Romans 11:33 - 12:8
Introduction
We have said that every orthodox church regards the marks of the church to be four: The church is One, Holy, Apostolic, Catholic. When we speak of Catholicity, we speak of that which the One church [Where the WORD is preached, and where the sacraments are administered] has in common. The WORD to be preached, of course, is the Living Word, Jesus Christ.
It will not do to begin by making sweeping statements. We begin, rather, with a statement of awe and mystery:
THE CHURCH ISSUES IN THE UNFATHOMABLE GLORY OF GOD
11:33 - Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How UNSEARCHABLE are His judgments and UNFATHOMABLE His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen
Before we make any pronouncements on what the church world wide is, or what we believe it ought to be, we need to begin with the mercies of God! We are all created in God's image, and are the objects of His love. We are made to love and adore and fellowship with Him. If our worship, and if the church are connected with Him, they carry with them truth and beauty and life beyond the narrow scope of our understanding. Romans 12:1,2 is very practical and straightforward. It is familiar territory to evangelical Christians. We like to jump in right here, at the practical side, and go for the decision. "Just do it!" And any way we can get people to meet God is great!
But remember, Romans 12:1 has a "therefore" in it. And the "therefore" points back to the doxology of praise in Romans 11:33-36. Paul comes to the end of a doctrinal passage, a great treatise on grace and salvation and he breaks into this hymn of praise, and THEN he says, "Because of all this great love of a great God, give yourself to HIM; become part of His Body, the Church!"
One of the most important, if not the most important quality of the true catholic church is humility before the wonder God's love, the wonder of being invited into God's inner circle, into God's very Presence. The WONDER! The WONDER of it all! What the text calls our "spiritual service of worship" all springs out of the mercies of God! This is beautiful truth beyond our comprehension!
The preaching of the Word and the Sacraments represent two places where the Living Word makes contact with us, two sides of the same great truth. Preaching is logical and presses for decision. Sacraments are visual or representative, and speak of the unspeakable and mysterious. Across the centuries churches have tended to emphasize one aspect over the other.
Sons and daughters of the church who have been exposed only to narrowly held segments of God's truth (on either side) may tend to rebel when they begin to see the truth of the wider whole. Then, unless they are careful, they re-act humanly, and swing far over to other emphases. We do not know and certainly do not own the whole orb of truth. "(Don't) think more highly of (yourselves) than you ought" (12:3) This can be applied to churches, too! The fact is that we CANNOT own it all, and we do not NEED to own it all. But Catholic is that which the One church has in common; that which is common to all churches that are true churches. How does the Reformation formula apply to the whole church (including our own)?
THE ENTIRE CHURCH IS CALLED TO SPIRITUAL WORSHIP
(12:1-3)
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your SPIRITUAL SERVICE OF WORSHIP. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is. that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
We do not have a monopoly on worship; and neither does any other segment of the church! The entire church catholic worships. The call to "spiritual service" is not limited to evangelical young people at a youth camp; it is not a call just to Mother Teresa in Calcutta— it is a call to the entire church of Jesus Christ everywhere.
But there seem to be so many different ways of worship! Some seem so emotional! Some seem so dead and dry and formal! What is genuine "spiritual service?" What constitutes the church? Before we look at the forms we have to consider the content. Jesus Himself said, in Matthew 18:20: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst!" Whatever our definitions, Jesus is the Living Word!
[Bishop Michael Baughan spoke here several years ago. He told of 300 churches in the See of Chester, England, which are under his care, that use the same form or liturgy. But Bishop Baughan said that as he went from one church to the next, on church would "worship" and another would simply go through a form. The difference was the evident Presence of the Living Word among those worshiping.
We come back to the Reformation definitions: Where the Word is proclaimed and the Sacraments administered, there is the church! Can we summarize "catholic elements of worship" in the context of this definition? What should we expect to be a part of the church universal at worship?: (As we have said:)
THE PRESENCE OF JESUS IS A UNIVERSAL
"JESUS CHRIST is the Word of God. Where Jesus Christ is Present by His Holy Spirit, there is the church!" If the differences of language and culture could be overcome, any Christian OUGHT to feel "at home" in any other Christian service of worship. Granted, sometimes these culture barriers are formidable; and sometimes Jesus takes second place to the forms which have sprung up; but where Jesus is present, there is the church!
THE BIBLE IS A UNIVERSAL
THE BIBLE proclaims the Word of God. The church of Jesus Christ will always give a central allegiance to the written Word of God. It is impossible to think of a Church without the Bible.
The Bible is God's revelation given in human language. The Bible itself is a mystery of incarnation. It is possible to err into bibliolotry, to "go off" on worship of the Bible; to make one interpretation of infallibility a by-word of true catholicity. But it is impossible to have a church without the authority of scripture. The authentic role of scripture is to proclaim Jesus Christ. (John 5:39)
PREACHING IS A UNIVERSAL
PREACHING makes the Word of God contemporary. The church of Jesus Christ will always have men and women called to proclaim Jesus Christ in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Preaching is a central catholic function of the Body of Christ. The scripture says,
"For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God . . . For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe." (1 Co 1:18,21)
The end of preaching is not sermons. Don't misunderstand me, I think I understand something of the art and craft of sermon building. I know a good one when I hear it; I know a bad one when I preach it. But the end of preaching is to make Jesus available; to proclaim that He is here, now, today!
Sermon-crafting is a respectable profession, I suppose. Yet it is possible to be so involved in perfect sermons that Jesus gets lost along the way. But preaching is God's method for making His Word come alive in the church. It always will be. So be it!
SACRAMENTS ARE A UNIVERSAL
SACRAMENTS somehow communicate the Word of God. When I say "sacrament" I would include the whole concept of liturgy, or how we worship, and what we DO when we get together to worship.
Just as some Protestant communions can let the sacred scriptures almost take the place of God Himself, and substitute a literal, legalistic interpretation of the Bible as spiritual fact, even so some Liturgical communions can come to elevate the Sacrament and the Exercise of Worship to a place where it is an end in and of itself, when properly understood it is meant to be a vehicle of communicating God's Presence.
The sacraments are not meant to convey a false sense of security that excuses Christians from obeying the Word and walking humbly before God. And doing everything just as it is "written down in the proper book" is no indication of an authentic sacrament. Daniel Jenkins (in his book The Nature of Catholicity) says, "a passionate devotion to the Sacrament (MAY) mask a spiritual laziness which destroys the meaning of the Sacrament(!)"
Probably most Christian services would include: (1) Prayer recognizing God's Presence and seeking to adore and worship Him; and (2) Reading of scripture; (3) Proclamation of the Word, or preaching in the Spirit's anointing (4) Call for response of some kind; including an offering, but certainly not limited to that; sometimes the 'sacrifice of praise' in testimony;
And all orthodox churches also periodically observe (5) The actual Sacraments themselves (Baptism and Communion) as well as Sacrament-like services, as Ordination, Christening, Marriage, Burials, and the like.
In addition, most Christian churches have some form of confession and absolution. Wesleyans have lived with Wesley's definition of sin as "a willful transgression of a known law of God" so long that often we have trouble realizing that even Wesleyans are to pray the Lord's Prayer all the way through, too!
Finally, the proclamation of the Word is not limited to preaching and the sacraments for...
SOME FORM OF DISCIPLINE IS A UNIVERSAL
DISCIPLINE reveals the Word of God. The true catholic church of Jesus Christ will have discipline. By "discipline" I mean the living OUT of the LIFE which Christ has placed within us; unless the Church manifests its life there is no life there!
CALLED TO BE OURSELVES; CALLED TO BELONG TO THE CHURCH
No corner of the church has perfect fullness. But it is possible to rejoice in the extent where Christ has made us strong, and also rejoice for the Presence of Jesus Christ in others. We can seek to make Jesus the center and the reason for our worship! His manifest Presence is the true "catholic" manifestation, the one true universal element of worship.
We can pray for the entire Church catholic without being unfaithful in any wise to our own family, the Church of the Nazarene. In fact we will be better Nazarenes if we seek to be first of all better Christians! The Holy Spirit would inspire within us a genuine prayer for His coming in power throughout His whole church.
I talked with Nancy Powers yesterday; she shared with me some of the concerns of a priest in our area who genuinely cares about the needs of people, and who seeks to meet those needs in Jesus' name. [Bill McCarthy, St. John the Baptist, 7,000 families. Will you join with me in praying for Fr. Bill McCarthy and his ministry in our city?]
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Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene.
