Beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, there is a song, a Christian contemporary song. which speaks about the Lord's Supper and sings of the beauty of the body of Christ, how beautiful the body of Christ. Representing that with the hands that serve the bread and the wine, there is the understanding that it's not the physical, actual body then of Jesus Christ in the sense of his humanity or his human body. but of the body of Christ that was given to the bigger body of Christ that is the church of Jesus Christ. How beautiful is the body of Christ. We've all been through things. The history of this church has been one that it wasn't always fair to say, honest to say, how beautiful is the body of Christ. For some of us who have some age behind us, we know what it's like to have gone through leaving a church or leaving a group of churches. And we're aware today, too, of the need to be obedient sometimes so that you young people and young adults wonder about it, say, why are you people so uptight about all of these things? Because we know the pain and we know the sorrow of the breaking of the body of Christ. Is it too much to say, is it too overdramatic to say that when we leave the church, or someone leaves the church, especially when we're not sure why, or it doesn't really seem that the reason is deep or good, that there feels like there's an amputation. It feels like for a little while the body is without a member, that the body is deformed, the body is marred. And it grieves us, it hurts us. We as parents know some of that feeling when a child meets that right someone and they move out of the house or they go off to university or perhaps get that job that they want and they move on and we see the family kind of dissipate and then we have to deal with the thing called the empty nest syndrome and those sorts of things. It's hard to say goodbye. This morning again, too, we say goodbye to a family. It's time for them to move. God is taking them to another part of the kingdom, but it still hurts. We don't like it. We pray for peace in Zion. Oh, Lord of hosts, how lovely your tabernacles are. And on Friday, I mentioned this morning, but we said that the sermon text for the wedding was no one has ever seen God. But the evidence of God is when God's people come together in love. The love of God is perfected in the people of God. That when you go to a church, and that church is functioning well, and they're being obedient, and they're loving God, and they're loving one another, you can say, that is where God is. I was just speaking with somebody from another part of Ontario, and we were talking about generally the Reformed churches. and what a blessing we really have. Where else do you find this? Where do you find this in Cambridge? Where do you find this in Toronto? Where do you find this in Ontario, in Canada? What we have as a church, that we have older people and we have little kids. And we have a whole group in between. We gather together for a wedding and we sing together. And we gather together for a funeral and we sing together. And when I'm sick, someone comes and visits me. And when I'm down and out, someone is there. To help me and you can talk about communism and you can talk about welfare and you can talk about political systems And you can talk about conservatives and liberals and ndp and all of that at the end of the day There is nothing like what we have in the church of jesus christ, and then we gather together Twice on a sunday to sing praises to the god. Is it always your favorite music? No Is it always the experience that you're desiring? No, but we know that there's something here that the world wants so desperately when they gather together for their big sports occasions. We saw that together as though the world talks about the humanity and the nobility of man at the Olympics and we see what disgusting things happened there. We see it at these political rallies and conventions. We see it when people gather together for the arts and for great concerts and people stand and they arise. We see it in Hollywood with all of the movies and in there there's always people to be worshipped, people to be loved, people to be together. Somewhere that I can share an experience. What's always interesting to me is how much people are willing to pay for these paid experiences. And you can come to church for free. It costs you nothing to come and sit with the people of God, to sing, to pray, to be quiet, to have a communion of the saints, to have somebody in this world who cares for you. Now, we're not perfect. But in the striving for it, there is a beauty in it. And that is the gift of God to one another. And that's really been part of the powerful expression of the Reformation in regard to the Roman Catholics who overemphasize the organization, to the Anabaptists who overemphasize the individual, to the marvel of the beauty of the body of Christ, sometimes what we call the organism. A group of people who are joined together in one body. As a man watching his wife, taking care of the things of the house, being together, talking together, in harmony together, and he looks at his wife and he says, she's beautiful. And that's what Jesus does. He gave himself up for us. He died for us. He died for each of us. Think about that in the way we treat and love each other, especially in marriage, but in every relationship in the Church of Jesus Christ. And that when we gather together, And we sing, like we sang with Psalm 122, glory in the tabernacle, praise to God in Zion, which interestingly enough is our church name, that it's beautiful to God. that Jesus Christ, at the end of time, is going to present us as the worldwide church of Jesus Christ. All those who are already in heaven, those of us who long for heaven, all of us who are going to the new heavens and the new earth, Christ will present us and God the Father will say, well done, my son. She is beautiful and she is lovely. So what is the church on earth supposed to look like? What does the Bible say? Well, Jesus Christ commands his people to unite with the Church. And we'll see that membership in the Church includes then being part of that Church, that it demands of us a conduct in the way we handle ourselves in the Church, And then it also demands an office, a calling, a vocation. Who are we together in the church? And then we're going to work especially from 1 Corinthians 12. There's other things we could say in terms of this whole topic, but we'll try to stick there according to scripture. So let's go to the Corinthians passage that we have read. 1 Corinthians 11 is speaking about the brokenness that's at the table of the Lord. And there's rich people who are opening up their homes, and they're having a celebration, they're likely having some sort of worship service, and then at the end of that service they have a meal together. And the rich people are gorging themselves, they're gluttons, they're eating too much, they're reveling in their haveness. And in having, they don't wait for the poor, they don't wait for the slave to get off work. And sometimes these people get home or they get to church after work and there's no food left. But even worse, there's nothing left for the Lord's Supper because at the end of that, at the end of this love feast, there's supposed to be the taking of the bread and the drinking of the wine. And Paul says, I don't know what it is you're doing, but it's not the Lord's Supper. And for this reason, there are people falling asleep among you. You're being punished for this. This is not beautiful to God at all. And what's more, you have people who are saying, look at me. I can speak in tongues. Look at me. I can prophesy. Look at me. I can do all kinds of miraculous things. I have honor. I have dignity. And what we heard this morning, about a Christ who gave up his honor so that we can have this sort of humble dignity I mean this is not beautiful either and so once more the haves are speaking to the have-nots look at me I'm great and you're not and Paul's saying what are you doing what's going on if you want to pursue something pursue faith pursue hope Pursue love you can talk all you want in tongues, but if you have not love you're just a banging gong a noisy Symbol, you're just full of yourself You're a balloon filled with hot air and the rest of you with all of your gifts if you're not doing it for the loving service of almighty god and the loving service of the people within that church, it's meaningless because he tells us that speaking tongues are going to pass away and that the miracles are going to pass away, the prophecies are going to pass away. It's all going to pass away. Why? Because when the greater has appeared, the Word of God, through the power of the Spirit, it's not needed. As you can see where the Word goes out, there are signs, apostolic signs, amazing signs, and then when the Word comes in, then those signs are no longer needed. But all of it's about the ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ. What makes her beautiful? And what makes her more beautiful than anything else in the world is this university of diversity, and this diversity within the unity. Notice that there is not a conformity, and there is not necessarily a uniformity. The point isn't that every man in this place wears the same suit, has the same haircut, raises his family in the exact same way. There's not a uniformity or a conformity that women have to walk a certain way, dress a certain way, make dinner a certain way, all of these sorts of things. We've moved from an Old Testament regulation which pointed to our need of the freedom of Christ to the reality that we have a new freedom in Christ. That there are Gentiles who come with their menus. And they come with their food, and they come with their dress, and they come with their languages, and they come with their music, and they come with their personalities. Saved, sanctified, changed, but they have the same spirit in them that the Jews do. And we're baptized with the same water, and we drink the same spiritual water, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. And when that Spirit comes, when we imbibe of that truth, when we're filled with the water of the Word, we become members by faith of this beautiful body called the Church of Jesus Christ. So if we would go forward into Ephesians chapter 2, we read that Christ is building a church, which is a really beautiful passage there. Because in that passage, he's speaking about God building a church that eyes cannot see right in front of one of the seven wonders of the world, which is the temple of the goddess of Diana. People would go there to see that building. And Paul says, there's a way better building being built here. It's called the church. And you're a member of the church, and he's taken Jews and Gentiles, and stone by stone, brick on brick, mortar together, pulled together. He's building the people of God. By faith, we become members of the church. Now concerning the spiritual gifts, I want you to not to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed. And no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Now he's speaking genuinely. Obviously someone could say Jesus is Lord and not mean it. But what he's saying here, in a genuine confession, there can't be two things. We cannot on the one hand say Jesus is not Lord. When the Spirit is in us, we say that Jesus is our Lord. If He's our Lord, He possesses us. If He possesses us, it's because He has died on the cross for our sins, and that it is a faith in this that ties you and me together. That's why the church is not a social club. We're not a political entity. We're not some team that you join. And this is fundamental to that. If faith is a gift of God, which we've already confessed together, then God makes you a member of the church. It's not on the basis of your decision. or something that you've decided to do. And that's where we understand the church is never a democracy in that way. Well, I've joined the church, so the church ought to do this for me. No, God has joined you to the church to serve Him. Jesus has drawn you into the church that you would honor Him. The Spirit has brought you into the church of Jesus Christ to fill you so that you would be of service to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, So you and I are one, John 17, make them one Father, so that in that oneness all may see that God is. And we think about apologetics, and we think about the evidence for God, and we think about Romans 1, the beauty of the creation, the heavens declare the glory of God, God's providential control of all things, but you know, interestingly, mostly the Bible speaks about you as the evidence of God. That there is a unity in the church. So if we would go to Kenya, they confess what you believe. If we go to Ukraine, they confess what you believe. If you go to Holland, they confess what you believe. If we go to British Columbia, they confess what you believe. How do you understand that? That's the power of the Holy Spirit. We're not smart enough. There's nothing else on the planet that's even close to that. Not even a little bit. And despite all the attacking and everything that comes against us as a church of Jesus Christ, we still stand in that faith. We would be willing to die for that faith. And that's why people would say, well, I have Jesus, it's enough. And I don't have to be a member of the church. And so now we need to move a little bit. So if we talk about the church as an organism, and that's not the best way, but a living, breathing entity, Where do we find the expression of that entity? Well, you find that in a local church. You find that in a place where people believe what you believe, and then God draws you there. Many of you were drawn to the church, you children, because you were born into a Christian family, and your parents bring you here, and then you're raised in this. Others, God has brought you to this in different ways, and you all have your story to tell. But either we believe God has brought you here to be part of this expression of the greater thing, Because we believe that no Christian is content to be by themselves, and we understand that outside of the church there's no salvation. Now, it's really an interesting thing that Guido de Bray used that language there. We believe that since this Holy Assembly and congregation is the gathering of those who are saved, and there is no salvation apart from it. So to learn a little Latin today, extra ecclesia nulla salus. So extra means outside, ecclesia, remember that word, the called out ones, the congregation, the church. Nulla, there is no, null, void. Salus, salvation. What do you think about that? If a person wasn't a member of the church, could they be saved? And then maybe some of you children say, yeah, remember, pastor, you talked this morning about the thief on the cross. You talked about him and that he believed in Jesus and he went to heaven. This day, you'll be with me in paradise. He never went to church, did he? Well, by faith, he was a member of the church. The question is, if he could have jumped down from the cross, would he have gone to church? And I'm willing to say he would have. Because he wanted to be with the other people of God. But remember what we talked about, those two people in front of the cross? Mary, behold your son. John behold your mother there's a new communion and she went home and live the rest of her life with the Apostle not her own children and we talked about the communion of the Saints God's people need to be together they desire to be together Hebrews chapter 10 do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together is a habit of some but all the more as the day is approaching God has decided we need one another and so we join the church now when guido de bray wrote this the roman catholic church was saying if you are not a member of mother church there's no salvation for you if you're not a member of the roman catholic church you are going to be destined for the bowels of purgatory, or worse, even hell. So it's been a while, almost a year now, that our brother Michael Brown, who pastors in Italy, talked about those things. There's many Roman Catholics who will say, you know what, you're right. and it is salvation by faith alone, but you cannot leave Mother Church, because they're taught, they're made to be scared. That's why it's so difficult with Roman Catholics, because if you've been told your whole life you're going to hell if you're not a member of the Roman Catholic Church, you can imagine what that's like. Now, put yourself in Guido de Brès' day, he had to keep running away from his own home, because they were going to kill him. Martin Luther, having to live in Wittenberg in castles, running away because there's a bounty on his head. John Calvin, twice booted out of Geneva. We think of all the Huguenots' blood that flowed because they said no to a wrong doctrine of the Virgin Mary, the wrong doctrine of the church, the wrong doctrine of the sacraments, and the wrong doctrine of scripture in the church. These people were dying for it. And they had to leave that, because that's where we're going to go next week, or in two weeks, the Lord willing, with the true and the false church. If you're in a false church, you have to get out of there. Back to John chapter 10. My sheep hear my voice. If they don't, they'll go. And there came a time when many of us had to say, no, we're moving in a false direction. We're not really standing in the Word of God anymore. There's no truth here anymore. If God says no to women in office, then it's no. We can't have both. If God says no to theistic evolution and evolution, then it has to be no. If we lose the Bible, we lose the truth. If we lose the truth, we lose the gospel. And so then it's time for us to find that which is true. And any of you who are going to be leaving this area and going to a new area, you've got to find a place that's true, but you join a church. And you find a good church, because there you will be loved, and there you will be loving. There you will be served, and there you will serve. On the other hand, Guido de Bray is dealing with the Anabaptists. The Roman Catholic Church is such a mess. Anything that's organized is a mess because the human hands are on it, so we're just going to give up on church. We're just going to live as a community, and if you want to see kind of what that looks like, then the Old Order Amish and the Old Order Mennonites, that's kind of what they look like, although these people with us today are not as rebellious. But they've lost the true sense of what real gospel is, of being in the world, going out into the world, and all of that sort of thing. They've changed the meaning of the gospel. So you have these two things happening, and then Geto de Brace says, look, where are you going to find the gospel? At the church, because that's where the preaching is. Where are you going to find the sacraments? In the church, because that's where you'll find them. Where are you going to find the people of God? There. Where are you going to be taken care of, disciplined, loved, watched over? It's there in the church, God's people. are not content to be by themselves. And even if we're feeling terrible, even if we're feeling no church would love me, the Satan's always good at that one. What church would have me? I'm so rotten, so dirty. I've heard that many times in my ministry and many times in my days of recovery. How could God love me? You know how they'll know God loves you? When you love them. It's huge. When you go to a church and a church says, yeah, I know what you did. Come on, come for supper. Not just sit in church with me. Hang out with me. Go for coffee with me. A hug and a kiss and a shaking of a hand. I need the church. You need the church. The Bible tells us so. That's why Christ commands us to join the church. So what do we look like? What is the conduct of those members? For as the body is one and as many members, but all the members of that body, being many are one, so also is Christ. For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, all have been made to drink into one spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. But now, indeed, there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the head, I have no need of you, or the head to the feet, I have no need of you. And those members of the body which we think less honorable, we bestow greater honor, and so on it goes there. There is a respect. There is actually a genuine excitement for the other members that I go to church with. That's one thing for all of you who have played on a team, I've got to play on soccer teams, and sometimes there was jealousy for the striker who scored all the goals. Everybody cheers him, and everybody loves him, but no striker. I don't care how good Messi is, I don't care how good Ronaldo is, I don't care how good your best soccer player is, he cannot win a game without a goalie. can't win a game without fullbacks who just stick to their position and do what they need to do. A Messi can be a Messi because someone's feeding him the ball, someone's taking care of him. And look at how long it took for him to finally win the World Cup. Why? Because there wasn't a team good enough around him. But once the individuality of our society is now translated into the marvel of the universality and the universal wonder of the church, that we serve the same God, that your desire and my desire is to bring glory to God and to be busy with the things that He has called us to do. In marriage preparation we talk about this. If a husband and wife can see their relationship as a unity of spirit, a unity of heart, a unity of love, with the husband leaving and the woman following, but together they're moving, there's always going to be purpose for that marriage, love for that marriage, strength, something dynamic about that marriage, because they're serving the same God. They're going after the same thing. And then it's not about me getting something from my wife, or my wife getting something from me. Now it's, how do we bring something to the bigger picture? We need to see it that way. Why should I be a good fullback? Because someone needs to play defense. Why should I be a good teammate? Because when that happens, the team has success. Why should I be a good goal scorer, if I'm a good goal scorer? Because that brings the team success. Michael Scott Horton in his book, Ordinary, talks about this need for the extraordinary in our society. Everybody has to have a better story. Everybody has to have a better conversion experience. Everybody has to have a greater gift. I need to be a better minister. I need to have a bigger church. And on and on it goes. It starts usually from the top down, sadly. Even that language, top down, is wrong. But if you think about what's going on, we have, it's hard for us to really say the group matters more because of the one who made us the group. The one who gave his life for the group. So Paul will talk about let your attitude be the same as that of Jesus Christ, who though being, did not count it robbery, to be equal with God, gave up his place. and made himself of no reputation, even unto death on a cross. Let your attitude be the same, that our desire is the salvation of the other. With the gifts that I have, being content with the gifts that I have, how do I use them? It might just simply be the ordinary gifts of a secretary who makes sure the bulletin is done, of our custodian who makes sure that when we come into church it's clean. of the sound guys who come every Sunday and make sure that you can hear me. Because I tell you, when you can't, they hear it. When everything's right on YouTube, and we remember what that was like. And I remember coming here. Remember when we were meeting out there? How did that work? Because people gave of their time. Of men who are willing to sit in the consistory and lead. Of men who are willing to sit in the diaconate and lead. Of mothers who are willing to stay home so that their men can go out and lead. I would say Sunday school is going to start pretty soon. I hope all of you over the next six months, and sorry to the Sunday school teachers, but one of my favorite things to do is shake hands and then go back there and just listen to them sing. and listen to the Bible story. And they do that. Because they have gifts and talents. Maybe you don't, and that's okay. Right now we're pretty quiet here, and if I go too long it's gonna be pretty noisy back over there. But there's people taking care of your kids. Because that's how the body of Christ works. Because it's about you, sitting in here, being able to worship. There are men who have gifts to open up the Word of God and to speak. Is it a greater gift? No. Is it a necessary gift? Yes. Is it one that draws more attention? For sure it is. Is it one that leads itself or lends itself to pride? Absolutely. Everybody knows who I am. I don't always know who you are. But this is your preaching. This is your worship service. This is of God working with us. When we think about the one who cuts the lawn, of those who make sure that we always have coffee and refreshments after church. And next year, if you got time, walk in this place during VBS, and you see what these women do. It is amazing to see all these little kids. You look out in the world and everybody's, oh, the kids are so bad. You walk in here, and how come the kids are so good? Bringing the word of the Lord. Women called to be mothers. And by the way, when did that stop being an honor? But it's beautiful, and it's marvelous. Men being fathers. Women and men join together to be husbands and wives. And that beautiful group within us, and we're so blessed of having singles. Some of you have been called to the office of widow. Some of you have been called to the office of widower. And you bring to us a new experience of grief, and of maturity, and of wisdom that we wouldn't have without you. I can go on, but I think it's good to think about that. Paul is talking about those extra special apostolic gifts, but in the end he's talking about if you have not love, what does it mean? Everything that Zion has been given as a local body is because we have exactly what we need to reach this community, to bring glory to God, and to take care of one another. And as we need more, he'll bring more. And if there's people in this world or in our community who need more, who need more love, need more care, need more time, then he will bring them here as well as he sends you out to do the work that we've been called to do. And so, keeping the unity of the Church, we submit to its instruction and discipline, we bend our necks to the yoke of Jesus Christ by serving to build up one another according to the gifts God has given us as members of each other in the same body. Eyes, ears, mouth and nose, lungs and hearts, the whole thing. And that's why it is so hard when somebody just leaves. And we don't just leave a church because, well, I don't like McDonald's saying I'll go to Wendy's, and then I get sick of Wendy's, so I think I'll go to Burger King. That's not what this is. This is a body, and it hurts. It hurts to leave when you have to. It hurts when somebody leaves, and that's good. Because we're the place where we rejoice together, and grieve together, and everything in between together. So to preserve this unity more effectively, it is the duty of all believers, according to God's word, to separate themselves from the world, separate ourselves from anything that is not the church, and that we would now give ourselves to the office and calling we have been given. And the office and the calling we have been given is, first of all, as prophets. that we have been called to speak the truth in love. But that means we must know that truth. We cannot submit ourselves to the yoke of Jesus if we don't know what the yoke is. We cannot be Christians if we do not know the doctrinal truths, the great things. Do we study it? Do we love it? Do we build that up? Because as we build that up in our church relationship and we grow in that knowledge and understanding, we should grow together. Hey, you believe that too? Isn't that beautiful? To have good discussions. Peace in the church is not getting away from the difficult discussions. It's to have them, but do it well. And do it right. I think we, in the Reformed world, have had no problem having the discussions. I don't know if we've always been able to do it well. But we need to speak that truth, to know it. In a priestly way. In a sacrificial way. Here are the gifts that God has given to me. How can I use them for you? Even to the point where it might mean that, speaking the truth in love, we're willing to die, we're willing to lose a job. I think of more and more university students, especially in secular university, it means you're not going to get the grade you should have got. It may mean you're booted out of class. It probably will mean that you're being ridiculed. It's happening. It's happening in our world. We are marginalized. And if you don't think you are, just think of how they laugh at us. How they laugh at us because we really believe in the creation of humanity, of what marriage is, the beauty of an unborn child. All of these things, we're going to have to sacrifice our civil dignity to stand up for the truth. But then we're gonna need each other to hold on to each other because here at least we have a place to be, to speak the truth, to let our hair down, so to speak, and to be comforted and to be loved as we stand up as the kingly people We are the church militant. The church militant should never be inward. We're not to be fighting one another, but we're to stand together as the army of God with the armor of God fighting the world. There are two kingdoms, a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness. And being part of the Church of Jesus Christ, we stand with the Kingdom of Light against the Kingdom of Darkness, and we'll do everything to keep that Kingdom of Darkness out. We are to be a praying people, we are to be a giving people, an offering people, a worshipping people, a studying people, but an active people. It cannot be now enough that simply we build the walls of Zion, literally, and keep it in here. We have to. You are being called to get out into that world this week, beloved, in some different way, shape, or form. And that's why God says, I want you to come together on a Lord's Day, to get fed, to get recharged, to love one another, to be encouraged, and then get out into that lonely place called the world again until next Sunday, if Jesus doesn't come, to bring us back together and to live this way. Now, is the body of Christ beautiful? Not always, but ultimately it ought to be. That Sunday is a foretaste of the eternal home, of the glory that waits for us. When everybody we will live with in eternity will believe what you believe, will be like you are, will love as you are loved. Faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love, but faith, hope, and love will be a part of our eternal presence. That's why we need to, from time to time, it's why we teach in catechism, why we go through the Belgian Confession, back to God's Word. What are we supposed to be? Well, we're supposed to be the church, the body of Christ, the beautiful body of Christ, the place where the glory of God is, the place that is the evidence of God, the place where people love God and love one another. Amen.