The most misunderstood part of the Apostle’s Creed is the phrase we are considering today. I have had sincere people tell me that they do not repeat this part of the creed because they think that it means the Roman Catholic Church, and if they had wanted to be Catholics they would have joined that church. But the word “catholic” means universal. We believe in a holy church, and one which is universal, that is to say, one which is world-wide in its reach. It is the church for every race, nation, and culture. There is no one who cannot belong to it. It is not for some small select group of people, it is for everyone. It is not just for just a privileged few in a particular corner of the globe or era of history. It is for all people, in all places, of all time. It is for the educated and the unlearned. It is for the rich person and the beggar. It is for the ancients and the moderns, the young and the old. It is for the American, the African, the Asian, the Russian, the Israeli and the Iranian alike. The Church of Christ encompasses and embraces every part of the human family.
You can belong to it today. But it is bigger than the United Methodist Church. It is bigger than the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and all of the other denominations put together. We stand with our hands joined with Abraham and Paul, and every person in all time, from every nation who has loved God and walked with him. We belong to the family of the redeemed in whatever time they lived, and from whatever land they have come. We have something in common far greater than ethnic background, or our place in time, as history sees it. I serve the same God, I read the same words from the same Scriptures, and feel the same inspiration that millions before me have felt and known. The same moral principles by which they ordered their lives are the ones which I follow, even though I live thousands of years later or thousands of miles away. I do not know some of these people, and yet I am closer to them than I am many people with whom I have a regular acquaintance.
We are a part of the redeemed of the ages. God has touched our lives in the same way no matter whether we live in the city or the country; whether we are black or white, young or old, Spanish or Asian, from Babylon or Brooklyn. We have a common experience of forgiveness and regeneration. We have a common heritage and a common destiny, and someday we will exist together as a common community of the blessed in the eternal kingdom of God here on earth. It is a Kingdom that destroys all distinctions and creates a family out of all the beautiful mixture and background of the people of God.
There will be those there who will have been forgiven much, and those whose sins were not as great, but all of whom realized their need of a Savior. The only ones not found there will be the proud and the unrepentant — those who did not recognize the lordship of Christ, and who would rather follow their own ideas and desires than to follow God. Missing will be those who found it too much trouble to bother with God and obey him. Outside will be those who neither served God nor loved him. The only qualification for entering the Kingdom is the willingness to submit your life to him. Other than that, the family of God includes any person from any time and from any place in the world. It is the catholic church — the universal church.
One Sunday in a little church somewhere in the world two Jews paid a visit. It was a beautiful church with paintings and statues of biblical and historical figures. In one special corner was a statue of Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus, of which the church was exceptionally proud. But this particular morning they were upset at the appearance of these unusual visitors. The pastor got up and said, “Will all those who are not members of the congregation please leave.” The Jewish visitors sat in silence. “Will all those wearing hats please leave,” intoned the pastor. Still no movement from those wearing their skull caps. In desperation the pastor finally said, “Will all Jews please leave!” With that the statue of Joseph turned to Mary and said, “Come on Mary, get the kid and let’s get out of here!”
In the true church no one is asked to leave. The reason this phrase was included in the Apostle’s Creed is that in the beginning the Jews thought they were the only people who could belong to God — that only Jews could be Christians. Since Jesus was a Jew and worked primarily among his own people, the first Christians were all Jews and naturally saw Jesus as the Jewish Messiah — the fulfillment of the faith God had given them down through the years as a nation. It was a completely new idea to them to realize that Jesus died for all mankind, that he was the Messiah of the world, not just the Jews.
The reason we still repeat this part of the creed is that from time to time there are still people and churches who think they are the only ones who are right and are going to make it. They have a corner on God and everyone else is doomed. But I want you to know that there are people from all Christian denominations who are part of the living church of God. Some from every denomination and church who are truly willing to be God’s people will make it, and some in those same churches will not. None of us hold a corner on the truth. God allows us to have certain differences and ways of doing things, because we are different people. That is why there are different denominations and churches, but in all of them there are sincere, repentant, faithful followers of Jesus Christ who are joined to a universal, eternal family which is the true Church — the people of God.
I am personally glad for different denominations. I believe in an ecumenical spirit, but I do not believe in all churches merging into one huge conglomerate. I know there are those who think it is a terrible sin for there to be so many denominations, but I thank God for our differences, because no one church can meet the needs and tastes of all people. We each reach different people with our different styles of worship and different emphases. Some of you would feel very uncomfortable in a Roman Catholic church, or a Pentecostal Church, and some of their people would feel very uncomfortable here. We are different personalities, and there is nothing wrong with that. It reminds us that there are others who can be different and yet be genuine followers of Christ as well. We don’t have to all be shaped with the same Christian cookie cutter. We can do things differently and still love each other deeply, realizing we are a part of the same family. We don’t have to be one organization to be one in spirit.
But this true Church, of which we are speaking, is not only catholic, or universal, it is most importantly holy. It is holy because it is made up of people made holy by the cleansing forgiveness of God and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Holiness is an important part of the church because without holiness it ceases to be the true Church. The Bible says, “...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25). The Apostle Peter wrote: “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Peter 3:13). The Greek word for church is ekklesia, a word which literally means “the called-out-ones.” The church is made up of those people who have been called by God to come out of the world in order to live for him. They are a Kingdom within a kingdom.
This is not just any organization we belong to. It is not like the Elks, the Moose or any of the other civic organizations where you can belong and do as you please, as long as you pay your dues and attend the meetings. There are moral demands here; there is an experience to receive; there is Someone to live for, and eternal life is offered. It is disturbing when people say concerning some organization or lodge to which they belong: “If everyone would just do what this organization tells them to do then they would be all right.”As if it was just a matter of obeying rules and being a good person. It is disturbing because it is absolutely not true. No organization can take the place of the church. No organization can offer a person eternal life, an experience with their Creator, forgiveness of their sins and an ethic that comes directly from God by which they can order their lives. The Church is not a club!
One of the names in the New Testament for the church is the “Body of Christ.” We are his body. The only way my spirit can express itself is through my body. Without my body my spirit would not be able to express its feelings, or thoughts. In much the same way, the Spirit of Christ has no body here on earth except us who are to be his body and means of expression to the world. The Bible says that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:16). He takes up residence in you. You are the church, the temple of God. If the church of Jesus Christ is his body then the way the church expresses itself must be holy; its actions must be pure.
When you realize that you are an expression of the Spirit of Christ in this world then you cannot do just anything that you want any longer. The Bible says, “Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Your life is the only expression and evidence of Jesus Christ that some people will ever see. It will be your life and your expression of his Spirit that determine whether they too want his Spirit, or want nothing to do with it. The Apostle Peter wrote: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received it. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:9-12).
The Spirit will be in our church only as much as he is in us, the individual members. We are the true church only as much as individually we are a part of the real, universal Church of Jesus Christ — that body of people who are the people of God.
But still there are those who put down the organized church and say they can worship God out in the woods, or on the golf course, as much as they can sitting in a building. If you were the only one in the world that mattered, that would be true. If you don’t need anyone else, and they have no need of you, then you can say that. But we do need each other. There are many religious Rambos out there these days. You remember that Rambo was the independent soldier on film that needed no one else and did things that a whole army could not do. Obviously, those films were fantasy, just as the religious Rambos who believe they do not need the church, and can accomplish more without it, are living in fantasy. No church is perfect. Whenever we gather we come together as imperfect human beings. If there was a perfect church, and you and I became a part of it, it would no longer be perfect.
One of the truths that has impressed me over the years is that the church has to be of God. I am not talking about some spiritual church without an address, but this church and every church like it. We have so many faults, and there is so much wrong with us, that if the church were not of God it would have passed out of existence long ago. The churches of the world have many things wrong with them, yet they are still alive and still being used by God as his instrument on earth. The Church has to be of God, there is no other possible explanation for its continued existence. If the church in America fails, then God will raise up the church in Africa or South America.
This is why the Bible says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). As the Day of Christ approaches we need each other more than ever. Pointing to the faults of the church as a reason for a person’s absence is no excuse. They will never find a perfect church any more than they will find a perfect person, because the church is people. The Bible says, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known..” (Ephesians 3:10).
One of the amazing things we have seen as events have unfolded in China and eastern Europe is the amazing health and vitality of the church there, even through times of persecution. We have also seen how alive the church has been in those countries and just how much they had to do with bringing freedom to their land. The cry for democracy was heard more consistently from the pulpits than anywhere else, in spite of terrible persecution. When the people of East Germany mounted the Berlin Wall in victory, it was not one of the popular tunes of the day they sang, but a hymn of the church — the church. They sang “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” It was from the church that they gained the hope and courage which enabled that time to come.
In Romania a pastor was being harassed by the secret police because of his outspoken criticism of Nicolae Ceausescu’s brutal government. On December 16, 1989, the secret police entered the church to arrest him, but his people formed a human blockade to keep him from being arrested and deported. And what began as one church’s protest ended up being the nine-day revolution which toppled that evil empire. The beginning of the revolution was sparked by the courage of one pastor and his congregation. One church leader from Bucharest said, “Christianity in our country is like a nail: The harder you strike it, the deeper it goes.” After the dictatorship was overthrown in Romania, one of the churches put a sign in their front yard which read: “The Lamb wins!” The Lamb of God always wins. He will ultimately triumph and bring his church home in victory.
When a person joins the church, the confirmation ritual which we read says, “The church is of God, and will be preserved to the end of time, for the conduct of worship and the due administration of his Word and Sacraments, the maintenance of Christian fellowship and discipline, the edification of believers, and the conversion of the world. All, of every age and station, stand in need of the means of grace which it alone supplies.” I believe in the holy catholic church... and I love it. Imperfect as it is, I believe it is God’s instrument in this world to bring his people together into a life of faith that leads to life eternal. And I want to be a part of it, because I want to be a part of you, and I want to be a part of God’s plan in his world.
Rodney J. Buchanan
Amity United Methodist Church
June 10, 2012
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
