Today I want to talk about the church, but the trouble is the Church can mean so many things. It might mean our church. It might mean the Anglican Church in Australia. It might mean the worldwide Anglican denomination. It might mean all Christians everywhere. The trouble is, when the Bible talks about the church it never quite narrows it down. Certainly most of the letters are written to a geographical Church, but even then it may be that the church was distributed among a number of households. They certainly weren’t churches like we know them today.
The first thing I want to say is that the Church is central to God’s plan for the world. As imperfect as we may be, we are the means by which God has chosen to tell the world about his wonderful gift in Jesus Christ. In Old Testament times it was the nation of Israel that was meant to show the light of God’s salvation to the world. Let me illustrate how it was meant to work. Following the fall, the world is pictured as a dark place. People are unable to find the way to God on their own. That’s because they’re blinded by sin.
So God calls Abraham to come out of the world, to form a nation who would be God’s special people, to show the way of salvation to the world, to shine God’s light into the world
And as time goes on the intention is that people will be drawn to the light, so that God’s kingdom begins to grow, eventually spreading to the ends of the earth.
Well as you know, things didn’t work out that way. The nation of Israel was incapable of fulfilling God’s plan.
In the end their failure was such that they were exiled from the land altogether. And even when they returned to try to start again, they still couldn’t meet the standards that God had for his people.
So what did God do? Well, first he sent his own Son in human form as the representative of the nation. He alone was able to fulfill all that God desired for his people; to meet the standards that God had set for his people. And having lived it out he then chose 12 apostles who would form a new nation for God. Not a physical nation, but a spiritual nation. He gave them the gift of his own Spirit, to purify them and empower them to obey God. And he set them the task of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. They were to be God’s church, bringing news of salvation to all people. The Church is the new Israel and our task is the same as theirs. It’s to shine as a light in the world to the glory of God. It’s to expand the borders of God’s kingdom until all people everywhere call him their Lord. The Church is to show by its life that God is king. We’re to be like a light, drawing people to God, slowly expanding God’s kingdom until it reaches to the ends of the earth.
But that presents us with a number of problems doesn’t it? Because the church, the visible church at least, is far from perfect. Sometimes our life doesn’t reflect the light of the gospel very well, does it? The reflection gets dimmed by the scratches and dents on the surface of our life. Sometimes our life as a church even leads the gospel into disrepute. For example think of some of the things that are problems for us.
The church is splintered. I remember reading somewhere just how many new churches had formed in the western world over the last century. I can’t remember how many it was, but it was in the thousands. And most of them had come about, not through missionary activity, but by churches splitting over some disagreement, either theological or organisational. The sad reality of the church today is that it’s a splintered church, divided over all sorts of theological and ecclesiastical issues. But it’s a reality that goes against God’s will for the church. Listen to what God says to the Church through Paul in Eph 4: (Eph 4:1-7) "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." God’s desire for the Church is that it be united under Christ. Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another and to be united with each other the way He loved them, the way he was united with the Father. In John 17, he prayed to God that they would be one just as he and the Father are one. Why? So that the world may know that God had sent him and loved them even as He had loved Jesus. So this division in the Church is a stumbling block to the fulfilling of God’s plans for the world, even if there may be times when it’s a necessary evil.
The church is an imperfect organism. The problem is the church contains sinners. None of us are perfect. And not everyone in the Church is a follower of Jesus Christ. People join the Church for all sorts of reasons. Even those who claim to be followers of Christ come with a range of motives and degrees of faith. But we shouldn’t be surprised by that. Jesus certainly wasn’t. Do you remember the parable of the weeds? A farmer planted good seed in his field, but while everyone was asleep, an enemy came and planted weeds in among the wheat. And of course when the seeds sprouted there among the wheat were all the weeds. The farm workers came and asked the master whether they should go out and weed the fields straight away. But he replied, no, because then you might pull out some of the good plants as well. We’ll wait until harvest time, when the good plants will be obvious, then we’ll pull out the weeds and then harvest the wheat. Now can you see that that’s a parable about the church? Some members of the Church are there by false pretences. But God doesn’t root them out. He leaves them there until their fruit becomes obvious; until the harvest, the last day, in fact. But in the meantime this means we may be disappointed with the way the church appears.
So what do we do under those circumstances? We do what the farmer does. We cultivate and fertilise the good seed. We provide good food, solid nourishment, so that Christians will grow in their faith. We seek to encourage our members to be faithful, to grow in their love and obedience to God. And we continue to trust God to grow his church, knowing that in the end he knows who are his and who aren’t. He is sovereign over his kingdom. He won’t let it fail.
The true Church is invisible. What that parable teaches us is that the true church of God is actually an invisible church. That is, those who are members of God’s kingdom aren’t always obvious. As we just saw, not everyone who professes faith is genuine in that profession. They may look the real thing, but only in the end will their true nature be shown up. Nor for that matter does everyone who has true faith in Jesus Christ belong to a church. There are some who for one reason or another don’t or won’t belong to a church. But still, most members of the invisible church are also members of the visible church. So what do we think when we see certain members of the church consistently acting in an ungodly way or promoting ungodly theology or ethics? I guess we have to ask ourselves whether they’re really followers of Christ. Of course the parable of the weeds teaches us that it’s not for us to determine that. God will decide that when the time is ripe. But still we need to have our eyes open for the fruit of the gospel in people’s lives. We need to be looking to see God’s grace at work in an obvious way in the lives of Christians. It’s what we expect, isn’t it?
I know that if I’m looking for help or comfort or support, the first place I look is among my Christian friends. Now I know that they’ll sometimes let me down, for a range of reasons. But that possibility doesn’t take away from the fact that here in the Church is where I expect to find God’s comfort and love. You see despite the negative things we’ve noticed the Church actually has a very positive side.
You see, despite all it’s faults, the Church is a wonderful creation of God. The church is the end result of God’s plan from the beginning of the world. Listen to what we read in Eph 1:8-12: "With all wisdom and insight 9[God] has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory." (NRSV) God’s plan for the fulness of time was that we would be gathered up in Christ, that we might live for the praise of his glory. His desire is that the Church would glorify him as it lives under the headship of Jesus Christ. We see a bit more of this in Eph 3:8-11: "Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, 9and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; 10so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NRSV) How is the wisdom of God, the plan of God, previously hidden, but now revealed, to be made known to the world? Through the Church! Just as Israel was meant to show God’s glory to the other nations, so now the Church has been created for that purpose. This motley group of people who meet here each Sunday have been chosen by God to show the world God’s wisdom and might. How does that make you feel?
Well, how is the Church to do that?
It is promised God’s power. In our first reading today we heard Jesus’ promise that when 2 or 3 are gathered together in his name he’s there in their midst and that if two of us agree on earth about anything we ask, it will be done for us by his Father in heaven. That’s an amazing promise isn’t it? What power this church has at its disposal! If 2 or 3 agree on anything we ask, God will do it for us. Now obviously there are some provisos there about whether we’re asking something that God is happy to see happen. But still, it’s pretty amazing isn’t it?
When Jesus gave the great commission, to go into all the world and preach the gospel, he gave a similar promise: "See, I am with you always." We saw last week how the Holy Spirit is given to us, that is to the Church, to empower us for ministry. So this Church is a powerful agent, set apart to serve God in all his power.
Holy. We say in the creed we believe in the Holy Catholic church. That word holy can either be a meaningless add on, just one of those words that pop up in religious language, like in "holy bible" or "holy communion" or "holy land", or it can seem a bit daunting as in the idea of a "holy man": someone who’s so pious they’re beyond normal human experience. Or it might even have the connotation of a "holier than thou" attitude. "We couldn’t do that because we’re meant to be holy." But that’s actually to misunderstand what’s meant by the word. Holy simply means set apart. What are we set apart for? Well, for a unique relationship with God in Jesus Christ. We’re those who have been set apart from the world to follow Christ. The Greek word for Church is Ekklesia, which means those called out - out of the world. Again, when Jesus prays for his disciples in John 17 he prays that they’d be kept free from the world. Although we’re not removed from the world we are called to remain apart from it. You’ve probably heard the phrase that derives from that passage ’in the world but not of the world.’
Just as the land of Israel was set apart as a place free from the taint of idol worship, where God’s people would be free to live the way God wanted all people to live, in harmony with each other and the land, obeying his commandments and worshipping him alone, so now the church is meant to be a community where those same values are practised, where people will be drawn by our love and unity to want to leave the world and join us in the worship of God.
Catholic. When we describe the church as Catholic we’re not thinking of the Pope or the church of Rome. Rather we’re acknowledging that the Church of God is a universal church. It’s world-wide, all inclusive, multinational, multicultural, though not multi-faith. Almost anywhere you go in the world you’ll find a group of worshipping believers. It can be one of the joys of travel to join with believers from a different culture in the worship of the same God, knowing that we’re all one in Jesus Christ; knowing that we belong to the communion of saints.
The communion of saints. You see this church is primarily and above all a fellowship of believers. It’s a community of those who have been called and empowered by God to love and serve him and one another. That’s one reason why it’s so important for Christians to be part of a Church. So they can participate in that fellowship, both as recipients and as contributors. Jesus said "By this they will know that you’re my disciples, if you love one another." The way we’re meant to show God’s glory to the world is through our communion together, through our fellowship as believers united in Christ. We began by commenting on the scandal of the splintering of the church. Well, how do we overcome the effects of that scandal? The best way, I would have thought, would be to show by our own lives together that we’re a fellowship of people who love each other and who are trying to extend that love of God to others outside our fellowship. Then we might in fact be:
The place where God’s Glory is seen by the world. I want to finish by reminding you of the verse that’s become something of a motto for St Theodore’s. It appears at the bottom of our mission statement in case you haven’t noticed it. It’s Eph 3:20-21: "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Notice that: the Church is the place where God’s glory is revealed. The Church is the place where God will accomplish far more than we can ask or imagine. We’re in an incredibly privileged position. God has not only promised to do whatever 2 or 3 of his followers agree on, he’s promised to do far more than even that!
So here’s my final question to you: Do you believe in that sort of a Church? Do you believe in a Church that God is going to use to glorify his name? Do you believe in a church that’s set apart from the world, to be a place where Christians can live together in love and harmony, where we can worship God the way he meant us to, growing in faithfulness and obedience as we encourage one another? Do you believe in a Church whose mission it is to attract others to the worship of the true and living God? That’s the sort of Church I believe in.
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