“The Nicene Nature of the Church Part IV: The Apostolic Church”

The Appomattox Court House Presbyterian Church Pulpit
Guest Minister: Rev. Robert P. Mills
The Lord's Day, May 6, 2007
1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Introduction
     "We believe one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."
     It was almost exactly one year ago that you invited me to this pulpit and we began our exploration of this article of the Nicene Creed. Over the past year we've looked through the lens of Paul's first letter to the Church at Corinth to consider what it means to confess that the Church is one, that the Church is holy, and that the Church is catholic.
     We saw that to say the Church is one is to say that, while "the body of Christ" has many members, it is one body. Since Christ is not divided, those whom he has called into an eternal relationship with him are also eternally one with each other. Despite such temporal manifestations as congregations and denominations, the Church is one, and that oneness is God's gift, not our achievement.
     We saw that to say the Church is holy is to say that its members have been separated from the world by God so that we may be of service to God in the world. We noted that the holiness of the Church is both a position and a process. The Church is positionally holy because Christ has atoned for our sins. The Church is in the process of being made holy by the present work of God's Holy Spirit, who lives within each member of the body.
     We saw that to say the Church is catholic is to recognize that the Greek word katholicos means "of the whole, according to that which is undivided." The lower-case-c-catholic church is the assembly of those who believe and teach what the whole Church everywhere throughout all time has believed and taught.
     And we've seen that each of the four terms in this article of the Nicene Creed - one, holy, catholic, apostolic - is most fully understood in reference to the other three. So today, as we complete this series, we'll not only consider what it means to confess that the Church is apostolic, but we'll see how that confession is inseparable from our understanding of the Church as one, holy, and catholic.

I. The Apostolic Church
     This morning's Scripture lesson, is taken from I Corinthians 15, Paul's great chapter on the Resurrection, his magisterial exposition of the historical reality and theological significance of Christ's resurrection and ours. This chapter, as is much of the rest of the letter, is devoted in large measure to correcting Corinthian misbeliefs and misbehaviors.
     In part to reaffirm his authority to issue these corrections and instructions, Paul, in v. 9, calls himself "the least of the apostles." And it's with the word "apostle" that we'll begin our look at the apostolic church.

Apostello
     This verse is the last of ten times in I Corinthians that Paul uses the word "apostle." The first comes in the letter's first verse, which begins, "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus" We touched on this term in the sermon on the catholic church, noting that, like Paul, all Christians are Christians because God has called us into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. Today we'll note that God places a further call on some of his people, the call to be an apostle.
     Our English word "apostle" comes from the Greek apostello, an intensive form of the verb "to send." At its most literal level, the noun "apostle" means "one who has been sent." In secular Greek literature, however, the word further conveyed a sense of delegated authority. While identifying the one who had been sent, the word "apostle" put more emphasis on the one who had done the sending.
     In the New Testament, apostello becomes a theological term for "sending forth to serve God with God's own authority." [Apostello, Gerhard Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1995)]. Most frequently, the New Testament uses the Greek noun apostelos to designate the original disciples called by Jesus, "the Twelve," as they are often labeled in the Gospels.
     The most notable exception to this usage comes in Hebrews 3:1-2 where we read, "Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him." The writer of Hebrews appears to be drawing on Jesus' description of himself as he prays for his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world" (John 17:18).
     Throughout I Corinthians, Paul's identification of himself as an "apostle" reminds us of two inseparable biblical truths. The first is that just as Jesus was sent by his Father, commissioned with his authority as his representative, so Jesus commissioned the original apostles.
     The second truth is that Jesus didn't passively wait for followers to choose him. Rather, he actively selected and intentionally called specific individuals to be in relationship to him. He then trained these chosen individuals and sent them out with his authority to carry on his work. In the process of exercising their commission, the apostles established what we now know as the Church, the Church the Nicene Creed describes as "apostolic."
     What, exactly, does it mean to say that the Church is apostolic? In I Corinthians 15:3-5 we find two complementary answers. Why focus on these verses? Because many scholars believe they comprise the very first Christian creed, the earliest extant declaration of the absolute fundamentals of Christian faith and identity. These three short verses set the pattern for later Christian creeds and confessions by placing Christ's death and resurrection within a scriptural, salvific, and self-involving frame of reference. To introduce a distinction I'll return to toward the end of the sermon, these verses simultaneously state truthful propositions about God's action in and through Christ and they speak of the personal relationship between Jesus Christ and the Christian.
     This original Christian creed identifies two essential elements of the apostolic Church. First, the church is apostolic as it continues to carry out the mission Jesus gave the apostles. Second, the Church is apostolic because it is founded on and continues to proclaim the message of the apostles. We'll look first at the mission, then at the message of the apostolic Church.

II. The Apostles' Mission
     At the outset of v. 3, Paul makes a statement that summarizes the mission of the apostolic Church: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received."
     The mission of the apostolic Church, now as when Paul wrote, is to receive and to deliver what God has revealed. That's half this morning's sermon in a single sentence. The mission of the apostolic Church is to receive and deliver what God has revealed.
     I want to reverse the order of Paul's words on the printed page and take his phrases in chronological order, beginning with the first step "what I also received."

What I also received
     It almost goes without saying that you can't deliver what you don't have and that most of what you do have you've gotten from someone else. Almost, but not quite.
     That's because to understand the nature of the Church as apostolic we need to acknowledge that what Paul delivered to the church in Corinth, first in person and later by letter, was something he himself had received. He hadn't been born with what he delivered to the Corinthians. He hadn't dreamed it up during a boring sermon in the synagogue. He hadn't taken words he'd heard about Jesus and then perverted them in order to establish his own religion (which, by the way, is what Muslims say the apostles did with Jesus' teachings). No, what Paul delivered, he had received.
     Moreover, as John Calvin comments, Paul "does not simply mean that he related what he had from the report of others … it is the duty of an apostle to bring forward nothing but what he has received from the Lord … to administer to the Church the pure word of God."
     When we consider what Paul says about the mission of the apostolic Church, we find that its very first task is to receive what God reveals. We'll look at the content of that revelation in the second part of this sermon. But for now, I can't possibly over emphasize how important it is for you and me here today to acknowledge that the mission of the apostolic Church begins with the act of receiving.
     If we get that wrong, if we refuse to receive what God has revealed, if you and I, like many modern Protestants, reject out of hand the very notion of God's self-revelation, then we have no right to call ourselves a church, let alone to identify ourselves as apostolic. The first task of an apostolic Church is to receive what God has revealed.

As of first importance
     Before we consider the second part of the Church's mission, delivering what we've received, I want to look the qualifier Paul puts in the middle of this sentence, "as of first importance."
     What is of first importance to this congregation?
     When you think about what matters most to the Appomattox Courthouse Presbyterian, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Is it this building? Is this physical facility of first importance to you personally and you (plural) as a congregation? Or is it of first importance to you that your pastor gets a paycheck? Is money the first thing that comes to mind when you think about this church?
     What's of first importance to this local body of believers? Property and the physical plant? Money in the bank? Or when you think about this church, are you, like Paul, first and foremost committed to delivering to others the revelation you've received?
     Please don't misunderstand the point I'm trying to make. There's nothing wrong with maintaining a building in which to worship and from which to minister. There's nothing wrong with honoring the financial commitments you've made to the staff you've called and the ministries you've pledged to support.
     But if your building or your bankbook ever becomes "of first importance," you have forfeited the title "apostolic Church."

I delivered to you
     For Paul, and for the apostolic Church throughout the ages, what is of first importance, the mission that identifies the Church as apostolic, is delivering what it has received. Again, we'll get the "what" in just a moment. But before that, I want to say two things about Paul's phrase "I delivered to you."
     The first is pretty simple, but then the important things often are: What Paul received, he delivered. When the risen Jesus appeared to him, Paul didn't keep the revelation to himself. He didn't hide his light under a basket. He didn't gather small group of friends into a holy huddle and keep the Good News sealed inside. He passed it along. His work is now our work. The apostolic mission of the Church is to deliver the apostolic message of the Church.
     Second, and I don't have the time to explore this today but it's important to mention, the ways in which the apostolic message is delivered can and do change over time. The methods of the apostolic mission vary with the needs and opportunities of time and place. The message may be proclaimed under tents on America's western frontier or over the Internet around the world. Unaccompanied Gregorian chant may be sung in stone cathedrals or praise choruses backed by guitars may ring out in converted concrete warehouses.
     The apostolic mission may use a wide variety of faithful forms. But the apostolic message never changes. So we'll spend the next few minutes considering the content of the message Paul received and delivered as of first importance.

III. The Apostles' Message
     The revelation given to Paul, the primal Christian creed he received and delivered, has four articles and twice uses the phrase "according to the Scriptures." In this half of this morning's sermon, we'll briefly look at this creed, at the content of the apostles' message.

that Christ died for our sins
     The first article of this creed is the very heart of the Gospel. "Christ died for our sins." That Christ died is an objective truth. His death took place at a specific moment in human history. Some who witnessed Jesus' crucifixion were still alive when Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians. But this pre-Pauline creed does more than simply state the historical fact that Christ died. It goes on to declare that Christ died for our sins.
     The opening words of this creed, which are echoed and amplified throughout the New Testament, confess that the Church, the one body of Christ, comprises those who have been reconciled to God through the atoning work of the resurrected Christ. The Church consists of those whom God as separated from the world so that he might send them into the world as his witnesses.
     To return to a distinction I made earlier, as Christians, we need to know the facts about our faith. We need to know the propositional truths that are stated in Scripture. But only because we first know Jesus personally do we know the truth of these propositions.

that he was buried
     The creed's second article affirms "he was buried." (We'll come back to the phrase "in accordance with the Scriptures" when Paul repeats it in v. 4.) This statement affirms the reality of both Jesus' death and his resurrection.
     The women who went to anoint his body Easter Sunday knew that he was dead. They knew where he was buried. The facts of the Christian faith are found in recorded human history. The three little words "he was buried" are not a trivial detail but a fundamental affirmation of Christian history.

that he was raised on the third day
     "That he was raised on the third day" is the creed's third article. It was on the third day that witnesses discovered the empty tomb. It was on the third day they first saw the risen Jesus.
     The passive voice of the verb "was raised" is significant. It reminds us that resurrection is the gift of God's grace. God alone is able to give new life to the dead. Dead people don't chose new life. Instead, the apostolic Church has been given God's promise that as Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, we too shall be raised. And that promise of passing from death to new life provides our sense of identity as God's chosen community.

in accordance with the Scriptures
     Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection on the third day all are described as being "in accordance with the Scriptures." This phrase shows two important truths about Jesus' person and work. First, it conveys the continuity of the cross with God's saving purposes revealed in the Old Testament. Second, it helps us understand the saving role of the death of Christ by using the Old Testament categories sacrifice, suffering, and atonement.

that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve
     At the end of this earliest creed comes the statement that the risen Jesus "appeared first to Cephas [that is, Peter], then to the twelve," that is, the original apostles.
     That the risen Jesus appeared to the apostles affirms that the mission of the same Jesus who died, was buried, and was raised on the third day is an ongoing mission. These appearances of the risen Jesus' to Peter and the other apostles also makes their witness to the resurrection unique. Our witness relies on their witness. But the Jesus we know is the Jesus who appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Their mission remains our mission. Their message remains our message, the message of the apostolic Church.

Conclusion
     "We believe one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."      The Methodist theologian Thomas Oden connects the apostolic church with the one, holy, catholic church when he writes:

"Apostolicity is intrinsically interwoven with the other marks of the church: Only that church that is one can be catholic. Only that church that is united in the one mission of the one Lord can be apostolic. Lacking that holiness which is fitting to the obedience of faith, one finds neither apostolicity nor catholicity. Only that church that is formed by the apostolic memory can be united in one body with the Lord."
[Thomas Oden, Life in the Spirit: Systematic Theology: Volume 3 (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), p. 349].

     As we draw this sermon series to a close, that's a wonderful summary of the Nicene nature of the Church.
     But that summary also contains an implicit warning: An institution that takes as its mission something other than the apostles' mission is not the apostolic Church. An institution that proclaims something other than the apostles' teachings is not the apostolic Church.
     The Church of every generation needs to hear that warning. As no you doubt recall, the church at Corinth to which Paul wrote was struggling in these areas. And, sad to say, that warning is especially applicable to you and me here today. For in misguided efforts to be "relevant," many mainline Protestants have abandoned the apostolic mission and message.
     Rather than receiving and delivering God's revelation, some congregations and denominations have substituted trendy socio-political objectives. Rather than confess with Paul and with the Church throughout the ages that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures," some have rejected God's eternal word in order to embrace human preference and opinion.
     Some of these rejections and revisions have been conscious decisions, deliberate acts of rebellion against the Triune God. Other individuals and congregations have simply been carried along by the cultural tide, not so much denying as remaining ignorant of what the Bible teaches about the nature and function of the Church.
     Those seeking to learn about and stay faithful to God's revelation, those wanting to resist institutional pressures toward cultural conformity again find a resource in the writings of Tom Oden, who reminds us that, "The church is not a group of people groping for a philosophy of life appropriate to modern conditions, but a living body already being shaped by apostolic teaching." [Oden, p.349]
     "A living body already being shaped by apostolic teaching." What a great description of the apostolic Church. We are a living body, Christ's body. And there is perhaps no more fitting reminder of that fact than the celebration in which we now prepare to share as we hear again Jesus' words to his disciples, "This is my body."
     May our participation in this service of holy communion strengthen our commitment to our risen Lord and to his body, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

Amen.