In this sermon from our series, "The Word Made Flesh: Exploring the Life and Light of Christ in the Gospel of John", we begin John 6 by considering the context surrounding the feeding of the five thousand. As great multitudes follow Jesus because of the signs He performed, we are reminded that true faith does not demand signs in unbelief, but receives the signs God gives as witnesses to Christ and His saving work.

There is a growing hunger among many Christians for something deeper than modern evangelical minimalism. Many are tired of shallow worship, thin doctrine, personality-driven ministry, religious entertainment, and the constant reinvention of Christianity according to the trends of the age.

At Holy Trinity Reformed Church, when we speak of Protestant Traditionalism, or Pro Trad, we are not trying to invent a new movement, create a new label for novelty’s sake, or retreat into mere nostalgia. We are giving language to something older, deeper, and more biblical than much of modern Christianity has remembered.

Mooresville, Indiana does not need another shallow expression of modern Christianity. We do not need another religious program built upon entertainment, personality, novelty, or the passing trends of the age. What we need is far older, deeper, stronger, and more enduring. We need to rediscover, recover, and rebuild the ancient faith once for all delivered to the saints.

Christianity is not an individualistic spirituality detached from Christ’s Church. To belong to Christ is to be gathered into His household, joined to His people, and built together with the saints upon the foundation He Himself has laid. Those who remain outside the visible fellowship of the Church are not living in the fullness of what Christ has established for His people.

The Church is not a man-made option for especially serious Christians. She is the household of God, the commonwealth of the saints, and the holy temple in which God dwells by His Spirit. Christ Himself is the chief cornerstone; the apostles and prophets form the foundation; and every believer is called to be fitted together with the people of God.

Therefore, do not be deceived by a private, isolated, and self-directed version of Christianity. Christ does not save us into spiritual homelessness. He brings us from being strangers and foreigners into citizenship, household, communion, worship, discipline, doctrine, and life together with His saints.

As the Apostle Paul writes:

Come home to the Church. Enter the household of God. Be built together with the saints in Christ. Because Christ is building a temple, not scattering stones.