APOSTLE'S CREED (PART 2)
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Introduction
Introduction
-On Wednesday nights we have begun studying truth to live by via the creeds and confessions of the past. No matter how boring people might think it, doctrine matters to every aspect of life. Pastor Ray Pritchard noted this when he said:
Christianity is a doctrinal faith. It is not a [fill in the blank] that you can fill in with whatever content you desire. Christianity is a life based on the doctrines of the Bible. We must never say, “As long as you believe in Jesus, it doesn’t matter what else you believe.” Unless the Jesus we believe in is the Christ of the Bible, he’s not the real Jesus at all. This means that Christianity is more than a conversion experience. To be a Christian means learning the doctrines of the Bible. This does not come naturally to any of us. There are things to learn and there are doctrines we are required to believe. That’s why the Apostles’ Creed is so important in the history of the church. Truth is not up for grabs. And it is not decided by what we feel or by a majority vote or the latest opinion poll. The Creed reminds us that truth comes from God, and that is where we must start in our spiritual journey.
-So, this is why we have started with the Apostle’s Creed. We might say that it is minimalistic—this is the bare bones. This is the minimum that you must believe to be a Christian, and the Apostle’s Creed does a wonderful job of explaining this. Although we believe Scripture is the ultimate authority, we use creeds and confessions like the Apostle’s Creed to summarize the teachings of Scripture, therefore these are important documents. Author Chuck Warnock explains why the Apostle’s Creed is needful. He writes:
* We need the Apostles’ Creed because it is the oldest expression currently in use of the beliefs we hold in common as Christians.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed to connect us to the church of the first century, and to the faith of the Apostles themselves. For even if the apostles did not write the creed, it was certainly what they proclaimed as they carried the Gospel to Jerusalem, and Judea, and the ends of the earth.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed to humble us, and remind us that we are not the first generation to have followed Christ. There is a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, who have handed the faith off to us, and to whom we are responsible for its transmission to our generation.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed as a clear expression of what we believe when called to give account of our faith.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed to remind us of the whole counsel of God.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed to help us affirm the uniqueness of Christ.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed to remind us that the Holy Spirit is still with us.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed to remind us that we do indeed believe in the church, in an age in which the church is being attacked or ignored.
* We need the Apostles’ Creed to draw us into a new appreciation for the communion of saints, to make us newly thankful for the forgiveness of sins, and to remind us that there is indeed a life everlasting.
-The Apostle’s Creed has three different sections, each pointing to one member of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so the Creed begins by saying:
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
-Last week I spoke about the importance of those first two words: I BELIEVE. We are not merely assenting to the truth, although that is important. But it means that the truth affects the way we live and the choices we make. It is no mere head knowledge, but a complete trust that leads to a lifestyle. But what is it that we believe in?
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
-This is the starting point—we believe that there is a God, there is a deity, there is a divine being. If there is no God, there is no Christ, and there is no Christianity, and there is no hope and no salvation. If there is no God then the world has no meaning and there is no hope for justice—it is just a purposeless, cruel existence. And so it all starts with God. We fully agree with the psalmist when he says:
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
-We are no fool, there is a God. But what do we believe about this God? This portion specifically focuses in on the Father of the Trinity. But before starting on the designation of Father, I want to work backwards with the description as it is given. So first I want to focus in on the fact that we proclaim that He is Maker of Heaven and Earth. Everything that exists outside of God was created by God. There was an existence before time and space where only God existed. And then, we believe as the Bible begins:
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
-What this verse and creed statement tells us about God is aptly summarized by Al Mohler:
First, God is eternal, existing prior to creation. Second, God is infinite, not bound by the heaven and the earth. Third, God is omnipotent, speaking creation into existence. Finally, God is independent, not relying on anything in creation.
-So, by recognizing that God is Maker of Heaven and Earth there are several truths that we are stating. First, we are stating that there is a distinction between Creator and creation. The creation is nothing like the Creator and cannot be equated with the Creator, and has no say in how the Creator does things.
-Imagine me building a model airplane or building some sort of Lego structure and the model airplane or Lego structure thinking that it is equal to me or greater than me, and they think they could do a whole lot better job about things than I did. They wouldn’t exist and fulfill their purposes without me, so who would they be to judge me or tell me what to do. The same with creation and Creator.
-Creation exists for the purpose of the Creator and for the glory and honor of the Creator.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
-Second, it tells us that there is purpose and order to Creation, which can be observed. Although many will deny it, the fact that science and mathematics works is proof that there is a Creator. A randomly devised universe would not have the order that makes science and math possible. The fact that there are observable scientific rules proves that someone put those rules there to begin with. Without God having created and put in order everything like He did, there would be nothing but chaos. Even science proves that the natural tendency of the universe is to move toward chaos. But the truth that there is any order whatsoever shows that a Designer and Creator put it all together. As one author stated it:
Sermons on the Catechism, Vol. II: The Apostles’ Creed The Biblical Conception of the Origin of Things Gives to God True Honor, to Man Proper Dignity and Real Consolation
The universe is unspeakably great, but God is immeasurably greater. Does the universe, in the complexity of its harmonies, display evidences of supreme wisdom on the part of its architect and builder? By so much does it honor God, the maker of it all. Does nature exhibit power, wonderful, sometimes appalling power? How strikingly does this tell us of the still greater power of Him who fashioned it!
-Knowing these truths, we are without excuse to worship this God as He reveals Himself through what He has made.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
-Third, only this truth is able to give and explain the value and dignity of humanity. Why is this important? As one author states:
If man is but an evolved atom, if there was no superior mind controlling the power, and the processes, by which man came to be, if there was no image from without stamped upon him, if there was no original, self-existent, personal being who gave somewhat of His own nature to man, then [man] is still but a thing of dust.
-So, God is Maker of heaven and earth and everything in them—whether visible or invisible, whether physical or spiritual. But the Creed also tells us that He is God Almighty. Almighty brings to mind several important ideas. First, it speaks of His omnipotence and sovereignty. We see verses like:
13 Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?”
-God alone has the power and ability to do what He will and purposes to do, and there is no one who can stop Him. The Bible then asks this question:
Genesis 18:14 (ESV)
14 Is anything too hard for the Lord?
-And the implied answer is no. Now, God is limited by His character—meaning that God cannot go against who He is. But anything within the realm of His character and His purpose and will is possible for Him. Elsewhere, Job got a better understanding of who God really is, and he realized:
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
-But why I’m going backwards with the descriptions here is that not only did God create everything, but He sovereignly rules, reigns, and sustains what He created. God did not merely wind things up and then let it go do its own thing. God is intimately involved in the moment by moment, millisecond by millisecond, existence of His creation—this includes holding things together as well as governing its affairs. God so controls the universe to ensure that it unfolds His plans and accomplishes His will.
-There’s a joke around my house that I am not able to multitask. I cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time. If I’m really deep into doing something and you come at me with something else, I’m just going to stare at you for a bit until my brain can stop what I was doing and pick up what is being introduced. But with God being the Almighty, He is the eternal multitasker because He upholds and sustains, as well as governs, the entire universe at every moment. If God were to remove His sustaining hand from the universe, everything would cease to exist. We see this in Scripture:
6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
-That last verse came from Paul’s address to the Greeks in Athens, and as we find even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. Paul pointed out that their Greek poets get things right here and there. The reason that God sustains the universe and that He upholds us is that we are His offspring and as the first description in the Apostle’s Creed says: He is our Father. We are told:
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
-While God is Creator of all, He is Father of those who are in the faith. If you come to faith in Jesus Christ, God is your Father. If you do not believe in Jesus, then God is merely your Creator. But for His people, He loves and cares for them like a father for his children—and that includes you if you have trusted in Jesus.
-But I think an important point that it makes overall, and something for unbelievers to consider, is that God is a personal God. He is not some sort of impersonal entity like electricity or the Force from Star Wars. We can cast our cares on Him because He cares for us personally. God is personally involved in the world and personally involved in our lives.
-So, what is our response to this. First, humility. We are reminded that we are completely dependent on Him, and no matter how smart we think we are, we will always need Him for every detail of our life. But then a second response is thankfulness. We thank Him for creating us, sustaining us, and for providing for us. No, He doesn’t provide what we want all the time, but He provides what we need. A third response is to live like this is God’s world, not ours. We hold this in theory, but in practice and attitude we often think that we rule the roost. I want you to consider your own heart tonight. Are you humble before Him? Are you grateful for Him? What’s preventing you from these?