The Four Marks of the Church | Acts 2:41–47 | Thomas Renz

Hello and welcome to this episode of Chapel Talks.

Just to say, the audio didn't turn out how we

wanted it for the first minute of this recording.

The audio gets fixed at around the minute mark.

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When asked in a doctrine exam what are the four

marks of the Church, you are likely meant to

channel the Nicene Creed, in which we confess

that we believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic

Church. Four key traits, one, holy, catholic,

and apostolic. What does it mean to say that

the essential features of the church are unity,

holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity? And

what does it mean for us? I hinted at yesterday

that how we understand church is actually quite

complex. In one sense, The church is the body

of Christ, and therefore there can only be one

body. Back in Acts 2, there was already more

than three thousand people. By now, it's billions

of people all over the globe, all through history.

One church. And in that sense, we are never the

church. We are just a tiny part of the church.

And yet, what did Jesus mean when he promised,

when two or three are gathered in my name, I

will be among them? Did he mean to imply that

when you're on your own, you're really on your

own, I won't be with you? Of course not. Christ

is with us when we are alone in our study, in

our bedroom. He lives through his Spirit in us.

What does it mean to say that he is with us,

among us, in that special sense, when two or

three are gathered in my name? I think if we

look at Matthew 18, 10 in context, we might say

it means in another sense, wherever two or three

are gathered in the name of Christ, there is

the church, head and body. Not only, in some

sense, a part of the church, but the church participating

in that reality. To explain that more fully would

need a doctrine lecture probably and some philosophy,

and I won't do that. I think I've said enough

to suggest that we are not the local church here,

but we are in some sense church because we are

local Christians, brothers and sisters, meeting

together. Not a full sense of church in the accountability

structures, but in such a way that one... holy,

Catholic, and apostolic might have something

to say to us too. Because these four traits do

not just come from the Nicene Creed. I think

we find hints of them here in Acts 2 .42. In

a different order. The order in the Creed is,

I think, to do with what sounds best, which is,

after all, very important because the Creed has

been said billions of times. So it better rolls

off the tongue. But here is the order in Acts

2 .42. They devoted themselves to the apostles'

teaching. Apostolic means being devoted to the

apostles' teaching. Secondly, they devoted themselves

to fellowship. Here we have the unity, sharing

with one another in one fellowship. They devoted

themselves to the breaking of bread. It's now

very widely agreed that this is the term that

Luke probably adopts from the early church for

the Lord's Supper. There are all sorts of names.

We tend to use the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion,

the Eucharist. The breaking of bread was another

early term. So it does seem to refer to not just

having a meal, but having the Lord's Supper.

Sharing in one bread because we are all one body.

And so that speaks of the unity that goes beyond

the gathered group. We participate in the unity

that is not quite yet universal in Acts 2. They

would struggle to meet in a temple courts if

there are too many Gentiles around. And they're

still large in Jerusalem. But already beginning

to be in such a big way, such big size that...

The small gathering needs to remember we are

participating in the one big unity. That's what

Catholicity means, belonging to the whole. And

hopefully they were devoted to prayer. This is

where we see the holiness of the church, I think.

What I noticed as I was reading this in the summer

is that those four marks seem to be repeated.

filled with Jerusalem specifics in the next few

verses. I then notice I'm not the first one,

obviously, to notice that, and not every commentator

agrees. But I see those four things being repeated

from verse 43. Everyone was filled with awe at

the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

Here you have apostolic. Apostolic doesn't just

mean... right apostolic teaching. When we listen

to the apostles, we listen to Jesus. That's,

of course, the heart of it. But the word of Jesus,

and therefore the word of the apostles, is powerful.

And therefore, to be apostolic means to know

the power of the apostolic word as well. As Paul

expresses it in one of his very early letters,

1 Thessalonians 1 .5, because our gospel came

to you not simply with words, but also with power,

with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. This,

of course, already one of the areas of disagreement

among Christians. To what extent should we see

signs and miracles and wonders in today's church?

Briefly, my view is that we do still see wonders

and signs, but we do not see them in the multitude

that are characteristic of the early church.

And that's not only to do with lack of faith

in the Western church. So I think there's a Jerusalem

specific here, but the power of the apostolic

word needs to be visible in our community as

well. And one of the things that I remember from

last year's chapel sermons, which impressed itself

on my mind, is one of our guest preachers telling

a story about how he, as a young boy, expressed

regret that he didn't have this wonderful conversion

story, like in the cross and the switchblade,

out of a life of violence and crime to be converted

to Christ. And he was severely rebuked by his

dad for it. And he was grateful to his dad for

that. Is that something like, do you think that

you were such a good and godly man already that

for you to be in the kingdom of Christ, it just

needed a little bit of help? It didn't need this

big miracle. No, no, every conversion to Christ

is a huge miracle. And so being apostolic means

to see that miracle happening in our lives because

conversion isn't just the one -off thing, I think.

We get converted again and again to Christ, growing

in Christlikeness and to see it in the lives

of others. So apostolic in word and deed. Then

what does it mean to be one? All the believers

were together and had everything in common. They

sold property and possessions to give to anyone

who had need. Another one of those features where

in Churches 3 there were some groups who said,

well, we need to be like the early church. and

have everything in common. And then you realize

in Acts 4 and 5, it's a little bit more complicated

than that. And you realize that maybe this was

another Jerusalem specific. One expression of

being there for one another. A later expression

of that is when Paul collects offerings from

the Gentile churches to support a Jerusalem church

at a time of famine. Oneness is expressed in

mutual support. for one another. Every day they

continue to meet together in the temple courts,

as I hinted yesterday, the early church and revival

churches meet daily. They met together in the

temple courts and they broke bread in their homes.

I see the Catholicity here not only in the reference

to breaking bread, but in the reference to big

gatherings where you try to squeeze in your 3

,000 plus in the temple courts. And in the houses,

breaking bread in their homes and eating together

with glad and sincere hearts. This is another

thing where Christians disagree. What are the

right conditions for celebrating the Lord's Supper?

Can we celebrate the Lord's Supper only in the

local church under the authorized eldership?

Or can a home group decide? Tonight we're celebrating

the Lord's Supper together, or a group of friends

coming together. The Church of England takes

today something of a middle position, I guess.

The Lord's Supper is celebrated under authorised

ministers. The authorised ministers ensure the

link to the wider Church, but it doesn't have

to be just the one -off gathering of all the

Christians in the local community. The Lord's

Supper can be celebrated in smaller gatherings

as well. as long as there's this link to the

authorized ministers, which is why we celebrate

the Lord's Supper fortnightly here. And Anglicans

invite non -Anglicans warmly to participate.

But if you have different views on that, you're

also welcome to participate without partaking.

So they broke bread in their homes and ate together

with glad and sincere hearts, an expression of

the Catholicity. And they were praising God.

So see the expression of the holiness of the

church. And what I find so intriguing is their

holiness, their praising God, their devotion

to God was attractive and enjoying the favor

of all the people. Think of that. Today, when

you think of the holiness of the church, it's

often, oh, that's the off -putting part. That's

what people don't like. And in fact, this holy

huddle, that carefully excludes all those who

don't properly belong is not actually holiness

in the biblical sense of the word. Why? Because

holiness is about being a special instrument

for God and about reflecting God's character.

Now, God is love and his agenda is mission. So

growth in holiness looks like growth in love.

and participating in his mission, reaching outsiders.

So holiness can never be a matter of just being

a holy huddle, excluding others. Holiness is

reaching out, and by God's grace, seeing that

the Lord continues to add daily to the number

of being saved. What does this mean for us at

Oak Hill? How might these four commitments translate

into... Our life together. One, I take it in

the order of the apostolic, of the Nicene Creed

now. One, we come from different backgrounds,

have different roles at college. Our students

are on different programs. They have different

modes of study. There are class differences,

ethnic differences. There are singles and married

people with and without children. What does it

mean for us to be one in our fellowship? I think

it means that we meet each other, first of all,

as brothers and sisters in Christ. And that we

do not just congregate amongst and with those

that are similar to us. Of course, we will seek

special fellowship with those in a similar life

and stage. There are Anglican ordinance that

have to talk about Anglican things and FIC people

that talk about FIC things and married people

with young children that talk about bringing

up young children. But devotion to fellowship

means that we... transgress and transcend those

natural boundaries and meet each other in all

our differences as brothers and sisters in Christ

and are ready to support one another. Holy, we

recognize that we are all set apart for a special

purpose by God, not just those training specifically

for full -time pastoral ministry, every one of

us. And we depend on God, not on our own strength.

And we express that dependence in prayer and

praise. And we keep in mind mission, God's mission,

for which we continue to perform. And so we keep

evangelism on the agenda. More on that on Monday.

Catholic. We remember that in an important sense,

the church is much, much more. than our small

fellowship. It embraces all kinds of people everywhere

through all the ages. And in some sense, the

church's wholeness can only be found universally.

We need each other for the fullness of the church.

One writer defined Catholicity as an awareness

of the whole that moves one to act towards wholeness

or unity. We often, when we say the creed, gloss,

certainly in my church, Catholic as universal.

And that is not entirely wrong, but Catholic

doesn't mean universal just. It means being a

whole, a unity in that universality, reaching

out, moving towards one another. At Oak Hill,

we glimpse different aspects of the church, of

the whole church in our different traditions,

and we should welcome that. a means for us to

grow into greater wholeness individually and

as a fellowship. And finally, apostolic. I assume

that one key reason for all of us being at Oak

Hill is that commitment to theological training

that is faithful to the original teaching of

the apostles. So let me just underline again

that faithfulness must not be a matter of right

thinking only. Or even of trying to put right

thinking into right practice. But of living out

of the powerful grace of God that is at work

in the apostolic world. Being converted by Christ

again and again until we conform more fully to

his image. So may God keep us in the apostolic

faith. Grant us to taste unity. holiness and

catholicity even here at Oak Hill.