Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/93

Contributor - Wim Meijer

Title - I Believe In Communion With The Church of All Ages And Places: What You Believe is Not What You See

Topic - Church

In the ninth article of the Apostles' Creed we confess to believe "a holy catholic church, the communion of saints". (Note: We do believe in God, but not in the church.) Question 54 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks: "What do you believe concerning the Holy Catholic Church?" Imagine the question would have been: "What do you see of the Holy Catholic Church?" To this question you may expect answers like: I see a lot of hypocrisy in the church. They claim to be such a special people, but you cannot trust them. Another says: When I look at the church I see a divided house. All these different churches. Isn't it ridiculous? And again someone else: I see that the church is losing its position in society. More and more people are disappointed. They seek their comfort somewhere else. More things can be added to this list. What we see of the church does not look very promising.

But it becomes totally different when we look at what we believe concerning the church. Listen to answer 54 of the catechism:

I believe that the Son of God, through His Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chose for eternal life and united in true faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member.

Christ the Architect and Builder

When we talk about the church, we talk about Jesus Christ. One cannot separate the one from the other. The church is His work. It is even His body. And the foundation of the church was laid on Calvary, where Jesus laid down His life for the church. Scripture speaks about the church of God "which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). Jesus Himself takes care of building His church. He sent out the apostles to proclaim the gospel. He poured out His Holy Spirit to take over His work on earth. And through these means - Word and Spirit - Jesus Christ is still gathering His church. He calls people into His service, fills them with His Spirit in order to spread the gospel. It is an amazing thing, that Christ uses weak, fallible human beings to build His church. But it is still His work. Sometimes a servant may feel weak and failing. But building the church does not depend on our abilities. We are only instruments in Christ's hands.

This makes for a glorious future for the church. In spite of all the negative things that we see in the church, Christ will protect and preserve His church. I mentioned this already in the article about Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father (Nov. 1992).

A living member

The church is not an institute, but it is a community of people. And therefore it consists of living members. And the thing which is of the greatest importance for each one of us, is that we must be living members of the church. Not simply part of the institute because my name is registered in the church records. Not simply because I feel at home in the atmosphere of a particular church. But I am a living member of the church when, by a true faith, I am united with Jesus Christ, my precious Saviour, in whom I trust for the forgiveness of all my sins. And therefore I am part of His body, the church.

The unity of the church

Unity? Which unity? How many different churches are there in your community? How can we speak about unity then? Yet we confess the communion of saints. And this communion is both fact and duty. The fact is, that all those who are living members of the body of Christ have in common that they all have one Saviour who purchased them with His blood. You may find them in different churches, but at this point they are one. This means, that true communion can never be experienced, neither can it be made by the ecumenical movement, if Jesus Christ is not confessed as the Saviour who, with His precious blood, paid for all my sins. There is also the duty of communion. We all have different gifts, and we are called to use the gifts which we have received to the benefit of the other members of the body of Christ. If we are followers of Christ, who laid down His life for His sheep, we are called to show concern for our fellow Christians. The rule for the communion of saints is this: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (I John 4:1 1).

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