In part 3 of our series we return to Rome and see how the early Christians survived persecution. Looking at how the church responded to the arrest of Peter in Acts 12, we that the early church continued the practice of gathering together when persecution came and encouraging one another in prayer and the Word of God. Not being able to meet in public places or in private homes, the believers met in the one place the citizens of Rome would never go, the Catacombs.

Under Rome lies a network of catacombs into which the Romans buried their dead. But the Romans hated death and so they outsourced this work to slaves. No upstanding Roman would be found in the catacombs, so the Christians could meet freely. When Christianity became the faith of the Empire under Emperor Constantine the Christians then were buried also in the Catacombs. Their gravestones tell of their faith and strong belief. One doctrine that was important to them was that of the Trinity.

This doctrine had been one of great controversy through the first centuries of the church and wasn't settled until 325 and the Council of Nicaea. But in the first century it was Pope Clement I who began the development of the Trinity and how it works. Being the Bishop of Rome it then makes sense why this was so important to the early believers and a doctrine developed for our benefit today.

The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.

The podcast was recorded using Ecamm Live. Start your free trial at https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/?fp_ref=david97.

• Video and Handout

David McCullagh: 00:00:16

So we're in part three of this series that we've been

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thinking about, um, a series looking

at the life of the church and what

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we can learn from our church history.

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And tonight it's entitled Into the Depths.

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So it's not necessarily a person,

but it's a place that was used by

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God at a particular time in history.

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to preserve the saints.

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And so, as we've been looking

over these past two weeks,

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we can't escape persecution.

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It was right there from

the outset of the church.

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Persecution was rife, and

the church endured it.

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From really the first, the second,

and into the third centuries, and even

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at the start of the fourth century,

the church was under persecution.

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In reality, the church in every

generation has been persecuted

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in some place in the world.

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But a significant thing happened

in the 4th century, that

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was the Emperor Constantine.

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We'll come to him in due course, whether

by a good luck charm or whether by genuine

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faith, he established Christianity as the

official religion of the Roman Empire.

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And of course that changed everything.

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You can't persecute the official religion.

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And so safeguards were put in

place for the Christian community.

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But up until then, persecution happened.

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We saw that at the beginning

with Ignatius and Polycarp.

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We saw it with Ernest last week and

the people that were there in Smyrna.

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And we see it again, this time in Rome.

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And we're actually jumping back a

little bit in time, just a couple

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of years to see how that tracked

its way to what we find ourselves.

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So the question is, as we've

looked at persecution, how does the

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Church, how does it preserve itself?

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You might say, well, that,

that's a very good question.

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Open doors could answer that for us.

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Uh, indeed they could, and they

would, and in due course they will,

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um, at our missionary weekend.

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But, how did the early church survive?

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Well, to survive persecution,

they had to do it in two ways.

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Because there was two

things they had to do.

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First of all, they had

to preserve the faith.

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How could they preserve

the gospel message?

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And secondly then, how did

they preserve their fellowship?

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How did they preserve the

physicality of the church?

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New Christians coming into the church

would have had to face many issues.

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Either coming from Judaism or

coming from Roman God worship.

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It was a wonderful time because

they couldn't get enough

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of what they were learning.

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They couldn't get enough of Jesus Christ.

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And there was an excitement and an

energy that perhaps we only see for

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a short period in our own lives.

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Maybe just like them, but it was

a moment when they were on fire,

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when they couldn't get enough.

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But of course, they didn't have a Bible.

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They might have had some text

from the Old Testament, but there

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was no New Testament as such yet.

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It was coming little by little

with some things written down.

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And so they couldn't wait to see

and hear more, particularly of

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how the Old Testament pointed

us to the Saviour of the new.

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And one way of saying this, and what

we're going to look at tonight and into

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the depths, is to read Acts chapter 12

and verses 1 to 19, a longer passage,

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but one that's familiar and it's about

Peter's imprisonment and his release.

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So turn to it there, Acts chapter

12 and verses 1 to 19, and I'll

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read it for us this evening.

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So beginning in verse 1, we read, About

that time Herod the king laid violent

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hands on some who belonged to the church.

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He killed James, the brother

of John, with the sword.

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And when he saw that it pleased the

Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

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This was during the days

of unleavened bread.

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And when he had seized him, he put

him in prison, delivering him over

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to four squads of soldiers to guard

him, intending after the Passover

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to bring him out to the people.

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So Peter was kept in prison,

but earnest prayer was, for him,

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was made to God by the church.

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Now, when Herod was about to

bring him out, on that very night,

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Peter was sleeping between two

soldiers, bound with two chains.

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And centuries before the door

were guarding the prison.

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And behold, an angel of the

Lord stood next to him, and

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a light shone in the cell.

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He struck Peter on the side and

woke him, saying, Get up quickly.

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And the chains fell off his hands.

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And the angel said to him, Dress

yourself and put on your sandals.

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And he did so.

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And he said to him, Wrap your

cloak around you and follow me.

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And he went out and followed him.

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He did not know that what was being

done by the angel was real, but

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thought he was seeing a vision.

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When they had passed the first and

the second guard, they came to the

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iron gate leading into the city.

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It opened for them of its own accord, and

they went out and went along one street,

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and immediately the angel left him.

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When Peter came to himself, he said,

Now I am sure that the Lord has sent

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this, his angel, and rescued me from

the hand of Herod, and from all that

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the Jewish people were expecting.

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When he realized this, he went to the

house of Mary, the mother of John, whose

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other name was Mark, where many were

gathered together and were praying.

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And when he knocked at the

door of the gateway, a servant

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girl named Ruda came to answer.

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Recognizing Peter's voice, in her

joy, she did not open the gate,

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but ran in and reported that

Peter was standing at the gate.

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They said to her, you are out of your

mind, but she kept insisting that it was

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so, and they kept saying, it is his angel.

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But Peter continued knocking, and when

they opened, they saw him and were amazed.

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But motioning to them with his hand

to be silent, He described to them

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how the Lord had brought him out of

the prison, and he said, Tell these

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things to James and to the brothers.

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Then he departed, and

went to another place.

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Now when day came, there was no

little disturbance among the soldiers

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over what had become of Peter.

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And after Herod searched for him and did

not find him, he examined the sentries and

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ordered that they should be put to death.

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Then he went down from Judea to

Caesarea, and spent time there.

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Amen.

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This is the Word of God.

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I want you to notice two things that

are happening in this, uh, passage.

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First of all, Herod is mentioned.

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This is Herod Agrippa I.

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Uh, he is the grandson of Herod the Great.

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And in verse one, we're told that

he was persecuting the church.

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So we've gone back even further,

back into Acts, to really those

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first months or year of the church.

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And persecution is right there,

and it's coming from Herod.

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Herod wanting to do it because

it's pleasing the Jews,

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it's pleasing the people.

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Remember, he was a puppet king.

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He was a young boy raised in Rome,

and so all his contemporaries were the

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Caesars and those in high officials.

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And so, perhaps it was to please

them, but more likely to please

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the people, so that Herod could

control the people under his care.

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But he wasn't a real king.

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He was only there as long as

the Romans allowed him to.

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But he is the persecutor of this moment.

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The church is under persecution.

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First, it's to John,

and then it is to Peter.

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who's put in prison.

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But of course Peter isn't

martyred for his faith.

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He escapes in that miraculous way.

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So the first thing in this

passage is that persecution.

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It's very clear, it's very

blatant, it's very physical.

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It's done for motives, not out of fear,

but out of strength, because as Herod

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does one thing, it gives him a boost.

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And so he thinks this is the way

to go, and that's what he does.

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But the second thing to notice that

when the church is under persecution,

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their response is to gather and to pray.

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They gather and they

pray for the situation.

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They want to be together.

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You would think it would be the

most natural thing for them to

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separate, to go out and to hide

so that they wouldn't be found.

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You would have thought that

the most dangerous thing

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for them to be was together.

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But that's what they chose to do

because they were trusting in the Lord.

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And yes, they were gathering and

they were fearful, there is no doubt

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of that, but they were praying.

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And this is something that Christians

under persecution have done.

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Last Friday, I attended the conference

that I had been advertising for the

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past few weeks, the Church in Egypt.

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And the lady that was speaking from

the Evangelical Seminary there in

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Cairo, was saying that there is,

and Open Doors have told us of this

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as well, and I think perhaps Joan,

you might have been in this place at

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one time as well, the Kiev Church.

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The Kiev Church seats 20, 000 people.

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It's not an underground church as a

church in China, it's quite literally

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an underground church in a cave.

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And it's in moments that

the church has gone to.

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And if you remember

back to the Arab Spring.

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There was great joy and delight

when Mubarak went out, and

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that was the first uprising.

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But then they got, um, I can't remember

his name, but for a year the Muslim

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Brotherhood ruled and there was the

second uprising, Muhammad Morsi, and they

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wanted him out as well because they were

so disappointed with all the promises

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that were made that were never fulfilled.

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And in the second uprising, the church

that was more and more under persecution

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than it had been under Mubarak.

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Gathered, hoping that there would

be 20, 000 people wanting to come

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and pray in this second revolution.

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They got 70, 000.

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What happens when the church is

under persecution, back in biblical

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times, as now, they gather.

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They may gather in fear, but

they gather to seek the Lord.

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And we've preached on this

in our series on Acts.

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But.

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It always surprises me that they

were surprised and amazed that

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their prayers were answered.

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But yet, that's what happens when a

people come and when a people pray.

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Be it in one large group or in small

groups, however it may be, the Lord

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hears and knows the gathered presence

and fellowship of his people and

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that is what comforts and sustains.

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Those who have looked into this.

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And no, the habit and practice of the

early church would even go as far to

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suggest it wasn't simply a prayer meeting.

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This was a moment where they

were quoting scripture and

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scripture leading them to prayer.

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And so they were trying to come near

to the Lord through his word and

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opening their hearts before him.

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So this is what they do.

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The first thing that they do to

survive is to gather to come before

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the Lord, to preserve the faith.

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to keep one another going, to

keep the truth of the gospel

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alive and its hope alive.

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And the second thing they do is, what is

this, what is this story that they gather?

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And that's what the early church

had to do, particularly in Rome

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whenever there was great persecution.

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And so during the different waves

that there were in the second

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and third centuries The church

joined together in the one place

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that the Romans would not go to.

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And so, they head down

to the catacombs of Rome.

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If you've ever been to Rome, you'll

have seen the Colosseum, you'll have

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seen the Vatican, you'll have seen

different stages of the history of Rome

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itself, and the Circus Maximus, and

everything like that, and all that.

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One of the places you might visit is

called the Appian, or the Appian Way.

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Um, this is holiday

photos again, I'm afraid.

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Andrew Mullen and I had a week in

Rome in: 2009

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would walk along the Appian Way and

visit some of the catacombs that

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the early Christians went into.

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What's happening with them now is,

uh, churches have been built over

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these catacombs where Christians

were known to have gathered.

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And this is just one of them along

that way, quite close to the center

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of what old Rome would have been.

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Um, but now with the spread of

Rome, it's, it's just surrounded

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by, by modern buildings.

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But these catacombs played a key part.

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It was this place that

preserved Christianity in Rome.

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The Romans had a funny dealing with death.

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When death happened, they

wanted nothing to do with it.

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Whenever you think of Rome,

you think of the strong men.

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You think of Olympics

and the Circus Maximus.

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You think of the gladiators

in the Colosseum.

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Rome was all about strength and the

look and appearance of strength.

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And whenever you go after those

things, the last thing you want to

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think about is frailty and death.

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So when death came, the Romans

actually turned a blind eye to it.

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There was no period of mourning or grief.

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It happened and they were wanting

quickly to move on with life again.

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And so they seconded work out, really,

to slaves who would dig down under the

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city so that there wasn't even any any

sign of death into these catacombs.

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So the only people who would go

down to these places were the slaves

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who were tasked to, to dig them and

prepare them for different burials.

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Well, what a perfect place to go for the

Christians to avoid the Roman authorities.

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And if you go today, you can go

down into those catacombs and

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you can see wonderful things.

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Um, technology wasn't such, we didn't

have cameras back in: 2009

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good pictures in the dark so I wasn't

able to take any pictures that you could

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see of what's written and inscribed.

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But whenever you went into these places,

these chambers under the streets, there

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would even be seats carved into the stone

so that the Christians would come and sit.

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And you always knew it was one of

their places of worship because they

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would have that fish, the Ichthys.

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that was developed around this time.

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Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour.

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That's what Ichthys, whenever it's, uh,

in its Greek, is spelled out to mean.

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The Ichthys was there as a

sign to say, this is where we

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are, and this is where we meet.

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Of course, the Romans never saw it.

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And to any slave, they didn't know what

it meant, just thought it was a, another

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image of the Roman pantheon of gods.

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And so deep down, Christians gathered.

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Deep down, Christians gathered to teach

and instruct and mature in the faith.

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Disciple, sing and pray.

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And one of the things we do have

from that time is actually a hymn

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that was written from the catacombs.

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And that's what you have

across on your next page.

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And it's really a testimony to the

practice of worshipping in the catacombs.

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And so it's an early Christian hymn

that's entitled, Oh, Glad Some Light.

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So, you have to think of this,

you're sitting down in the darkness.

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You might have a torch.

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You might have lit a, a small fire.

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Um, and so this is how

you're, you're dwelling.

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And this is what they sing, Oh,

glad some light in the darkness.

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Oh, glad some light, oh grace, of God

the Father's face, the eternal splendor

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wearing, celestial, holy, blessed.

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Our Savior, Jesus Christ,

joyful in thine appearing.

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And that early hymn continues, The day

falls quiet and we see the evening light.

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What they were doing in writing

this hymn was to communicate their

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physical experience as well as

knowing what it means spiritually.

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That although they may be in the catacombs

of darkness with minimal light, the

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greater light, the light of the world, was

shining bright into those spaces because

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the word was preserved as the people

gathered as they faced untold persecution.

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It truly was gladsome light.

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And actually after Christianity was

legalized under Constantine, it was a

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wonderful moment because those catacombs

where they had worship were no longer

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the places that they had to go and they

themselves then started to bury their

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dead in Christian burial ceremonies.

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And the further you go out along the

Appian Way, the more Christian, and

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indeed Jewish, uh, those catacombs

become, uh, with now different

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churches built on top of them.

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Um, as over the years the Christians

built what would have been above their

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family burial ground in many ways, uh,

as they moved along family by family.

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They're, they're an amazing place.

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Some small, some big, some caverns.

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As big as this and some small, some as

small as a small store or under your,

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your stair cupboard kind of thing.

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A place that we would never imagine, but

yet a place that kept the faith alive.

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And one of the things that struck

me on one of these, and this has

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been quoted in different places.

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Is one particular, uh, headstone or one

particular inscription in the catacombs.

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: 00:18:59

And it's to, uh, an early

Christian called Quintilian.

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: 00:19:04

And it says, here lies Quintilian,

a man of God, a firm believer in

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: 00:19:08

the Trinity, who loved chastity and

rejected the allurements of the world.

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: 00:19:15

Imagine that on your headstone.

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: 00:19:16

I don't think any of us

would think about that.

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: 00:19:20

We might think about the last bit, uh,

the allurements of the world was not

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: 00:19:23

given to those, but So, would we ever

think of writing about the Trinity?

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: 00:19:27

Why would he need to say that

he believed in the Trinity?

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: 00:19:30

He's not the only one that did it.

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: 00:19:32

You can go past, uh, gravestone

after gravestone in the catacombs.

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: 00:19:37

And the same thing of this

time comes up again and again.

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: 00:19:46

The Trinity.

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: 00:19:49

There's something that happened at this

period in history that, that defined

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: 00:19:53

our understanding of the Trinity.

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: 00:19:55

And it all comes from the

next man on your page.

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: 00:20:00

It's Pope Clement the Third, or the First.

309

: 00:20:02

Now, don't get too excited.

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: 00:20:06

Put aside our cultural thinking here.

311

: 00:20:11

We're talking about a church

that was truly a church.

312

: 00:20:16

Gregory the Great will come

years later, and he was the last

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: 00:20:19

true Pope, as John Calvin says.

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: 00:20:22

So we're talking about gospel hearted,

gospel minded, leaders of the church

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: 00:20:29

in the shadow of the Apostles.

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: 00:20:32

There's no sense of modern day

Catholicism that we know in this man.

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: 00:20:37

But what he does is something

that defines the church for us,

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: 00:20:41

and it is to do with the Trinity.

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: 00:20:44

In fact, there he is there,

it's the best we have of him.

320

: 00:20:48

He lived between A.

321

: 00:20:48

D.

322

: 00:20:49

35 and actually he himself was martyred.

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: 00:20:52

in A.

324

: 00:20:52

D.

325

: 00:20:53

99, and we'll come to that just by a

little bit of information at the end.

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: 00:20:58

If I were to ask you, where in

the Bible do we get for sure and

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: 00:21:02

certain a teaching of the Trinity?

328

: 00:21:06

You'll find it hard.

329

: 00:21:10

That might surprise you, but you will

find it hard to find a place in Scripture

330

: 00:21:16

that explains fully what the Trinity is.

331

: 00:21:20

And for the first three to

six hundred years, there were

332

: 00:21:24

debates and there was Trying to

understand what this trinity was.

333

: 00:21:30

Oh, they believed in God the Father,

God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

334

: 00:21:34

But how were they connected?

335

: 00:21:36

How could they be one yet three?

336

: 00:21:38

Our human minds today, if you

think too long about it, it

337

: 00:21:42

will baffle you how it works.

338

: 00:21:45

But yet it does.

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: 00:21:47

And so coming into this new faith,

trying to understand God the Father,

340

: 00:21:51

which would have been known from a

Jewish perspective, to all of a sudden

341

: 00:21:54

God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

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: 00:21:58

It took years of thinking, years of

prayer, years of discussion, years

343

: 00:22:02

of discernment to try and understand.

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: 00:22:05

I turn to one of my heftier books,

I'd like to say I've read this

345

: 00:22:12

from cover to cover, I have not.

346

: 00:22:14

But I turn this week to what it

actually says about the Trinity

347

: 00:22:19

because I thought it was helpful and

it's a book on systematic theology.

348

: 00:22:23

So in other words, a teaching, a concise

teaching thematically of what we believe.

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: 00:22:29

And there's three parts in

this book about the Trinity.

350

: 00:22:32

Where Trinity is in the scriptures,

how it was developed, and what

351

: 00:22:35

are the problems for us today in

continuing to understand the Trinity.

352

: 00:22:39

And this is what he writes, he says,

The doctrine of the Trinity was

353

: 00:22:41

formally developed in the 4th century.

354

: 00:22:44

It followed decades of

controversy and confusion.

355

: 00:22:47

The problem was how to conceive

of God as one while according

356

: 00:22:51

to the Son and the Spirit, the

status given them in the Bible.

357

: 00:22:57

It required the forging of linguistic

tools to express what the church

358

: 00:23:02

had believed and confessed.

359

: 00:23:04

And eventually, at Constantinople

I, the Church confessed that

360

: 00:23:09

God is one indivisible being,

three irreducible persons.

361

: 00:23:16

The Father, the Son, and the Holy

Spirit are each fully God, equal

362

: 00:23:20

in power and glory, indivisible

and inseparable in all their works.

363

: 00:23:26

While the Father generates

the Son from eternity, and the

364

: 00:23:29

Spirit proceeds from the Father.

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: 00:23:32

Generation and procession demonstrate that

God is infinite, uh, superabundance of

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: 00:23:39

life and vitality, and are the basis from

which he freely and sovereignly creates.

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: 00:23:46

Now that's a textbook way of

saying, we have an understanding

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: 00:23:50

of the Trinity, but it took years.

369

: 00:23:54

And the first record we have of it

written down, in any way of understanding,

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: 00:23:58

is by Pope Clement the Third.

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: 00:24:02

And it all comes from this idea of him

talking about the persons of the Godhead.

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: 00:24:08

There wasn't just one, nor he

argued was there two, but there

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: 00:24:12

were three persons of the Godhead.

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: 00:24:14

Something we take for granted today.

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: 00:24:16

And in fact, it was Ignatius of

Antioch, who we looked at two weeks

376

: 00:24:21

ago, who took further what Clement said.

377

: 00:24:25

And developed it that it eventually

arrived at the Council of Nicaea in 325,

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: 00:24:30

where they then, uh, later would write.

379

: 00:24:33

The Nicaean Creed and adding this to

the bottom that says and I believe in

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: 00:24:40

the Holy Spirit the Lord and Giver of

life who proceeds from the Father and

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: 00:24:45

the Son who with the Father and the Son

together is Worshipped and glorified who

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: 00:24:51

spoke by the prophets and again someone

else has written very well on this a

383

: 00:24:57

guy called Chad van Dixhorn And I want

to read to you what he said about this.

384

: 00:25:03

Because he said the creed was issued

as a brief statement at the Council

385

: 00:25:07

of Nicaea, while the First Council of

Constantinople, which I quoted just a

386

: 00:25:12

moment ago, later provided a substantial

addition concerning the Holy Spirit.

387

: 00:25:17

Thus historians termed this creed

the Nicaean Constantinoplean Creed.

388

: 00:25:23

Even later, a line in the creed was

changed in the Western Church only.

389

: 00:25:27

to capture the significant teaching that

the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from

390

: 00:25:31

the Father, but from the Son as well.

391

: 00:25:35

And that then becomes what we

know as the Athanasian Creed,

392

: 00:25:38

which was written in 633.

393

: 00:25:41

So even until 633, we were developing

what we believed about the Holy

394

: 00:25:46

Spirit, and how the Holy Spirit linked

in with the Godhead of the Father.

395

: 00:25:52

But it all began with Pope Clement, the

first in room, and that teaching went

396

: 00:25:58

from up here and down to the catacombs.

397

: 00:26:01

So much so that these early Christians

depended on the Father, and on the

398

: 00:26:06

Son and on the Holy Spirit, and was

so important for them that they had

399

: 00:26:12

it inscribed on their headstones.

400

: 00:26:17

In many ways, it's like what we put by

hymns, perhaps safe in the arms of Jesus.

401

: 00:26:24

Or, are my own father's headstone, absent

from the body, present with the Lord?

402

: 00:26:30

What is important to us that

we want to leave a marker?

403

: 00:26:36

So the catacombs played a key part in

our understanding of the Trinity and

404

: 00:26:42

its importance in what we believe.

405

: 00:26:44

We take it for granted, but yet for

almost 700 years, the church was still

406

: 00:26:51

trying to work out what this meant.

407

: 00:26:54

And so, from very humble beginnings.

408

: 00:26:57

With Clement, who was not like

any pope we would know today or

409

: 00:27:01

have known in previous centuries.

410

: 00:27:03

He was a humble man who simply discipled

and taught, with no regalia and no seat.

411

: 00:27:10

But he taught on the Trinity the persons

of the Godhead, and that sustained God's

412

: 00:27:15

people as they looked into his word.

413

: 00:27:18

to discover what this meant.

414

: 00:27:21

Well, at the end of the first

century, Clement was banished from

415

: 00:27:24

Rome and he went to, uh, that place

there, which I'd never heard of,

416

: 00:27:30

but if you're wanting to pronounce

it, uh, just go with my confident

417

: 00:27:34

pronunciation, which is Chersonesus,

uh, during the reign of Emperor Trajan.

418

: 00:27:40

And he was set to work in a stone quarry.

419

: 00:27:43

And when he got there, he discovered,

as you would expect, the conditions

420

: 00:27:47

to be And the prisoners were running

out of water or had no water at all.

421

: 00:27:53

And he immediately prayed to the Lord.

422

: 00:27:55

And as he looked up, he

saw on a hill a lamb.

423

: 00:27:58

And he went to where the lamb was.

424

: 00:27:59

And when he got there, he went to

the place where the lamb had stood.

425

: 00:28:03

And he struck his pick or

his axe and out gushed water.

426

: 00:28:08

Well, this didn't go down too

well with the authorities.

427

: 00:28:11

And immediately, they tied him to an

anchor and threw him into the sea.

428

: 00:28:17

There, uh, sorry, that

place is up in the Crimea.

429

: 00:28:21

And so in the Black Sea, he was plunged

to the depths, tied to that anchor.

430

: 00:28:25

A man faithful in his witness,

faithful in his worship.

431

: 00:28:30

And his contribution has led us to our

understanding of the Trinity today.

432

: 00:28:37

And that's his legacy.

433

: 00:28:39

That's the legacy of the catacombs.

434

: 00:28:40

That's why we think about them,

because They kept something for

435

: 00:28:44

us that we now take for granted.

436

: 00:28:47

But we're thankful, because it

has been fully thought out for us.

437

: 00:28:51

That in the second and the third

centuries, these people in the catacombs,

438

: 00:28:56

who worshipped in darkness, because

there was no light down there, but who

439

: 00:29:01

worshipped in truth, defended the faith.

440

: 00:29:04

And what they did is what Psalm 145

verse 4 says, One generation shall

441

: 00:29:10

commend your works to another, and

shall declare your mighty acts.

442

: 00:29:14

That's what they taught each other, that's

what they told each other, that's what

443

: 00:29:18

they learned together of what it meant to,

to survive persecution and to pass on this

444

: 00:29:26

goodness as, as Paul writes to Timothy,

guard the deposit entrusted to you.

445

: 00:29:31

That's exactly what they did so that

today we would stand in their shoes and in

446

: 00:29:39

their footsteps to be the next generation

that guards the deposit entrusted to

447

: 00:29:43

us so that the church will continue.

448

: 00:29:46

Down to the depths.

449

: 00:29:51

We don't think of much of

good coming out of the ground.

450

: 00:29:56

But yet here.

451

: 00:29:58

The faith was maintained

in those catacombs so that

452

: 00:30:02

today we can worship well.

453

: 00:30:05

We have a deposit and we have

the freedom to offer it widely.

454

: 00:30:12

We can offer it to those

around us, but yet we don't.

455

: 00:30:17

We shy back because we're

afraid, because we don't perhaps

456

: 00:30:21

trust the Lord to be with us.

457

: 00:30:24

The problem when we look at

church history, it becomes

458

: 00:30:27

an indictment against us.

459

: 00:30:31

And I want to say thank you to you

for what you did do for last weekend.

460

: 00:30:37

As I stood up in the pulpit and as I

looked out, not only was Sunday morning

461

: 00:30:41

full, but Sunday evening was full as well.

462

: 00:30:44

You will have seen as well as I

will have seen faces that perhaps

463

: 00:30:48

we haven't seen in a while, and

indeed faces that we've never seen.

464

: 00:30:54

We're to give thanks to God for

that, but we're not just to stop

465

: 00:30:56

because of a particular weekend.

466

: 00:30:59

We're to keep going, because

we have been given a deposit.

467

: 00:31:03

We are to be like those people in John

Mark's house who prayed, who gathered,

468

: 00:31:11

and who continue to gather so that

we can proclaim the goodness of God.

469

: 00:31:16

And that's what our questions this

evening are going to help us think about.

470

: 00:31:20

Because in our discussion we want to

think of in times of great difficulty

471

: 00:31:23

the early church met in the catacombs

to find comfort in God's word, and in

472

: 00:31:27

fellowship, where and how do we find

comfort in times of trouble today?

473

: 00:31:32

That's not maybe simply a place.

474

: 00:31:35

But it may be scriptures that you want

to share that you find particularly

475

: 00:31:38

helpful so that you can help others

and encourage others around your table.

476

: 00:31:43

Secondly, we take for granted the

teaching of the Trinity because

477

: 00:31:47

we are so accustomed to it.

478

: 00:31:49

Do we risk being so familiar with

scripture that it loses its sense of awe?

479

: 00:31:55

How can we prevent this?

480

: 00:31:58

And then thirdly, who in the

past invested in you so that you

481

: 00:32:02

can be mature in faith today?

482

: 00:32:04

Who are you passing faith on to, so that

they likewise can grow in the faith?

483

: 00:32:09

And that question comes from not only

the catacombs of passing that faith

484

: 00:32:14

on, where young and old would meet,

but also in what has been given to

485

: 00:32:17

Timothy, so that he could guard that

deposit, so that it would be passed

486

: 00:32:22

on to the generations after him, as we

have seen with Ignatius and Polycarp.

487

: 00:32:28

So let me pray as we finish this

part of our evening and then let

488

: 00:32:31

you get to think about these things.

489

: 00:32:34

Our Father God, we thank you

for your goodness and how you

490

: 00:32:38

have preserved your church.

491

: 00:32:39

And in many times it looked as if the

church was going to fall, but you have

492

: 00:32:44

promised that it will not because you

will build your church and not even the

493

: 00:32:48

gates of hell will prevail against it.

494

: 00:32:51

So Father, we thank you that we do not

stand on our own strength and forgive

495

: 00:32:55

us when we, when we sometimes perhaps

do and think that we know better.

496

: 00:33:01

Father, may we be a church and a

people who stand firm on Christ and

497

: 00:33:06

know that He is the one who builds us.

498

: 00:33:08

He is the one who, who calls sinners

to repentance, who calls us believers

499

: 00:33:15

to grow and mature in faith and be

confident in faith so that like the

500

: 00:33:20

generations that have gone before us.

501

: 00:33:22

We will not only guard the deposit,

but we will meet, and we will share,

502

: 00:33:27

and we will see lives won for Christ.

503

: 00:33:30

So be with us as we talk about

these things, and not just talk

504

: 00:33:33

about them, but live them out,

and we ask it in Jesus name.

505

: 00:33:38

Amen.