“The Faith We Sing: The Church’s One Foundation” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – August 6, 2017

Lay Reader = Matthew 16:21-28

²¹From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.²²And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” ²³But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

²⁴Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? ²⁷“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Introduction

We are taking a break from our series looking at the seven churches in Revelation so that we can dive more deeply into one of the classic hymns of our faith. And next week we will actually have a special guest preacher from our presbytery – the local group of Presbyterian churches. This week we are looking at “The Church’s One Foundation” by Rev. Samuel John Stone.

This hymn quickly became famous, so much so that one English archbishop said “wherever I am called upon to open or dedicate a new church, I can always count on two things: cold chicken will be served and ‘The Church’s One Foundation’ will be played.”

There are two slightly different stories about how this hymn came about. In both versions, Rev. Stone wanted to explain the Apostle’s Creed through song, so he created twelve hymns to explain each section of the Apostle’s Creed. Eleven of them were pretty much forgotten but “The Church’s One Foundation” became a hit.

But the stories differ on WHY he wanted to explain the Apostle’s Creed. The happy Hallmark Channel version says that he knew his parishioners were in the habit of reciting the Creed in their private prayers, just as you do every single day and twice on Tuesdays. But he was concerned that they didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of what they were saying, so he put theology to music and voila! They could pray with greater depth and understanding. Isn’t that nice.

The much more human and probably more accurate version of the story says that an Anglican bishop serving in South Africa was calling for new ways of being the church. And Rev. Stone was so upset at what this other bishop was saying that he thought he needed to counter it with a full-on defense and explanation of the traditional Apostle’s Creed. This other bishop thought that the church needed to accommodate the culture more, while Rev. Stone thought the church should stand fast to its one foundation: the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Good thing we don’t have to deal with those questions today, right?

Matthew 16:13-20

¹³Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

What Is the Church?

The Presbyterian Church, as in the national denomination, has a very exciting goal to establish 1001 new worshiping communities over the next ten years. They have funds. They have training. They have people focusing on different ethnicities. They have resources and partnerships.

But every time you have a big goal with big money available, you get some squirrely stuff going on. A few years ago I was having a conversation with one of the people leading one of these hopeful new worshiping communities. And he shared that his plan was to start up some community events like Thursday night bowling. And picnics in the park. And going to concerts together.

And I said, “That’s great! That’s kind of like what St. Patrick in Ireland. He helped people belong before they believe. So what comes after the community events?”

After a few seconds of silence, I wondered if I had accidentally slipped into Klingon instead of English. So I asked again, “What comes next? What’s the end goal?”

And the leader responded incredulously, “There is no ‘next.’ That’s it.”

I quickly yet politely ended that conversation, because clearly we had different definitions of the church. I would say that a bowling night is a good start. Community events are a different way to help people connect with their faith. But gathering a bunch of people to have fun is not a church to me.

Now, to be fair, this group doesn’t even meet the definition put out by the national denomination. They say these new worshiping communities “are seeking to make and form new disciples of Jesus Christ, to change and transform the world.” I’m all in for that. Spot on. Nail on the head.

I don’t know how a bowling night is going to do that if that’s all you’ve got, though.

As the hymn says, “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.” Without that, we have nothing. Without that, we are nothing.

If you read through the four Gospels, you’ll only see the word “church” three times, and one of them is in our text today. So let’s take a moment to look more closely at this. First off, what did Peter say? “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And then what did Jesus say? “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

Now you may be asking yourself, “What rock is Jesus talking about?”

Well in the Greek there’s a little word-play going on here. To capture it better in English, maybe you could think of Jesus saying, “I tell you, you are Little Rocky, and on this Solid Rock I will build my church.”

Jesus is saying that Peter’s statement of faith, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” is the foundation of the church. That’s the Solid Rock. And Peter, Little Rocky, is an example of someone who is a part of that church because he can say that Solid Rock statement of faith.

So according to Jesus, the church is comprised of anyone who can say that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. That’s the foundation.

Citizens

Here’s another way to think about this. I was born in Austin, TX. Given that one piece of information, you know that I was at least at one time a citizen of the United States of America. Don’t worry – I still am.

So I’m a citizen because I was born here. End of story.

Now, suppose I broke the law. Could I be deported? Could I be kicked out? No! I’m a citizen. If I weren’t a citizen, it would be a different story altogether.

The Greek word that we translate “church” really means, “the gathering of the free citizens” or in this context, “the citizens of God’s kingdom.” And just as there’s a simple way to know that I’m a citizen of the US – I was born here – there’s a simple way to know that I’m a citizen of God’s kingdom – I can say that Solid Rock statement of faith that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.

If I can say that, I can’t be deported from God’s kingdom. I’m a citizen. Because the Church’s ONE foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.

Now there are two ways this matters. First, we now know our minimum set of requirements. Bowling night is nice, but it doesn’t help someone decide that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. No Solid Rock there. We need a little more.

But we also now know our maximum set of requirements. You don’t lose your Jesus card if you forget to pray today. You don’t lose your church membership if you don’t come to church every week. You don’t lose your salvation because you lied yesterday. Unless you lied to your pastor – that’s a big no-no if you ask me.

Are you with me?

Citizen Activities

I am a certified citizen of the US. You can’t add any extra hoops for me to jump through, I’m already in. But I was at a Rockies baseball game recently, and we were standing in line to get one of the famous hamburgers at the ballpark, and over the loudspeaker came the sweetly sung words, “O say can you see by the dawn’s early light?” What happened next?

Just about everyone turned around, found a flag to look at, and everyone stopped talking. Many removed their hats. Quite a few had hands over their hearts. Some sang, others listened. Why?

Because those are the kinds of things that citizens do. It’s how many people – not everyone, but many people – show that they take their citizenship seriously.

And what would happen to me if I refused to look at the flag, kept talking, and didn’t bother to remove my hat or even pay attention to the National Anthem? Well I might get some dirty looks, but no one could take my citizenship away from me because of that.

In the same way, there are things that citizens of God’s kingdom tend to do. You don’t have to. You won’t lose your Jesus card if you don’t do them. But many citizens tend to do these things to show they take their citizenship seriously.

One thing citizens of God’s kingdom tend to do is gather for worship. You can check that one off this week. We had a worship survey a couple of months ago, and people said they come to worship because they like to leave inspired. Others like that they have something to ponder throughout the week. Others love the music.

Most are uplifted by the other people here. And in fact, having a core of deep relationships is another thing that you tend to see with citizens of God’s kingdom. Our hymn today was written partly about this. The last part of the Apostle’s Creed says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints…”

One quick note here – the holy catholic church has a lower case “c”, meaning we aren’t talking about the Roman Catholic Church, we’re talking about the church in general, regardless of its denomination or lack thereof. Taken together, these three parts of the Apostle’s Creed say that the church is brought together by the Holy Spirit. The church isn’t on its own, it is part of God’s kingdom in all times and places. And the church isn’t about solitary individuals, it’s about “the communion of saints,” the unity we experience because of our One Foundation of Jesus Christ. The last verse of the hymn reminds us, “Yet she [the church] on earth has union with God, the Three in One, AND mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.” We aren’t in this alone.

I’ve shared this before, but it’s one of those that’s worth reminding people. In college I tried to be a Christian on my own. I even produced my own commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. I took it very seriously. But it didn’t work. I didn’t grow in my faith, only my mind. I didn’t grow in my life. I didn’t grow in my purpose and direction. I was more adrift. It was only when I came back to the church that I re-ignited my faith and my life took on a more meaningful direction. Deep relationships are a hallmark of citizens of the kingdom of God.

Now you probably heard the word “grow” in what I just said. As I look back at all the times I have trusted God whether I understood it or not, I have NEVER regretted trusting God. Not once. Now, maybe this is just me, but even though I can tell you that, I still have a hard time trusting God sometimes. Anyone else?

So really, spiritual growth isn’t its own goal. It’s not just about learning some new Bible trivia and then going about your day. When we grow spiritually, we live it out, we trust God more in some part of our lives. And that is TO OUR BENEFIT. We are BETTER OFF trusting God in our lives. Can you think of a time you regretted trusting God? I know people who have had false hopes not based on Scripture, but that’s different. Growing in our trust of God – trusting God in our daily lives – that’s another hallmark of the citizens of God’s kingdom.

A final hallmark of citizens is seen in the fourth verse of the hymn. “till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest, and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.” Notice that we don’t get to be the church at rest until Jesus comes again. In the meantime, we’re called the church militant. We are the church on the move. We are the church making a difference. We are the church doing what Jesus said in our text today, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” We are the church serving our neighbors, the church serving our community, the church serving our world.

Serving others is another hallmark of the citizens of God’s kingdom.

Opportunity Fair

So we know that Church’s One Foundation is that Solid Rock statement of faith, “Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God.” Our citizenship in God’s kingdom is based on that faith. Just going bowling together isn’t enough, but putting any more requirements than that is too much.

But we know that citizens do tend to do certain things, kind of like we do as Americans when we hear the national anthem at a ballpark.

Citizens of God’s kingdom tend to gather for worship.

Citizens of God’s kingdom tend to have deep relationships.

Citizens of God’s kingdom tend to do things that help them trust God more and more with their lives.

And citizens of God’s kingdom tend to serve others to make earth look a little more like heaven.

When you hear that list, do you have any major gaps? Any citizenly activities that you think might be helpful in your life and faith? Anything God might be calling you to do to trust him more?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a list of all the ways to do that here at First Pres Littleton? Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a little booklet listing a handful of opportunities to connect and opportunities to serve whether you’re a child, a youth, an adult, or gifted with music or voice? Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a time where you could talk to people about the ministries and groups here at First Pres?

Oh wait, we have all of that today right after church at the Opportunity Fair! What a coincidence!

For the three or four of you who like to read things, I have ten poster’s worth of opportunities to connect or serve posted just outside the sanctuary and in the hallway on the parking lot level.

If you are looking for something a little more curated, a little smaller list, but still with options, I have a booklet available on the table as you leave the sanctuary. It has sections for children, youth, adults, and music. For children and youth, it has ways for kids themselves to connect AND ways for adults to work in those ministries.

And for the remaining 93% of the church who would rather read nothing, we have a whole lawn’s worth of ministries creatively setup on the lawn. Just go talk to them.

And if you’ve been worshiping with us for only a little while, and you want to make this your church home, you want to meet others here – some fairly new and others who’ve been here a long time – then let the office know that you want to come to the New Member Class we’re having at the end of the month. On the downside, you have to spend time with me, but on the upside we have good food! It’s a trade-off.

What citizenly activity might make sense for you?

You won’t lose your Jesus card if you don’t do any of them. That statement of faith is enough. But it actually benefits YOU to trust God more. You won’t regret it. Amen.