I believe. Do you?

If I tell someone that I am personally going to do something, they believe that I will do it. If I tell you that Zach Johnson or Kurt Warner were coming to town it would be believable because of their ties to the area. If I told you that Nicolas Sarkozy was going to be in town next week several of you would likely ask me who is Nicolas Sarkozy. Before knowing who he is you would be more likely to believe me, that is until I tell you he was the president of France. To believe in something we want and need proof. This was the case for Thomas.

²⁴Thomas (called Didymus), who was one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other followers kept telling Thomas, "We saw the Lord."
But Thomas said, "I will not believe it until I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side."

²⁶A week later the followers were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came in and stood right in the middle of them. He said, "Peace be with you." ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand here in my side. Stop being an unbeliever and believe."

²⁸Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
²⁹Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you see me. Those who believe without seeing me will be truly blessed” (John 20:24-29 NCV).

If someone who does not believe in Jesus asked you what you believed do you know how you would answer them? One way to tell them what you believe is to use one of the creeds that churches of reformed theology of which the Presbyterian Church (USA) is part of. One of the oldest and certainly one of the shortest creeds is the Apostles' Creed which says, please say it with me if you know it:

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 Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell;
the third day he arose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on 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 Ghost,
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting. Amen.¹

So why use a creed? Do creeds replace the Scriptures? Not at all. Were they written to add to the Scriptures? Absolutely not. A creed is simply a brief statement of our religious beliefs. The word creed comes from the Latin word credo which means "I believe" which is the first word of the Apostles' and Nicene creeds.

Where did the Apostles’ Creed come from? There is a legend that states the each of the Apostles wrote part of the creed. James Orr writes, “Peter, it was alleged, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, commenced, “I believe in God the Father Almighty”; Andrew (or according to others, John continued, “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord”; James the elder went on, “Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,” etc.” This legend is not older than the 5th or 6th centuries, and is absurd on the face of it.”²

The Apostles’ Creed as well as others creeds were written because of the confusion and false teaching and the heresies that took place in the centuries following the life and death of Jesus. Jesus warned us in Matthew 24, verses 4 – 5, "⁴Be careful that no one fools you. ⁵Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will fool many people.” And again in verses 23 – 25, “²³At that time, someone might say to you, 'Look, there is the Christ!' Or another person might say, 'There he is!' But don't believe them. ²⁴False Christs and false prophets will come and perform great wonders and miracles. They will try to fool even the people God has chosen, if that is possible. ²⁵Now I have warned you about this before it happens.” The second letter from Peter and the letter from Jude were written to warn the early Christians of false teachers who claimed to be Christians.

In the world today there is counterfeit money, drugs, auto parts, paintings, credit cards, watches, résumés and the list goes on and on and includes biblical teachings.

Jude “Werra's semiannual barometer of executive résumé deception -- his very own "Liars Index" -- hit a five-year high, based on his review of résumés he received during the first half of 2007. He figures that about 16 percent of executive résumés contain false academic claims and/or material omissions relating to educational experience. That was up five percentage points from the levels he witnessed between July and December of last year.”³

How can we distinguish false teaching from the truth? How does a one detect a counterfeit? By studying the originals. We must study the Bible so we are able to distinguish what is the truth and what is not.

The Apostles’ Creed begins I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does it mean to believe? Thomas had to see to believe. Genesis 1 begins “¹In the beginning God created the sky and the earth.” Look around. The trees, the grass, everything on earth was ultimately created by God. In the movie “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed” Ben Stein takes on some most noted Darwinian scientist in the world. While the movie is questioning why Intelligent Design is not allowed to be taught in our schools it also should raise the question why creationism is not taught. Most in the United States would say it is because of the separation of church and state. The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The only separation that I read is that there will not be a mandated national religion nor will the government prohibit the free exercise of ones religion.

The creed continues, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. In the first two chapters of Luke we read that an angel appeared to Mary telling her that she would give birth to a son that she would name Jesus. When Mary asked the angel how this would happen “³⁵The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35 NCV). This is expanded upon in Matthew when an angel came to Joseph in a dream so that he would understand what was going on. Then in the beginning of the second chapter of Luke we are told about the birth of Jesus. Can you imagine this happening today? It is highly unlikely that a woman’s fiancée would believe her. A paternity test would be demanded along with a check of the woman’s sanity. Joseph knew the Old Testament prophecies and likely remembered what was said in Isaiah 9:6 “⁶A child has been born to us; God has given a son to us. He will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.” As well as Isaiah 7:14 “¹⁴The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and she will name him Immanuel.”

Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell. The writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 2 “¹⁴Since these children are people with physical bodies, Jesus himself became like them. He did this so that, by dying, he could destroy the one who has the power of death—the devil—¹⁵and free those who were like slaves all their lives because of their fear of death. ¹⁶Clearly, it is not angels that Jesus helps, but the people who are from Abraham. ¹⁷For this reason Jesus had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way so he could be their merciful and faithful high priest in service to God. Then Jesus could die in their place to take away their sins.” He knew what was going to happen to him. Jesus struggled with this. In his prayer just prior to his arrest Jesus prays "My Father, if it is possible, do not give me this cup of suffering. But do what you want, not what I want" (Matthew 26:39b NCV). The Gospels give account to Jesus’ crucifixion, his death, and subsequent burial. What is difficult is to find is when he descended into hell. In my study of these four words of the creed I found proponents for and against having this phrase in the Apostles’ Creed. Clayton Bell writes, “John Calvin interprets the phrase metaphorically, as referring to the penal sufferings of Christ on the Cross, where he suffered the pangs of hell while he was hanging in our place.”⁴

The third day he arose again from the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us that Jesus “was raised to life on the third day as the Scriptures say; ⁵and that he was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. ⁶After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. ⁷Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.” Sounds more like something one would read on the cover of the National Inquirer, “Tomb Empty, Son of God Raised From the Dead.” Jesus would not leave them for long. He appeared to Mary Magdalene and Mary who worshipped at his feet before running to tell the Disciples that they had seen Jesus and that he had told them to go to Galilee.

Before he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, Jesus would spend time with the disciples. When the Disciples got to where Jesus had instructed them to go, some believed and some still did not believe. “¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, "All power in heaven and on earth is given to me. ¹⁹So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age” (Matthew 28:18-20 NCV).

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. Those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior will, through God’s grace be spared from judgment, however those who rejected him, whether still living or dead will have to face the judgment of the Father.

I believe in the Holy Ghost. “¹When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ²Suddenly a noise like a strong, blowing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³They saw something like flames of fire that were separated and stood over each person there. ⁴They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak different languages by the power the Holy Spirit was giving them” (Acts 2:1-4 NCV). The Holy Ghost will remain with us until Jesus’ return and provides us guidance. Knowing this is comforting. Although Jesus is not here with us, the Holy Spirit is.

The holy catholic church refers to the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, not just to one denomination. Where as the holy catholic church refers to believers, the communion of saints brings in all believers, both living and dead.

It is easy to believe in the forgiveness of sins. The trouble is that we were born into sin and will struggle with sin all our lives. Paul writes in Romans 7:21-25 “²¹So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me. ²²In my mind, I am happy with God's law. ²³But I see another law working in my body, which makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and it makes me its prisoner. ²⁴What a miserable man I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? ²⁵I thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Let’s face it. We have all envied someone at some point. What bothers me the most about envy is that as soon as I get what it was that I envied there is also something new. Before we owned our own home we envied those that did. Now that we have our mortgage we envy those who own their homes and have no debt. Paul was right when he wrote “what a miserable man I am!”

What will the resurrection of the body look like? This we will have to wait for. But, just as a farmer plants a seed the resulting plant looks nothing like the seed. Paul explains it like this in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 “⁴²It is the same with the dead who are raised to life. The body that is "planted" will ruin and decay, but it is raised to a life that cannot be destroyed. ⁴³When the body is "planted," it is without honor, but it is raised in glory. When the body is "planted," it is weak, but when it is raised, it is powerful. ⁴⁴The body that is "planted" is a physical body. When it is raised, it is a spiritual body.”

Finally God has promised us the life everlasting, all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Then by his grace and mercy we will get to spend eternity with God.

Finally there is the Amen. “Amen comes from the Hebrew root aman, which connotes firmness, reliability, or certainty. In its various grammatical forms the word can mean “to cause to be certain,” “to be assured,” “to be established,” and “one who is faithful, sure, dependable.””⁵

If we study the Scriptures that the creeds are based on will we get all the answers? No we will not. For many this is a huge stumbling block. To place out faith in someone that we have never seen and most likely will not see can be a scary thing. For me, I have to have all the answers to all the questions. That is who I am and the way that I was designed. Yet when it comes to my placing my faith in Jesus Christ I am able to do it with out even thinking about it. Can I explain it? Not before I wrote this sermon. What I do know is that there is something distinctly different about me that was not there before. I have seen this in others as well. That is when it occurred to me, the Holy Spirit took Jesus’ place on earth until he returns. What I have seen in myself and in others is the work of the Holy Spirit, that is my evidence. We are the light of Christ in the world because of the Holy Spirit. I believe. Do you? If not, simply ask Jesus to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life. Then pick up a Bible and begin reading God’s love letter to you and me. There will be a celebration in heaven when you do. Oh yeah, you will stumble from time to time. God will not give up on you when you do, so don’t you give up.

AMEN!

References

1. The Book of Confessions (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 2004), 7.


2. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Vol. 1, Author: James Orr. www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed_orr.html


3. Making It By Faking It, Joseph Daniel McCool, http://jobs.aol.com/article/_a/making-it-by-faking-it/20071011150009990001


4. I Believe…, R. P. Mills, ©1998 PLC Publications, Lenoir, NC, p. 80.


5. Ibid., p. 149