Sermon Tone Analysis

I Believe --- God The Son --- Highly Exalted

Acts 1:1-11 & Philippians 2:5-11

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:9

Over the past several weeks we have been looking at the Apostles’ Creed.

The Creed was an early statement of faith the early followers of Jesus wrote down in order to proclaim what they believed.

The Apostles’ Creed was called “The Rule of Faith.”

In the early church, “The Apostles’ Creed” had two main functions.

First, The Apostles’ Creed was a part of their teaching and their catechism—a series of fixed answers and questions about what their faith believed.

Those who wanted to join the church had to memorize the creed.

Second, the creed was sacramental, a sacred moment.

When a person wanted to join the church, they were baptized.

They would repeat the creed as they went under the water as they proclaimed their faith in “God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.” 1.

The creed was a tool used to teach those who came after them.

2, The creed was used in the sacrament of baptism.

The question the Holy Spirit impresses on my heart is, “What do I believe?”

What do we believe about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit?

What do we believe as the church, the body of Christ.

What do you believe?

The Apostles’ Creed teaches us who God is and what God has done in creation and what God is doing and what God will do.

God is the Father, the creator and sustainer of all creation.

There is so much doctrine and theology in this short teaching.

Which of the following events is the most important?

The incarnation?

The crucifixion?

The resurrection?

The ascension?

The Second Coming?

Judgement?

The Creed is stating that ALL of these events are interrelated!

Jesus, God the Son, became flesh and dwelt among us … that’s the incarnation.

Jesus, God the Son, suffered, and died—that’s the crucifixion.

Jesus, God the Son, was buried and rose on the third day and then ascended into heaven to sit on the right hand of God the Father to judge the living and dead.

Jesus, God the Son, will come again in the clouds to judge the living and the dead.

Many have asked questions of me over the past few weeks.

What does it mean that Jesus descended into hell?

Some scholars want to put an asterisk by this line and other scholars have left it out completely.

The Roman Catholic understanding of this line is that Christ’s descent into hell was a mission of victory and liberation.

Their understanding is that Jesus literally visited hell.

John Calvin, the Protestant reformer, and a prolific writer and theologian views the descent into hell as the spiritual reality of Jesus’ soul while He hung on the cross and was rejected by His Father.

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” One scholar wrote that Jesus’ descent into hell was because this is where we have fallen completely into sin.

Jesus descended into the very abyss of the human condition.

Hell represents total separation from God. God cannot be a part of sin.

And so, on the very same day Jesus descended into hell, Jesus says to the thief on the cross, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”

Athanasius, an early Christian father, writes, “We no longer die as those condemned but as those who will arise.”

Jesus descended into the very pit of hell where we are separated from God because of our sin—and Jesus overcame it all by paying our debt: Death on the cross.

Debt paid in full.

Our sin is done, our chains are broken.

We are free to live again.

What does the “quick and the dead” mean?

The Old English word for “living” was “quick.”

Simply translated, Jesus will come again to judge both the living and dead.

What does it mean “holy catholic church?”

The word “catholic” means universal—a concept of general application no matter where you are in the universe.

When we say we believe in the holy catholic church, we are stating that we believe in the holy, universal Christian church.

We are not saying that we believe in the Roman Catholic church.

The difference is in the creed: the word “catholic” is with a small “c’ which would mean universal.

We affirm our belief in the universal Christian church.

If you ever have any questions, please don’t hesitate to come and ask.

Just stop and think for minute, the early followers of Jesus gave up their lives, their families, their fortunes and their futures in order to proclaim what they believed about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Think about the history of the Jews—think about the first half of the Bible.

All that the Jewish people believed was written down.

The early believers of Christ felt the urgency to also write down what they believed.

Join with me and repeat the Apostles Creed:

The Apostles’ Creed

1.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

2. and in Jesus Christ, His only (begotten) Son, our Lord;

3. who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,

4. suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried;

He descended into hell;

5. the third day he rose again from the dead;

6.

He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

7. from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

8.

I believe in the Holy Ghost,

9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,

10. the forgiveness of sins,

11. the resurrection of the body,

12. and the life everlasting.

Amen.[i]

Our reading comes from the New Testament.

The first comes from Dr. Luke who wrote the book of Luke and the book of Acts.

Luke was the Apostle Paul’s personal doctor.

I would have loved that job!

What we have in the first eleven verses of the book of Acts is a recorded event of the ascension of Jesus.

The question that I would like to reflect on this morning is, “Why is the ascension important?”

First, the ascension is important because it tells us that Jesus’ earthly ministry is completed and that Jesus has gone to be with God the Father to begin His heavenly ministry of interceding for us (that’s a powerful thought.

Jesus ascended into heaven and prays for us.)

Second, the ascension is important because Jesus’ earthly ministry has now been delegated, given, to us.

Let us listen for God’s Word.

Acts 1:1-11

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.

He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”[ii]