Sermon on Lord’s Day 21 Q&A 54-55⤒🔗

54. Q. What do you believe concerning the holy catholic Christian church?
A. I believe that the Son of God,[1] out of the whole human race,[2] from the beginning of the world to its end,[3] gathers, defends, and preserves for Himself, [4] by His Spirit and Word,[5] in the unity of the true faith,[6] a church chosen to everlasting life.[7] And I believe that I am[8] and forever shall remain a living member of it.[9]
[1] John 10:11; Acts 20:28; Eph. 4:11-13; Col. 1:18. [2] Gen. 26:4; Rev. 5:9. [3] Is. 59:21; I Cor. 11:26. [4] Ps. 129:1-5; Matt. 16:18; John 10:28-30. [5] Rom. 1:16; 10:14-17; Eph. 5:26. [6] Acts 2:42-47; Eph. 4:1-6. [7] Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:3-14. [8] I John 3:14, 19-21. [9] Ps. 23:6; John 10:27, 28; I Cor. 1:4-9; I Pet. 1:3-5.

55. Q. What do you understand by the communion of saints?
A. First, that believers, all and everyone, as members of Christ have communion with Him and share in all His treasures and gifts.[1] Second, that everyone is duty-bound to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the benefit and well-being of the other members.[2]
[1] Rom. 8:32; I Cor. 6:17; 12:4-7, 12, 13; I John 1:3. [2] Rom. 12:4-8; I Cor. 12:20-27; 13:1-7; Phil. 2:4-8.

Scripture Reading: John 17; Philippians 4:1-7

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 16:1
Psalm 115:6
Psalm 122:1,2,3
Psalm 133:1,2
Hymn 40:1,2

Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The two Q&A before us this afternoon both concern themselves with the church. The church. When you think of ‘church’, what, beloved, do you see in the eye of your mind?

What we see is people coming together. We see them congregating at a particular address, 320 Lake Road. We see them coming at specific times, Sunday by Sunday, 9:00 & 2:30. By and large, we see the same people coming together Sunday by Sunday; there’s fam …, fam …, fam … – father, mother, children. Church: that’s us; that’s what we see. And what do we do as church? We can see what happens; we sit and listen while one person speaks, we sing and we pray and we give our offerings, and we participate in the sacraments. That is church; we see it with our own eyes!

If that’s so, congregation, what makes this gathering here today different from a meeting of the Labor Party faithful in Cecil Andrews Highschool tomorrow evening where (let’s say) Mr Latham will have a speech? There too people come together, and perhaps it’s the same people attending every Labor Party rally, and they’ll sit and listen while one person speaks. Is the difference that in church here this afternoon we have an assembly of Christian believers, while the crowd that would congregate to hear Mr Latham would not necessarily be Christian believers? If the difference lies in the faith of the people, what’s the difference between the crowd that assembles here this afternoon and the crowd that assembled at the soccer oval on River Road yesterday? What makes this gathering this afternoon a church?

Essential, brothers and sisters, to ‘church’ is the work of Christ. And that work of Christ you cannot see. Yes, you can see the result of Christ’s work, and that’s what we see around us right now. But the work itself you cannot see. That is why our Lord's Day does not ask what you see about the holy, catholic church, but asks instead what you believe about the church. And it gives this answer: the Son of God gathers, defends, preserves a church – of which I am a member! Note those verbs: the Son of God gathers, defends, preserves. The church is His work. That’s what I need to draw out with you this afternoon. How is it His work? And so what?

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

The church is the work of the ascended Christ

1. The nature of Christ’s work,
2. The effect of Christ’s work.

The nature of Christ’s work←⤒🔗

The church gathering work of our Lord Jesus Christ begins with the work of our God. From the entirety of the whole human race, the Lord God has chosen certain persons to life eternal. These persons the Father has given to the Son, and for the salvation of these people the Son laid down His life on the cross. This is what Jesus refers to in the prayer He prayed just before He was arrested and crucified. John 17:2: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him." To "give eternal life": that’s the purpose of Jesus’ coming suffering. Not everybody would benefit from His suffering on the cross, but only "as many as You have given Him" – the elect, a specific number.

Christ did His required work on the cross. He paid for the sins of those whom the Father had given Him, died, was buried, arose, and ascended into heaven. But what now of those elect people the Father had given Him? Christ had obtained forgiveness for their sins, but the vast majority of these elect people for whom Christ died knew yet nothing of the Lord; most were not yet born. Well now, here specifically is the work described in Lord's Day 21 of the Catechism. The people whom the Father had given to the Son had particular names. There was a man named Saul, a most devote Jew, and very capable student of Gamaliel. On the list of those whom the Father had given to the Son was also an Ethiopian, a black man of central Africa who served in the government of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians. On the list were also the Roman centurion Cornelius, and a lady from Asia Minor named Lydia. Among those the Father gave to the Son (and for whom the Son died) was also the jailor of Philippi, etc, etc. That list had names not just of Jews, nor of descendents of Shem alone. Rather, peoples of any tribe and race and language were on the list of those whom the Father had given to the Son, people who would live in any century of history, and in any corner of the globe.

What now was the exalted Son of God in heaven to do? He had laid down His life to pay for the sins of that devote student of Gamaliel and of that official of the Ethiopian government and of that lady of Thyatira. So these people had to come into contact with the gospel, had to come to faith. That, brothers and sisters, is the notion caught in our Catechism when it says that "the Son of God … gathers … a church." Gathers: the Son of God had to cause the gospel to enter the lives of specific elect persons, break their hearts of unbelief, and work faith.

How the Son did that? He did it in a variety of ways, but always with one constant. The ascended Lord instructed His servant Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch on the road, and explain to him the gospel he was reading (Acts 8). The ascended Lord hit that zealous Pharisee on the road to Damascus with a bright light and the words of the living Savior, so that Saul had to recognize that Christ arose from the dead and lived still (Acts 9). The ascended Lord sent Peter to Joppa to speak with Cornelius of the work of Jesus Christ. Some years later the ascended Lord sent the converted Paul to Philippi and caused his path to cross the path of that lady from Asia Minor so that Paul could preach to her the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified (Acts 16). Shortly thereafter, the ascended Christ brought Paul into contact with the elect jailor of Philippi, and the jailor heard the gospel also. In each instance, Christ was at work. The common denominator in it all? This: Christ always used the same tools to achieve His purpose. He wished to work faith in the hearts of those whom the Father had given Him –Saul the Jew, the Ethiopian eunuch, the Roman centurion, the Greek jailor of Philippi, the lady of Asia Minor- and to achieve that purpose He labored through His Spirit and Word. That word had to come to the chosen, and when the chosen heard that word the Spirit of Christ worked faith. The Son of God at work!

But this, congregation, is not the full extent of Christ’s church gathering work. It is not so that the Son of God simply works faith in those whom the Father gave to Him, and that’s it – as if now He had completed His church-gathering work. For the church of God is not all-the-elect-believers-as-they-live-scattered throughout a given town or district or country or even the world. The English word ‘church’ translates a Greek word that means literally ‘the called out’, and so ‘the gathered together.’ The Hebrew word equally describes a gathering. And a gathering is not something mystical, something invisible, but is something you can see.

The Father had given particular persons to the Son. The Son caused the gospel to enter their lives, worked faith. Yet that does not complete the Son’s work; instead, He continues His church gathering work. Consider Philippi. In that city in Greece were a number of persons whom the Father had given to the Son. I’ve mentioned already Lydia from Thyatira and the jailor. From Paul’s letter to the Philippians we learn the names of other persons the Father had given to the Son. I mention Euodia and Syntyche (4:2), as well as Epaphroditus (2:25). I’m not sure how big the city of Philippi was at the time, but it certainly was no country town; the people living on this side of the city will not have known the people living on the other side. But over here was one elect person, Lydia, and yonder by the jail lived another, the jailor. On the far north of town, behind the hill, lived Epaphroditus, and down by the harbor lived Syntyche. What does the Lord do now: let these individual elect persons exist in town as so many islands to themselves? Can He say that His church-gathering work is complete now that He has worked faith in the hearts of these elect persons; all that remains is to preserve them from the attacks of the devil? No, beloved: the Son of God takes these separate individuals, of diverse social, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and brings them together. I don’t know where, whether in a clearing along the riverbank or in a shed by the harbor or in one of their homes; it doesn’t matter. Christ brings them together, and that is His church. That He worked faith in these people is only Step One of His church-gathering work; Step Two was that He brought them together. And He didn’t do that once only, but the saints of Philippi, those whom the Father had given to the Son, came together Sunday by Sunday, repeatedly at a set time and place, and they didn’t come together to play soccer or discuss the latest in politics or fashion, but they came together to hear God’s Word, to use the sacraments, to call publicly on the Lord, and to give Christian offerings for the poor. That is Christ’s church gathering work. The result of His work is very visible, even though you can’t see that Christ is doing it.

This work of the ascended Savior, brothers and sisters, was not limited to Philippi. What He did in that city with the elect the Father had given Him He was doing also in neighboring Thessalonica with the elect there. But also in Rome, different country, different language, different culture, different people, were persons the Father had given to the Son, and so the Son was busy there also, both working faith and bringing these believers together. You could see the result: on a particular street, at a particular time, Christ brought together persons of diverse social, economic, ethnic & cultural backgrounds. That was the church of Jesus Christ in Rome. So too in Jerusalem and in Alexandria and in Baghdad and in India – wherever there were people whom the Father had given to the Son, of any tribe or tongue or race. The church is catholic. Christ is busy anywhere….

Again, this church-gathering work of the Son was not limited to the first three decades after His ascension. The Father had given to the Son persons from every generation, sometimes in this city, sometimes in that, sometimes from this people, sometimes from that. So the Son had work to do in every generation, causing the gospel to go to this town and that, working faith in the hearts of each elect person, gathering these elect individuals together into His body-in-that-place. Over the centuries Christ was busy in Rome and in Constantinople, in Carthage and in Geneva, in Amsterdam and in Djakarta. This work continues even today, and we see it with our eyes right here in Kelmscott; we believe that what we see in this building today is the work of Jesus Christ the Lord. He has taken brother and sister …, brother and sister  …, brother and sister  …, with their diverse backgrounds and histories, and brought them to church. More, He has entrusted children to their care, covenant children, and brings them to church too – because they also belong. I know: we’re so used to coming together each Sunday, and always we see the same faces, and so we consider what we see this afternoon so normal, but, congregation, here is the work of Jesus Christ. He does it Sunday by Sunday, takes us from our various homes, brings us together to speak to us, encourage us in His way. How marvelous, how wonderful, that we may see it, yes, may be part of it!

Exactly because the church is Christ’s work can we also confess each other’s identity. I refer here to Art 27 of the Belgic Confession. What is the church, according to this confession? This: "we believe" –note, not necessarily see!- "we believe and profess one catholic or universal Church, which is a holy congregation and assembly of the true Christian believers, who expect their entire salvation in Jesus Christ, are washed by His blood, and are sanctified and sealed by His Holy Spirit." That’s the church: the gathering, the assembly of the true Christian believers. What characterizes the people Christ brings together? Is it that they like each other so much? Is it that they share a common background? Or share a common religious taste? Or send their children to a common school? No, brothers and sisters, no! That’s not what characterizes those whom Christ gathers together. What characterizes them is the fact that they all –through the mighty working of Jesus Christ through His Word and Spirit- they all expect their entire salvation in Jesus Christ, are washed by His blood and are sanctified through one Spirit. That’s to say, congregation: you believe of the person in the next pew that he is washed in Jesus’ blood, that she is sanctified through Jesus’ Spirit! Those whom Christ gathers together are the ones the Father has given Him, are those for whom Jesus has laid down His life, are those whom He has regenerated through His Spirit. That, beloved, is how we have to see each other in this congregation: by God’s infinite mercy we are washed by His blood and sanctified through His Spirit. That’s what characterizes the church, and that’s what ties the members together. They share one faith in one Savior! So let us say that of each other, and let us look at each other and appreciate each other that way – as persons whom the Father has given to the Son and therefore persons whom the Son has redeemed and whom the Spirit has renewed.

Then I know well what we confess in Art 29 of the Belgic Confession, that in the church are also hypocrites, persons "who are mixed in the Church along with the good and yet are not part of the Church, although they are outwardly in it." Always there is need for repentance from sin, sorrow for sin, turning from sin; else there is no forgiveness, no belonging to Jesus Christ. I hope to come back to that next time. But what characterizes the church, says Art 27, is that those whom Christ gathers together are "true Christian believers," persons who expect their entire salvation in Jesus Christ alone and are washed by His blood, sanctified by His Spirit. That is what we confess of each other.

I come to our second point,

The effect of Christ’s work←⤒🔗

The ascended Savior gathers together those whom the Father has given to Him. But what happens now: can Lydia, go-getting businesswoman from Asia Minor, stomach the company of a Greek jailor? Can Euodia from this side of town click with Epaphroditus – who, let’s say, has a vastly different social position, much better education, very different temperament? Or are these people whom Christ gathers together just so many individuals who sit together for an hour as strangers-who-know-each-other’s-faces and then each go their own separate way again? Is that the nature of the church Christ gathers?

No, congregation, it is not. For the church Christ gathers is made up of sinners who all share one faith, sinners who are all washed in one blood, sinners who are all renewed by one Holy Spirit. So these sinners all have an identical bond with Jesus Christ their Head. And exactly because they all have communion with Christ do they all share in His treasures and gifts – to say it with the words of Question & Answer 55. Those gifts include the material of last week, the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, who makes haters into lovers. See there, beloved, the effect of the Savior’s church-gathering work; those whom He gathers He also changes into new creatures, persons who love each other. Can Lydia the businesswoman get on with a jailor? Both are elect of God who will spend eternity together, and so both are gathered through the work of Jesus Christ – and therefore also made to love each other in the Lord. They are incorporated into the body of Christ in Philippi, with the jailor, let us say, serving as a hand in the body and Lydia as an eye. And the two need each other as members of one body; more, the two, as members of one body, want to use their respective gifts for the benefit of the other. And that’s true not just of these two members, but also of Epaphroditus and Euodia and Syntyche and whoever else was elect in Philippi in those days.

Here, brothers and sisters, is the material of Jesus’ prayer in John 17. After the opening of His prayer in vss 2-5, Jesus prayed for the disciples in the vss 6-19. Then in vss 20-26 Jesus prays for the church. What He says? Vs 20: "I do not pray for these [disciples] alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word." For Peter will go out and preach, and Cornelius will come to faith; Phillip will go and preach, and the Ethiopian eunuch will come to faith, etc, and Jesus prays now also for the eunuchs and the centurions who will believe – as well as for Lydia and the jailor of Philippi and Epaphroditus and Euodia, and for every Christian over the centuries, including you and for me. What He asks the Father? Vs 21: "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us." That’s His petition: that Lydia and the jailor and Euodia, etc, may be united in true brotherly/sisterly love, may –despite their differences in social, educational or cultural backgrounds- be united, be one. Vs 26: He petitions the Father that the love the Father has for the Son may also be in those elect persons of Philippi.

And why does He want that kind of love among these believers of Philippi? Why does He bring them together into one body? Jesus gives the reason for His prayer-for-unity in vs 21. He asks "that they all may be one" – why?- "that the world may believe that You sent Me." For people by nature are individuals, selfish, separate, islands to themselves looking after themselves. But God was not like that when He decided to give His Son to save sinners, and Jesus was not like that when He laid down His life for the unworthy, and that is why God’s elect may not be like that either; the world must see in their unity, in their oneness, in their love-for-each-other something of the love of God! So Jesus brings His own together, gathers His church Sunday by Sunday, and makes these sinners – haters-by-nature!- into lovers. One body He makes them, each member being a part with different gifts – for the benefit of the rest of the body. The world sees that communion of saints, sees what Christ is all about, and must praise God for it - or reject Him again.

This, congregation, is the content of Question & Answer 55. "Everyone," says the second part of that answer, "everyone is duty-bound to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the benefit and well-being of the other members." Equally, this is the material of Art 28 of the Belgic Confession. "Everyone’s duty," the title of the article says, is "to join the church." And ‘join’ is not simply a once-off thing that you do when you get your name on the membership role. No, ‘join’ is something you do Sunday by Sunday, whenever the Lord gathers His people together. Sunday by Sunday the Lord gathers, and so Sunday by Sunday we need to make it our business to answer His gathering work, to work along with Him and not resist; Sunday by Sunday we need to come together, join His church at the particular address He’s gathering it. The article doesn’t mince its words on the point: "no one ought to withdraw from it, content to be by himself, no matter what his state or quality may be." OK for Euodia one day to decide no longer to attend church with the saints of Philippi because she has a disagreement with Syntyche? OK for her to decide to stay at home by herself – because she can serve the Lord at home too? No, says Paul in his letter to the Philippians, no, that’s not OK. Chap 4:2: "I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord." This is Jesus’ will according to His prayer in John 17: they need to be one, as the Father and the Son are one! That is why Paul can also tell the minister of the church in Philippi (vs 3) to "help these women". There must be unity so that the rest of the town of Philippi may know that God sent Jesus into the world, may taste the love of God. Absent herself because of disagreement? No! "All and everyone are obliged to join it and unite with" the church, Sunday by Sunday by Sunday, "maintaining the unity" which Christ has worked between the various members in their common bond of faith with one Savior. Those who come together must submit to the instruction the Lord gives in church through the work of the office bearers, bend their necks under the yoke of Christ, and serve the edification of the brothers and sisters. Isolate oneself one may not, fail to join Sunday by Sunday one may not, no longer contribute of one’s first fruits because of disagreement one may not. Christ emptied Himself for the unworthy, and so showed what love was; those whom the Father has given to the Son are renewed so that they can show that kind of self-emptying love!

That was the duty of the Philippians. And see: there was great love among them. Paul from his prison wrote a letter to the church of Jesus Christ in Philippi, and what does he write? Chap 1:3: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Point? The Philippians so loved that they supported Paul’s ministry for years already! Was their love perfect already? O no. Vs 9: "this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more…." Part of the imperfection was the disagreement between Euodia and Syntyche (4;2). Still, love for God and for each other was real in Philippi – never mind the differences in characters. Here was reason for deep gratitude, and at the same time need for continued growth in sharing one’s gifts with one another.

So it is in every church of the Lord around the globe, in every age. Christ gathers together those whom the Father has given to the Son. Through faith we today in Kelmscott see Christ’s work in our town. As gathered saints of God we accept of each other that we are washed by Jesus’ blood, sanctified by Jesus’ Spirit, and so we treat each other with love and respect. No, that love and respect is not perfect; so we strive to abound more and more in that love. We know it, we believe it: the world sees in the church Christ gathers what love really is, sees a reflection there of the love the Father displayed for the fallen world in sending His Son for the lost. So the world is made to see that the Father has sent the Son – and respond.  Amen.