The holy, catholic, church

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 47
• Hymn — O Clap Your Hands (Psalm 47A)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Westminster Larger Catechism — Questions 27–29 (congregational reading)
• Hymn of the Month — Give Praise to God (#220)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 2:4-10
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer
• Hymn — Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (#403)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

Sermon Title: The Holy Catholic Church

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-10

I. The Church Is Holy

• A. Holiness (qadosh / hagios) means being set apart from the common and consecrated unto the Lord.

  1. God alone is holy by nature — Isaiah 6 — "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."
  2. Because God is holy, those who dwell with him must be consecrated and made holy.

• B. The tabernacle pattern establishes this principle — every furnishing in the tabernacle was washed with blood or water because the holy God would dwell there (Exodus 25–40).

  1. As the writer to Hebrews says, "Without holiness no one will see the Lord."
  2. Baptism symbolizes this consecration — the washing of regeneration by the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of the Lamb.

• C. 1 Peter 2:9 applies the Exodus language of Exodus 19 directly to the church: "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession."

  1. The gathering at Sinai was the first assembly of God's covenant people — the institution of the church.
  2. This has reached its fullest fruition in the new covenant community redeemed by the blood of the true Passover Lamb.
  3. Hebrews 12:22 — "You have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" — a present reality, not merely future.

• D. Holiness also means wholeness — as God is light with no mixture of darkness, so every aspect of the church and her worship is to be wholly set apart.

  1. 1 Corinthians 3:16 calls the church the temple of the living God.
  2. Corporate worship reflects this holiness: confession of sin, confession of faith, preaching the whole counsel of God, and singing the full range of the Psalter — lament, praise, and thanksgiving.

II. The Church Is Catholic

• A. "Catholic" does not mean Roman Catholic — it means universal: one church across all times, places, and peoples.

  1. Throughout Acts, people added from distant lands are added to the church — singular, not churches plural.
  2. The Jerusalem Council issues a ruling for the whole church; local congregations submit to the one apostolic doctrine rather than going their own way.

• B. The word catholic arose in the earliest church to combat Gnostic, cult-like factionalism — wherever the apostolic gospel is faithfully proclaimed, there is the true church.

  1. 1 Corinthians 1 — Paul rebukes the factions: "I follow Apollos / Cephas / Paul" — insisting that all local congregations are manifestations of the one church.
  2. Ironically, Rome's claim to be the one true church contradicts what the doctrine of catholicity was originally designed to do.

• C. To confess the holy catholic church is to affirm two things:

  1. No single denomination or presbytery holds a monopoly on the true church — wherever the gospel is faithfully proclaimed, Christ's church is present.
  2. We join with Hebrews 12:23 — "the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven" — the full heritage of God's people stretching back to Abraham.

• D. We should not surrender the word catholic to those who have distorted it — battles for orthodoxy are battles over the proper definition of words, and abandoning good words does a disservice to future generations.

III. The Church Is an Assembly

• A. The Greek word ekklesia (church) means "the called-out ones" — drawn from darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9).

  1. "Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people" — the identity is corporate, not merely individual.
  2. The church is the people of the new Exodus, redeemed by the blood of the Passover Lamb and called to Mount Zion (Hebrews 12).

• B. Ekklesia fundamentally means an assembly — a gathered people.

  1. Hebrews 10:25 — "Do not neglect to meet together." If we are not assembling, we are not being an assembly.
  2. 1 Peter 2:5 — "living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood." A stone separated from the building is useless no matter how sturdy it is.

• C. Every believer's presence in the assembly matters, even those who feel unimportant.

  1. 1 Corinthians 12 — the weakest members receive the most honor; each stone contributes to building up the spiritual house.
  2. Your presence is a massive help to your brothers and sisters, whether you perceive it or not.

• D. The assembled church gives the greatest foretaste of heaven available on earth.

  1. Greater than private prayer or personal devotions — it is when the covenant assembly gathers that we taste heavenly glory most fully.
  2. The Lord's Table is not merely a private meal with Jesus — it is a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb with all the saints.
  3. From the beginning it was "not good for man to be alone" — God's purpose was always an assembly of his people basking in his presence, expanding to the ends of the earth through the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19).