My name is Greg Hampton. If we've never met,
I would love to meet you. Put it on the connection
card at the end or snag me before you leave the
building today, and I'd love to buy you a coffee.
Or even if we've met before 17 times or 700 times,
I would love to grab a coffee with you. Let me
know. Let's get together. Let's talk about life.
Next week begins Advent, so you'll notice some
Christmassy Advent season kind of decorations
up around the building. But today we are finishing
up our series through the Nicene Creed. If you
missed any of those sermons, you can hear those
anywhere that you get your podcasts, or if you
want to watch the whole service and kind of have
it as a time where you also worship the Lord,
the entire service is on YouTube, and those are
up there in perpetuity. So far, we've talked
about the global and historical beliefs about
the Father, about Jesus the Son, and about the
Holy Spirit. But the last section of the Creed
that we're going to talk about today says something
about us. It says that we believe in one holy,
Catholic, and apostolic church. All right, there's
a lot that's in that, those six or seven words.
So we're going to go ahead and jump in. If you
want to, you can open your Bible to Ephesians
2, but I'm going to be reading from the message
today. And so unless you're looking at the message
version, you may get lost pretty quickly because
his translation is rather floral. But feel free
to open up to Ephesians 2 if you would like.
If you happen to not have a Bible and you would
like one. You can take one of the blue Bibles
that are on the tables, or there's ones out on
the bookshelf you can have as well. Download
Bible from any of the digital app stores. And
then we have a tradition of giving the scriptures
our full attention when they're read in the context
of the sermon. And you can do that any way that
you see most fit for you. But if you would like
to join me in standing as we read the scriptures,
this is Ephesians 2, starting in verse 16. Christ
brought us together through his death on the
cross. The cross got us to embrace, and that
was the end of the hostility. Christ came and
preached peace to you outsiders and peace to
us insiders. He treated us as equals and so made
us equals. Through him, we both share the same
spirit and have equal access to the Father. That's
plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering
exiles. The kingdom of faith is now your home
country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders.
You belong here with as much right to the name
Christian as anyone. God is building a home.
He's using us all, irrespective of how we got
here and what he is building. He used the apostles
and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using
you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by
stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that
holds all the parts together. We see it taking
shape day after day. A holy temple built by God.
All of us built into it. A temple in which God
is quite at home. Let us pray. God, we thank
you for the scriptures that they have persisted
throughout the millennia. That we still have
them to learn from, to consider. I pray that
whatever you have for us to learn today, that
it would stick, that it would become a part of
the framework of our faith, that our faith would
become stronger as we become more like your son,
Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thanks, y 'all. You can have
a seat. It may go without saying, but humans
are really good at dividing things. And unfortunately,
the same thing happens in the church because
the church is made up of? People, right? Whether
it's doctrines and theologies or if it's the
worship songs or the preaching styles, people
have a lot of reasons to divide things. Sometimes
that means that they're splitting a church in
half. Sometimes they're just finding a church
that fits what they're looking for just a little
bit better. Research actually tells us that these
are the top five things that people care about
when they're looking for a church. Number one
is beliefs and doctrines. Number two, the preaching.
Number three, the authenticity of the people.
Four, if the church cares for their community.
And five, the unity among church members. Did
you notice that music was not in that top five?
Now for me, it's right up there next to beliefs
and doctrines because I'm a music person. But
people in general, that's not the very top. All
of these things. All of these things hold value.
They matter. They are good and important things.
But all of our preferences and incremental differences
in beliefs are also the reason that there are
tens of thousands of versions of Christianity
around the world. When you take into account
that country by country, even if you have the
same name of denomination, country by country,
they still practice their beliefs differently.
When you take that into account, there's as many
as 45 ,000 branches of Christianity in the world.
That's a lot. I didn't think to put it up there,
but I saw this meme one time, and maybe I've
mentioned it before, but it's like a family tree
of the church, and it keeps branching off and
branching off and branching off. And it's this
little cartoon, and the pastor points right here,
and he goes, that's where we came in and got
it all right. I could list for you 40 different
kinds of Baptists. I could list for you 40 different
kinds of Presbyterians, 40 different kinds of
Lutherans, on and on, every kind of denomination.
We're a non -denominational, so we're part of
an even bigger list of versions of what it looks
like to believe in and practice Christian faith
because we are very good at dividing ourselves.
One of my favorite anecdotes. And I've probably
told this story before too. But it's the story
of the guy gets stranded on a desert island.
And when he finally gets found, he's like, oh,
let me show you around. And there's three buildings.
He's built three buildings on this island. And
they're like, oh, what's this? He goes, oh, that's
my hut. That's where I live. And I'm like, oh,
what's that? Well, that's the church I go to.
Oh, what's that over there? That's the church
I used to go to. Like he's the only guy on the
island. But the creed says that we believe in
a church that is one. Not because there can't
be multiple branches and not because there shouldn't
be differences between congregations. The creed
says that we are one because no matter what local
expression or congregation that you are in, the
scriptures are teaching us that if you believe
in Jesus, that he is the son of God. born, lived,
crucified, resurrected, then you are a part of
the one church. And that's why this line still
matters today, maybe more than ever, because
you can walk down the street right now and find
any number of churches that do not think that
any number of the other churches in town are
a part of the one church. And that's sad. Because
in Ephesians 4, Paul was writing to the church
in Ephesus, and he reminds them, with all humility
and gentleness, with patience, bear with one
another in love, make every effort to maintain
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
I wonder if we have... spent so much time and
so many years trying to be right that we have
forgotten how to be one. And the creed is reminding
us to believe what the scriptures have already
said. There is one body, there is one spirit.
just as you were called to the one hope of your
calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all who is above all, through
all, and in all. God is building a home. He is
using us all irrespective of how we got here
and what he is building, one holy Catholic. Apostolic
Church. Okay, but weren't they saying that you
were just supposed to be part of the Catholic
Church? In as much as the word... On the count
of three, everyone say boo back. One, two, three.
Boo! In as much as the word Catholic means universal
or according to the whole. That's what Catholic
means. Universal and according to the whole.
In as much as that's what the word Catholic means,
yes, they want us to be a part of the Catholic
Church, the universal church, part of the whole
church. They used the word Catholic, lowercase
c, because it was inclusive, not because it was
a branch or a denomination. It's saying that
we're all a part of the whole, we're all a part
of the same thing, not because we look the same.
Not because we vote the same, not because we
sing the same songs, not even because we all
believe all the same things exactly the same
way, but because Jesus has brought us together.
And Jesus holds all things together. When we
say this part of the creed, when we say, I believe
in one. holy, Catholic, and apostolic church.
We're standing against our proclivity to be picky.
We're rejecting division for division's sake.
We're saying that we will continue to believe,
no matter what, that we are one. Maybe we don't
feel it, and it definitely doesn't always describe
what we see. So we're saying it because it describes
what we're called to believe. We're saying it
because it describes what we are called to be
practicing. We're saying, I will not let my world
become so small that only people just like me
fit inside of it. I will not let the identity
of the church shrink to the size of my preferences
or even to the size of my own understanding.
Okay, then I just want to talk for a second about
that word apostolic for a minute. Because imagine,
we've probably all heard it. We've probably all
said it when we've said the Nicene Creed. And
it gets used relatively differently. depending
on where you've heard that word. Paul said, God
used the apostles and prophets for the foundation
of what God is building. Apostle just means one
who is sent or a messenger. When we say we are
an apostolic church, we are acknowledging that
the message started somewhere else, that the
message started with the first followers and
it has been carried to us, that we did not invent
it. The first week of this series, Pastor Jen
started and she mentioned Rich Mullins, a Christian
musician back in the 80s and 90s. And in his
song called The Creed, he has a line that says,
I did not make it, no, it is making me. This
started somewhere else. And we get to be a part
of that family. But we're also saying, when we
say that this is an apostolic church, we're also
saying how the message will continue. Because
the church is not and was never meant to be stationary.
The church is meant to be living and active,
carrying the good news everywhere that it goes.
And so it means that Jesus isn't just for us.
Jesus isn't just for me. Jesus is for my neighbors
and my workplaces and my schools and for my family
members. And honestly, the Christmas season is
one of the best times for us to decide that we
are going to be apostolic, that we are going
to carry this with us to someone else. Show of
hands, anyone that grew up. if you're comfortable
doing this, Catholic or Lutheran or Methodist,
okay? Now, raise your hands again if you know,
if you had candles at the front that acolytes
lit those candles, okay? So I used to work at
a Lutheran church. and I taught confirmation.
And part of teaching confirmation was teaching
the students why they would have a candle at
the back, they would have a long thing that was
lit, and they would walk it to the front, and
they would light the candles that were on the
stage. And then often, depending on what kind
of church you were in, you would then take the
light from that again, and then you would carry
it out at the end of the service. That was a
symbol of being apostolic. Because the symbolism
is that Jesus is the light of the world. He has
come into the world hoping that the world will
receive it. And then we as the church are meant
to take this light that we've been standing here
talking about out into the world with us. We're
meant to be evangelical in the sense that We
carry the good news with us. We're meant to be
apostolic in the sense that it was given to us,
and then we then are attempting to pass it along
to others in this long 2 ,000 -year line of the
story of Jesus that goes back before that to
the people of Israel. And you don't have to be
an expert. All you have to know is what your
current experiences are. If your current experience
is the idea that you have seen a glimmer of hope
that you are part of a church that offers family,
that offers belonging, that holds Jesus above
everything, and that says that in all other things
that we will find a way to stand together. There's
a theologian from the 1700s. I'm not sure if
I left that part in my notes, but his name is
Rupertus Maldinius. And this is actually on our
website. If you want to go there with me now.
You don't actually want to do that, but I don't
want to say it wrong. On our website, if you
go to our beliefs page, it says this. This is
a quote from the 17th century theologian Rupertus
Maldinius. In essentials unity. In non -essentials,
liberty. In all things, charity. The point being
that it is not a new idea today that you don't
have to agree about everything in order to be
a part of the same family together. It is a concept
that is centuries and thousands of years. And
we have the opportunity to offer family to people
that need it. I want to bring special attention
to one way that we can symbolically, at least,
but also practically offer a sense of family
to people. Over here in the corner. you'll see
that we've got a display, and those are our ornaments
or our mittens, and those 50 ornaments over there
represent 25 children that are currently in the
DCFS system and are experiencing the foster system.
They are kids that are fostered right now. And
every year, we as a church, we provide gifts.
to the foster parents of those kids so that they
can have gifts for those kids so that those kids
aren't worried or stressed or anxious about,
am I going to have a Christmas this year? And
one of the reasons we do it to make sure that
it's a good experience for these kids is because
they're learning something about family right
now, aren't they? They're learning that there's
something that's happening in their first family,
but they're also going to learn something. about
their new temporary or given family. And our
hope is to be a part of making this temporary
or given family experience as positive as possible
as they learn that their first family is getting
healthy so that they can be cared for there as
well. Does that make sense? And guys, we get
to be a small part of that. They'll never know
your name. Some of the parents, the foster parents
will know that they came from this church. They
will not know who they came from. And those children
will never know that it was from us because the
way that we've designed this is that we bring
these gifts back unwrapped just with the tag
so that they know which kid it's for so that
those foster parents can wrap them as if they're
from them. I don't need to know. The name of
the person that led my mother to the Lord. But
I know that my mother brought me to the Lord.
And we do not need to know who wrapped every
present God has ever given us. But we know who
it came from. We know that it is a gift from
the Lord. So after service today, I want to encourage
you to go over there, sign out some tags, and
we'll bring those back in a couple Sundays. You'll
get an email about it as well. But I want you
to do it not just because it's a nice thing to
do. I want you to grip onto the philosophy of
it, the meaning of it, that this is a small way
that we offer a sense of family to kids that
are learning what a family is right now in the
midst of not knowing. what to feel about family.
Right? Yeah. Let's pray. God, thank you for whoever
told my mom about you and whoever told them about
you. All the way back to the first century, to
the first followers. that we're just trying to
figure out how to understand exactly who you
are and how to lead these little congregations
in being one, in being unified. Help us to embrace
that oneness, that universal, apostolic, and
holy nature of this thing we call church. Amen.