“Where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church”

(Ignatius, “Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2)

Every Sunday, here in our worship service, we stand up and say the Apostles’ Creed. When we come to that part of the Creed where we affirm our faith in “the Communion of Saints,” what do we mean by that? What, to you and me, is “the Communion of Saints?”

The convergence of three important events in our immediate future: of Reformation Day on next Thursday, of All Saints Day following on Friday, and of our National Election Day on the next Tuesday — these three events spotlight the appropriateness of our pondering this morning the true meaning of “the Communion of Saints.”

In the early part of the second century, a short, but intense persecution of Christians broke out in Syrian Antioch. One of the victims who was seized and condemned to fight with wild beasts in Rome was Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch. No shred of reliable historical record survives to reveal the life of Ignatius prior to this violent event in his life, or even to confirm the exact nature of his ultimate martyrdom. The only glimpse history gives us of Ignatius is that contained in the seven brief letters which he, himself, wrote on his journey from Antioch to Rome, letters for the most part addressed to churches in his own neighborhood of Asia Minor, who sent delegations from their congregations to greet and encourage him on his way to Rome. From his letters we learn that three concerns are paramount with Ignatius as he hastens on to martyrdom for his faith.

First, Ignatius has a burning concern for the unity of the church. In his letter to the Smyrneans we find the first appearance in Christian literature of that phrase “the Catholic (or universal) church.” “Where Jesus Christ is,” wrote Ignatius, “there is the Catholic, or universal church.”

Ignatius’ second concern was to oppose and unmask those heretical movements which were then leading to schism or division in the early church. In his catalogue of error schism is a cardinal sin. His letters reveal his communication with both the Judaizers and the Docetics in the congregations of Asia Minor. In other words, Ignatius preserved fellowship with both the fundamentalists and the liberals of his day.

Ignatius’ third concern was, as we would expect, for his own martyrdom. He is, as he puts it: “in a hurry to get to God.” Something of St. Paul’s expressed desire, “for me to depart and be with Christ is far better,” is reflected in Ignatius’ thoughts of offering himself on the altar of faith. He speaks of himself as “a cheap sacrifice” for Christ and the church — words also reminiscent of Paul’s desire to “spend and be spent for the church.”

All three of these Ignatian concerns stem from a passionate zeal to be used by God to help the church realize her status as “the Communion of Saints” — the body of Christ on earth — the true Catholic or universal church.

The second century of the Christian era, in which Ignatius lived and died, was characterized by two contrasting and conflicting facts: on the one hand, “a widespread persecution of the Christians for their faith,” and on the other hand, “unprecedented opportunities for the propagation of the faith.”

Our twentieth century, so soon to close, has been much like the second in both these seemingly irreconcilable facts. Already in the twentieth century more Christians have died for their faith than in all the other centuries of the Christian era put together: in Russia, Germany, China, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America. But ours is also an unprecedented time of opportunity for the propagation of faith. Ancient obstacles, which for centuries were impenetrable barricades to travel and communication between peoples, have been melting away as ice in the sun. Now the gospel has more and speedier avenues of entrance to the minds and hearts of men and women than ever before.

And yet the Church of Jesus Christ in our time is hesitant, uncertain, impotent in this critical hour to perform the worldwide redemptive work to which her Lord has appointed her. Her great need, in the threshold of the 21^st century, is for men and women with the same burning concerns of Ignatius to lead the church to attain her divinely appointed character as a communion of saints, as the body of Christ.

The first step is to accept the unity of the church: to affirm with Ignatius — “that wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the church.” A church congregation is not automatically a communion of saints. We Presbyterians define the church as the body of believers in Jesus Christ, together with their children, throughout the world and all eternity. But the communion of saints, in which we profess our belief when we say the Apostles’ Creed, is that unity to which all believers are called and entitled to experience with Christ, in His life, death, resurrection and glory; and that fellowship which extends to all other believers, characterized by a mutual sharing of Christ’s gifts and graces.

Here is how the Presbyterian Confession of Faith describes the “Communion of Saints”: “Being united to Christ and to one another in love, they have communion in each others’ gifts and graces … not only in the worship of God but in performing spiritual service and in relieving outward necessities.”

We need to cultivate a burning concern for the unity of the church that, like Ignatius of old, we may find that wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic or universal church. May God help us to see that He, Himself, has created our unity, and that it is men and women who have created our disunity. As Ignatius clearly saw that the powerful forces of the ancient pagan world, set against the small, struggling Christian communities, were so great that a divided and arguing church could not effectively contend against such opposition; so may we see in our day that the rapidly moving panaramora of contemporary history, with its secularism, hedonism, greed and lust, is spelling out to us clearly that the church must maintain its unity in order to perform its mission.

In the second place, if we follow the example of Ignatius, we will cultivate a passionate concern for opposing all movements which are aimed at disrupting the unity of the church. Our Westminster Standards state that “the communion of saints is to be extended unto all those who, in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.” One high Calvinist vows: “It is impossible, Bible in hand, to limit Christ’s church to one’s own community … for the apostolic standpoint (of the communion of saints) excludes isolation; for it creates the longing for fellowship with distant brethren, even though they walk in more or less deviating paths.” Is not this the meaning of St. Paul’s assurance that “in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus?” (cf.qt. H. S. Coffin)

But in contemporary American Christendom are virulent forces insisting on dividing and subdividing the body of Christ. Geographical and cultural sectionalism, racism, purist sectarian fundamentalism, and concepts foreign to the New Testament revelation and to our classic Protestant and Presbyterian standards have entered the thinking and sometimes the emotions of Christian people and are shaping disastrously the modern church, distorting and dwarfing the communion of saints.

We still have a sectarian, purist fundamentalism within the church which proclaims a doctrine of withdrawal from those who hold to devious doctrines or less pious practices than we; even though John Calvin long ago, in his great Institutes of the Christian Religion, makes plain the point that there are sure to be differences of opinion on doctrine among members of the church, that every person will be under some cloud of ignorance, but that it is perverse folly to seek to withdraw from the body of Christ because others do not hold the same doctrine as we, or are not as pure in righteous practice as we judge ourselves to be.

On the authority of scripture, the precedent of sound Presbyterian doctrine, and the obvious demands of these terrific times, we should stand to defend the unity of the church against all divisive forces without and within.

Finally, we are challenged to cultivate the third burning concern of Ignatius, a concern for our personal witness to the truth of the gospel and the glory of the church.

Of course, Ignatius was hastening on to martyrdom. And though his own death for the sake of the Kingdom of God was involved, uppermost in his mind was the effect of his personal witness by life and death to Christ. He was a true martyr in the radical, or root meaning of the word — “witness.” Martyr is a word that is taken over bodily, in both sound and spelling, from the Greek to English. Ignatius’ eyes were upon the continuing community of the people of God, as he journeyed on to Rome’s lion filled coliseum. As he thought of the spilling of his blood, he thought not of a red pool into which his earthly existence was being drained, and so shrink back in horror — but rather, he saw the seed of the church being planted, and so joyously embraced the experience.

The great temptation for all of us is to use the church, rather than be used by God for the glory of His church. There is a sad similarity between the church and the state in these difficult times. A discerning political analyst has pointed out that American democracy is weak and unequal to the exigencies of our contemporary crisis because the power for making decisions, which once resided in the hands of the executive, has been passed on to the people. In our modern democracy the executive and legislative branches of our government, when confronted with decisions affecting the security and welfare of the whole population, before acting, wait to receive from the people mandates of their will or wish through the medium of opinion polls, pressure groups’ reports, or democratic elections. But as this analyst observed, the American people have consistently shown no disposition to make decisions which require their denying, or disciplining themselves in the present to gain long term goals. Just behold the chaos, confusion and paralysis now over adoption of a budget to reduce our annual deficits, foregoing entitlement programs we cannot afford, social security benefits, etc., etc.

There is in contemporary life little understanding of “the people” as a continuing worthwhile reality into which the individual is born, moves on for a while, and then leaves. And so long term power for preserving and ennobling the commonwealth is passing from us for want of that concern for “the people” as a continuing reality of value which, on occasion, inspires young men and women to give up their lives for their country and directs old couples to plant trees whose fruit they will never eat.

When the prophet Isaiah came to tell King Hezekiah that the Babylonians were coming to conquer his little country, take away his wealth out of his palace, and drive his children away to make his sons eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon; but that this calamity would come only after Hezekiah himself had died, the King weakly, cravenly, says: “Is it not good if peace and truth be in my days?”

What is there in our contemporary church that is counteracting or censoring such a spirit? Only a burning concern for the communion of saints in its ultimate dimension of the people of God continuing through all the ages, and as a reality on into eternity, will assuage the suicidal tendencies now running amuck in Western culture. And nothing short of Ignation or Pauline leadership will now turn the tide. We must have men and women who are more concerned with spending and being spent for the church than they are with using the church for personal gain; more concerned with offering self as a cheap but sincere sacrifice for Christ and His church, rather than sacrificing the heritage of the past and the hope of the future for an easy and comfortable today.

 

PASTORAL PRAYER

O thou God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who are working out Thy redeeming purposes for Thy children through His church, we praise Thee for Thy calling us into Thy service in such a time as this. Grant that we may respond with a glad obedience as Thou callest Thy church to mission and to unity. Give us the grace to be diligent in our search for truth, that wisdom and knowledge may be the stability of our time; and deliver us from the peril of using our very learning as a cover under which we creep to hide from Thee. Deliver us from narrow and little loyalties and carping criticism that we may be ready to join hands with all Thy faithful servants who have given their hearts’ allegiance to Jesus Christ.

Rejoicing in the communion of saints, we give thanks to Thee for all Thy servants whose love and prayers have supported and encouraged us all our days. Hear us, O Merciful Father, as now we pray for all Thy saints who are beset with the trials and tribulations of our earthly existence: for the sick and anxious, for the tempted and unfaithful, for the proud and vengeful. Heal, correct, and redeem with Thy amazing grace each one of them and all of us, Thy sinful, needy children, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.