WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.399 Hello and welcome to this episode of Chapel Talks. 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.820 Just to say, the audio didn't turn out how we 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:07.759 wanted it for the first minute of this recording. 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:10.359 The audio gets fixed at around the minute mark. 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:12.699 Please persevere and enjoy the rest of the talk. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.720 When asked in a doctrine exam what are the four 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:19.620 marks of the Church, you are likely meant to 00:00:19.620 --> 00:00:23.539 channel the Nicene Creed, in which we confess 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:27.620 that we believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:32.579 Church. Four key traits, one, holy, catholic, 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:36.700 and apostolic. What does it mean to say that 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:40.320 the essential features of the church are unity, 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:46.259 holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity? And 00:00:46.259 --> 00:00:50.359 what does it mean for us? I hinted at yesterday 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:53.579 that how we understand church is actually quite 00:00:53.579 --> 00:00:58.119 complex. In one sense, The church is the body 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:00.899 of Christ, and therefore there can only be one 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:04.739 body. Back in Acts 2, there was already more 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:08.379 than three thousand people. By now, it's billions 00:01:08.379 --> 00:01:12.239 of people all over the globe, all through history. 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:17.879 One church. And in that sense, we are never the 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:22.260 church. We are just a tiny part of the church. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:28.019 And yet, what did Jesus mean when he promised, 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:31.780 when two or three are gathered in my name, I 00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:37.760 will be among them? Did he mean to imply that 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.560 when you're on your own, you're really on your 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:44.859 own, I won't be with you? Of course not. Christ 00:01:44.859 --> 00:01:48.280 is with us when we are alone in our study, in 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:51.000 our bedroom. He lives through his Spirit in us. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:53.739 What does it mean to say that he is with us, 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:56.900 among us, in that special sense, when two or 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:59.439 three are gathered in my name? I think if we 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:04.519 look at Matthew 18, 10 in context, we might say 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:08.180 it means in another sense, wherever two or three 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:11.780 are gathered in the name of Christ, there is 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:18.280 the church, head and body. Not only, in some 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:22.479 sense, a part of the church, but the church participating 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:25.280 in that reality. To explain that more fully would 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.520 need a doctrine lecture probably and some philosophy, 00:02:28.699 --> 00:02:31.120 and I won't do that. I think I've said enough 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.439 to suggest that we are not the local church here, 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.020 but we are in some sense church because we are 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:40.520 local Christians, brothers and sisters, meeting 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:44.159 together. Not a full sense of church in the accountability 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:48.680 structures, but in such a way that one... holy, 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:51.719 Catholic, and apostolic might have something 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:56.800 to say to us too. Because these four traits do 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.860 not just come from the Nicene Creed. I think 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:07.060 we find hints of them here in Acts 2 .42. In 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:09.719 a different order. The order in the Creed is, 00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:12.280 I think, to do with what sounds best, which is, 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:13.979 after all, very important because the Creed has 00:03:13.979 --> 00:03:16.400 been said billions of times. So it better rolls 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:20.889 off the tongue. But here is the order in Acts 00:03:20.889 --> 00:03:24.270 2 .42. They devoted themselves to the apostles' 00:03:24.490 --> 00:03:31.229 teaching. Apostolic means being devoted to the 00:03:31.229 --> 00:03:36.490 apostles' teaching. Secondly, they devoted themselves 00:03:36.490 --> 00:03:42.069 to fellowship. Here we have the unity, sharing 00:03:42.069 --> 00:03:48.789 with one another in one fellowship. They devoted 00:03:48.789 --> 00:03:52.409 themselves to the breaking of bread. It's now 00:03:52.409 --> 00:03:55.050 very widely agreed that this is the term that 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:58.110 Luke probably adopts from the early church for 00:03:58.110 --> 00:04:01.490 the Lord's Supper. There are all sorts of names. 00:04:01.569 --> 00:04:03.569 We tend to use the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, 00:04:03.669 --> 00:04:05.930 the Eucharist. The breaking of bread was another 00:04:05.930 --> 00:04:09.870 early term. So it does seem to refer to not just 00:04:09.870 --> 00:04:12.930 having a meal, but having the Lord's Supper. 00:04:14.530 --> 00:04:17.610 Sharing in one bread because we are all one body. 00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:21.269 And so that speaks of the unity that goes beyond 00:04:21.269 --> 00:04:25.069 the gathered group. We participate in the unity 00:04:25.069 --> 00:04:30.189 that is not quite yet universal in Acts 2. They 00:04:30.189 --> 00:04:31.949 would struggle to meet in a temple courts if 00:04:31.949 --> 00:04:35.089 there are too many Gentiles around. And they're 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:38.629 still large in Jerusalem. But already beginning 00:04:38.629 --> 00:04:42.490 to be in such a big way, such big size that... 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:46.680 The small gathering needs to remember we are 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:51.519 participating in the one big unity. That's what 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:57.480 Catholicity means, belonging to the whole. And 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:00.899 hopefully they were devoted to prayer. This is 00:05:00.899 --> 00:05:03.560 where we see the holiness of the church, I think. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:07.279 What I noticed as I was reading this in the summer 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:11.519 is that those four marks seem to be repeated. 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:15.860 filled with Jerusalem specifics in the next few 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:18.759 verses. I then notice I'm not the first one, 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:21.319 obviously, to notice that, and not every commentator 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:24.100 agrees. But I see those four things being repeated 00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:29.800 from verse 43. Everyone was filled with awe at 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.939 the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 00:05:33.660 --> 00:05:39.139 Here you have apostolic. Apostolic doesn't just 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:44.149 mean... right apostolic teaching. When we listen 00:05:44.149 --> 00:05:46.189 to the apostles, we listen to Jesus. That's, 00:05:46.189 --> 00:05:48.990 of course, the heart of it. But the word of Jesus, 00:05:49.110 --> 00:05:51.350 and therefore the word of the apostles, is powerful. 00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:55.069 And therefore, to be apostolic means to know 00:05:55.069 --> 00:06:00.670 the power of the apostolic word as well. As Paul 00:06:00.670 --> 00:06:03.329 expresses it in one of his very early letters, 00:06:03.430 --> 00:06:06.509 1 Thessalonians 1 .5, because our gospel came 00:06:06.509 --> 00:06:11.149 to you not simply with words, but also with power, 00:06:11.290 --> 00:06:16.970 with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. This, 00:06:17.069 --> 00:06:18.870 of course, already one of the areas of disagreement 00:06:18.870 --> 00:06:21.629 among Christians. To what extent should we see 00:06:21.629 --> 00:06:24.889 signs and miracles and wonders in today's church? 00:06:25.949 --> 00:06:28.689 Briefly, my view is that we do still see wonders 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:31.449 and signs, but we do not see them in the multitude 00:06:31.449 --> 00:06:34.370 that are characteristic of the early church. 00:06:34.490 --> 00:06:37.550 And that's not only to do with lack of faith 00:06:37.550 --> 00:06:41.230 in the Western church. So I think there's a Jerusalem 00:06:41.230 --> 00:06:45.790 specific here, but the power of the apostolic 00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:48.310 word needs to be visible in our community as 00:06:48.310 --> 00:06:51.910 well. And one of the things that I remember from 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:55.089 last year's chapel sermons, which impressed itself 00:06:55.089 --> 00:06:59.089 on my mind, is one of our guest preachers telling 00:06:59.089 --> 00:07:02.819 a story about how he, as a young boy, expressed 00:07:02.819 --> 00:07:06.399 regret that he didn't have this wonderful conversion 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:08.639 story, like in the cross and the switchblade, 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:13.639 out of a life of violence and crime to be converted 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:17.379 to Christ. And he was severely rebuked by his 00:07:17.379 --> 00:07:20.660 dad for it. And he was grateful to his dad for 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:24.199 that. Is that something like, do you think that 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:27.199 you were such a good and godly man already that 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:29.360 for you to be in the kingdom of Christ, it just 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:31.959 needed a little bit of help? It didn't need this 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:36.860 big miracle. No, no, every conversion to Christ 00:07:36.860 --> 00:07:42.980 is a huge miracle. And so being apostolic means 00:07:42.980 --> 00:07:46.000 to see that miracle happening in our lives because 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:48.360 conversion isn't just the one -off thing, I think. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:52.399 We get converted again and again to Christ, growing 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:54.839 in Christlikeness and to see it in the lives 00:07:54.839 --> 00:08:00.759 of others. So apostolic in word and deed. Then 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:02.980 what does it mean to be one? All the believers 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:07.920 were together and had everything in common. They 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.300 sold property and possessions to give to anyone 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:13.779 who had need. Another one of those features where 00:08:13.779 --> 00:08:16.220 in Churches 3 there were some groups who said, 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:18.870 well, we need to be like the early church. and 00:08:18.870 --> 00:08:21.350 have everything in common. And then you realize 00:08:21.350 --> 00:08:23.670 in Acts 4 and 5, it's a little bit more complicated 00:08:23.670 --> 00:08:26.290 than that. And you realize that maybe this was 00:08:26.290 --> 00:08:32.149 another Jerusalem specific. One expression of 00:08:32.149 --> 00:08:35.889 being there for one another. A later expression 00:08:35.889 --> 00:08:39.070 of that is when Paul collects offerings from 00:08:39.070 --> 00:08:41.389 the Gentile churches to support a Jerusalem church 00:08:41.389 --> 00:08:46.250 at a time of famine. Oneness is expressed in 00:08:46.250 --> 00:08:52.940 mutual support. for one another. Every day they 00:08:52.940 --> 00:08:55.720 continue to meet together in the temple courts, 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.620 as I hinted yesterday, the early church and revival 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:02.399 churches meet daily. They met together in the 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.639 temple courts and they broke bread in their homes. 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:08.679 I see the Catholicity here not only in the reference 00:09:08.679 --> 00:09:11.440 to breaking bread, but in the reference to big 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.779 gatherings where you try to squeeze in your 3 00:09:14.779 --> 00:09:20.549 ,000 plus in the temple courts. And in the houses, 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:24.610 breaking bread in their homes and eating together 00:09:24.610 --> 00:09:27.710 with glad and sincere hearts. This is another 00:09:27.710 --> 00:09:30.250 thing where Christians disagree. What are the 00:09:30.250 --> 00:09:33.110 right conditions for celebrating the Lord's Supper? 00:09:33.789 --> 00:09:36.690 Can we celebrate the Lord's Supper only in the 00:09:36.690 --> 00:09:39.570 local church under the authorized eldership? 00:09:40.009 --> 00:09:45.240 Or can a home group decide? Tonight we're celebrating 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:47.759 the Lord's Supper together, or a group of friends 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:52.559 coming together. The Church of England takes 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:55.840 today something of a middle position, I guess. 00:09:56.220 --> 00:09:59.340 The Lord's Supper is celebrated under authorised 00:09:59.340 --> 00:10:02.500 ministers. The authorised ministers ensure the 00:10:02.500 --> 00:10:05.379 link to the wider Church, but it doesn't have 00:10:05.379 --> 00:10:07.840 to be just the one -off gathering of all the 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:10.539 Christians in the local community. The Lord's 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:12.960 Supper can be celebrated in smaller gatherings 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:15.809 as well. as long as there's this link to the 00:10:15.809 --> 00:10:18.590 authorized ministers, which is why we celebrate 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:22.070 the Lord's Supper fortnightly here. And Anglicans 00:10:22.070 --> 00:10:24.529 invite non -Anglicans warmly to participate. 00:10:25.690 --> 00:10:29.029 But if you have different views on that, you're 00:10:29.029 --> 00:10:31.629 also welcome to participate without partaking. 00:10:32.230 --> 00:10:34.830 So they broke bread in their homes and ate together 00:10:34.830 --> 00:10:37.669 with glad and sincere hearts, an expression of 00:10:37.669 --> 00:10:40.769 the Catholicity. And they were praising God. 00:10:41.769 --> 00:10:43.870 So see the expression of the holiness of the 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:46.850 church. And what I find so intriguing is their 00:10:46.850 --> 00:10:49.429 holiness, their praising God, their devotion 00:10:49.429 --> 00:10:54.990 to God was attractive and enjoying the favor 00:10:54.990 --> 00:11:00.429 of all the people. Think of that. Today, when 00:11:00.429 --> 00:11:01.769 you think of the holiness of the church, it's 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:04.429 often, oh, that's the off -putting part. That's 00:11:04.429 --> 00:11:09.690 what people don't like. And in fact, this holy 00:11:09.690 --> 00:11:13.159 huddle, that carefully excludes all those who 00:11:13.159 --> 00:11:16.480 don't properly belong is not actually holiness 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:21.200 in the biblical sense of the word. Why? Because 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.879 holiness is about being a special instrument 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:28.299 for God and about reflecting God's character. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:36.799 Now, God is love and his agenda is mission. So 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.759 growth in holiness looks like growth in love. 00:11:40.379 --> 00:11:43.980 and participating in his mission, reaching outsiders. 00:11:44.740 --> 00:11:47.340 So holiness can never be a matter of just being 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:51.019 a holy huddle, excluding others. Holiness is 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:54.399 reaching out, and by God's grace, seeing that 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:57.240 the Lord continues to add daily to the number 00:11:57.240 --> 00:12:03.620 of being saved. What does this mean for us at 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:07.059 Oak Hill? How might these four commitments translate 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:12.899 into... Our life together. One, I take it in 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:15.419 the order of the apostolic, of the Nicene Creed 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:17.740 now. One, we come from different backgrounds, 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.080 have different roles at college. Our students 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:22.759 are on different programs. They have different 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:25.100 modes of study. There are class differences, 00:12:25.460 --> 00:12:28.500 ethnic differences. There are singles and married 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:31.100 people with and without children. What does it 00:12:31.100 --> 00:12:35.259 mean for us to be one in our fellowship? I think 00:12:35.259 --> 00:12:38.720 it means that we meet each other, first of all, 00:12:39.179 --> 00:12:43.179 as brothers and sisters in Christ. And that we 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:47.519 do not just congregate amongst and with those 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.200 that are similar to us. Of course, we will seek 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:52.679 special fellowship with those in a similar life 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:55.179 and stage. There are Anglican ordinance that 00:12:55.179 --> 00:12:57.559 have to talk about Anglican things and FIC people 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:00.039 that talk about FIC things and married people 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:01.700 with young children that talk about bringing 00:13:01.700 --> 00:13:05.480 up young children. But devotion to fellowship 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:09.470 means that we... transgress and transcend those 00:13:09.470 --> 00:13:12.769 natural boundaries and meet each other in all 00:13:12.769 --> 00:13:15.570 our differences as brothers and sisters in Christ 00:13:15.570 --> 00:13:24.110 and are ready to support one another. Holy, we 00:13:24.110 --> 00:13:26.970 recognize that we are all set apart for a special 00:13:26.970 --> 00:13:29.950 purpose by God, not just those training specifically 00:13:29.950 --> 00:13:32.990 for full -time pastoral ministry, every one of 00:13:32.990 --> 00:13:37.759 us. And we depend on God, not on our own strength. 00:13:37.940 --> 00:13:41.960 And we express that dependence in prayer and 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:47.000 praise. And we keep in mind mission, God's mission, 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:50.820 for which we continue to perform. And so we keep 00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:54.860 evangelism on the agenda. More on that on Monday. 00:13:57.139 --> 00:14:00.519 Catholic. We remember that in an important sense, 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:03.870 the church is much, much more. than our small 00:14:03.870 --> 00:14:07.750 fellowship. It embraces all kinds of people everywhere 00:14:07.750 --> 00:14:11.470 through all the ages. And in some sense, the 00:14:11.470 --> 00:14:15.250 church's wholeness can only be found universally. 00:14:15.789 --> 00:14:19.769 We need each other for the fullness of the church. 00:14:20.210 --> 00:14:24.629 One writer defined Catholicity as an awareness 00:14:24.629 --> 00:14:29.830 of the whole that moves one to act towards wholeness 00:14:29.830 --> 00:14:34.919 or unity. We often, when we say the creed, gloss, 00:14:35.179 --> 00:14:37.980 certainly in my church, Catholic as universal. 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:41.480 And that is not entirely wrong, but Catholic 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:44.799 doesn't mean universal just. It means being a 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:48.519 whole, a unity in that universality, reaching 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:52.200 out, moving towards one another. At Oak Hill, 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:57.179 we glimpse different aspects of the church, of 00:14:57.179 --> 00:14:58.879 the whole church in our different traditions, 00:14:59.059 --> 00:15:03.580 and we should welcome that. a means for us to 00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:07.460 grow into greater wholeness individually and 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:12.480 as a fellowship. And finally, apostolic. I assume 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:16.139 that one key reason for all of us being at Oak 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:19.879 Hill is that commitment to theological training 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:22.720 that is faithful to the original teaching of 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:25.820 the apostles. So let me just underline again 00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:29.059 that faithfulness must not be a matter of right 00:15:29.059 --> 00:15:33.460 thinking only. Or even of trying to put right 00:15:33.460 --> 00:15:38.100 thinking into right practice. But of living out 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:42.159 of the powerful grace of God that is at work 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:45.759 in the apostolic world. Being converted by Christ 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.700 again and again until we conform more fully to 00:15:49.700 --> 00:15:55.740 his image. So may God keep us in the apostolic 00:15:55.740 --> 00:16:00.360 faith. Grant us to taste unity. holiness and 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.659 catholicity even here at Oak Hill.