“Church Portraits” Wyoming Allan Blyth 9th March 08
Just before Christmas some children were given the assignment to draw the Christmas story. (You might like to visualize yours in your mind.) One boy had a great drawing, Mary & Joseph, baby Jesus, animals, shepherds and angels. It was the regular nativity scene, except for a rather stodgy figure at the side. “Who is that?” the teacher enquired, pointing to the rotund little man. Confidently the child replied “Round John Virgin.” (of ’round yon virgin mother and child” fame.) All the children’s portraits could be recognized as nativity scenes, but no two were identical.
Likewise, portraits we have in our mind are all unique. What about our portraits of the most beautiful body on earth? Today I want to try and develop a portrait of this most beautiful body - a body of people - the Church of Jesus Christ.
A portrait of the Church being prepared by God to be so beautiful, so lovely, so mature & rich, like a bride preparing for her husband - the church of Jesus Christ that God is preparing to have for his pleasure and ours for eternity.
Can you get a portrait of the church into your mind?
Let me start by quickly sharing some of the things that the church is not.
The Church is not buildings. What we often call churches are really meeting places, chapels, assembly halls, basilicas or cathedrals, not churches, not the Church.
The Church is not the names written on the membership rolls, attendance or pastoral care lists of churches.
The church is people, the people, also called the “body” of Christ. She (like the bride metaphor the feminine personal pronoun is used to include all the saints of all time, male and female who make up the Church), the people in whom Christ dwells & reigns, those reborn by the indwelling Spirit of Christ who’ve chosen to resign the mastery of their own lives to Jesus.
So is the Church people who are perfect in Jesus? Yes & no.
No because the Church is still “under construction”. She has a first touch of God’s Spirit and God is doing the amazing work of transforming us (His Church) to be His children and set us completely free. (Rom8:22,23). And yet from God’s eternal perspective the Church is perfect. One of the miracles of Jesus’ dying on the cross is that when we look to the cross, God no longer sees our faults & failures - He sees us perfect—like Jesus. “By his sacrificial death we are put right with God” Rom 5:9a The miracle is that when anyone responds to the Good News of Jesus with faith a righteousness which we can never achieve ourselves is given to us.
So are those priests and cardinals, teachers and youth leaders and pastors who did terrible things, the Church? Remember! People under reconstruction are not yet perfect. We too make mistakes. We don’t live up to even our own high hopes for ourselves, let alone God’s perfect design. And so as God forgives, the Church forgives* (does your portrait include that? And as God accepts all who call* out to Him for help whatever their circumstances, so the Church of Jesus Christ accepts* people where they are, and the Church loves*, because God first loved us. (Mt 6:14, Joel 2:32, Rom 15:7,1 Jn 4:19)
How’s your portrait of the Church shaping up?
I want to share a line from one of the early creeds of the Christian church (the Nicene Creed):
We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church.
(Approved by a large gathering of the church at Chalcedon just opposite Constantinople in 451 AD
Rd Col 1:15-22 P1317 Rd Mark 8:31-38 P.1106
“We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church”
This 1600yr old phrase is one way of describing the Church of Jesus Christ. It may help develop our “church portraits”.
Let me elaborate on these words:
holy = set apart, different from anything else – by the blood of Jesus
1 Corinthians 1:2 (GNB)2 To the church of God which is in Corinth, to all who are called to be God’s holy people agiois,
Heb 10:10 …we are all purified from sin by the offering that he made of his own body once and for all. Cf 1 Pet 2:5 & 9 “royal priesthood, holy nation”
As our lives more and more reflect God in us, the holiness we are called to, the portrait that people see of the Church becomes more true.
e.g. Salvation Army “hearts toward God, hands toward humanity” -also, the St Vincent de Paul Society.
catholic = universal, all inclusive, every time in history
united in purpose by Jesus Christ & his sovereignty
1 Cor 1:10 Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose. Cf Eph 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you.
Not necessary for us to join together with all the other churches in Wyoming but it is necessary for us to be one with all the Christians, one in Spirit, love and purpose. Should you leave the Wyoming Church of Christ for the Anglican, Catholic, Uniting, Baptist or some other Church you are still the one church and one with those in Christ whom you have left.
The catholic Church is made up of a myriad of local churches of all kinds of shapes and flavours, and yet it is one.
church = called out ones – by Jesus
(Cf Rom 16:16)
“Churches of Christ”
apostolic = sent out, on a mission – by Jesus
Cf Acts 1:8 & Mt 28:19 go to all peoples everywhere…
1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church …..
1 Pet2:9b, 10 God’s own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvellous light. 10At one time you were not God’s people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God’s mercy, but now you have received his mercy.
How’s your church portrait shaping up? Is your life contributing to your portrait? Are you in it? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord—both because He made & sustains your very being—and because of His incredible love for you. He died for you. And he rose again for us all.
Have you joined His Church - the Church of Jesus Christ?
I don’t mean: are you on the roll! Is your purpose in life to be set apart for His happiness, to share His love and salvation with others going through reconstruction and others who still don’t know. What portrait do others see in you and me?
Have you been obedient in baptism. Acts 2:38, 41 Have you been buried in the water?, publicly telling everyone that living with you as boss is dead and finished, that you’ve a new life with Jesus in charge and you are ready to be used and made more useful by His Spirit at work in you as you discover the wonder and fullness of life being His, the Church of Jesus Christ with ongoing repentance & renewal.
I am excited to be part of the Wyoming Church of Christ: holy because of the crucified Christ , catholic as we recognize the unity that all God’s people have in Christ Jesus, apostolic as we get on with the job so that everyone everywhere may have the opportunity to believe and actually experience joy in the life of the Church and safety in Jesus no matter what happens until the day when He comes. People from all ages, all nations, all tribes and tongues, from all denominations and religious backgrounds, being set apart, living for holiness, made holy by the blood of Jesus, delighting in love, hope, and unity, finding purpose and fulfilment in serving the Church of Jesus Christ until He comes – one holy catholic and apostolic church.
