Sermon Notes: Communion of Saints

Intro: Today is another two-for-one celebration on the Church calendar -  Communion and All Saint’s Day. Both celebrations are brought together in the Apostle’s Creed, where we state our belief in the communion of saints, among several such statements of belief. But this simple statement doesn’t elaborate on what that means. It seems pretty basic, and yet it’s a very meaningful, fundamental statement of belief, worthy of a closer look to gain a deeper understanding of what we profess to believe

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I.  Communion

A. I’m sure by now we all understand that a saint in the Protestant faith is not just a specially honored, revered person represented by a dashboard image, but anyone who believes in Jesus as our Savior. Our Savior whose body was broken for us, and whose blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins, for our salvation, which we celebrate this morning in Communion. A celebration open to all who confess Jesus as Savior  The communion of saints.

B. That seems pretty fundamental, but we need to look deeper at the word communion to begin to understand its wealth of meaning. The narrow sense of the word "communion" is the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. A ritual of eating bread to represent His broken body, and drinking wine or juice to represent His blood shed for us to forgive our sins, to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross by which we receive God’s grace for salvation. Communion may be received as an individual, or as a group.

C. However, in the broader sense, the word ‘communion’ comes from the same root as the word "community," which implies a group of people coming together, or communing with one another. In its deepest understanding, communing is coming together, not just in body, but in heart. To be in communion with others is to be open to them at a deep, heart level, which is why the sacrament of Holy Communion is such a powerful agent for reconciliation and forgiveness. It’s a time when God opens up to us through Jesus’ broken body and shed blood, and when we acknowledge that before God we are all equal and one with each other because Jesus has allowed us to be one with Him.

D. But Communion’s roots are in the celebration of the Passover, only meaningful in Jewish history and their identification as God’s chosen people. When Israel was about to be freed from Egyptian slavery, God instructed the people to sacrifice a perfect lamb, and put its blood on the doorpost of their dwellings, which would spare them as the Angel of Death passed over them. The shed blood of a sacrificed, perfect lamb was a symbolic preview of the prophesied Messiah, the perfect Lamb of God whose shed blood would spare them from eternal death. This symbolic preview of the prophesied Messiah was fulfilled at the

Crucifixion, when Jesus became the perfect Lamb whose shed blood was for the forgiveness of sins, and by His Resurrection, Eternal Death had ‘passed over’ those who believed His shed blood purchased their salvation. Jesus transitioned Passover to Communion with His disciples on the night of His arrest prior to His Crucifixion. Passover had limited meaning as a Jewish celebration, but as Communion, Jesus was expanding this concept of salvation to include all people who believed. Jews and Gentiles.

 

II. Isaiah 56:3-7

A. We see that in our OT lesson from Isaiah, written over five centuries before Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection, where Gentiles, non-Jewish foreigners, you and I, were seen as included in God’s plans. Speaking through Isaiah, God was saying that no foreigner committed to the Lord would be excluded from His people. Those who chose to believe in the Lord as God, followed His commands as His servants, and loved the name of God would be welcomed and find joy in God’s house of prayer. While only Jews were allowed in the inner courtyards of the Temple, there had always been an outer courtyard for Gentiles, for God had decreed that His house would be a house of prayer for all nations, for all people. Isaiah’s prophecy declared that not even eunuchs, neutered males who were considered less than a complete male, who might have considered themself as dry trees, were excluded from being God’s people.

B. Jesus didn’t consider His shed blood, and His broken body, the basis of Communion for just a few, for just Jews. Before His Ascension, Jesus told His disciples to go and baptize people of all nations in His Name. He was finally exercising God’s Plan to build a worldwide community as His Church, built upon Him. And 10 days later, at Pentecost, the Church was born, the Holy Spirit breathing life into it. That very day, 3000 believers were added to the Church and the numbers increasing rapidly, daily. Jews and Gentiles. Jesus had been broken down the barriers of hostility.

G. Paul spent his years of evangelism incorporating Gentiles into Jesus’ Church. Once separated from Christ, Gentiles were foreigners to the covenants of promise, excluded from the Church by the Jewish requirement for circumcision, without hope and without God in the their world.

 

III. Ephesians 2:11-22

A. In our Epistle Reading, Paul was telling the Ephesians of the Church of Ephesus that those once far away from Christ had been brought together with Jewish believers by the blood of Christ, which now was being celebrated in Communion, greatly expanding the concept of the communion of saints. Jesus’ purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two groups, reconciling both of them through the Cross. Paul concludes this passage with the reassuring words that we, Gentiles, are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people, members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone. A community, one family, being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Christians joined as one, in His Community of believers, as the Communion of Saints, as stated in the Apostle’s Creed.

B. One of the practices of the early Church was to take regular Communion. Some accounts say it was done weekly on the Lord’s Day; others say daily. Regardless of the frequency, though, it was done as part of a community meal. In the earliest church practices (as seen in First Corinthians and Acts), communion was often tied to an actual shared communal meal, known as an agape or love feast. By the 2nd to 4th centuries, the sacred bread and cup gradually began to be separated from the full social meal into the formal liturgical rite we observe today. But describing Communion as an event that many Christians observe still misses the real meaning of ‘communion of saints’. When we say, I believe in the communion of saints, we’re saying that we believe in the power of the community of believers to strengthen our faith. It means we believe that together we can make it. If we bind ourselves together we can get through most anything. We join ourselves to the saints of the past, to the saints of the present, and to the saints of the future. It is our actions today that are available to tomorrow’s Christians for their strength.

C. A few years ago, nine miners were trapped in a Pennsylvania coal mine. They were determined to stick together, no matter what. No one who died would fade away into oblivion, and if one were found, they’d all be found together. That is exactly the kind of mutual support that we say we believe in when we say, "I believe in the communion of saints."  We who have set ourselves apart to live as Christians need to be join ourselves together, because what happens to one of us affects us all. D. D. That’s what Christian faith is supposed to be. No lone rangers. No competition. No factions, or grudges that isolate us from others. Yes, it’s harder that way for the strong ones; but we are called to be shepherds for the weak ones. Those miners felt emotionally stronger knowing that they were committed to each other. Nobody was trying to survive at the expense of the others. Each one was working for the good of the whole.

E The giant, towering majestic, Sequoia trees of northern California are a natural wonder of the world. But the Sequoias have shallow roots and so they grow together in groves, with their roots intertwining, connected, holding each other up. That’s a pretty good description of what Christ’s Church should be.

F. Maybe you can be a Christian and never set foot inside a church. But I believe that’s so much harder. Think about what we’d be missing. We wouldn’t have anyone to ask to pray for us. Others wouldn’t know that we need them, wouldn’t know that they need us. They wouldn’t know that anyone cares, and have little opportunity to feel and experience the love of the people of God. They would never know l.the feeling of singing praises to God as they stand beside another believer. Never hear a testimony of what God has done for someone who lives nearby. They’ll never know what it’s like to feel and respond to the needs of fellow Christians. Never bow their  head with other people while silently talking with God. Their prayers will always be alone. They’ll never hear the pages of Bibles turn as Scripture is read. They may never feel the Spirit of God move within them while moving in the hearts of people near them in the same way, because they’ll be sitting home, alone.

F. So you see, there is a purpose for His church. Some may grumble that the church only wants their money. It cuts into their social life. They don’t get anything out of it. The people aren’t friendly. But it’s like a bank. If you don’t put anything in, you won’t get anything from it. It's very difficult to be a Christian by yourself. We need to be encouraged as we hear what God is doing in others’ lives  You may be up when I am down, and I need to know that God is still working even though I might be temporarily discouraged. You may be down when I’m up because God has done something very recently in my life that may help and encourage you. I may learn something from the trial you’ve gone through, the scripture you read, or a lesson you learned. We need each other, and there is no place I would rather be than right here with you this very moment. Strong reasons why I believe in the communion of  saints.

G. Today we celebrate the greatest communion of saints ever as we join ourselves with the saints of the ages. Our Opening Hymn acknowledged, and praised the God of our Fathers, our ancestors, who leads forth in beauty all His starry band, the saints of the ages past. Our Call to Worship reinforced that concept, noting that we come to affirm our historic faith by worshipping the God of our fathers and mothers. We remember Hebrews 12, telling us we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, saints of the past serving as our heroes of the faith, our inspirations motivating us in strengthening our faith. Our hope that we will one day be in that cloud of witnesses.  Our Hymn of Preparation further honored the saints, who had confessed the Name of Jesus before the world, now resting from their earthly ministries, now forever blessed.

 

Conclusion: Earlier we named particular saints who have departed this life that we now remember. Saints that led us to Christ, strengthened our faith, and prayed for us. As we take Communion as our church family on this All Saints’ Day, we stand ad if shoulder to shoulder with all God’s saints as in a family portrait. A family portrait reminding us of the saints of the past whose faith strengthened and encouraged us. And the saints around us that keep our faith fresh and alive. A family portrait that will witness to future believers. Surrounded by the saints in this family portrait, testimony that we believe in the communion of saints. Amen