A LOCAL church applied to be a member
of the National Council of Churches of Singapore, and as a result
representatives from the church came for an interview. When asked
how old their church was, one of the representatives patiently
replied, "We have been around since the first century."
True, their local church belonged to an ancient denomination in
the family of Oriental Orthodox churches. Nevertheless the answer
should make us think about the question, "What is the Church?"
and how we view this Church.
In an age that has confused personal faith with individualistic
faith, we need to re-examine what we say we believe. In the Apostles'
Creed, we declare, "I believe … in the communion of
saints …" What do we mean by that phrase?
The term "communion of saints" has become a technical
doctrinal phrase, the exact meaning of which this is not the place
to discuss in detail. Suffice to say, it refers to biblical teaching
that the Church is the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12), and that this
Body, the "communion of saints", comprises ALL believers
across time and space, both living and departed. If we believe
in Christ as Saviour and Lord, we are then baptised into this
wonderful Body and become its members. We are then a part of God's
holy family that is found in every corner of earth and heaven.
What is more important for us here is to see how this should affect
our daily lives and faith.
Firstly, our knowledge and worship of God cannot be confined to
the limited depth and breadth of our own individual experiences.
Take, for instance, worship.
When
we gather to worship, the depth of our worship experience cannot
be limited merely by what we knew of God and how we felt that
particular Sunday morning. If you are not feeling good, and don't
feel like it, you can still worship God that day because of the
faith, knowledge and experience of others.
When the Scripture is read, you can still
say "Amen" to whatever truth that was written long ago
by people who had felt the breath of God in their hearts. When
you sing hymns, you can still sing along, even though you may
not find feelings in your heart that resonate with the hymn, because
you can still join in the worship of the people of God, and anchor
your own life in that worship. And as you do so, God brings you
into His light and glory.
You wake up one morning and find that a spiritual doubt had entered
your mind like an unwelcome fly that refuses to be chased out
of the chambers of your soul. What can you do? You can think of
the communion of saints to which you belong. They stand around
you like a cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1), encouraging you to run
the race faithfully, assuring you of the truths of the faith.
Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, your old Sunday School teacher,
your late grand-uncle, and a host of others remind you of the
truth and reliability of Scripture, of eternity, of the great
old doctrines of the Church, and of the reality of Christian experience.
Though you may not feel the strength of faith that morning, you
can still stand on the shoulders of saints from every age and
shore, and be lifted by the living faith of the dead.
OUR personal faith must be anchored in the collective historical
faith of the communion of saints. In this way, we find ourselves,
not swimming alone in the sea of life, especially when it is particularly
stormy, but in good company, in the company of saints. What they
knew and have experienced of God gives depth and stability to
our own knowledge and experience of God.
Secondly, we must realise that the communion of saints is significantly
larger than our own informal groups and organised churches. Our
view of the Church must be as big as the entire Body of Christ,
spanning space and time. Then only can we be saved from small-mindedness
and grossly limited visions. We would also be helped when we become
disillusioned and frustrated with the organised versions of the
Church, to know that we belong to the larger Body of Christ that
is being prepared like a bride for Christ the heavenly Groom (Rev.
21:2).
The Reformers struggled with the question of how to deal with
the spiritual quality of the church, for the church had both believers
and others whose faith was not evident. They were reminded of
the Lord's teaching that the wheat and the weeds will be mixed
till the day when the Lord shall come to remove the weeds (Mt.
13:24-30).
One day, the sheep and the goats will be separated (Mt. 25:31-46).
But till then, the local, organised and temporal church must think
of the larger communion of saints, and be strengthened by drawing
on the faith and life of that communion. Our eyes must be lifted
higher to recognise that glorious communion in our midst, and
experience its life amid our fractured and imperfect lives and
present communities.
Finally, the central underlying truth is, we must know that we
are part of the communion of saints by becoming identified with
and attached to Christ our Lord. He is the Head of the Body (Eph.
4:15). It is through His Spirit that we are baptised into the
Body (1 Cor. 12:13). Hence, though we are surrounded by a cloud
of witnesses, we are urged to keep a steady gaze on Jesus, the
Shepherd of our souls (Heb 12:2; 1 Pet. 2:25). In other words,
we must look even higher - beyond our own selves, our organised
churches, even beyond the communion of saints - to gaze at the
glorious sight of Jesus our Lord, the Author and Perfecter of
our faith.
And as we gaze at Him and run our races faithfully, we shall become
like Him (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:18). In the background we would hear
the silent roar of the clouds of witnesses, urging us on, on bright
sunshine days and on dark and painful days, reminding us that
the One we are looking at is the One who is the Heir of all things
(Heb. 1:2), who will have the final word in each of our lives,
and in history.
QUOTE:
HEIR OF ALL THINGS
'As we gaze at Him and run our races faithfully, we shall become
like Him (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:18). In the background we would hear
the silent roar of the clouds of witnesses, urging us on, on bright
sunshine days and on dark and painful days, reminding us that
the One we are looking at is the One who is the Heir of all things
(Heb. 1:2), who will have the final word in each of our lives,
and in history.'