift than what He has given me.  And you can be glad when you see that I have been given a different gift than what you have.

There is no need to feel jealous about each other.  No need at all to feel superior or inferior.  Why should we, for these different gifts come from the same Spirit and it is for the common good of the church.  It’s the same Lord and the same God who works all these different treasures in His people. (1Cor 12:4-7).  The source is the same.  They are from God who looks after His church.  And what He gives to one or another is all for the common good.  It’s all for the well-being of the church.  So our fellowship with the same Christ allows us to be thankful and appreciative of the different kinds of service different members can do for the Lord and His church.

You know that the New Testament calls the church Christ’s body, and the body is made up of different parts. (1Cor 12:12-31).  Each part is useful and will work very nicely when the messages from the brain, situated in the head, are obeyed.  The eye, ear, mouth, hand, foot – yes, all the parts – will function smoothly when they each accept their function and obey the instructions from the head.  All these different parts can’t ignore the rest of the body.  For the body to work well, it has to work as a unit.

Imagine riding your bicycle and a calf muscle decides to cramp up, or the eyes refuse to see.  Immediately the whole process of riding your bike is affected.  It’s difficult to ride with only the good leg, and it’s even more difficult to ride when blind.

Now Christ is the Head of the church and He has something useful to do for all the members in the church but they’ve got to work in harmony.

The members in the church as a body need each other; need to cooperate, in order to make the church work properly.

But apart from whatever function you have in the church, there are three indispensable gifts that all members have and must use.  If any member of the church does not use these three gifts then the body life of the church suffers.  What are these three gifts?  1 Corinthians 13 mentions them.  They are faith, hope and love.  “These three remain”, it says.  Other gifts and treasures may not always be present.  The body can function in a limited way without a hand or foot, or even without an eye or an ear.  So also can the church still function without some gifts.  But the church can’t cope without faith, hope and love.  And thanks to God, He has put these three in every believer.

Faith, hope and love keep the Christian believer in touch with Christ.  Remember, that we are emphasising the need to have fellowship with Christ.  You and I need to be constantly connected to Christ our Lord through faith, hope and love.

And so how does faith remain?  Well, faith needs to be fed.  God gives us faith so that we can believe, but that faith needs feeding on the Word of God.  So let the Word of God teach you, search the Scriptures for direction and guidance, be comforted and strengthened by the Word, and in all that, faith will keep you near Christ.  Without faith in Christ you cannot hope to be of much use to your fellow Christians.  Without the Word feeding you, your faith will soon become useless.

And hope remains in a similar way.  Hope also needs to put its roots down in God’s promises mentioned in the Word.  Hope looks forward, hope sees ahead, and you can only do that when you know what Christ has promised His people.  Is the church not what it ought to be?  Then hope for a time that its members will see the error of their ways and begin living again as Christians.

Needless to say, prayer is very necessary in all this.  Your fellowship with Christ is a constant interaction between you and the Lord.  He speaks to us through His Word and we respond to Him in our frequent prayers.

Love is the third gift that remains with all believers.  There is love to God and love to people.  Here we talk first of love to God.  Think of what Christ means to you, what He has done for you.  He is willing to be your Saviour and Lord.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He picks you up time and again.  He has opened heaven for you and the door into His kingdom.  Surely all that speaks of His love to you!  Faced with all that grace from Christ to you, then you can’t help loving Him.

You then remember that He also loves others believers, and therefore, you realise that you must love them, too.  And it helps not to see them as they are in themselves but as they are to Christ.  When the apostle John wrote to Christian believers then he made an interesting statement.  He said, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.  And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1John 1:3).  The fellowship John was seeking with other Christians was not just a social get-together but an interaction among fellow Christians who all have fellowship with the Father and the Son.  Fellowship among Christians is ever so much richer and more meaningful when it has that common bond with the Father and the Son.

In our first point, then, we have been saying how important it is to have a fellowship with Christ before attempting to have fellowship with other Christians.

2.  Our Fellowship with One Another.

Let us not be afraid to call ourselves and fellow Christians saints.  It’s what God calls us.  The word ‘saint’ means ‘holy one.’  We are thinking, of course, of our many shortcomings, so we baulk at being called a ‘saint’ and hesitate calling other believers ‘saints’.  Only if a Christian is near perfect do we speak of them as a ‘saint’.  And the Roman Catholic Church has, of course, a whole system to work through before it is finally ready to declare someone a ‘saint.  But look at the New Testament letters, when they address the Christian believers in the various churches, then they are called ‘saints’.

Why did the apostles who wrote these letters do that?  Well, they knew that every believer is made holy in Christ from the moment their sin and guilt are taken away.  The apostle Paul called the Christians he was writing to saints, not because of what he knew about their behaviour but because they were made right with God through Christ.  Of course, the saints must begin to live holy lives from the moment of their conversion.  God calls all believers to live as saints.

Living as saints whilst having fellowship with other believers calls for humility.  The Lord says, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…” (Rom 12:3).

So you, dear saint of Christ, how do you think of yourself with sober judgment?  Well, it means that you put down any exaggerated ideas you may have of your own importance.  Don’t think that God has singled you out to let you in on something that he has not revealed to other Christians.  The only way we know what God wants us to do is from the Scriptures and they have been given to all Christians.  Many things that God knows and does are not revealed to us.  It’s His secret will.  And for a believer to claim some knowledge or insight into things that God has chosen not to reveal to others is sheer arrogance.  Therefore, as the Lord says, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.”

Try to have a sane and realistic view of what you can do for Christ and other Christians by the light of faith God has given you.  What do you believe your gifts are?  What are some of the talents God has equipped you with?  Look it up in the Bible.  Work it out with sober judgment.

You know what will really help the fellowship of believers?  It’s what the Catechism says – all of us as members of the church to consider it a duty to use our gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.

Church members who do their duty readily and cheerfully are a delight to have around.  They are contagious.  They inspire others to be like them.  But you know what happens when members go around with a long face and an attitude that says: I have to do it but I don’t like it, and the sooner it’s done then the quicker I can get out of here.  That attitude puts a damper on everything.  A gloom settles over the church.  It happens when we are no longer in fellowship with Christ.  So look at Christ and rejoice.  Remember your Lord and Saviour and how blessed you are as a Christian, then do your duty with a happy face and thankfulness in your heart.  When it’s like that then the church will be a nicer place and newcomers will like it as well.

And how can we use our gifts to serve others, to enrich them?  1Corinthians 13, the chapter on love, is a great help to us here.  Love in the church is like oil to an engine.  It can’t do without it.  No oil, and the engine will seize up.  No love, and the church can’t function.  Listen to what love is and then let each of us think of how it can improve our relationship to other members in the church.

“Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs” (vss.4,5).  How applicable these words are to the communion of saints.  Patience and kindness are wonderful virtues to have in the church.  But being rude to each other destroys love.  Rudeness is the opposite of graciousness and gentleness.  Our bluntness is often rude.  We put others on the spot.  We embarrass them and belittle them.  We somehow think that an in-your-face, up-front approach go with Christian strength and virtue, but they don’t.  Patience and kindness do.

Then, love is not self-seeking.  See how often we succeed in turning the conversation on ourselves, of thinking about ourselves, our hurts, our disappointments, our grievances, our successes, our history, our performances, our abilities, and so on.  Love is not easily angered.  Yes, how long does it take before others get your back up?  And love does not keep a record of wrongs.  Yes, how often do we keep on seeing another church member in the light of their past record?  And, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails” (vss.6,7).

Just note when love is not present and when it is present from the way things are in the church.  Love is not present with envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, selfishness, anger, holding grudges from the past, and enjoying evil.  But love is present when there is patience, kindness, truth, protection, trust, hope and perseverance.  And love does not fail.  All this helps us see what is needed to maintain among us a fellowship of the biblical kind and what will prevent it.

So how are we going to put it all into practice?  Well, let’s look at the attitude the Lord Jesus had when He came from heaven to live on earth among sinners (Phil 2:1ff).  To begin with, the Son had equal status with God in heaven but He didn’t think so much of Himself that He felt that He had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what.

The Lord Jesus is equal with God, and yet He willingly set aside all His privileges in order to be amongst sinners on earth with a view to being their servant.  He – God – became human, in order to suffer and die for the likes of us.  That was an incredibly humbling process.  The Lord of all, being totally unselfish in order to pull sinners like us out of the gutter.

You and I are blessed by our fellowship with Christ.  His love to us has made a difference in our lives.  The Spirit working in us means a lot to us.  Now if that is indeed the case, then, please honour Christ and work at this Christian fellowship by being of one mind, by loving each other, and by staying on the spiritual level and not in the gutter.  Put aside that part of you that wants to be selfish, that wants to be left alone and that wants to just mind your own business.  Instead lend a helping hand and aim for the well-being of others.  Yes, as Christ has done to us, we do to others.

Always thank God for members in the church who long to experience more the communion of saints.  Some of these may themselves have recently started to grow in their fellowship with Christ and now they look for fellowship with other Christians in the church.  Others are perhaps long-time Christians who would dearly love to experience more from fellow church members than just a superficial chat about nothing.

So, when we meet with one another, over a cup of coffee somewhere, or at home with visitors, maybe having dinner with friends, then turn the conversation in such a way that you are searching for a biblical perspective on whatever you talk about.  Do it in such a way that you don’t end up arguing, but building each other up in the knowledge of God’s Word and in the love for Christ and His church.

When you meet after church inquire from each other about what is there to be learnt from the sermon.  Don’t just complain that it was too long or too short, too this or too that.  Try and avoid being negative.  Ask one another, how does what we heard apply to our lives, to our church, to society, the nation?  What does it mean for our families and work, and so on.  Aim to build each other up, to encourage one another, and to serve the Lord with greater zeal.

Pray for your minister and encourage him to make his sermon as best as he knows how, and make some positive suggestions if you think that may help.  After all, some of you have been hearing sermons for many years.  You must know something of how the riches of God’s Word and of Christ are to come out in a sermon.

I conclude with the words of the hymn from Francis of Assisi of the 13th century.  Back then Christian believers knew also how to practise the communion of saints.  The hymn (BoW 451) is really a prayer:

Make me a channel of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love;
where there is injury, Your pardon, Lord;
and where there’s doubt, true faith in You.
Make me a channel of Your peace.
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope;
where there is darkness, let me bring Your light;
and where there’s sadness, ever joy.
Make me a channel of Your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
in giving to all people, we receive;
and in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
            And then the refrain:
O Master, grant that I may never seek
so much to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love with all my soul.

Amen.