What Christians Believe: "I Believe in God’s Holy Church"
(I Peter 2:4-10)
I believe in God’s Holy Church. That simple statement is admittedly an adaptation from what many of you know the Apostle’s Creed to actually say. The original statement was, "I believe in…the holy catholic church." The reason that this statement was adapted is more emotional than theological. When Mark and I were preparing the overview of the study we decided that having a group of Baptists recite the Apostle’s Creed each Sunday was one thing but it was entirely another matter to get them to say "holy catholic church"! We just weren’t sure our "systems" were ready for that. So we adapted the statement to say what we believe, which is we believe in "God’s Holy Church."
As I began preparing this particular message I had to stop and ask myself "Do I believe in God’s Holy Church?" If I do, what do I believe and what difference does it make? If I may, I want to share very personally this morning about what I believe about the church. What I believe is shaped by my connection to the church.
First, I have no memory of my life without the church being part of that. My first conscious memory is being with my mother in church. I was raised in and by the church. I missed The Wizard of Oz, the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and The Wonderful World of Disney because I was in church on Sunday night. I went to kindergarten at church. I went to Sunday School, Sunday morning worship, Training Union, Sunday night church, Wednesday night-I was a Sunbeam and an RA, children’s choir after school and kissed my first girl at a church party. I graduated from a church supported university and seminary. I have no memory of life without the context of the church.
Second, my life’s work vocationally has been devoted to the church. I have served six churches in my career. This year marks my thirtieth year in making the church my livelihood. My wife has joined me in that labor. God could not have given me a more perfect co-laborer than my wife, Kathy. My daughters are products of the church. They both attend a church-supported university and both sense God’s call to ministry, with our older daughter and her future husband both going to seminary. I have no other desire than to serve the church.
Yet, with all my personal life wrapped up in the church as a central part of my life and my career, the question still creates an opportunity to evaluate, "What do I believe about the church?" One thing I believe is when the church reflects the true function and purpose for which God created it, there’s nothing like it on the face of the earth. I also believe that when the church fails to reflect the true function and purpose for which God created it, there is nothing more worthless on the face of the earth.
All of us have, I am sure, defining moments in our lives that we go back to that bring clarity in times of confusion. One such moment occurred for me one Sunday night when we pastored First Baptist Church in Lewisville, Arkansas. I am not sure what brought me to the place emotionally but it was a time when all my ideals had been shattered. I was closing the doors to the church and was walking down the steps and it hit me: No one else is given the tasks that are given to the church of Jesus Christ! I stood there on the sidewalk looking at the sun going down and knew the reason I believed in the church is because there’s no one else to do what the church is to do. When I look for clarifying, defining moments that push aside the fog, that moment comes shining through: there’s no one else to do what the church is to do.
So what do I believe about the church?
Admittedly, you do not see the word "church" used in the verses that we are using for our text today. The Creed says, "I believe in God’s Holy Church." What does that mean? The word in the New Testament means "the called out ones" (I Tim. 3:15). There is no reference in the New Testament to the church as a structure or building but to those who are the called out ones. They are the ones Peter says who have been called "out of darkness into his wonderful light. (v. 10) Peter refers to those who make up the church as "living stones," those "who trusts in him" (v. 6), "chosen people," "a people belonging to God" and "the people of God." We are people who are very concrete in our thinking so we struggle to see the church in any other way than a structure but the New Testament defines the church as people not buildings!
What kind of people make up the church? They are people who are alive spiritually. They are people who have trusted Jesus personally. They are people who have identified with Jesus Christ openly. Peter calls them "living stones." He means that those who make up the church are persons who have become alive, truly alive, spiritually. He says also that the church consists of those who "trust in him." They are people who have trusted that Jesus Christ’s death for them on the cross is the only way to connect with God forever. He says, as well, that the church is people who have come "out of darkness." In other words, they have openly identified themselves as persons who once were part of another world but now they are persons of a new spiritual world.
Here’s why this matters: Those who are the church are those who have been transformed spiritually, trusted Jesus as their personal Savior and have identified with Him publicly. That is why we say that those who make up First Baptist Church are persons who have individually trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and given evidence of that by being baptized into this church family. The church has always been transformed people. A building is where the church gathers—not who they are!
Peter uses several words to remind us as to who the focus of the church truly is. He says, "as you come to Him" (v. 4), "I lay a stone…" (v. 6), "a people belonging to God" (v. 9), "people of God" (v. 10). Do you see what he says? He is the focus, the foundation, the One to whom we belong and the One from whom we exist. What is clear is that we as the people, who are the church, belong to God so the church is His not ours!
A church doesn’t belong to the pastor, the ministers, the deacons, the members, the denomination, the community or the government. The church, the people, belongs to God. Therefore, no other human institution is to have rule or control over our lives than the one to whom we belong—we are His! How did we become His? Peter tells us in I Peter 1:18-20 "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." He bought us for Himself through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Therefore, because he paid the price for me, I am His and we are His!
What difference does this make? It makes me accountable for my commitment to Him and for my responsibilities as His child. Your children are not accountable to me, nor are my children accountable to you. I don’t call your children and ask them, "Have you done your homework?" They are not my children. Yet, because we are God’s we are accountable to Him and to those who are His that make up His church. The questions come, though, "How am I doing in my accountability to Him and to those who are His? Do my commitments reflect that I belong to Him? Does the level of my commitment reflect that I belong to him? Am I living my life in a way that shows I am responsible to Him?" Paul would say about every Christian, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price" (I Cor. 6:19-20). Never imagine that we belong to anyone else other than God and God alone!
The Creed says that the church is "holy." Peter says that those who are the church are a "holy priesthood" and "a holy nation." The word "holy" means or defines someone or something that is uniquely dedicated or separated for a specific purpose. When Peter refers to those who are the church as holy he is saying that we are uniquely dedicated and separated from everyone and everything else and are exclusively God’s. It also means that those who are God’s are to reflect a character of uniqueness and purity in their lives. It is not only that we are "God’s" but also that we are "godly."
One of the biggest traps that we as the church collectively can fall into is that we want to be identical rather than unique. That desire to be identical comes in two ways. One is that we try to be identical to other churches and the other is that we sometimes unknowingly become identical to the culture that surrounds us. We seek standardization rather than uniqueness. We become confused with the measures for success and effectiveness and imagine that if one church is doing something then we should do it also so it will bring us the same results. Or if we see that somehow our culture has become comfortable with something then we should become equally comfortable. We confuse a need to be relevant with compromise with our culture’s acceptance.
Being holy means we are unique in who we are and in what we do. As a church we are to recognize our separation and distinction from our culture. That separation and distinction has more to do with our lifestyle than our worship style. Also, as a church we are to recognize our uniqueness in how we serve our culture. Being holy does not mean that we ignore the needs and darkness of our culture but that there are things that we are to do in serving our culture that no one else can do or will do. When we fail to see our "holiness," our uniqueness, we will lose our identity as a "holy" people and become identical to other churches and our own culture. When we choose uniqueness then we choose servant hood and sacrifice over comfort and convenience.
The Creed says that we believe in the "communion of the saints." The word "communion" is the word used in the New Testament for "fellowship" which means basically "sharing." The word "saints" means "someone who is holy." The idea, then, is that the church as far as its sense of structure is concerned is that we are people who are designated as belonging individually to God but collectively to each other. That idea is reflected in Peter’s description of those who are Christians as being "built into a spiritual house." Again, he is not defining our form but our function. We are to function as a family does within a house.
Rick Warren explains the functions of the church as a fellowship in four ways: relational, mutual, sharing and merciful. Ideally, those four things are found in a family as it relates, gives and receives, shares life and extends compassion. Those words describe a community not a corporation! A corporation, regardless of its current buzzwords about being a family, is not about relationships, sharing and caring. It is about productivity and success. Their goal is not the same as the church. Erwin McManus says, "The church is seen as the religious equivalent of IBM and Microsoft. If the church is not running well, then the solutions clearly lie in the best business practices available…whenever we see the church through the template of an organization, we begin creating an institution." (An Unstoppable Force, p. 14)
What this means is that we can’t do life without each other. We can only do life together as we relate to each other, give and receive mutually with each other, share with each other and show mercy toward each other. I believe that the effectiveness of this church in the next decade is going to be measured not by our resources in people, finances, ministries, structures, preaching or worship styles but by our willingness to experience what it means to be a community of doing life together.
The words we have adapted for the Creed say, "I believe in…God’s holy church, the communion of saints." Think about those words, "I believe…" I have said that I believe the church is people not a building, belongs to God not to us, is unique not identical and is a fellowship not a business. But do I believe in God’s holy church?" You see, I believe in my wife and daughters. I believe in them so much that I will die to protect them and the relationship we have. I believe in them so much that life would cease to matter without them. The challenge is if I believe that, then do I show that?
Peter uses in verse 7 the analogy that Jesus Christ is the central focus of those who are God’s people the church. He says, "Now to you who believe, this stone is precious." He is saying that those who are followers of Christ understand the worth and value of Christ as the most valuable thing in the entire universe. He says then in verse 9 that we are given the task of "declaring the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." The church is comprised of people who have experienced a destiny changing moment eternally and are then given the chance to invite others to experience the same.
The point is that there is no one else who has been given this responsibility! Our task is that we are given the responsibility to redirect the eternities of people! If that is true, then we as the church are the hope of this world.
During the 1990’s Bill Hybels, pastor of Willowcreek Community Church in Chicago, Illinois, went to Washington, D.C. monthly to meet with the highest elected officials of our nation. He said that while impressed with the vast tasks of government that none of that can transform a human heart. He said, "I believe that only one power exists on this sorry planet that can do that. It’s the power of the love of Jesus Christ, the love that conquers sin and wipes out shame and heals wounds and reconciles enemies and patches broken dreams and ultimately changes the world, one life at a time. And what grips my heart every day is the knowledge that the radical message of that transforming love has been given to the church.
"That means that in a very real way the future of the world rests in the hands of local congregations like yours and mine. It’s the church or it’s lights out. Without churches so filled with the power of God that they can’t help but spill goodness and peace and love and joy into the world, depravity will win the day; evil will flood the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Strong, growing communities of faith can turn the tide of history. They can!
"Don’t bother looking elsewhere. The church is it…There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed, and offers belonging to the marginalized of this world. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness.
"Still to this day, the potential of the local church is almost more than I can grasp. No other organization on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close." (Courageous Leadership, p. 21-23). He came to the overwhelming conclusion that "the local church is the hope of the world."
In these days I have asked myself the question, "Do I believe the local church, this local church that meets in a building located at the corner of Main and Jefferson in Jonesboro, Arkansas in the year 2004, is the hope of the world?" If I do, then I have less than 20 years to prove it. If I don’t, then I need to go do something nice because it just costs too much to change the world.
So here’s the deal:
If you believe in God’s holy church, then may this anonymous composition reflect your devotion:
"I am part of the ‘Fellowship of the Unashamed.’ I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I’ve stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, stingy giving, and dwarfed goals!
"I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, and labor by power.
"My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
"I won’t give up, shut up, let go, or slow up until I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ.
"I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops.
"And when He comes to get His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me…my colors will be clear." (Rediscovering Church, Lynne and Bill Hybels, p. 194)
I believe in God’s Holy Church!
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jonesboro, Arkansas