Series: Growing Together in God's Grace
June 2, 2013
Dear friends in Christ.
Have you ever noticed that the
title given to a group of individuals often tells us a great deal about the
group? Take for example one of the
groups in our congregation called Supper Club.
It’s pretty clear from the name that this is a group of people who get
together for the purpose of eating supper.
How about the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the FBI? Again, it is pretty clear from the title that
this is a group of people who are doing all sorts of investigating. What about the National Football League, or
National Basketball Association? Again
these are titles that tell you that the NFL is a league of football players
while the NBA is an association of basketball players. Though the list could go on and on, as we
study the Word of God today, we will see that in the same way that names of
groups often identify what the group is all about, so also when we confess that
we are part of the Holy Christian Church—the Communion of Saints, we are
revealing certain things about who we are and what we do. In fact, as we study the passages before us
this morning, we will find great reasons to rejoice that we are part of the
Holy Christian Church.
But before we can fully
understand why we have reason to rejoice that we are part of the Holy Christian
Church, we must first of all figure out what this Holy Christian Church is all
about. To answer that question we turn
our attention to the Account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 4:32-5:14, where
Luke tells us: “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed
that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy
persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold
them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and
it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus,
whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a
field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. 5:1 Now
a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of
property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for
himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3 Then Peter
said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have
lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received
for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was
sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a
thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell
down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then
the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried
him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the
land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could
you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried
your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that
moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and,
finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great
fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. The apostles
performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the
believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared
join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14
Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added
to their number.” (Acts 4:32–5:14, NIV84)
From these verses Luke makes it
very clear what the Holy Christian Church is.
Simply put, the Holy Christian Church is the gathering of all who
believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Were Ananias and Sapphira part of the Holy
Christian Church? I don’t know. Only God knows. They tried to make their gift look better
than it was by lying, and by their actions it seems that they might have simply
been pretending to be Christians.
However, the other side is that they may well have been believers in
Jesus who fell into a sin of greed and in their weakness they lied. It is very possible that the Lord used their
death as an example to the other believers to show them how serious he is about
sin. It is also very possible that the
Lord called Ananias and Sapphira out of this life as forgiven believers so that
they would not have the opportunity to travel down a path that could lead them
away from their salvation forever. We
don’t know, only God knows.
Nevertheless, what becomes clear from this section of Scripture is that
the Holy Christian Church is known only to God, because it is made up of all
those who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, not those who are merely
pretending to believe or simply going through the motions.
Though we cannot see those who
have faith in their hearts, we can take comfort in the fact that each and every
one of us who believes in Jesus is part of the Holy Christian Church. And the thing that is even more comforting
and amazing is that this group is not limited to a specific location, because
there are believers in Jesus all over the world! There are Christians in China, Brazil, Egypt,
Norway, Africa, Russia and in just about every country in the world. And our joy and our reason for rejoicing is
that each and every person who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior, regardless
of where they live, or when they lived or will live; each and every one who believes
in Jesus is part of the Holy Christian Church—the gathering of believers which
we have also called the Communion of Saints.
Now, as amazing as this fact
truly is, the next logical question which you are all probably ready to ask is,
“If we can’t see this church, how do we know where it is found?” This question is answered by the Apostle Paul
as he begins his first letter to the Corinthians. He writes, “Paul, called to be an apostle of
Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of
God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy,
together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ—their Lord and ours: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given
you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all
your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6 because our testimony about Christ
was confirmed in you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly
wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will keep you strong to the
end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God,
who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is
faithful." (1 Corinthians 1:1–9, NIV84)
Thus, Paul tells us that the Holy
Christian Church is found wherever believers in Jesus call on the name of
Jesus, or as we are more comfortable saying, where we gather to worship
Jesus. But Paul does not stop there! He also tells us in Chapter 15, “Now,
brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you
received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are
saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have
believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first
importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he
appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of
whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as
to one abnormally born. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even
deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But
by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.
No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was
with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this
is what you believed." (1 Corinthians 15:1–11, NIV84)
As Paul continues in his letter,
he tells us very clearly that the Holy Christian Church can only be found where
the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior, is preached and
believed. And, as we read, this is a
very specific Gospel message. It is the
message of Jesus Christ who was crucified, died, buried, and raised from the
dead so that through the grace lavished upon us through faith in him we have
received the forgiveness of sins; and we now believe the message of salvation
that is ours through the Gospel that has been revealed to us. This is the gospel message through which we
have been called to faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
But Paul doesn’t even stop with
his letter to the Corinthians. He
continues telling us about where the Holy Christian Church is found as he
writes to a young Pastor named Timothy.
He tells Timothy, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will
judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I
give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of
season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful
instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a
great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They
will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you,
keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an
evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." (2 Timothy 4:1–5,
NIV84)
In short, as Paul calls on
Timothy to preach the Word, to be prepared, to correct, rebuke and encourage,
he is reminding Timothy of the simple truth that the Holy Christian Church can
only be found where the Gospel is faithfully preach and proclaimed—the message
of salvation that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
So what does this mean for the
churches in Le Sueur? It means that
where the gospel is being proclaimed; where the message of salvation through
faith in Jesus Christ is being preached and taught, there you will find members
of the Holy Christian Church. Though
some churches do not hold as solidly to the Scriptures as others, through some
churches interpret and understand the Scriptures differently than others,
though some churches add things to the Scriptures and others subtract things,
we can take comfort that wherever the Gospel message of salvation is proclaimed
we will find people who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And those who believe in Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior are the ones make up the Holy Christian Church—the
Communion of Saints, of which we also are a part.
Now, please understand what I’m
saying! I’m not advocating that we go
out and claim that we believe and teach exactly the same thing as every other
church in town. I’m not advocating that
at all, because it is very clear that we do not believe and teach exactly the
same thing as every other church in town.
In fact, all one has to do is a little research into each church and
that person will very quickly come to an understanding of the basic differences
between each church’s teachings. Please
also understand that I am not saying that because a person belongs to a church
that person automatically belongs to the Holy Christian Church. I cannot say that, because the Holy Christian
Church is made up of all those people, everywhere, who believe in Jesus Christ
as their Savior who delivered them from their sins by his life, death, and
resurrection from the dead. Not everyone
who belongs to a church believes that.
How can say that? Because it is
true! How can I possibly know? Because Jesus very clearly says, “By their
fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs
from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree
bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot
bear good fruit.” (Matthew 7:16–18, NIV84)
Though in the context Jesus is
speaking about being wary of false prophets, the message of how we can tell
those who belong to the Holy Christian Church is clear. We will know them by the fruits of their
faith. We will know them by their actions.
Take for example our own congregation.
If you say that you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but come
up with all sorts of reasons and excuses why you don’t need to gather for
worship to grow in your faith or partake of Holy Communion for the assurance of
forgiveness, doesn’t your life show that you don’t really believe in
Jesus? If you say that you believe in
Jesus but feel very comfortable living in a specific sin, perhaps living with
your boyfriend, your girlfriend, or your fiancée, fully knowing that this is
against everything that the Lord has taught us, doesn’t your life show that you
don’t really believe in Jesus as your Savior?
If you say that you believe in Jesus as your Savior but you are
constantly pouring out lies, or spreading gossip, or continually talking about
people behind their backs is your life actually showing that you believe in
Jesus as your Savior? Though it is true
that we will be recognized by our fruits, this is not 100% accurate, just as we
saw with Ananias and Sapphira. Only God
knows if their eternal fate. Yet, our
actions and our lives are almost always a very clear indication of the faith in
our hearts.
Though belonging to a church does
not guarantee that we are members of the Holy Christian Church, each and every
one of us can rejoice today, because today we have again heard the Gospel
message of salvation proclaimed to us.
We have been built up in our faith in Jesus Christ who came to live for
us, die for us, and rise again from the dead to free us from our sins. We have been moved by the Holy Spirit who
lives in our hearts, to live our lives in reflection of our faith even as we grow
in God’s Word. Thus, today, as we have
gathered here, we have found every reason to rejoice that we are part of the
Holy Christian Church—the Communion of Saints—the gathering of all believers
everywhere who call on the name of Jesus, their Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
