I believe in the communion of the saints. The words sound strange, and you may ask, “Who are the saints?” Are they the ones we see in some churches that are made of plaster standing on little shelves around the walls? Are they the ones whose image people wear around their neck or put on the dashboards of their cars? And who says they are saints? Is there some kind of vote taken? If someone is especially holy, or has done some great sacrificial act, does that make them a saint?
That is the thinking of some, but actually that is not the biblical idea of a saint. We have so misused the word that we would cringe if someone called us a saint. But the Bible tells us that we are all called to be saints. If you have come to Christ for forgiveness and newness of life then, in spite of your imperfections, you are in the family of the forgiven, and you are a saint. Saints are mentioned 60 times in the New Testament, and each time this term applies to ordinary Christians who have turned their lives over to Jesus Christ, and who are living for him in their own imperfect way. The Greek term for saint is hagios and comes from the word meaning “to be holy”. In biblical use when something was holy it meant that it was “set aside” for a special purpose. Objects in the temple were said to be holy, but a candle stick is not a moral being. These objects were holy because they were set apart exclusively for God’s use and purposes. We are saints, not when we reach perfection, but when our lives have been set apart for God to be used exclusively for his purposes.
Saints are not plaster images of people we venerate from the past. Saints are not perfect, sinless people. Saints are some of the people you are sitting next to right now — people with faults, people who have sinned, but repented of that sin and have committed themselves to grow in their ability to live for God and love him. They are limited by their faults, but empowered by the Spirit of God whom they have invited to live within them.
There are no plaster saints. Even the men and women whose images we see were people like you and me. They had their own problems and besetting sins. All you have to do to prove that to yourself is to read some of their autobiographies. Their awareness of their personal sins and shortcomings was very real. They had no delusions about being too good to be true or too holy to touch. They were very real people who agonized over their imperfections like you and I do. They would have been as difficult to live with as you and I are sometimes. But they loved God and were passionate about serving him.
The greatest people I have known have been the people who were very aware of their own sins and shortcomings. I have personally never been impressed by people who give the impression that they have reached some spiritual height that few, if any, have reached. They somehow give the hidden message that they are a cut above the rest and, if not perfect, very nearly there. I have actually known people who said they no longer sin. But the people who are unaware of their faults are the ones with the greatest faults of all and, ironically, those who most grieve over their faults are those with the fewest. These are the real saints.
Jesus told the story of two men who came to the temple to pray. Luke tells it this way: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.’” (Luke 18:9-14).
The moral man did not realize his need of forgiveness and was therefore not a saint. The sinner who saw his shame and admitted his need for forgiveness became a saint. Still today there are those who come to God with the attitude that God should be congratulated on how lucky he is that they are now on his side. Others come with a sense of unworthiness knowing that they will never reach perfection, but with the help of God’s Holy Spirit they will give themselves completely to him. There is a difference between being smug and being a saint. Those who are saints do not feel that they are. The people closest to perfection never realize they are.
I believe in the communion of the saints. The word “communion” here does not refer to the time when we come here to take of the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper — though it may include that. It means communication, spiritual fellowship, friendship, and love. It means I believe in the fellowship of the people of God. It means that there is a special bond between Christians whether they know each other or not.
Our family always enjoyed camping, and one of the things we enjoyed about it was the opportunity to meet people from other places. It’s great to just sit around a camp fire and drink coffee, eat campfire food and talk with other people. For several years, in many of the campgrounds where we stayed there was something that brought us together with other Christians. There was something unexplainable that put our paths together, drew us to each other and enabled us to share our common experiences as Christians. There was an automatic love for each other, a common understanding, a fellowship because we had a common love for Christ. We had both gratefully received the same forgiveness, and shared the common experience of humbly asking his presence to live in us.
It happens all the time. You meet someone and there just seems to be a common spirit—a feeling that this person is someone with whom you share the grace of God. One day Sue and I were driving along a highway in Kentucky when we saw a car pulled over to the side of the road with four of the most helpless looking people I have ever seen. We stopped to help them. They had a flat tire and I offered to change it for them, because it was obvious they were stuck at the point of getting the hub cap off. I finished and was about ready to go when they said to me: “Are you a Christian?” Now I had not carried my Bible under my arm, I did not walk to their car singing hymns or spouting religious phrases, but there was a common spirit between us even though nothing had been said. We knew we shared something similar. As it turned out they were a singing quartet from a Christian college on tour. We shared a common Lord, a common belief in his Word and a common experience of salvation. I believe in the communion of the saints. I believe that there is a common spirit and a spiritual drawing between the people of God.
What a great thing it is to be a part of this fellowship. I not only belong to God, but I belong to all the people who belong to God. People who have lived before me, and people who will live after me. People who live near me and people who live far from me. The church is to be the gathering place of God’s people. People that I will not only know in this life, but with whom I will share the Kingdom of God in eternity. Here in this fellowship of God’s people I find people who love me, even when they know my imperfections. Here are people who will pray for me and care for me, and help to meet my needs as they are aware of them.
The early church had a spirit of love and caring that we still strive for today. Listen to the book of Acts as it describes those Christians: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them....” (Acts 4:32-34). And the Bible says that they enjoyed the favor of all the people (Acts 2:47). I thank God for the love and spirit of caring in our own church. The many, many times the people of God here have reached out to people in so many ways. It is exciting to me to be a part of this great church, this fellowship of believers in Amity. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
I am sure you realize there are people who are not here today because there is no one here that is good enough for them. They are playing the game of the spiritual lone ranger. They think that they can be a Christian and stay home this morning. They don’t need anyone else to be a Christian. Some of them even feel they are better Christians than anyone else. No one quite believes the way they do, or measures up to their standard. They live in an unreal world where they expect perfect little plaster saints, and are disappointed with anything less. And so they go it alone, sealing themselves off from the rest of the Christian community, living with their impossible demands and false conceptions of what it means to be a Christian.
You can look for all the things that are wrong and be the most sorely disappointed person in the world, or you can accept other Christians as fellow strugglers in this pilgrimage of living for God. There are those who need to grow up and realize that we are not perfect and never will be, but we are a family, we are endeavoring to grow together, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to be more of what God wants us to be.
Maybe you can be a Christian and never set foot inside a church. I’m not sure, but I can tell you it is two-hundred times as hard. I will not have anyone to ask to pray for me. No one will know that I need them, and I will not know that they need me. I will not know that anyone cares, and have little opportunity to feel and experience the love of the people of God. I will never sing praises to God as I stand beside another believer. I will never hear a testimony of what God has done for someone who lives in my town. I will never know the needs of my fellow Christians. I will never bow my head with so many other people who silently talk to God. My prayers will always be alone. I will never hear the pages of Bibles turn as the Scripture is read. I will never feel the Spirit of God move within, and know that he is moving in the hearts of people near me in the same way, because I will be sitting home alone.
There is a purpose for the church. I need it. I need to know that there are other people who care about serving God, and living for him. I need to know that there are others who care for me, and that there are people I can care for. I need people who will love me and pray for me.
I find it very difficult to be a Christian by myself. I need to be encouraged as I hear what God is doing in your life. You may be up when I am down, and I need to know that God is still working even though I might be temporarily discouraged. You may be down when I am up because God has done something very recently in my life that may help and encourage you. I may learn something from the trial you have gone through, the scripture you have read, or a lesson you have learned. I need you and there is no place I would rather be than right here with you this very moment. I believe in the communion of the saints.
In the second chapter of Acts we read: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (2:42). The times I have grown the most have been those times when I have been in worship, or a small group, when someone has asked for prayer because of some besetting sin, some persistent temptation or failing, some fault or shortcoming, because it dawned on me that I was not the only one who had problems in those areas. It helped me to know that other Christians were struggling like I was struggling. They were seeking the same prayer and help that I was seeking and needing. I needed to know that I wasn’t a hopeless case, and that all Christians find many of the same things difficult. I needed to see that the people I thought of as perfect have had the same problems as I have faced. The Bible describes what our privileged relationship with other Christians should be like: “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If you are walking in the light; if you are having fellowship with other Christians; if the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed you from your sin then you are a saint, and a member of the family of God.
One of the great things I enjoy about camping is sitting around that campfire and watching the flames dance and the coals pulse as you feel their warmth. I play with the fire as I am sitting next to it, and one of the things I have discovered is that if I take one of the hot coals and move it away from the others it quickly loses its heat and begins to cool and die. Its glow is gone. It cannot exist alone. When I move it back with the others it soon catches the heat and begins to glow again. I believe in the communion of the saints, because I believe it is impossible to keep the fire of God glowing without staying near others who are warming themselves by the burning heart of God.
The Bible says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 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 10:24,25). Are you a saint? Have you joined the family of God? Are you forgiven and free? Has your life been set apart for him? God is calling you into his wonderful family.
Rodney J. Buchanan
June 17, 2012
Amity United Methodist Church
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
www.amityumc.com
