The Apostles' Creed - Jesus (part 2)

Today we continue our look at Jesus in the Apostles’ Creed by looking at some of the names and titles given to him that define who he is and what he has done.  The first name we see is actually the name Jesus.  We often take this for granted because it was what people called him but the name Jesus has a meaning.  In Hebrew, Jesus is Yeshua which comes from the word rescue or deliver.  So Jesus’ name means deliverer and from his birth we are told that Jesus came to deliver people from sin.  Matthew 1:20-21.

The angels proclaimed the same thing to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born.  Luke 2:10-11.  So from the name of Jesus we get one of the titles we give to him – Savior.  Jesus came to be our Savior and to save us from sin.  So let’s talk about sin.

The word sin is hamartia which means to miss the mark.  If sin means we miss the mark in our lives then we have to ask ourselves – what is the mark?  What is this path we are to follow or the standard that we fail we live up to?  In a word this path or mark is LOVE.  We are to love God and love others.  In the Old Testament the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God will all your heart and soul and mind and strength and then Jesus added one more mark for us to hit – love your neighbor as yourself.

Loving God and loving others is the standard we are to live up to and sin means we fail to hit that mark.  Sin is anything we do in thought, word and deed that is inconsistent with our love for God and others.  Sin is also all the ways we don’t love in thought, word and deed.  There is the sin of commission – all the sins we commit but there is also the sin of omission – all the things we fail to do.

I don’t need to tell you about the reality of sin our world – we see it all around us.  War, terrorism, poverty, injustice and our deep political divide and they way we speak to and treat one another are things we see every day that reflect our failure to hit the mark.  We see sin in the world around us but we also know the reality of sin in us.  We experience the pain of those who have sinned against us.
We know the pain of hurtful words and actions but we also know that we are guilty of hurtful words and actions.  We think and say and do things that we know fail to show God’s love and compassion for others.  Our failure to hit the mark of love has an impact on us and others and keeps the fullness of God’s love and power from shaping our world.

Sin is a fundamental part of the human condition and it is an inherent characteristic in all our lives – we might call this original sin, but God does not leave us in this condition.  Jesus came to be a deliverer and to save us from our sin, which is what his very name suggests.  As a savior, Jesus did not come to just tell us over and over again that we are forgiven – there is more to it.  Jesus came to deliver us from our sinful lives and lead us into a new life – the life God wants for us

In the Old Testament, Moses was a type of savior because he was the great deliverer.  Moses helped deliver God’s people from the slavery they experience in Egypt and he led them into a new life in the Promised Land.  In many ways, the work of Moses as a deliverer and savior points us to the work of Jesus.  Jesus delivers us from the slavery of sin which means that he doesn’t just tell us we are forgiven but he leads us from that life of sin into a life of freedom from sin.  This doesn’t happen all at once.  Israel wasn’t transported instantly from slavery to freedom, Egypt to the Promised Land, they had to make a long journey into that new life and the same is true for us.  God works to set us free from sin but it is a long journey, a lifelong journey of conversion that we call sanctification.

Sanctification comes from the word sanctify which means to be made holy.  We are not made holy by our own good deeds and hard work, it is God’s grace and power that enables us to live more in line with the life of Jesus.  On our own we cannot love God and others as fully as we would want, but with God’s grace and strength working in us – we can do far more than we thought possible.  So it is God who saves us from our sin – both forgiving our failure, delivering us into a new life an then giving us the strength to live that life.

Salvation and sanctification, to be forgiven and made holy restores our relationship with God.  While sin separates us from God, it is Jesus who reconciles us to God and this saving work is known at the Atonement.  The best way to understand the meaning of this word is to break it down this way: At-one-ment.  How does Jesus’ forgiveness and grace make us one with God?  If sin is missing the mark so we are separated from God – how does the work of Jesus – especially his work on the cross – make us one with God again?

The traditional view of this is known as Substitutionary Atonement.  Jesus was the substitute for us, he paid the price for our sin.  Romans 3:25 - God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith.  And look at 2 Corinthians 5:21.  God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

While this view is certainly what the Bible points to and is the image the early church used to talk about how God saves us, it is not the only idea or image we have for the atonement.  Some see the death of Jesus not as a substitute for us but as an example for us of how much God loves us.  Here the focus isn’t on God needing justice as much as God wanting to show mercy.  God chose to die and rise again in the person of Jesus to show us just how much he loves us and to show us that it is the power of God’s love that forgives and changes us.

Another idea is that the death of Jesus was to teach us about the destructive power of sin and our need to take sin seriously.  The death of Jesus shows us how real and powerful sin is and it shows us the consequences of what happens when we allow sin to continue in our lives and the resurrection teaches us the power of God’s love to confront and overcome sin.  

Still others see the death of Jesus as an invitation for us to live a life of sacrifice and service as a means of following God.  When we follow the example of Jesus on the cross and give ourselves sacrificially we are forgiven and drawn closer to God.  Here Jesus isn’t a substitute for us but an invitation for us to live faithfully.

The truth is that exactly how God saves us through the death and resurrection of Jesus and how we are made one with God and brought back into a right relationship with God is not clear, but we believe it happens when we choose to believe in Jesus as our Savior.

There are two final titles given to Jesus that we need to consider.  The first is from the last line in this section on Jesus that says he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.  Now the word quick is simply an old English word that means living or alive, so Jesus will return to be the final judge of all people, both the those alive when he returns and those who have died.  Our understanding that Jesus is the final judge finds its roots in John 5:22 and John 5:27.  And the early church affirmed this idea in Acts 17:31.

So Jesus is the one who will judge, but let’s remember that he is also the one who saves at the time of judgment.  When our faith is in Christ we don’t need to fear this coming judgement – we can find confidence and peace because of God’s love for us seen in Jesus.

Now the reason that Jesus is the judge is because as the creed states Jesus is Christ and Lord.  We believe in Jesus Christ, his only son our Lord.  The word Christ means anointed one or a ruler chosen by God and a Lord is one who has authority to rule in both the world and our lives.  When we say that Jesus is our Lord we are saying that we are willing to follow where he leads us and live the way he taught us and showed us.  Jesus is Lord because Jesus is God in the flesh and in his letter to the Colossians, Paul shares with us the reasons we should call Jesus is Lord.  Colossians 1:15-23.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

During his life, Jesus showed us how he was truly the Lord of all things in heaven and on earth when he performed miracles and healed the sick.  Jesus spoke and acted with authority so we need to allow Jesus to speak with this same authority to our hearts and direct our lives.  To confess Jesus as Lord is not something we should take lightly but something we should do with great humility and gratitude for all God has done for us and with a clear understanding of the commitment we are making to the life Jesus called us to.  For the disciples and many others, making Jesus Lord of their lives meant radical change.  Matthew the tax collector left his business behind.  Prostitutes got up and moved forth to live a new life.  Fishermen dropped their nets.  Paul left behind a life of religious rules to embrace a relationship of love and grace.  Making Jesus Lord of our lives always calls for us to follow Jesus and start walking in some new ways and to make some changes in how we think, speak and act.

Sometimes people struggle to call Jesus Lord because the image of a Lord is not always a good one.  We think of people who rule over others with cruel intentions and with an iron fist, but Jesus is not a Lord like we might see in the world – Jesus is a Lord who reigns in love.  Just as Jesus will judge with grace and compassion, so will He be a Lord who rules in love.

In many ways the Apostles’ Creed just scratches the surface of what we know about Jesus.  It doesn’t answer all our questions and in some ways it even raises questions for us, but the creed points us in the right direction.  Jesus is the one who saves us, he is the anointed ruler, the Christ, who has come to rule over us with love and grace and he is the one who will come to be the final judge.  As we close this section of the creed on Jesus, let me share what we believe is one of the earliest hymns of the church.  Like the creed, this hymn doesn’t answer all our questions about Jesus but it does point us in the right direction.   It is also a hymn that contains much of the same material about Jesus that we see in the creed.  Jesus is the son of God, the fullness of God in this world whose death and resurrection brings us new life.

Philippians 2:5-11
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very natureof a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.



Next Steps
The Apostles’ Creed – Jesus (part 2)

Jesus Our Savior
1. Jesus delivers us from sin.  The word sin means to miss the mark.  In what ways do you miss the mark of LOVE that God calls us to embrace?  Ask God for forgiveness.

2. Jesus also delivers us to a new life.  In what ways can God’s strength help you hit the mark of LOVE?
• Identify 2 specific areas in your life where LOVE for God and others is needed.
• What can you do this week to LOVE?

3.  Through Jesus we are forgiven and made at-one with God.  Reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus and identify how this act brings you forgiveness and new life.
• How is this act an example of God’s love for you?
• Thank God for accepting all of Christ’s work on your behalf.

Jesus Our Lord
1. In what ways would you say that Jesus is already the Lord of your life?  What specific teachings of Jesus do you follow?  How is the example of Jesus seen in your life?

2. What area of your life do you need Jesus to step in with his grace, power and authority to be Lord?
• What one change do you need to make in order for people to see Jesus more clearly in you?

The Christ Hymn
Read Philippians 2:5-11.  What does this hymn teach us about Jesus?

Recite this part of the creed and continue to ask God for the wisdom to understand more fully who Jesus is.

Apostles' Creed - Jesus (part 1)

Line for line and word for word, the Apostles’ Creed talks more about Jesus than anything else.  Depending on how you break it down, God the Father gets two lines in the creed and the Holy Spirit gets one, but Jesus gets 10.  From the creed we learn about the life of Jesus, the work of Jesus and at least one title given to him, our Lord.  Because there is so much here, we are going to take two weeks to explore what the creed tells us about Jesus and break it down by first looking at the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and then next week we will explore the titles given to Him as Savior and Lord.  What the first line clearly states is that we believe Jesus is God’s only son.

Claiming Jesus to be the Son of God sets us apart from much of the world who believes in Jesus but would just call him a good teacher, prophet or religious reformer.  Most of the world believes there was a man named Jesus who lived at the beginning of the first century, but we differ on what we believe about this man.  Most of the world sees Jesus as a man who said and did some great things, but as Christians, we believe that Jesus was truly the only son of God.

All that we know about Jesus comes from one source – the Bible.  There are a few non biblical sources from the time of Jesus that mention a man named Jesus who was a religious leader that was crucified, but all the details we have about Jesus come from the Bible.  While some people have a hard time believing the Bible can be accurate and trusted, there are actually many good reasons to believe the Bible.

The 4 gospels and all of the New Testament writings have been dated to the last half of the first century, from about 50-95 AD, which means they were all written by eyewitnesses or contemporaries of Jesus.  This is not history written hundreds of years later.  Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels all share some of the same source material which means that there was some kind of document about the life of Jesus that was written down even before the gospels were compiled.  This source material was gathered in the years following Jesus’ death and resurrection.

All of the New Testament writings also came under great scrutiny during the first two centuries and the material that was seen as the most accurate and sound historically and theologically was included while others writings that didn’t line up with the eyewitness testimony of Jesus or didn’t affirm the view of God set out for us by Jesus, was set off to the side.  Great care was given to make sure the person and message of Jesus was shared accurately and passed on with as much integrity as possible.  What we have in the Bible is trustworthy and true.  We might not be able to call it a book of history the way we think of history, because people didn’t write that way, but it is no less accurate, historical and trustworthy.

So what the creed tells us about Jesus is material we gather from the gospels and the early letters to the churches and it outlines for us the life of Jesus as God’s only son.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, which is why he is the son of God and not the son of Joseph.  He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried and then the third day he rose from the dead.  All of this we learn from the New Testament.

So let’s start with the birth of Jesus.  The creed tells us he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  This information comes to us from Luke 1 where we are told that an angel of the Lord came to Mary and said, Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.  The angel went on to say to Mary, You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be called the Son of the Most High God.  When Mary asked how this could be since she was a virgin, the angel said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

So Jesus had an earthly mother but a heavenly father.  Jesus was both human and divine.  God in the flesh.  We call this the incarnation which truly sets Jesus apart from the rest of creation.  Jesus was fully human.  He was a man walking around Israel during the early part of the first century, but we also believe that Jesus was fully God.  One of the most amazing aspects of the incarnation is to think that God loved us enough to come and be one of us.  God choose to come in human form, limiting himself in so many ways so he could understand the fullness of our lives.  The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way like we are but because he was God, he was without sin.  God came to be one of us in order to reveal himself to us and to show us his love and our value.

This idea of a virgin birth is a struggle for many people to accept because we think it just isn’t possible and yet we are learning more and more amazing things about God’s creation that should open our mind to this possibility not close it.  A few years ago Jay Stauffer, a friend of neighbor of Greg and Gail Spotts, spoke at Young at Heart about his work with fish in Malawi.  He told us about a species of fish that can change their gender if needed in order to fertilize eggs.  If there weren’t enough males in the area, some of the females will become males so they could fertilize the eggs.  I was amazed when I heard this and immediately thought that if God could do something like this then God could somehow bring a child into this world through a young virgin girl.

In God’s creation there is also something known as parthenogenesis which is the creation of life from an unfertilized egg.  It is seen in some fish, birds and reptiles.  If that is already possible in part of our creation – is it really a stretch for us to think that God could do this in a human being?  While this certainly does not prove that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, it does help open our minds to the idea that if God can do this in our world then he could do it a young girl from Nazareth 2,000 years ago.

What the story of the virgin birth is really trying to communicate is that Jesus was unique in all of human history because he was the only son of God.  Jesus had a unique connection with God and as God’s son Jesus had the ability to do things that no other person could do.  Jesus could heal people and restore life.  Jesus had power over nature so could perform all kinds of miracles and as God, Jesus could forgive sin.  None of these things are possible if Jesus is just a man, but the incarnation tells us Jesus was not just a man but the very son of God.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

The next part of Jesus’ life the creed focuses on is his suffering and death.  Stating that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate puts him into a specific time and place and culture.  Jesus lived in what we know today as Israel during the first century and his teaching and ministry came under scrutiny by the religious leaders.  The reforms Jesus talked about challenged the order of the day to the point where those in power worked through the political system to have Jesus killed.  Jesus was betrayed by the religious leaders and handed over to Pontius Pilate who was the Roman authority who could pronounce a death sentence for Jesus.

It is the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke which detail for us the suffering Jesus endured at the end of his life and with great unity and clarity they tell us about the arrest, trial, crucifixion and death of Jesus.  If there is one historical truth that the world would all agree to it would be that there was a man named Jesus who lived about 30AD and was crucified in Jerusalem.  The official Roman historian of the day, Flavius Josephus, affirms this to be true.

What sets us apart from the rest of the world is not that we believe Jesus lived and died but that we believe three days later he rose from the dead.  Next week we will talk more about what we believe the death and resurrection of Jesus means for us, but today let’s just say that we believe there was a resurrection which proclaimed the victory of life over death and the power of love over all things.  What sets us apart from other major religious views is that we believe that Jesus rose from the grave.

So what assurance do we have that this is true?  What confidence do we have that what the Bible says about the resurrection is true?  In a classic book on the resurrection called The Resurrection Factor, Josh McDowell helps us find confidence in the truth of the resurrection by exploring all the theories that people have come up with to debunk the resurrection of Jesus.  These theories might all be called fake news today and they all center on explaining how the tomb of Jesus could be empty.  Everyone agrees Jesus died, but then the tomb was found empty.  If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, than how do we account for the empty tomb?

First there is what is known as the Swoon Theory.  Here the idea is that Jesus didn’t really die but just passed out on the cross and then was laid in a cool tomb where he later revived and then walked away.  The problem with this is that the Romans were experts at crucifixion and they would not have taken anyone off the cross without making sure they were dead.  Not only was this their job, but if they didn’t do it right – they would be killed.  So no one got off the cross alive.

Another suggestion is that the disciple went to the wrong tomb.  Because they were so overcome with grief, the disciples simply went to the wrong tomb when they went looking for the body of Jesus to prepare for its final burial.  Of course the problem is that others who wanted to show that Jesus had died would have gone to the right tomb and produced his body, which they never did.

Another idea that very early was put forth was that the disciples stole Jesus’ body.  First, we are told that the tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers so the possibility of the disciples being able to steal the body was slim to none, but the biggest problem with this is that if the disciples stole the body of Jesus then everything they did after that was for a lie.  Many of the disciples died because they refused to back down from this claim.  At some point someone would have given up the lie and told the truth and produced the body.

This leads to a fourth theory which says the religious leaders or Roman officials moved Jesus’ body so the disciples wouldn’t steal it.  Of course if this was true then once the story of Jesus’ resurrection started to take off, the religious leaders or Roman officials could have produced the body and silenced everyone.  That never happened because they never moved the body.  The tomb was empty because on the third day Jesus rose from the grave.

One of the most compelling reasons to believe in the resurrection actually comes from the disciples whose faith and trust in the risen Jesus was so strong that it forever changed their lives and through them the world.  The disciples saw Jesus alive many times after the resurrection and their testimony has brought hope and healing to the world.  As people put their faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, they experience not only forgiveness of sin but the power to live a new life.  Faith in the resurrection brings hope that our world can be changed and that it will someday be set right.  The new life of the disciples and the followers of Jesus in every generation have brought a hope and power that has changed our world.

When we choose to believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection we open ourselves up to receive the power of God which then enables us to live with God’s purpose and passion and power.  What we believe about Jesus shapes our lives because if Jesus is the son of God who has power over death then our faith and trust in him opens the door for us experience that power and live differently.

Believing in the resurrection is a choice, but it is a choice we make based on solid facts and conclusions and a choice that affirms the type of God we believe in.  Jesus affirms that we believe in God the father, almighty, creator of heavens and earth and a God who loves us so much that he came to dwell among us.  What we believe about Jesus set us apart in the world and shapes not just our views about God but the choices we make and the way we live.  Affirming this part of the creed means we now need to follow the example of Christ and make love and sacrifice the guiding principles of our lives.  These are not just words we affirm but reveal to us a way of living that we commit to following.

 
Next Steps
The Apostles’ Creed – Jesus (part 1)

1.  The Apostles’ Creed tells us that Jesus was
• Conceived by the Holy Spirit
• Born of the Virgin Mary
• Suffered under Pontius Pilate
• Was crucified, dead and buried
• On the third day he rose from the dead
Which of these things is the most difficult for you to believe and why?

2. The incarnation tells us that Jesus was fully God and fully human.  God came to dwell among us and be one of us.
• What does this tell you about the nature and character of God and his love for us?
• In what way can you walk in the shoes of someone else and show them love, forgiveness and support?

3.  What part of Jesus’ life gives you confidence and assurance that Jesus was God’s only son?  (His teaching, miracles, care for people, love for enemies…)

4.  In order to say that the resurrection of Jesus was “fake news”, people came up with the following theories:
• Jesus didn’t die but just passed out on the cross and then revived in the cool tomb
• The disciples went to the wrong tomb
• The disciples stole Jesus’ body
• The religious leaders or Roman officials moved Jesus’ body
How can you prove these theories to be wrong using the witness of the Bible, common sense and reason?

5. Identify the specific ways your life is different because you choose to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Apostles' Creed - God

I was very fortunate to grow up along the coast in CT.  My grandmother had a house right on Long Island Sound where we lived for 4 years and where I spent as much time as I could.  I grew up seeing the beauty of the ocean, the work of the tides and the power of the waves.  I was able to experience the wonder of nature all around me and the vastness of the universe when I looked up into the dark skies at night.  Looking at the amazing world around me, I never really doubted that there was a God but there are those who look around at the world and question how there can be a God.

There are people who look at the world and see poverty, injustice and the inhuman ways we treat people and ask how there can be any kind of loving and intelligent being behind it all.  When those who claim to believe in God are the ones who participate in the senseless violence and injustice we see, it makes believing in God that much more difficult for many.  According to the Pew Research Center the number of people who do not believe there is a God has almost doubled in recent years and the number of young people who do not believe there is a God continues to grow.

So when the Apostles’ Creed starts by saying, I believe in God… we are already beginning to separate ourselves from many others.  Believing that there is a God is not a given in our world and there is no scientific proof that God exists.  For centuries people have been trying to come up with some kind of evidence for God but we have none.  Some people try to use science to prove God is real while others use science to prove God is not real and the truth is that science will never settle the question for either side.  Adam Hamilton has said, The question of God is unlikely to be resolved by science.  Theists and atheists can look at the same data and reach different conclusions.

Some people have read Darwin’s theory of evolution and seen how science and the natural order can explain the existence and variety of life in this world without the need for God while others have seen in Darwin’s work gaping holes that can not be explained by anything other than God.  Some scientists can explain the beginning of life as the coming together of a variety of forces and elements at just the time and place in some sort of Big Bang while others have said that the probability of elements coming together by chance to create life is about 1 in 10 to the 40,000 power – which astronomer Fred Hoyle said would be similar to the chances of a gale force wind blowing through a junk yard and spontaneously assembling a Boeing 747.  Or as someone else has said; it would be like this cocoa, flour, sugar, eggs and oil assembling itself into a chocolate cake.

While in many ways the created world in which we live is the best evidence we have for God, there will always be those who will find some kind of natural explanation that satisfies their minds.  So believing in God can not be proved which means that believing in God is always a choice of our faith.  We choose to believe in that which we can not see.  Once we make this choice, however, God helps us see and experience more of himself so that our faith is made more certain.

Now the Apostles’ Creed doesn’t just tell us about the existence of God, it points us to the kind of God who exists, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.  The God we believe in and trust is the God who in wisdom and power created all things but who is also the God who loves and has a relationship with all that he created.  God is our father.  For many of us it is by looking at the created world and our own personal connection with God that we are convinced about the truth of God.

Look at Psalm 19:1-4.  For those who are looking, the created order declares the work of God.  We hear the same thing in Romans 1:20.  God speaks through his creation and proclaims his power, creative spirit and love.  When we look at the glory of a sunset or the intricate beauty of a flower we can see the handiwork of God.  When we see the changing seasons or the moons gravitational effect which creates the tides, we see the amazing way God’s creation fits together so perfectly which reveals to us the intellect and wisdom of God.

Our faith in God can be strengthened and nurtured by how we look at creation, but it can also be formed by how we look at ourselves. Many people believe in God because they believe their entire existence points to something larger than themselves.  When I was a child growing up at the beach we lived far enough away from town and the local nuclear power plant (no joke) that it was very dark,  so I could see a lot of stars and even the faintest hint of the milky way.  I remember thinking how vast the universe was and how small I was and that feeling of insignificance didn’t push me from God it drew me in.  We hear something like this in Psalm 8:3-5.  The God who created the vast world gave birth to me as well.

Our faith and belief in God is also given birth and shaped by the experiences we have of God.  As a father or parent, God does not create and then walk away, God is by our side.  I believe in God because there are countless times when I have felt God’s presence and known beyond any doubt that God was with me.  Feeling loved and accepted and cared for by my home church, the people of God, was evidence of God’s reality.  Having God’s word come alive as I read it was evidence of God’s presence and guidance in my life.  Hearing God’s voice and feeling God’s joy, forgiveness, love and power all helped strength my belief in God the creator of the world and father of me.

Many times it is looking back that I have most clearly see the hand of God at work in my life.  The summer I worked in Yellowstone National Park I was supposed to work in area known as Lake.  When I arrived I was told I was going to work in Grant Village.  I was concerned because my ministry assignment was in the Lake area and I wasn’t sure what I would do.  The ministry team told me to just go work in Grant Village and hook up with the ministry people there - which I did.  Working with the team in Grant Village was one of the most profound experiences of my life.  I know it was God’s hand that worked it out for me to be there.

At the end of the summer I had to write an evaluation of my ministry and the verse that came to life for me was Romans 8:28.  God works for the good in all things for those who love Christ Jesus and are called according to his purpose.  God took the changing circumstance of that summer and put me right where he wanted me.  Some might have just said it was a coincidence or a lucky break but for me it was further proof that there was a God who created me and who loved me.  God knew what I needed and where I need to be and God moved things around to get me there.  All of this has helped me be able to say, I believe in God the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

Why do you believe in God?  What have you seen or experienced in life that has helped you come to know and see the reality of God?  What helps you see God at work in your life and in the world and what gives you the assurance and conviction that God is real when you can’t see God?  It is important to identify these things because faith in God isn’t just something we should affirm it needs to be something we share.  Affirming our faith is important but are we willing to pass on this faith and help others see and experience the God who not only created them but loves them deeply.

Affirming our belief in God also needs to shape and direct how we live, all of our words, attitudes and actions.  The Apostles’ Creed is not just a statement of faith it needs to be the set of beliefs that guide what we say and do.  When we believe in God the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth it immediately changes our worldview.  If there is a God who created all things, then our place in the world changes.  No longer are we at the center of the world or even the center of our lives because we are not our own.  We are no longer the creator of our lives we are the creation.  As science and medicine continues to push the limits on creating life and cloning parts of the body, what does it mean to say that God is the maker and creator and that God is the father of all life?  There is a humility that comes when we believe in God and this is important for us to cling to in our world.  It is this humility that helps keep us from getting too proud and arrogant.

Yet as small and insignificant as we are – the God who created the world also created us then revealed himself to us.  In the Old Testament God revealed himself to Moses and shared with Moses his name - I AM.  God is the one who was before all things and created all things.  God is truly I AM.  In the New Testament, Jesus went even further in revealing God to us by telling us to call God, father.  If God is our father, then that makes us God’s children which means that we have value, worth and dignity.  God as our father means that all human beings have value, worth and dignity which shapes how we see people and how we treat people.  When we begin to see the image of God in ourselves and others, in shapes our attitude and actions.  

Because God values all life we are not to demean others or put them down.  If God is our father than all human beings are our brothers and sisters and part of our family.  If we are going to affirm that God is our father then there is no room for insults, bigotry, racism or sexism.  There is no room for placing ourselves above anyone else.  If God is the father of all then we need to learn how to do justice, practice loving kindness and overcome evil with good.  The golden rule of loving others becomes the guiding principle of our relationships because God is our father and we have been created in God’s image.

Believing in God as the creator of the world also gives direction to how we are to care for the world in which we live.  Let’s go back to Psalm 8:5-8.  God calls us to rule over all of creation which means that we are really stewards of creation.  A steward is a person who uses someone else’s resources wisely.  God has called us to care for the world which means we need to take seriously environmental issues and how to care for the world wisely.  Many people see 1970 as the beginning of the modern environmental movement with the formation of the first earth day.  It was around that time in school that we began to talk seriously about the R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle.

No matter what you may think of the Paris accords or man made climate change, being a Christian means taking seriously the call to care for the creation because this is not our world – it is God’s and we have been called to care for faithfully.  While we can hold vastly different views on things like our use of fossil fuels and alternative sources of energy, we all will be called to give an account of how we cared for God’s creation.  God is the creator and told us to rule over the creation with wisdom and to make sure we are using it all according to God’s will and purpose.

If we believe in the God that the Bible reveals to us, then we also know that we are never alone and that we are never without hope and help.  The Bible tells that God is with us, that God knows our lives intimately and that God is present to help us.  This is part of what Jesus tells us in his sermon on the mount.  Matthew 6:25-33.  As our father, God knows what we need and God will provide all that we need so we don’t need to worry.  The more we believe in God and trust God the more confident we become God the almighty is with us.

We can’t prove that God is real – it is a choice we make, it is a step of faith for us to say, I believe in God the father almighty, make of heaven and earth.  The more we affirm this and trust this, the more our eyes and hearts and minds and will be open to experiencing God.  Believing in God changes our lives and our destinies.  It keeps us humble and yet fills us with power.  It shapes our relationships and helps us work for peace and justice.  Believing in God reminds us that this world is not ours and yet we are called to rule over it with respect and care as if it belonged to us.

It is a simple statement that begins the Apostles’ and yet it is a profound statement of our faith that has huge implications on our lives and relationships and our place in this world.  Would you stand and join me as we affirm our faith together with the Apostles’ Creed.

 
Next Steps
Apostles’ Creed – God

1.  Since the existence of God cannot be proved, identify the reasons you choose to believe in God.
• How has the faith of others helped you believe in God?
• How can you help others believe in God?


2.  The Apostles’ Creed identifies God as both parent and creator.  What other ways might you describe God?  How do all of these words add to your understanding of who God is?


3.  Read Psalm 19:1-4 and Romans 1:20.   In what ways have you seen and experienced God through the power and wonder of creation?  What parts of creation speak most clearly to you about the existence of God?  How does creation point to God’s purpose and plan?


4.  God is described as our father (parent).
• What does this image tell us about God?
• What does this image tell us about us?
• How does this image shape and direct our relationship with God and others?


5.  If God is the creator of heaven and earth then we are the stewards of God’s creation.  In what ways can you more faithfully and intentionally care for God’s creation?  What specific steps can you take this week to be a better steward of all the earth’s resources?

The Apostles' Creed - I Believe

Today we are beginning a series looking at one of the foundations of our Christian faith – The Apostle’s Creed.  This creed is a statement of our faith that helps to outline what it is we believe about God.   The first word of the Creed in Latin is Credo which means: I Believe.

Now there are many things that we believe; some things are trivial and some things are eternal.  For example, I might say that I believe MSU is going to win the Big Ten Football title this year.  Now that belief is probably more my hope and desire than it is a fact and this belief might not be shared by many of you here.  So sometimes what we say we believe is really just an expression of our preference, but some beliefs go much deeper, like our social and political beliefs.

Political beliefs and passions run deep and people hold many different views.  I might say I believe smaller government is better than a larger bureaucracy or I might say I believe that the government is better equipped to manage more things in our society.  Our political beliefs are varied and they run deep in our lives and they might shape our decisions and actions a little more profoundly than what sports team we like, but they are still just statements of what we think is the best or the right way to live.

Then there are our religious beliefs.  These are the foundational truths we believe about God, ourselves and the world in which we live that cause us to live a certain way.  While we might see our beliefs as eternal truths that shape and guide our lives, the reality is that we cannot prove these beliefs which mean that things like Apostles’ Creed are really just statements of our faith.  The Bible says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen.  And so our religious beliefs are what we are sure and certain of but they cannot be seen or proved.

So when we start the Apostles’ Creed by saying, I believe, it is important for us to think about what we are affirming.  Is this just a statement of our preference or our convictions?  Is this what we think might be a better way to live or is this belief the one true way to know and experience God?  My hope is that the more we study this creed and the God it points to - the more we will be able to say with boldness, courage and certainty that this is what we believe - what we believe to be true and eternal for all the world.  

Before we look at the specifics of the creed, let’s think about where our beliefs actually come from and how they are formed and nurtured in our lives.  Why do you believe in God?  Where did your personal religious beliefs come from?  There is not one answer to this because our beliefs come from many different places but the most important factor in forming our beliefs is our family.

Our family has a huge impact on what we believe about all kinds of things from sports to religion.  Through our families we are exposed to the preferences, values and world views of our parents and their beliefs shape us.  When our parents value and believe in something, we tend to feel the same way.  My parents valued hard work and service and I wasn’t just told that those things were good, I was shown this to be true.  I could see in my parents a love of service that enriched their lives so I have come to believe that serving and loving others is important and an expression of faith.  

The importance of the family on our religious beliefs cannot be understated.  God created us to be in families and this was the place where we would be nurtured, cared for and formed and this was the place where we were to be educated in all things – including religion.  Religion was to be taught first and foremost in the family.  Long before there were churches, faith and trust in God was shared and taught through the family.  Parents were to teach their children about God.  Parents were to instruct their children in the way of faith.  In many ways the worship life of the church was to take place in the home with parents as the leaders.  Right after God gave the 10 Commandments to the people He said this, Deuteronomy 11:18-21.

In Proverbs 22:6 it says Train up a child in the way he should go.  Even when he is old he will not depart from it.  God created families to be the primary place where faith in God was learned
Since the most important people in the faith development of children are parents and grandparents, our faith needs to be talked about and lived out in our homes.  It’s not always easy for us to have spiritual conversations with our children and teens or model prayer and worship, study and service – but if passing on our faith to the next generation is important and if it is going to happen then we need to find ways to share our faith and religious beliefs with our children.

Beyond our families, our beliefs are also influence by friends.  While the foundation of my faith and trust in God came from my parents and family, it was friends and mentors I met along the way that also helped my faith grow.  One friend I met through Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship was very influential in my faith because he was the one who helped show me what it looked like to follow Jesus.  Dave was a mentor and friend who walked with me in so many ways and it was through his life, witness and love that I learned what it meant to trust and walk with Jesus.

It is Jesus who shows us the importance of friendships in sharing and strengthening faith.  The primary ministry of Jesus was not teaching, preaching or performing miracles, the primary ministry of Jesus was to walk with his disciples and help them believe in God and live into that faith and trust.  God did not send Jesus to develop a program to educate people about God or equip them to serve God, Jesus came to walk with people so that they could experience God and grow closer to God through that relationship.  The model of Jesus is still an important model for us to follow.  While programs and activities are important, there is nothing that deepens our faith more than a personal relationship with someone who can genuinely love us and encourage us to follow Jesus.

Think about your personal faith?  Can you name the people who have been influential in your own personal beliefs?  Can you name the people who helped shape who you are?  My guess is that most of us have been influenced more by people than by programs.
 
This is not to say that education through things like Sunday School, Bible Studies, VBS and small groups is not important – they are very important.  Education plays a big part in what we believe.  Many of our social, political, economic and religious beliefs have been shaped by what we have learned in school, church and from others.  Learning about God is important and that is why we are going to take some time these next few weeks to learn what it is we believe about God and Jesus and ourselves.

Families, friends and educational opportunities all shape our beliefs, but so does our experiences.  When we experience the majesty and wonder of God in creation, it deepens our view of God as creator.  When we experience the freedom that comes when we accept God’s forgiveness or when we forgive someone else, it helps us understand the power and importance of grace in our lives.  When we see injustice and feel compelled to do something and then feel the power of God at work in us when we act – we understand more fully the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

Since experiences shape our beliefs we need to put ourselves in places where we can experience God.  We need take part in worship, fellowship, study, prayer and service so that we can experience God and the kingdom of God because it will be those experiences that will strength what it is we believe. While we can learn everything there is to know about the church – it will always be lacking until we actually find ourselves as part of the church.

God uses all these different ways to help us believe.  Family, friends, education and experiences are all important ways we learn and grow and deepen our faith and all of these things need to be part of our journey through this series on the Apostles’ Creed.

So let’s look at the creed.  The earliest mention of this statement of faith is from the fourth century.  In a letter dated in 390 AD we hear about a document called the Symbol of the Apostles or the Old Roman Symbol.  Here is what it said:

I believe in God the Father almighty;
and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord,
Who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried,
on the third day rose again from the dead,
ascended to heaven,
sits at the right hand of the Father,
whence He will come to judge the living and the dead;
and in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Church,
the remission of sins,
the resurrection of the flesh
the life everlasting.

As you can see, this document contains much of what we call the Apostles’ Creed.  Since this finished statement of faith was included in a letter dated at the end of the fourth century, we know that for decades before this the early Christians had been working to figure out what it is they believed about God.  The life, death, resurrection and teaching of Jesus challenged many of the traditional views of God held by both Jews and Gentiles and so the followers of Jesus worked hard to outline and clarify what it meant to trust and believe in Jesus and this is one of the first documents they produced.

Legend says that each apostle gave one line of this creed, which is why we call it the Apostles’ Creed, but there is no evidence to back this up.  While the Apostles’ themselves may not have given us this creed line by line, it certainly expresses the faith of the Apostles’ and it is this creed that became the foundation on which all other creeds and much of the teaching of the church has been built.  Today the Apostles’ Creed continues to outline for us the foundation of what it is we believe as followers of Jesus.

It is important for us to see that the creed does not try to answer every theological question we have about God, Jesus, ourselves, the world in which we live and our eternal destinies.  The creed was not meant to answer all our questions but provide a foundation and framework for us to think about our faith.  What I find interesting about this creed is that the focus is clearly on God and not us, our future or our world.  The larger purpose of the creed is to draw our attention to the nature, work and glory of God.  It talks very little about us.  The creed does not tell us how to live out our faith or what is required of us as a follower of Jesus – it simply points us to God and assumes that the more we know God in all God’s glory – the more we will be drawn into the life that God has for us.

If we can make the focus of our lives and faith God and not us, then the glory, power and love of God will shape us.  When Jesus called people to have faith in him or to trust in and believe in him what he said was “Follow Me”.  Jesus didn’t give a list of things people had to do in order to believe, he gave them a person to look at.  If our focus can be on the fullness of God, then our lives will change, our faith will grow and our beliefs will become strong.

Look at Hebrews 12:2-3.  It is when we fix our eyes on Jesus and make God our focus that we grow stronger.  In many ways the Apostles’ Creed helps us do just this.  It helps fix our eyes on God.

So each week during this series we will affirm the Apostles’ Creed at some point during worship by saying it together.  While the hope is that we will be growing in our understanding of what we are saying, the other goal of sharing in the Apostles ’ Creed together is to help us keep our focus on the greatness, glory and grace of God.  So I invite you to stand as we affirm together our faith using the Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.   Amen.



Next Steps
The Apostles’ Creed ~  I Believe

1. Identify 3 basic believes you hold in life.  (These can be in the field of politics, economics, social or scientific views, even preferences in sports and entertainment.)  How did you come to hold these views?  Who and what helped shape them?

2. How have these factors contributed to your religious beliefs:
• Family
• Friends / Mentors
• Education
• Experiences
Which of these 4 have been most important in shaping your beliefs?

3.  Use the Apostles’ Creed to help you fix your eyes, heart and life on the glory and greatness of God.