The Apostle’s Creed Part 2
Last Sunday over lunch I found myself in another conversation concerning the lack
of understanding Christians have about their faith.
To throw it into our faith community’s context
we have moved from Caravans and Sunday School,
To a more seeker consumer oriented format.
With the need to market the church.
Let’s not teach about those dry topics of dogma and doctrine,
Let’s concentrate on felt needs.
A good way to generate a crowd,
But not to build spiritual depth.
A balance must be found,
So that Christians know what they believe and why they
believe it.
And most importantly in whom they have
believed.
If you don’t know the truth, how will you avoid the lie?
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (MSG)
Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.
To help you get rock solid,
I felt that we should look at Christian Dogma.
Dogma is the essentials of the Christian Faith.
Dogma is what Christians everywhere believe.
Doctrine is what distinguishes different faith communities.
Doctrine is educated opinion on the implications, inferences
and how to live out Dogma.
Doctrine varies, Dogma does not.
The Apostle’s Creed is a recognized dogmatic proclamation of the Christian faith.
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 where he shall come to judge the living and the dead:
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:
9. I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of saints:
10. The forgiveness of sins:
1l. The resurrection of the body:
12. And the life everlasting. Amen.
If you recall a creed is correcting.
A creed is composed of statements that are designed to correct wrong
thinking about Christianity.
From the first century a particular set of misunderstandings about
Christianity has lingered called Gnosticism.
The Gnostics taught
a. that they were the only one’s that truly understood the message of
Jesus. Everyone else is wrong.
b. Knowledge of the true teachings of Jesus will liberate you from the
bondage of the material world.
c. The Supreme God of Truth is totally transcendent.
Not only is the Supreme God of truth completely removed from
creation, He is undetectable and unknowable by humanity.
d. The Supreme God of Truth created beings called Aeons who in turn
birthed Demiurges,
which means public craftsman.
One of these Demiurges is Jehovah.
“He is viewed by Gnostics as fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid,
lacking in compassion and prone to genocide.”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/gnostic2.htm
Further this Jehovah, the one revealed in the Old Testament is deluded
into thinking that he is Supreme.
“His pride and incompetence have resulted in the sorry
state of the world as we know it.”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/gnostic2.htm
e. Physical matter is evil, including the human body because it has been
created by the inferior Demiurge Jehovah.
What gives life is from the Aeon, Sophia, this spirit inside is pure and
good and holy, a spark of divinity within.
f. Salvation comes through learning the secret knowledge that allows the
spirit to escape the body at death and return as soul to the Supreme
God of Truth.
g. Adam and Eve’s sin is not the reason for evil in the world.
The world was broken at the time of its creation because of inferior
craftsmanship.
h. The snake of the Garden of Eden, is seen as the liberator of humanity,
who successfully convinces the first couple to eat of the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil and thus freeing them from
slavery to Jehovah.
i. Christ is an emissary from the Supreme God of Truth.
An emanation of the one true God.
Christ’s purpose “ was to spread knowledge which would free
individuals from the Demiurge’s control and allow them to
return to their spiritual home with the Supreme God at
death.
There arose a number of teachings concerning the nature of the Christ.
One is called Docetism: this is the belief “ that Christ was pure spirit
and only had a phantom body, thus Jesus only appeared to be
human, but was not really human.
There are many variations within Gnosticism.
But I think I have given you enough of an introduction to help us see how
the Apostle’s Creed is an attempt to correct these teachings.
In part one of this series we examined the first 3 statements of the Creed;
Which establish that God is the creator of all things,
thus inferring that the world is good,
And we affirmed both the humanity and divinity of Jesus.
Jesus is God incarnate.
What Christians everywhere believe is:
“God in the person of His Son, had invaded and acted in history and the event
makes possible a salvation from sin.” (Dunning, p. 44)
The next four statements concern what Jesus did and what he will yet do.
HE
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended
into hell:
The Gnostic heresy taught that God could not suffer, let alone be executed.
Yet the scripture reveals that Jesus is fully God, and fully human,
Not untouchable, but right here with us.
Not removed, not unaware, not disinterested,
But with us.
The word suffered has a different connotation than what we normally attach to it
today.
I’m sure you have read in Scripture that Jesus was punished for our sins.
(Isaiah 53:4-5)
I’m sure you have also read in Scripture that Jesus paid for our sins.
(Revelation 5:9)
Punished for our sins, paid for our sins, suffered for our sins,
All must be seen as an aspect of a sacrifice of atonement.
In the Old Testament the sacrificial animal was not a substitute,
but rather was understood as a representative of the person making the
sacrifice.
There is a spiritual identification.
The death of the animal symbolized a personal death to sin,
Whatever stood between the worshiper and God.
(Dunning, The Whole Christ For the Whole World, p 113)
It is a radical act of repentance.
It is a costly act of repentance.
Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to become like
God.
Jesus, God incarnate, lived the way Adam was intended to live,
In right relationship with the Father,
Sacrificing what Adam hoped to gain,
To undo what Adam did.
Philippians 2:6-11 (MSG)
He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
It is through ones personal identification with Jesus’ sacrifice of
atonement that you can experience a reconciliation of your
relationship with God the Father.
The act of identification is the willing intent to die to,
what Jesus died for.
What did Jesus die for?
Jesus died for humanity’s egoism.
The Creed continues:
Jesus suffered, was executed, was buried and descended into hell.
The word “hell” requires clarification.
We have these pictures of Dante’s Inferno
and of burning lakes of fire.
Hell has a variety of meanings.
Here in the creed it symbolizes the continuation of the
human experience.
While Jesus’ body was laid in the grave His spirit passed from the physical world
into the spiritual world, just like every person does He shared the common
experience of passing as spirit into the abode of dead.
(http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.html)
I think it best to understand Hell here in a very Jewish way as Sheol.
Sheol is the place where the dead are gathered.
There is no light, (Job 10:21-22)
there is no sound (Job 3:13-19)
There is no memory, (Psalm 88:12)
There is no return. (Isaiah 14:9-13)
To the Jewish thinker Sheol was part of the human experience.
Hebrews 2:17-18 (MSG)
That's why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people's sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.
Jesus has absolute identification with humanity, because he is fully human.
In Three days the Jews believed that his spirit would be gone.
It would be fully detached from his body.
Hence the expression dead and gone.
But not this time.
5. The third day he rose again from the dead:
Suffering, death, and winding up in Sheol is to be human.
A resurrection is definitely something that only God can do.
John 10:17-18 (NIV)
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.
The Resurrection is critical for Christianity. (1 Corinthians 15:17)
If there is no Resurrection Christianity is just another religion,
The resurrection proclaims the deity of Jesus. (Acts 13:33; Romans 1:4)
The resurrection proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God into this world
where so much is wrong. (Revelation 12:10)
The resurrection proclaims the ending of Adam’s curse. (Romans 5:12)
The resurrection proclaims the hope we as followers of Jesus have
that death can not hold us either. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
2 Timothy 1:10
It has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Christians believe in a the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,
A fact established by faith believing the story of the witnesses and by
personal experience in our own lives that have convinced us of the
fact that He lives.
The reason I keep urging you to practice the spiritual disciplines,
Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, service, worship, obedience and
contemplation is because it is through these activities the
encounter with God comes.
Encounter always fully convinces us of our belief.
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary;
Suffered under Pontius Pilate;
was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell;
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:
Acts 1:6-11 (MSG)
When they were together for the last time they asked, "Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?" He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world." These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, "You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left."
Jesus ascended on a cloud.
To understand this you need to understand the significance a cloud has to
one immersed in the Old Testament.
Throughout the Old Testament the physical manifestation of God,
God’s glory,
is often depicted as a cloud. (Exodus 13:21-22, 33:9-10)
Any Jew would understand Jesus ascension on a cloud to signify the
reception of Jesus into the glory of God.
This is another proclamation of deity.
Jesus sits at the right hand of God.
This too is a picture from the ancient world.
To sit at the right hand of a monarch was to be in the place of
administrative authority. (Dunning, pp 62-63)
It is not a description of a place, but rather a function. (Dunning, p. 63)
The British might have a better grasp of this than we Americans.
The function is to exercise divine power,
comparable with Prime Minster Gordon Brown function,
sitting at the right hand of Queen Elizabeth,
to direct the government in her name. (Dunning, p. 63)
Seated at the right hand of the Father becomes a metaphor,
A word picture, telling us that “the Kingdom of God, is the Kingdom
of Jesus.” (Dunning, p. 63)
A declaration of His deity.
The ascension can be understood as the inauguration event of Jesus of his rule as
Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
His position in Glory secures our place in Him.
Romans 8:34-34 (MSG) & Hebrews 7:25 (NIV)
The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! …Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
From that exalted position, Jesus’ work of redemption continues as He intercedes
for those whom He made atonement for.
Jesus ministry in us is not complete until He presents us before the
throne.
7. From where he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
Acts 17:30-31 (MSG)
God overlooks it as long as you don't know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he's calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead."
“At Jesus’ first coming He appeared as the Suffering Servant, (Isaiah 53-53)
who makes salvation available to all people through His death;
At His second coming He will return to judge all humanity,
based on the way they have responded to Him.” (Dunning, p 45)
Again we best understand this statement in light of the heresy it is refuting.
Gnostic Marcion taught that since God is love,
And love forgives,
That God will not judge.
This thought revives from time to time,
Last time I heard it came in this package
We’re all so sinful, God is just going to forgive us all.
But that’s not what the scriptures teach. (Hebrews 9:27)
The scriptures teach that Jesus will return. (1 Thessalonians 4:12-18)
And separate the sheep from the goats,
Those received from those rejected.
Matthew 25:31-35 & 25:41 (NLT)
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. … Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.
Judgment will make “obvious what each person has already determined.”
(Dunning, p. 66)
The judgment “is a way of telling us that we are responsible to God for our
choices. And that those choices have eternal consequences.” (Dunning, p. 65)
And the pivotal choice between eternity with God,
And eternity separated from God is
Your relationship with Him.
John 5:25-29 (MSG)
"It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment. "Don't act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment.
The moment to moment choices we make,
The intent of those choices,
Commend us to life
Or condemn us to Judgment.
Jesus will simply speak the truth (Rev 1:16, 2:16; Heb 4:12)
And everything will be brought to light.
It is our own choices that make us or break us.
So let me ask you,
Does the way you are living your life reflect the truth of this
Statement?:
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary;
Suffered under Pontius Pilate;
was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead:
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
From where he shall come to judge the quick and the dead
If not I invite you to come to these altars of prayer to ask God to help
you make a right choice.
Nothing magically about the altar,
Coming is a public proclamation that you are
seeking divine intervention in the situations
of your life.
There is a natural break for us right here,
Leaving us with five more statements to consider next time.
But this time, if you would like me to pray with you,
As we sing a closing song together,
Make your way to these altars.