The truth concerning the church, beloved, is very, very important, as is evident not only from the two articles of our confession of faith which speak of the church, but as is evident also from the numerous passages in the Bible that speak of Christ's church and the fellowship within the body of believers. The importance of that truth is also evident when you consider all the attacks upon it in our day. Those attacks come not only by a denial of such fundamental truths as election and reprobation, the holiness of the church, and the like; but by a church that is put together by men, without regard to the truth of Holy Scripture. That characterizes the ecumenical movement of our day. Those attacks also come from those within the church who find not their fellowship with the people of God, but with those of the world, and who therefore separate themselves not only from God's people, but from Christ Himself. Thus it is important that we understand what is involved in the truth of the church as Scripture reveals that truth to us.
"I believe an holy catholic church." Last time we considered that aspect of what the Bible teaches concerning the church. We believe that the church is the body of Christ, a living organism. It is not a crowd, not a multitude of individuals each doing his or her own thing; it is not some kind of secret society. But it is a very definite body, with Christ as the Head. Or, to use the figure in the Song of Solomon 2:16, as we studied last Sunday morning, Christ is the Bridegroom, the Husband, and the church is His Bride, whom He takes to Himself and to whom He gives His own likeness and image. We believe as we considered thoroughly from Scripture, that God the Father has given that Bride to Christ. That body, with all its many members, is taken out of the organism of the human race. The spiritual Bride of Christ has been taken out of the natural organism of the human race. And that separation takes place according to God's sovereign and eternal decree of election in and for Christ. God's decree of election, as we expounded from Scripture, and His decree of reprobation to serve election, is the determining cause of the separation of the church from the reprobate shell. That is all a part of the doctrine of the church.
Moreover, the church not only has a determining cause in election, but it also has what we might call a realizing cause in the work of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. It is the Son of God become flesh that establishes the foundation for that church by the shedding of His own blood and by His resurrection from the dead. The Son of God gathers the elect out of the world by the Holy Spirit, also realizing in them all the blessings of salvation. It is He Who gives us life through the Spirit. He is the One Who calls. He justifies, He sanctifies, He preserves us even unto the end. So that we who believe can confess "I am and forever shall remain a living member of that church."
And very closely related to that truth is what Scripture teaches concerning the communion of saints. Those who are the members of Christ's Bride, bear the characteristics of that Bride. They are partakers of His own image and nature, and are in common partakers of Him and all His riches and gifts. Which is to say that the church is the communion of saints. And it stands to reason that the actual exercise and manifestation of the communion of saints is found only in the church. It is to that truth that I call your attention under the theme:
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
I. ITS SPIRITUAL REALITY
II. ITS PRACTICAL EXERCISE
III. ITS ONLY POSSIBILITY (By walking in the consciousness of the forgiveness of sins)
I. WHEN WE SPEAK OF THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS, WE ARE CONFESSING A SPIRITUAL REALITY.
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS IS NOT SOMETHING ESTABLISHED BY US, BUT BY CHRIST HIMSELF.
It does not spring into existence from the determination of believers to have a certain fellowship with one another or to create a certain society or support group for mutual advantage and upbuilding. Though those things may be helpful within the communion of saints, they do not determine the communion of saints. On the contrary, the communion of saints is first, and the experience and obser vation of it follows. It is therefore a reality apart from what we may observe. That is why we again confess, "I believe; I believe the communion of saints"—apart from however much of that communion I may observe and experience. I believe. And believe we must; because that communion of saints is terribly marred by sin when it comes to its expression in the church as seen here below. There are certain aspects of the communion of saints that stand out—such as when someone is suddenly afflicted, or when a family faces death. Then we quickly gather around. But what a pathetic sight sometimes is the communion of saints when it comes to the spiritual fellowship of believers, when it comes to seeking out those who are walking in sin, when it comes to visiting the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and the like. I say, sometimes when it comes to the appearance of the communion of saints, we might wonder whether there even is such a thing, or whether we even believe it. But in the same sense in which the holy catholic church exists because God causes it to exist, so God causes the communion of saints as a reality among His people.
But that communion of saints is a reality not merely within the fellowship of one congregation, but within the one universal body of Christ. Christ has established a connection between Himself and His people all over the world that is similar to that between the many members of the human body. The members of our sister churches in Singapore, e.g., have a particular place in that body. The infants in this congregation also have a particular place in that same body. So do you. So do the saints in Iraq and Kuwait and Romania and Redlands and Chicago and so on and so forth. God has given many members to that body of Christ; many offices and many gifts, as we read in Romans 12. All of them are distinct, for no member possesses all powers, nor does one take to himself a particular office in the body. But God has distributed various gifts to us and given us different places according to His own good pleasure.
"For we are his workmanship," Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, "created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." And he goes on in that same chapter to speak of the relationship in which He has so created us unto good works, namely, that you are "fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph 2:19b-22). To change the figure of the building, that is the one body of Jesus Christ, the communion of saints which we confess by faith.
THERE ARE SEVERAL ELEMENTS INVOLVED IN A DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.
The communion of saints is a communion of spiritual nature. That is implied in the very word communion. Our English word is a composite of two words, come and union. When those two words are placed together they tell us that there is a union that causes people to come together. Within the church there is a union that brings believers together and that compels believers to seek each others company and share each others lives. That oneness that draws together the children of God is not to be found in a unique experience, nor a common geneology, nor a common social background. That oneness that brings the members of the one church together is the spiritual likeness that they and we have in Christ.
Just as every single member of the human race partakes of the sinful nature of Adam, so the communion of saints means that every member of the body of Christ partakes of His spiritual nature. We are like Him. The Apostle Peter expresses that so strongly, that I would not dare repeat it, were it not part of God's inspired Word, when he says in II Peter 1:4 that we are partakers of the divine nature. That is a very bold expression. We partake of the divine nature of Christ, so that as Christ is the highest revelation of the image of God, so we in Christ receive and reveal and manifest the image of God in the highest possible sense of the word. That is true in a sketch form now, in our sinful nature and human body. Presently, in everlasting glory, we shall all be like Christ, being conformed according to His image. That is the unifying factor in the communion of saints.
That is evident also from the fact that we speak of a communion of saints. Saints are holy. We are holy. Don't be afraid to confess that as believers in Christ. A saint is not one who has distinguished himself by an outstanding life and consequently is canonized by the church in that Romish rigmarole that has nothing to do with Scripture. A saint, according to Scripture, is a man who has been set aside for and in Christ. They are the living members of the church, to whom Paul writes his many epistles, greeting his beloved with the words, "To all the saints in Christ Jesus; to the saints which are at Ephesus; to all that be in Rome, called saints." We are saints, beloved; not because of our present sinful nature, but because we partake of the nature of Christ. A communion of spiritual nature is one important element in the communion of saints.
For that reason it is also a communion of life. As in Adam we were partakers of death, so now in Christ we are partakers of life. That life is not only everlasting; it is heavenly. The communion of saints is the communion of heavenly life. That also we confess by faith. When we gather together to partake of the Lord's Supper, we come to that table, we must, confessing that all our life and all our nature and all our gifts are in Christ, and that we are partakers of His heavenly life. That is why, after all, it is called the table of communion. We have communion with Christ, and through His blood with God Himself. That is life everlasting and heavenly. And as saints, it is that communion of which all are partakers.
Thirdly, the communion of saints is a communion of love. It is necessary, because of our sinful nature, to be admonished by the Word, "Let us love one another." That is a necessary admonition here, because of our sinful and hateful nature. But that admonition is nonsense, unless there first is love. It is nonsense to say, Let us love, if there is no love. And therefore, before we even use that admonition we must recognize that the communion of saints is a communion of love.
That love, first of all, is the love wherewith God loved us. In order for there to be communion of saints, as there is, there must first be the love of God, love which He has revealed in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the giving of His only begotten Son, love which He has shed abroad in our hearts by His Holy Spirit. When God has so loved us, and when we confess that love of God, then we also say, "The fruit of the love of God is that I love God." And whosoever loves God, loves the brethren. John writes in I John 4:20, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen." The communion of saints is a communion of love—not must be a communion of love; but is a communion of love.
And so it is also a communion of gifts, spiritual gifts. That is the emphasis of what we read in Romans 12. There is within Christ's church a diversity of spiritual gifts. Although all partake of the same Christ and all have the same life and love and faith and hope, yet there is difference in gifts among the various members of the body. It is true that there are some gifts common to all the members of the church. All partake of regeneration, for example. Those that are not regenerated are outside of the communion of saints. To the gifts common to the whole body belongs the forgiveness of sins, justification. I dare say that is the most important gift we have in the church, so long as we are in this sinful flesh. There are other gifts as well that are common to all. But there is difference in what God gives to the members of His church in the way of special gifts.
To use the language of the Apostle in the chapter we read, all members have not the same office, and gifts differ according to the grace that is given. There are gifts of wisdom and knowledge, of teaching and exhortation, of comfort and consolation. To have a particular gift is nothing to be proud of, not at all. We are in the communion of saints. One has one special gift, another has another gift, as Christ bestows these gifts upon every saint. One person does not have every gift, nor is there any within the body that has no gift. But there is tremendous diversity within the body—again, not just here in Randolph, but in the holy catholic church as we confess it.
In addition, there is also diversity in regard to the measure of those gifts of Christ. Three men may all receive talents. But to the one is given five, to another two, to a third just one talent. And those differences are not restricted to the saints on earth. They are also carried over into everlasting glory. In the new heavens and the new earth, the millions of saints will all have their distinct individuality within the one body of Christ. According to Revelation 2:17, every one will receive from Christ a new name, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. There will be diversity of spiritual gifts and positions, all perfectly formed together to reflect the glory of God Himself in the face of Jesus Christ. That is the spiritual reality which we confess when we say, "I believe the communion of saints."
II. BUT THAT SPIRITUAL REALITY WHICH IS THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS ALSO COMES TO EXPRESSION IN A PRACTICAL OUTWORKING OR EXERCISE OF THAT REALITY.
THAT IS WHY IT IS FITTING TO ASK THE QUESTION: WHO ARE YOUR FRIENDS? WHO ARE YOUR FRIENDS?
When we talk about the practical exercise of the communion of saints, that is a very important question for all of us. That becomes evident, too, in Psalm 26. The psalmist understands the importance and spiritual significance of that question, and does not shy away from it. He prays for God to judge him. With confidence he lifts up that prayer, because, he said, "I have walked in thy truth." That is no vain boast. He has done so looking upon the coming Christ, and upon the forgiveness and innocency that is in Him alone. But that the psalmist has walked as one with Christ, as a member of His body, has also become evident even to his own consciousness. "I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers." Dissemblers are hypocrites, those who put on a false appearance of being Christian, but walk with the world in ways of wickedness. The psalmist says that his fellowship is not with such. "I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked." I ask again. Who are your friends?
In the beginning God said to Satan, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." The church, the saints, stand in distinction from the followers of Satan, from those who are unbelievers. If we confess from the heart and as a matter of our own experience, "I believe in the communion of saints," then our walk is not with the ungodly. The words of the inspired James are sharp and penetrating, James 4:4: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Our lives confirm what our tongues confess only when we find our fellowship with those who are indeed saints in Christ Jesus. "LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth." That, first of all, is the practical exercise of the communion of saints.
In the second place, to experience this truth of the communion of saints it is necessary that we walk in the truth. Our confession must indeed be that of David, "Thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth" (Ps 26:3). Within the pages of Holy Scripture God reveals Himself to us. He tells us both Who He is and what He has done. And He shows us how He would have us live as His people in the communion of saints. His saints bow before that authority of God! We tremble at the thought of twisting God's Words and making Him say something He never said. We tremble at the possibility of our rejecting that Word and turning our backs on Christ. We who would walk in the communion of saints acknowledge before all that we love the Word of God and will give God all the glory.
And at no time do we do that more than when we worship together on the Lord's Day in Spirit and in truth. This deserves a great deal of emphasis in our day. More and more churches set aside the Scriptures and their doctrinal distinctives to unite in social fellowship. More and more you hear the saying, "It doesn't really matter where you worship, just so you feel comfortable doing so." More and more people look at social programs and what self-help groups a church has to offer, when it comes to determining which church they should attend; while doctrine and preaching and the truth of God enters very little or not at all into the picture.
Understand well, it makes a great deal of difference where you go to church. The communion of saints is a communion of holiness and therefore a communion in truth. And each time a congregation gathers in worship, each time the church celebrates the sacraments, those who are gathered there make confession of their faith. Within the communion of saints we long to speak with Christ, and therefore we long to confess the truth. Not only that. Don't overlook the fact that that truth must not only be known; but we must walk in that truth. That truth must apply to you personally. The precepts of Jehovah must be your own. If you will walk in the communion of saints, you will also strive to find yourself always in harmony with God's will. That is the foundation for the practical experience of the communion of saints. For the purpose of the communion of saints is to glorify God together in our thoughts, words and deeds.
HAVING LAID THAT FOUNDATION FOR THE PRACTICAL EXERCISE OF THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS, WE CAN POINT TO A THREEFOLD UNVEILING OF THAT COMMUNION WITHIN THE CHURCH AS WE KNOW IT.
In the first place, it means that we love one another with the love of God in Christ Jesus. We love one another. That is a fact. Do we confess that? We love one another. But we love one another only within the communion of saints, not otherwise. We don't love one another because we are such nice people. If that were the case, there are some of you it would be quite impossible to love, and some of you would say the same of me, I am sure. We don't love one another socially. We don't love one another because we have such nice church picnics and golf outings and basketball games and young peoples outings and all that. We love one another as saints, not in any other way. That is a fact of our Christian life. We love one another. But as I said earlier and as Scripture makes clear also, and emphasizes, Let us love one another. Don't say, we love one another and that is enough. Watch out. Hear also the admonition of Christ found repeatedly in Scripture, Love one another. That means, Fight against the hatred in your sinful flesh.
Secondly, when we walk in the exercise of the communion of saints, then we look at ourselves and ascertain what particular gifts God has given to us, and we use those gifts according to the position God gives us in the communion of saints. Don't ever say, I have no gifts. That is to say, I am not a member of the body of Christ! We are every one members one of another, having gifts differing according to the grace God has given us. The figure in Romans 12:5, of all saints being one body in Christ and members one of another, is a figure that is more fully developed in I Corinthians 12. The body consists of a multitude of members. Not only are there eyes and ears and hands and feet, and so on, but there are living cells and a multitude of unseen members which constitute that body.
All function and work as members of the body. If you take out an eye, it ceases to function. An ear is nothing, if it is not attached as a living member to the body. I walk, only when I have legs that are members of my body. And when the parts of the body do not function, the body suffers. That is also true in the communion of saints. It is a troublesome thing to the church, to the body of Christ, when you withdraw from the functioning of that body, and don't exercise the gifts God has given you. It is a terrible sin in the eyes of God, when you complain about the members of His body and say, "I don't feel comfortable here, they aren't very friendly," and all the rest; while you yourself make no effort whatsoever to exercise the gifts God has given you for the sake of these your fellow members, when you ignore the Bible study societies and all the rest.
We are all of Christ. Don't forget that. And whatever you do, don't slap Christ in the face by refusing to use the gifts He has given you! We must give diligence to ascertain what place we have, not hiding our talents. Maybe you can bring a meal to one who is afflicted. Maybe you can greet the visitors at church. Maybe you can lead a society. Maybe you can only attend a society, speaking only an occasional word or no words at all; only supporting the others who are there. Maybe you visit the sick. Maybe you serve as elder or deacon. Maybe you serve as one of those elderly women who give godly counsel to the younger women. Maybe you show hospitality to the new members of the congregation. Can you not do this one or another of those things? All right.
The Apostle says, Not all members have the same office. But all have gifts. And God has given you those gifts for the sake of His church! We are all in the body! And let me add: by God's providence, within this appearance of the body which is Randolph Protestant Reformed Church. And within this communion of saints God gives us a calling, every one, readily and cheerfully to employ our gifts, for the advantage and salvation of the others.
And therefore, thirdly, we esteem one another within that communion. We have nothing to boast, absolutely nothing. If God had not placed us in this commu nion of saints, beloved, and in the broader communion of His one church, we have no gifts to exercise. The members do not function apart from the body. We are, therefore, but one cog in the wheel, so to speak, having nothing of ourselves. Let us look not on ourselves, but on others. When we live in the consciousness of the communion of saints, exercising that spiritual reality in thankfulness to God, then we will pray one for another, edify one another, comfort one another, care one for another, admonish one another, and seek one another's salvation and advantage. And we shall also esteem one another for the peculiar gifts each one bears and shares in the body of Christ.
III. HOWEVER, THE ONLY POSSIBILITY THAT YOU AND I EXPERIENCE SUCH COMMUNION OF SAINTS IS THAT WE WALK TOGETHER IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
WE ARE NOT VERY GOOD SAINTS, ARE WE?
Though as saints within the body of Christ we long to function according to the calling He has given us and in accordance with His Word, we fall far short. There are times when we may stand on the pinnacle of faith and amaze ourselves at the grace and love of God that reveals itself in us. But more often we see ourselves slip into the quagmire of sin, and we become self-centered and blinded by our own sinful lusts. The story of our lives is one of constant change—sometimes showing strength and courage, other times showing weakness and unfaithfulness to our calling.
The same is true for our fellow saints who walk the same pathway and function in the same only body of Christ. Not only that, but when we may be strong, another may be weak; and vice versa. In addition, God does not give the same knowledge, nor the same measure of grace to His children. Some saints are veterans in the battle of faith and are well-tested in the experience of the Christian life. Others, however, are babes, spiritual toddlers, whose spiritual growth is limited and who need much nurture. That is the simple fact of the diversity within the body. But there is also much sin within the body, sin not only committed against God, but sin committed against one another.
WHEN WE SIN, WE BRING AN AFFLICTION UPON THE BODY OF CHRIST AND OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR FELLOW MEMBERS BECOMES STRAINED.
There is an obvious reason for this. When we sin the foundation upon which our fellowship is built becomes unsettled. Saints and sin do not mix. We know that from our own personal experience. God is the Holy One, and the only peace that we can have within our own souls and as a communion of saints is when we can find in our own hearts the testimony that we are holy. Daily we have to lay hold of the assurance "That God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life long; but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God." Righteousness and holiness are the only way to experience the communion of saints. And therefore only in the confession of sin and daily repentance can we live with a clear conscience in the presence of God.
The same is true in our relationships one with another. The only way you and I can have fellowship, beloved, is that we confess our sin and seek to walk together on the way to heaven. And that way to heaven is the way which is according to God's precepts. Sin blocks the true exchange of life and communion between the saints. False doctrine and careless Christian living are obstacles to our experience of the communion God has established and to which He calls us. While positively, the closer we walk in harmony with God's Word both in doctrine and life, the more intimate can the communion be together.
This being true, we must heed the admonition of Romans 12:10: "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another." Let each of you examine yourself, as to your own place within the body. In order to live in the communion of saints, we must remove the beam that is in our own eye, confess our sins, and strive to walk to the glory of God. Then we are ready in the grace of humility to be kindly affectioned one toward another, to seek one another. In the consciousness of our great forgiveness, let us help one another live in the fellowship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Companionship with the world leads to hell. Companionship with the church is the way to heaven. We are called to look every man also on the things of others, in love bearing one another's burdens. It must be this motive that compels us to use our talents of music and song, to use the gift of prayer, to comfort those who mourn, to give of our material possessions for the welfare of Christ's body, to consider the call to the ministry, to labor in the offices, to labor as Godly parents, to work in evangelism and all the rest—each one according to the gift God has given. And so God will continue to strengthen His church, also as manifest here in Randolph. Until finally, we are gathered with all the saints in that perfect communion of glorious holiness, with Jesus Christ our Lord. That will be glory indeed!
Amen.
Preached: Randolph PRC 2/16/97 (am)
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