Apostles' Creed - pt.10

Ephesians Chapter 4 is where you can be parked for a little

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

while. Apostles Creed This is our our

10th installment, I believe. So we're in the part of the

creed where we're looking at 2 lines.

We're looking at the Holy Catholic Church and the

Communion of Saints. The Holy Catholic Church and the

Communion of Saints. So up until this part of the

Creed, of course, you know, we've been describing and

focused exclusively on God himself, which is that's the

important foundation for doctrine, right?

I believe in God the Father. I believe in Jesus Christ.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. We've been emphasizing who they

are and what they do. And now we're saying, I also

believe in the Holy Catholic Church.

I believe in the communion of Saints.

So we're going to start to define that.

We're going to start to understand what it means, what

it looks like, the Holy Catholic Church.

There's been a lot of question there.

We had an asterisk on the word Catholic.

So people are probably going, wait a second, is this, well,

there's an asterisk there, so maybe we'll get to that.

So today we're finally getting to that and we're going to

explain what we mean, what we're saying when we say Catholic

Church. What is the communion of Saints?

Once again? I told you to go to Ephesians

and I didn't go with you. OK, Ephesians, chapter 4, we're

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

going to start reading verse 17. Now this I say and testify in

the Lord that you must no longer walk, as the Gentiles do, in the

futility of their minds. They are darkened in their

understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the

ignorance that is in them. Due to their hardness of heart,

they have become callous and have given themselves up to

sensuality, to greed and practice every kind of impurity.

But that is not the way you learned Christ.

Assuming that you have heard about Him and we're taught to

and we're taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus.

What to put off your old self which belongs to your former

manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires And to

be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

And to put on the new self created after the likeness of

God and true righteousness and holiness.

So as we look at our the the Apostles Creed again, we're

reminded the Apostles Creed is not the Bible, the Apostles

Creed that points to the Bible. It was a simple tool that was

built by the early church fathers to say we want to just

clarify doctrine. We want to explain what is

essential what what is what are the things that all Christians

need to agree on. Are there other freedoms beyond

this? Are there other disagreements we

can have? Absolutely.

But are there some core tenants that we would say everybody

needs to agree on these things. These are foundational.

These are fundamental for the body of Christ.

Absolutely. So this was instructional for

new believers, but it's also a helpful resource for any

believer to share the gospel. You say I don't know what to

tell somebody. You know.

I just know to say like, God loves you.

Well, the Apostles Creed actually gives you a great

framework to start to walk through, to start to explain to

somebody, hey, there's God the Father, He's the creator of

heaven and earth. He sent his only Son, Jesus

Christ our Lord. The gospel is laid out and made

plain in the Apostles Creed, so you can you could even instruct

someone with it, You could lose it, use it as a loose framework

and you go, I'm not lost anymore.

I have a tool. I have a resource to do that.

But as we continue down, we get into the later line where we say

the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints.

We'll start with the word Holy, the Holy Church.

Before we define what the the Holy Church is, what the Holy

Catholic Church is with the communion of Saints is, let's

understand what a Holy Church looks like.

Holy means set apart and dedicated to God.

That's a simple and good definition.

So often times we think holy, we think there's a Halo.

We think this person or this thing is flawless.

It's never done anything wrong. The interesting thing is that

under the blood of Jesus, we are made that way.

God did set us apart, He did dedicate us to himself, and then

we dedicate ourselves to Him as well.

We are made sacred. The Bible calls Christians

Saints. So we're called believers.

We're called Christians, but we're called Saints.

Well I'm no St. you literally are a St. literally sacred.

Literally set apart. Jesus has watched your sins

away. He made you a new creation and

because of that you are holy holier than now has often been

used as an insult. Right?

People would say you're you think you're holier than now but

it is literally true for the people of of God.

Compare in comparison to those who aren't the people of God.

Now obviously that's used whenever someone is probably

being trying to shame someone else and also making it look

like I don't need grace. So it's one thing to to to say

that you know are is a St. holier than a not St. obviously

yes I'm holier. Are you holier than you were

before you came to Christ? Yes, of course you are.

You weren't holy. Now you are holy.

So it stands to reason that you're also holier than anyone

else who's a non believer. That's a true statement.

But we're not emphasizing that from a point of pride.

That truth, that revelation, actually brings us to humility.

It brings us to gratitude, and it brings us to joyfully share

the good news to go God can make you holy.

You think you're holier than me? Well, well, technically, yes,

but that's not the point. Like, I I couldn't care about me

being holier than you. It's that the Father has rescued

me and he also wants to rescue you.

I was lost. I was doomed.

I was ashamed. I was burdened.

I was in sin. Are you saying I'm all that?

Well, yeah. God says that.

And this is the good news. You don't have to say that.

So the gospel cuts through all that.

So the important clarifiers that we didn't wash our own sins

away, we didn't earn what we have.

We don't deserve the status that we enjoy.

But to be clear and honest, it is most definitely and certainly

different from where we used to be.

We're holier than we were and consequently holier than those

who don't believe in Christ. But like I said, that fills us

with humility, that fills us with gratitude instead of pride.

There's no haughtiness. There's no, not at all.

Instead, we go. It's the glory goes up, it goes

to him. Or are you?

Am I thankful for my high position?

Yeah, But I didn't give it to myself.

I didn't climb to it. I didn't achieve it.

I didn't get here, I said. I believe.

And he goes, You're seated with me in heavenly places.

I'm going, Wow. What do you call this?

Grace. Love.

Mercy. The kind.

The eternal kindness of God. Now what should you do, my

child? Well, I spread the word.

I mean, everybody should be here.

This is, this is what we were built for.

This is what we were made for. This place.

Seated with him in heavenly places.

This is what he intended for all humanity.

So believing that we are holy, believing that we're sacred,

believing that we're set apart. It causes us to act differently,

causes us to live differently. I don't just think about

holiness, I realize, I I believe that I'm holy.

So believing that we are holy makes us want to act in

accordance with this truth. And this is what we see laid out

here in Ephesians where he's reminding holy Christians set

apart sacred people. Hey, put off the old man and put

on the new man. Put off the old man and put on

the new man. We we gave the analogy before we

said it says though the Lord is the one who washes us and scrubs

us and cleans us. And now here we are sparkling

clean. All the mud is washed off and

yet we have two sets of clothes still to pick from.

I could still put on my filthy old clothes.

And this is oftentimes what we as Christians do.

I put on my old clothes and go, this is what I'm used to.

The Lord's going to put take off the old clothes.

You are new. That is the miracle of the Holy

Spirit, the gift of God, through the blood of Jesus.

That's done and established. Put Now act accordingly.

Act accordingly. You You're acting outside of the

character and the nature and character of God.

This is why we sometimes get confused in our immaturity and

our thing. We go, wait, I just sinned.

Am I a Sinner? Well, in the strictest sense,

technically, sure that you know. What do you call a person who

sins? A Sinner.

What do you call a person who lies?

A liar. What do you call a person who

murders people? A murderer.

And yet that is not who you are. That is actually something that

you did before you came to Christ.

You are a Sinner. Identity is That's who you are.

Dead is who you are When you come into Christ, and now you

commit sin, you're not instantly A Sinner again.

You you committed a sin that has been washed and paid for by the

blood of Jesus. We would still want to walk in

repentance. We would still want to crucify

the flesh. We still would want to reject

our sin. But holiness, being holy makes

us want to be more holy Being holy, instead of pardon God, we

want to set ourselves apart, even to a greater degree.

Why? Well, because the closer your

fellowship with the Lord gets, the closer you want your

fellowship with the Lord to get. You can't get closer to the Lord

and be like, you know what? I'm not comfortable here.

You know, this is actually something that I'm not.

I'm not enjoying this. No, There's pleasures at his

right hand forevermore. So to be close with him, to be

in fellowship with him, it doesn't get sweeter.

It doesn't get better. Unless, of course, I continue to

throw off every weight, every hindrance, even things that

might not be issues of sin. But is it slowing me down?

Is it holding me back? I want to get closer to him, so

I want to take off the old clothes and I want to put on the

new. We are a holy church made holy

by the blood of Jesus. Now, Catholic Church.

The question I've gotten this one multiple times.

It's a good question. I asked my grandfather this when

I was a kid, so Pop was a Methodist pastor for many years.

Methodist Church back in the day was not as it is today.

Just always have to make that distinction and clarity.

And certainly Pop was not so anyway.

Now that I've got that disclaimer out of the way, I

asked him one time when I was little.

I said Pop, why do we say Catholic?

Why do we say the Catholic Church?

And he laughed. He said it's not the Catholic,

it's not the Roman Catholic Church.

It means the universal church. It means the whole body of

Christ. It means the church all around

the world. And that's the truth.

And you say, why do we use the word Catholic?

Well because it was what was in the Creed.

OK some churches have modified it just for for clarification,

just like some churches have modified when they said he

descended into hell. But I wanted to take an older

one and then teach you through it.

As we use the Creed in the in the future we we might we might

recite the Creed more regularly than we have in the past which

is never until this series. But we might begin to do it more

and I'll probably make some some modifications to a couple of

words in there so we can clarify and not think he descended into

hell. And then anyone who hasn't heard

it taught knows was Jesus burning and suffering in flames.

No, the place of the dead or the we Roman Catholic.

What does Catholic mean? Well, Catholic means universal

church, so that's what that word Catholic means.

It just means the Christians all over the world.

So don't think Pope, think people.

That's what we're thinking about.

The Body of Christ is made-up of all people who believe in Jesus

for salvation from the day of Pentecost up until this very

moment. No matter your denomination, if

you believe in Jesus and you're born again, you are in the Holy

Catholic Church, the Global Church, the Universal Church.

God has His people everywhere. Not all denominations believe

that. But I'm telling you, God has his

people. In every denomination.

God has his people everywhere. There's Saints all over the

place. In every denomination and every

local church, you can find people who really love God and

really believe in Jesus. And in every denomination and

every local church, you can find people who do not love God and

do not believe in Jesus. On any given church, any given

Sunday morning, that's a likely scenario.

You likely have a majority that that believe in God and love

him. And you likely have a minority

Who for? Maybe they're maybe they're

listening, but they're interested.

Maybe they're learning. Maybe you got someone who's been

there for decades with a hard heart and who still hasn't

responded by faith to the gospel.

But you got all kinds of scenarios.

But the universal church is filled with people who have

genuine unity with God because they have, who have genuine

unity with one another because they have genuine unity with

God. All genuine believers, past and

present, you are alive in Christ with them through him.

First Corinthians 12/13 says, for we were all baptized by 1

spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free,

we were all given one spirit to drink.

So the Holy Spirit did not separate us as he was saving us.

OK, Christian, but you know there's different camps of

Christian. The Holy Spirit didn't do it

that way. There's one baptism.

He didn't separate us when he baptized us into Christ.

He didn't sift out Americans and then Southerners and then

Pentecostals or Methodists or Roman Catholics or whites or

blacks or Hispanics or Asians. We were brought into one body

with Christ as the head. And now we're all members.

We're all parts of Jesus's body in the earth.

This is a glorious truth. It's an important truth to

recognize. Why?

Why would why would this have been put in the creed?

To point out what the Scripture points out?

What point do they want to lift out from the word of God?

They were. We're unified in Christ that we

really are one. That we're really not divided.

Why? Because the Church had

temptation to divide from day one.

You're oh who? Who?

Who are you? Baptized Paul baptized me.

Apollo's baptized me. Who baptized you?

They were already starting to get into the cliques and into

the camps. Instead of Jesus is king.

The Holy Spirit baptized us into him.

That's who we're in. Well, we believe this.

OK, Those are secondary issues. Those are tertiary issues.

Those are for sheary issues. I don't know what the word is

for the four she airy one, but it seems appropriate.

So what do we have as primary though?

Primary is we are all part of the holy Universal Church.

Members of the Universal Church should seek fellowship in the

local church. So let's get more specific now

because it's one thing to believe I'm a part of the of the

entire body of Christ, which is true.

But here's where people make a mistake.

People think because I am a Christian, because I am a part

of the global body of Christ, I am the church alone.

Because I'm a part of the church, I'm the church.

Well, that's true, yes. But the Creed actually takes a

little bit of liberty here. Whenever it's saying we're part

of the the holy Catholic Church, it's a reminder that all

believers are united. But it is not a minimization of

what Scripture makes very plain. And that is what the church is.

The church is the gathered body of believers.

The word church literally means assembly.

It literally means congregation. So while I'm the church all by

myself, no you're not. Well, I feel like I am and still

it isn't true, no matter what you would say about it.

The Word makes it very clear throughout the scriptures.

So members of the Universal Church will always and should

always seek fellowship in the local church.

Church, the gathered people of God, the assembly or the called

out ones. We have multiple examples

throughout the New Testament where the word church is used

and reference in particular. I'll give you an example.

In Roman 16, verse 5, Paul is closing his letter.

He's given different greetings to everyone.

He says greet also the church who meets in their house.

So he says say hey to Priscilla and Aquila for me.

Greet the church that meets in their house, the church that

meets in their house. The church is the congregation.

This is why you can't do church on your own.

Oh, I go to church online. You don't.

Well, my pastor said so during the pandemic.

I know he did. I know there's lots of things

that were said during the pandemic that a lot of people

wish they could take back. But, well, here we are now, here

we are today. You don't go to church online.

The church is the gathered body of believers.

Or you saying there's something wrong with that?

Well, then no. If you're on vacation, you will

listen to a sermon. Like enjoy.

However, don't. That word.

I don't think it means what you think it means.

You need to understand what you're saying when you're

talking about things. We need to know what the church

is and what the church isn't. So you mean, will you say I'm

the church all by myself? Oh, you mean you read God's word

and you pray on your own? Well, of course, that's good.

But that's not the church, and that's not a replacement for the

church. To say I do church at home is

like saying I play football alone.

That's not how football works. So yes, some pastors were the

worst offenders when Caesar ordered the lockdowns.

But language matters and it has consequences and it bears fruit.

And we're going to do church online.

Words matter. There's consequences for that.

A lot of churches are still experiencing the consequences.

They did such a great job with the online church that we don't

even go anymore. We just TuneIn online.

You're tuning in online? Yeah.

Like, just like everything else in America, I'm getting even

more individualistic. Make my church all about me.

How can the church serve me more?

Oh, it's supposed to serve Jesus, right?

I keep forgetting that, but they did.

My church just just does such a good job of of making me

comfortable. Just like I pull into my garage,

I shut the garage door and I don't have to speak to a

neighbor. I can do the same thing with the

church, right? It's because the church is

nothing more than Pastor Bob sermon.

You know, our worship team's awesome.

They're awesome. And Pastor Bob is awesome.

That's church. I had church.

And you know what? For me, church is even different

than that. There's a song I hate.

I like. I hate a lot of songs.

But I love music. I love country music, but I hate

what I call country music, Christianity.

So it's these songs where they'll reference life, you

know, life that I like, life that I enjoy, but then they'll

somehow, like, connect it to the Lord.

So I forget this girl's name. But it was a song years back.

She said that's my church. And I forget the example she

gave. But she was driving down the

road and in her car listening to country radio, she goes, yeah,

that's my church. Like, oh, OK, so you got the guy

who's like, yeah, fishing on the dock, thinking about the Lord.

That's my church. No, it's not.

You might be fellowshipping with the Lord while you're fishing,

and I encourage it. Do it.

But that's not your church. It's not.

It can't be. Well, to me, it feels spiritual.

It feels like fellowship of the Lord, good brother.

But it's not church. It's not the same thing.

You're you're not submitted under a pastor.

You're not accountable to a body.

Nobody knows you. You don't care for anybody else.

You're not sacrificially laying down your life.

But yeah, but that's my church. Well, it's not, though.

It's not. You sound American.

It's gross. You don't sound biblical.

So language matters. It has consequences, and it

bears fruit. We aren't a We weren't a house

church before. We're not a YMCA church now.

And when we build a beautiful structure of our own, we won't

be a building church then we are the church.

What? Why?

Because we are a gathered body who identify as a church under

the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are the gathered people of God and that makes us the

church. We are the called out ones.

We are the assembly. We are the congregation.

We are the body of Christ. This common misunderstanding

does not serve the church. It feeds into the problem of

believers not identifying with Christ and his people, because

church has just become something that I do or somewhere that I go

instead of it being who I am. So when when we say we we're

part of the the Holy Catholic Church, that phrase is

referencing the global body. We're part of all of that

everywhere. However, the Communion of Saints

line actually does a better job clarifying what we mean when we

talk about the local expression of the Body of Christ, which

every St. should seek to be a part of.

A St. outside of a body of Christ should feel a strong urge

and should feel a strong desire. I feel separated from the body.

I feel detached. It's an arm that's not

connected. It's You're still an arm,

though. Cheer up.

No. An arm is meant for a body.

An arm isn't meant to be all alone.

If an arm's off of a body, something is very, very wrong.

Something bad has happened. This is not how this was

designed. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter

12, First Corinthians chapter 12,

1 Corinthians 12:12

verse 12. We'll go through verse 27 for

just as the body is 1 and has many members, so this is the

analogy that the Holy Spirit chose to use.

When he's talking about the body of Christ, like we use that

phrase all the time, the body of Christ, we've we've totally

absorbed the analogy at this point.

We don't even think about it anymore.

But he describes us as a human body.

So people go, but the first time, reader, the first time

here is going, OK, that's OK that's how the Lord wants me to

see this. We're connected.

For just as the body is 1 and has many members, and all the

members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with

Christ. So he's saying, you know how the

body works and everybody's going, yeah, we're familiar with

our bodies. He goes, well that's how it is

with Christ. For in one spirit we were all

baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks slaves are free

and we were all made to drink of 1 Spirit.

For the body does not consist of 1 member or of 1 body part, but

many. If the foot should say, because

I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body, that would not make

it any less part of the body. And if the ears should say

because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body, that would

not make it any less part of the body.

Notice how even if it says that about itself, well this is my

church. That doesn't make it true.

So Paul's Paul's siding with me here.

Or rather I'm siding with Paul and the Holy Spirit.

That would that would not make it any less part of the body.

Verse 17. If the whole body were an eye,

where would the sense of hearing be?

If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of

smell? But as it is, God arranged the

members in the body, each one of them as he chose.

If all were a single member, where would the body be as it

is, there are many parts, yet one body, the eye cannot say to

the hand I have no need of you, nor, again the head to the feet,

I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of

the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, And on those

parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the

greater honor, and our unrepresentable parts are

treated with greater modesty, which are more presentable parts

do not require. But God has so composed the

body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that

there may be no division in the body, but that the members may

have the same care for one another.

I'll read that again, verse 25, That there be mean that there

may be no division in the body, but that the members may have

the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all

suffer together. If one member is honored, all

rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ

and individually members of it. To come to Christ is to join

into the body of Christ. Well, I want Jesus.

I just don't want his church. That's not a thing.

That's not a thing. Jesus can't relate to that.

Jesus connects himself explicitly to his body.

When Jesus confronts Paul, Paul's been murdering

Christians, he says. Saul.

Saul, why are you persecuting me now?

Why are you persecuting the people who follow me?

Why are you persecuting me? Because that's what it is.

To come against Jesus's bride is to come against Jesus.

To make yourself an enemy of Jesus's church.

You can't be an enemy of Natalie and be best friends with John

Michael. There's not a universe where

that scenario is ever going to happen.

Yeah, I hate your wife, dude, but you a miracle.

Like we're not, actually. I have news for you.

We're no longer in fact. Cool And and we cannot be cool

until you're cool with Natalie. Well, never will be then you've

your fate is decided with me as well you you can't have one

without the other. And Jesus loves his bride much

more than I love mine and he so he comes to Paul in that same

way. He is connected.

He says I'm the head. And I'm connected too.

And I'm with my body. All of the parts of the body

have different roles. And here in, in First

Corinthians 12, the context that this was written in was in

description and teaching on the spiritual gifts.

So there was, you know, so and so's got this gift of prophecy

or so and so's got this gift of healing.

So there was some potentially competition and jealousy going

on. Man, I wish I was that man, you

know, so. And so's always got a tongue and

an interpretation or so. And so's got this gift of

leadership or so and so's got this gift of encouragement or

whatever it may be. And he's going, Hey, hey, you've

got your gift. And that's your gift.

The body. We receive it with joy.

I wish I could hear better. Yeah, but you see so clearly,

man, I wish I could grab stuff. Yeah, but you're the foot that

we stand on. Well, I feel like I'm this.

I feel like I'm that. And he's just clarifying.

The Lord is built and designed. Now, can we grow in our strength

of whatever He's called us to be?

Absolutely. I describe gifts from God as a

sword. He gives you this sword and now

he says, now I want you to sharpen it and I want you to

train with it. So God gives you this gifts.

He says, Now be faithful with it.

It's the talent. I'll leave you with one talent.

Can you? Will you multiply it?

Will you be faithful? This is his calling, This is his

expectation. But when it comes to the body of

Christ, when it comes to the communion of Saints, we must see

ourselves the way God sees us. This is the revelation I'm

praying for, for you and for me, that we would actually see the

body of Christ is not somebody I can just leave when I have a

problem with. Because we shouldn't do that

with our siblings, right? We don't do that with our

siblings in most cases. Most of the time the bond

between siblings is deep. And and and we take it for

granted. We hold that truth to be

self-evident. That if my brother calls me, my

actual brother would have called me on some mission trip to some

obscure Christian aiding country in the world.

And I get a phone call at 3:00 AM and he says, hey, I need you

to come. Then I'm kissing Natalie and the

boys goodbye and I'm on the next flight out.

That's it. Why?

Because he's my brother. You don't know what's going on.

He's my brother. Like there's a bond there.

That's just I don't have to explain anything.

I don't have to justify anything.

I don't have to prove anything. He's my brother.

He's my brother. What do you think I'm going to

do? Like I'm going to go.

What if you go die with him? I'll do it joyfully because he's

my brother. We have the same father.

We have the same mother. Like, it's it seems so obvious.

You shouldn't be impressed by this.

This is the kind of thing that I would hope most people feel that

natural affection for their loved ones.

That's a good God. God built in thing.

That's a good thing. However, we see the same thing

happen in the body of Christ. When we're baptized into one

body, we we now become responsible for one another.

Our fellowship is much deeper than fried chicken.

Once a month. Yeah, we've cheapened our words,

and again, that has consequence. Well, see you at the fellowship

hall. I'll see you here.

I'll see you there. Rather than to understand the

the coinonia, the rich bond that the Lord has built for us to

actually care for one another. Communion, the communion of the

Saints, is the common union. We have a common union that

sends us to all kinds of things, like we say with our finances

all the time. Like the scripture says, that's

the lowest thing. Of course you should tithe step

one like, duh, of course you. What are you?

Are you going to be the kind of Christian I would pour out my

life? I would.

I'll give my I'll give my head. I'll.

I'll be crucified for Christ. But No 10% of my income.

That's too far. I value my income above my life.

Nobody does. So this is a a small way to

reveal a greater thing, something that's even more

important to us. This is why I I can never

accept, and you can never accept and never believe the myth that

I can be separated from the body of Christ to be happy about it.

That would never make sense. There's no scenario like if

you're on a hiking trail and you see a human hand laying on the

side of the trail, you're not going to think, oh, there's a

person, hi. You're not going to think he's

waving to you. You're going to go.

Something terribly wrong has happened here.

Something terrible has taken place.

Why? Because that's not what hands

are. Hands aren't supposed to be like

that. Hands are are connected to a

body in the same way the Saint who separate.

Oh, you know, I tried the church stuff.

And what? You might try to talk to the

head. What happened?

Well, I got slammed into the body, Slammed me in the corridor

years ago. And I've never forgiven the

body. So I just went off to do my own

thing. Like how many Christians do

that? Though one time the body hurt

me. Man, I'm sorry.

We look. Yeah, and I still I lost that

fingernail because of it too. I'm sorry.

And that's not OK. And still you belong with the

body. Still you got to walk in

forgiveness with the body. Or if we've got some extreme

weirdo scenario like our pastors, if you then of course

reject and leave that kind of nonsense.

But that would be non Christian behavior anyway.

But if we're talking about Christians who sin, then welcome

to the whole body of Christ. We want to walk in more

holiness, but we need you to be a part of that.

So we need to point out that there's a difference before I

make it sound like just church attendance, and before you get

the wrong idea that church attendance is all we're talking

about, there's a difference between just showing up and

being connected to the body. Go to 1st John, Chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

I'm sorry, First John chapter one, verse 3, towards the back

of your Bible going to be after first and second Peter.

First John chapter one, verse three, that which we have seen

and heard we proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship

with us. How they're going to fellowship

with them? They're writing letters to one

another from great distances. What kind of fellowship is John

looking for? For the person that he's writing

this letter to? He's not just saying we're going

to have fried chicken fellowship with us, and indeed our

fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

And we're writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaimed to

you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in

darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have

fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus cleanses

us from all sin. I love first John because he

constantly goes back and forth. He's like Christians don't sin,

He's like, but when you sin, we have an advocate with the Father

Jesus Christ. I'm like, because I start, I

read first time. I'm like, Oh no, I am in bit.

Oh right, I confess my sin. I'm forgiven through the blood

of Jesus. And over and over, I write these

things to you so so that you don't sin.

But when you sin, here's what to do.

So what do we see? He's talking about the

fellowship. How do we have fellowship with

one another? Because we have fellowship with

the Father. We actually care for one another

as siblings. And that's the point I started

to make earlier about my brother.

This is the way that the church has treated each other

throughout history. This is the way that the early

church treated one another. What I have is yours.

Of course I'm going to give you my money.

I claim that I'll pour out my last drop of blood.

That's the claim that I make for you, Of course.

Yeah. I'll give you my last drop of

blood, but I won't give you the $50 in my wallet when you need

it. Well, you know, I'm trying to,

you know, I got to make sure. That's nonsense.

The communion of Saints is a deep and rich bond that has no

limitation. It has no end.

How far does that go? It doesn't end just like my bond

with my brother doesn't end. It's not because my brother and

I are even best friends and we're talking constantly.

Me and him just went like 2 1/2 months before we talked just

because we both been busy. And we talked the other night

and caught up. And it was good to hear his

voice. But it doesn't matter how much

time goes by. It doesn't matter if there's

conflict between us. You think me and my brother have

ever gotten in a fight. I just You get one guess.

Only one guess. You think we've ever fought?

We didn't. We were perfect angels.

We got along wonderfully. Mom's not here, to tell you the

truth. No, we fought savagely, like we

weren't close enough in age to to be buddies.

We were just on the brink where we had different friend groups,

different toys. So like, we just went to war all

the time. He's 3 1/2 years older than me,

four years older than me. So, you know, we fought all the

time. I beat him up every single day.

But he forgives me. Sometimes he would get me,

sometimes I'll get him. But it's not because we get

along. This is the misunderstanding

that people have, too. Like, all right, yeah.

I like these people in the church.

Therefore, I'll do more stuff for them.

No. No.

It has nothing to do with how much I like you.

It has everything to do with like, you're my brother.

You are my sister, so my life is your life.

This is what we saw with the Saints when they're sacrificing

their lives for one another, when people would insert

themselves to protect another St. from from being, from

suffering persecution. This is what we see.

Even when Saints would join others.

And not just the Roman Colosseum, but in other places

too, where Saints are being fed to the lions.

And other Christians would say, I'm not going to let this young

man go die alone. I'm not going to let go, let

this young woman die alone. And other Christians go, go down

and join them, climb out of the stands to go be with others.

Why would you do that? You've never even met them.

Because we have the same father. That's my brother.

That's my sister. Doesn't matter if we've ever

met. Like I I know there's a common

union. There's such a deep bond.

And you see the same thing with siblings who never met, even

with the natural affection, siblings who never met.

And they meet late in adulthood. It's like now, like you're mine

and I'm yours. You know, to the end, like we.

That bond is established. Even though they don't have a

history of growing up and stories and fighting, they don't

have to have the history. It's like we're brothers.

Well, that's all I need to know. This is the same thing for the

body of Christ, except to a greater degree, where we would

say we have the same father. Like, I'm yours, you're mine.

My life is yours now. That's why you can experience

rich fellowship. You ever met a believer out in

the wild, and your spirits are just, like, unified?

And you're not even like, wait, what denomination now?

OK, OK, never mind. You know, maybe maybe once you

get right, maybe once you repent, No.

I mean, you can meet a believer in the Atlanta airport during a

layover and you're like, you can have an awesome two hours and

you're just like, I love you. God bless you.

You can pray together. You can encourage one another.

Why? Because we belong to each other

for real, actually, truly and deeply.

Our common union doesn't end. There's no limitation to it.

In Acts, we see the believers bringing their money.

Of course I'll give you my stuff.

Of course I'll give you my money, because I'll give you my

life. And it's not because we get

along. It's not because we don't annoy

each other. It's not because we're best

friends. It's because we have common

union. Now.

You are my brother. God is our father.

The Saints who did that in Acts, when they did it, they didn't

even feel sacrificial. They didn't feel like, look at

what I'm giving up. It says they sold their property

in possessions with joy, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hey, whoever, whatever needs it. Well, guys, thank you so much.

It's so I mean, you ever, you ever seen a hero do something

great? And they, they interview the

firefighter later, they interview the soldier later.

They interview the Good Samaritan later.

Like, you're such a hero. And it's like I was just, I was

just doing what was obvious I was doing.

I heard gunshots and I knew there was kids in there.

You're not a hero. And the rest of us are like you

are, though. Heroes never feel like a hero.

It's just obvious. It's obvious.

I don't feel like a hero. If my brother needs me and I go

to meet his knee and I'll go. I am the best brother, Mike.

I'm a brother. What do you think a brother

does? Brother is made for adversity.

Saints were made for adversity. And there's a friend who sticks

closer than a brother. Jesus himself and his people and

his Saints. As a parent, do you feel

sacrificial when you provide for your kids?

Do you feel amazing? Like, you know, when I feed my

boys every day, I'm like boys. I just want you to know this

costs me a lot, that that food that you're eating, that I'm not

tallying it all up and I'm going, I do.

I want gratitude from my sons. Of course I want them to be

grateful, not entitled brats. But I don't feel, I don't feel

special. I feel like, duh, this is normal

parent stuff. When I love my brother, I don't

feel like I'm an amazing brother.

I feel like that's brother stuff.

When the church loves the church deeply and sacrificially, the

church doesn't feel sacrificial about it.

They go, duh, that's church stuff.

This is Body of Christ stuff. The hand serves the mouth.

The eye serves the whole body. Everything is connected.

There's no part of my body that I want to lose.

Not my left pinky, even not my left pinky toe.

I'd like to keep him. The whole body is useful.

The whole body is important and the body is committed to serving

and caring for one another. Our common union makes us say my

life for yours. Like Jesus, we lay down our

lives to the death for one another.

This is the stock that we've come from, Jesus said in John

1513. Greater love has no one than

this. Then someone would lay down his

life for his friends. Jesus did it for us, but we

weren't his friends. Greater love has no one than

this. He says that someone lay down

his life for his friends. And what do you call somebody

who lays down their life for their enemies?

Because that's what Jesus did. You call him king, You call him

Lord, You call him good, you call him loving.

It's a vision. It's it's part of the vision of

Salt Church that we really would be, that we really would walk in

the fullness of what we see in the Scriptures.

This is part of what we said when we talk about we want to

walk in New Testament Christianity.

What do you mean by that? What we mean a lot.

You mean the gifts of spirit? Absolutely.

You mean the devotion that the Saints had to one another?

Absolutely. You mean the hunger that the

Saints had to actually make disciples in their own life?

Absolutely. All of it.

New Testament Christianity, 1st century Christianity.

That's our target. But this is 1 big piece of it,

and this is 1 area that we have to continue to contend for.

If you're not growing, if you're if you're not maturing in this

area, then this is a priority for you.

Why? Because it's priority for your

church. Why?

Because it's an obvious priority from Scripture.

I'm not shoehorning any of this in here.

The devotion among the Saints, the connection, the loyalty, the

love for the body of Christ to the body of Christ.

Don't think this is a new idea. That's the temptation, man.

We're kind of like a like an extreme church.

We're not. We're not.

So don't compare us to maybe something that you might

perceive to be lesser. Maybe something that you've

experienced that was lesser. Continue to look at the word of

God. Search the scriptures.

See if what I'm saying is is it true and accurate?

See if I'm overstating the case. You'll find that I'm not.

You'll find that I haven't even come close to to doing it

justice, Actually, You'll go to Michael.

You don't go far enough on that. To which I say you're probably

right. But let's keep pursuing it in

life. So what does it look like?

Well, the Holy Spirit will show you, but that's the point.

He will show you your obedience. And that next step is what

matters most. God, bring us revelation.

Bring us life. Bring us light.

Help us to see how to lay down our lives more for one another.

Not to needlessly martyr ourselves, but to be our

brother's keeper. To care for one another with

devotion to not just see that our pantry is full, but to see

that our hearts are full, that our minds are full.

Show each of us as individuals the gifts that you have put in

us, that we are responsible and required to give generously to

the rest of this body. If it's in us, then there's

someone else who needs it outside of us.

And you made no mistakes when you designed your church.

When you designed your people, you've made no mistakes as

you've assembled Salt Church. Every St. every believer who

calls on the name of Jesus. They are part of the universal

global Catholic body of Christ, and in this local church they

are part of the communion of the Saints.

God take us deeper in our communion.

Make it deeper than than than than fellowship halls and and

meals. Make it my life for your life.

Not because we want to look heroic, but because there's

something in us that tells us how good and true and right it

is. It's a challenge to the flesh.

You promised that it would be to help us, to crucify the flesh

for the joy set before us. The joy of living the life that

is truly life. The joy of taking up our cross.

The joy of knowing you more. The fellowship of your

sufferings, tasting them, knowing them, and looking and

walking more like Jesus. Build your church in Jesus name.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine down upon you and be gracious to

you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name.

Amen.