Sermon Tone Analysis

/Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem; Creatorem coeli et terrae./

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

The first sentence of the Apostle's Creed is interesting to me.

Of all the attributes, characteristics or traits the Church Fathers could have emphasized about the nature of God, they chose just two words - Father Almighty.

The framers of the Creed were telling us that if we comprehend the meaning of those two words, we will know who God is.

The challenge is made greater because the phrase "Father Almighty combines two words that don't normally go together.

Father goes in one direction, and Almighty goes in another.

One of the common Aramaic words for Father in Jesus' day was Abba, a very intimate term that means something like, "Dear father" or "Papa" or even the word "Daddy" The word "Almighty" in the Old Testament translates the Hebrew word shaddai, as in El Shaddai, "Almighty God."

That name for God first appears in Genesis 17 when God informs Abram (who is 99 years old) that a year later, his wife Sarah) will give birth to a son.

The very thought seems so absurd that Abram laughed out loud.

The Lord guaranteed the promise with his name — El Shaddai, the Lord Almighty.

If we go all the way to the last book of the Bible, we find the name "Almighty" appearing several times.

Revelation 1:8 is a typical example: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.'"

So you have two words put together in the Apostles' Creed that summarize who God is — one is intimate and personal, the other speaks of his unlimited power.

To call him "Father" means that he is a personal God who cares about me.

To call him "Almighty" means that he is able to do whatever needs to be done.

There are no limits with him.

This little phrase "the Father Almighty" gives us four grand and important - and if you are a Christian - comforting, spiritual truths to meditate on.

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I. 1st WHEN WE CONFESS 'I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY' IT IS REMINDING US OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY

#. when the creed speaks of God the Father, it is deliberately reminding us of the doctrine of the Trinity

#. the first thing that we learn from "I believe in God the Father" is that there is Trinitarian fatherhood in God

#.

God the Father is Father not simply by virtue of His creation of us and of the world

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He is eternally Father because of His eternal Son

#. this point is made in John 5:18

* /"This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God."/ (Jn 5:18, ESV)

#. the Jews responded with anger toward Jesus because He had made some rather astounding claims about Himself

#. claiming to be the Anointed One was heresy enough, but claiming to be on an equal standing with God was blaspheme to the Jews

#. when you say, "/ believe in God the Father" you have uttered the first leg of the doctrine of the Trinity

#. the Trinity is not a doctrine invented by the councils of men

#. it is a doctrine that is forced on you by doing justice to the biblical text

#.

Jesus Himself articulated the Doctrine of the Trinity in what we've come to call The Great Commission

* /"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."/

(Mt 28:19-20, ESV)

#. when you say, "/ believe in God the Father" you are affirming one of the great conundrums of the Scriptures

#.

God is One and yet He has chosen to reveal Himself in Three Unique Personalities -- Father, Son, and Spirit

* ILLUS.

Poet Marjorie Maddow Phifer described the Trinity this way: He stretched skin over spirit like a rubber glove, aligning Trinity with bone, twining through veins until Deity square-knotted flesh.

#. why does the Trinity matter?

#. why did God the Father incarnate Himself as God the Son?

* /"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."/

(Heb 2:14-18, ESV)

* /"In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,"/ (Heb 5:7-9, ESV)

#. why did God the Son die?

* /"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.

Because I live, you also will live.

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?"

Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me."/ (Jn 14:15-24, ESV)

* /"But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you."/ (Jn 16:5-14, ESV)

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When the Creed Speaks of God the Father it Is Reminding Us of the Doctrine of the Trinity

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II.

2nd WHEN WE CONFESS 'I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY' IT REMINDS US THAT HE IS THE CREATOR AND THAT WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE

#. believe in God the Father also stresses that God is a creational Father

#.

God is the Father of all of us by virtue of His act of creation

#. when the Apostles' Creed speaks of God the Father, it is reminding us that He is the Creator, and because He is the Creator, we are all accountable to Him even as children are accountable to their father

* /"Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."/

(Ps 100:3, KJV)

#. this is a glorious passage

#. it draws a distinction between God and His creation

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God is not part of His creation

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He is not infused into His creation

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His creation has come from Him

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He originated it and He is over it

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that's what is being celebrated in Psalm 100

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Psalm 100:3 is setting forth the first principle of theology: Jehovah is God and you are not and never will be

* ILLUS.

Our Latter Day Saint friends have something of a Creed concerning God: /"As man is, God once was.

As God is, man may be./"

Now, in case you don't get it, that phrase teaches that once upon a time, God was just like us, and that some day, we will be just like God.

Now, in case you don't know, it's just not Biblical!

#. notice how the Psalmist puts it: /"... it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves... "/

#. that's one of the most important lessons you could ever know

!! A. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN GOD AND HIS CREATION IS MADE VERY CLEAR

#. the croational fatherhood of God is clearly taugfrHfrtrre~Btbte a. it is a doctrine that rules out...

#. pantheism - A doctrine identifying the Deity with the universe

#. polytheism - The worship of or belief in more than one god

#. atheism - Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or god

#. deism - The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation

#. nihilism - An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence