Tag: Apostles’ Creed

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Release from Guilt

“I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”

This statement, near the end of the Apostles’ Creed, is a joyful declaration of release from the guilt of sin. It assumes that God is a forgiving God who delights in showing mercy. It is the worshipful expression of our deepest faith and eternal gratitude.

Martin Luther was the father of the Protestant Reformation. Before that, he had been a priest who had spent years studying theology. He was devout, brilliant — and miserable. He was deeply troubled by a sense of his guilt before a holy God. He was haunted by the thought that his sins were not forgiven. He made a pilgrimage to Rome seeking answers. But he returned to Germany more troubled than before.

As a university professor of theology, he studied and taught Paul’s letter to the Romans. He encountered Romans 1:17, “The righteous will live by faith.” This eventually led him to the conviction that people are saved by faith in Christ alone and not by good works. His conversion was a profound release from feelings of guilt and an understanding of the freedom of grace.

It is not surprising that Luther stated that the phrase in the Apostles’ Creed that was most important to him was the phrase, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” He wrote, “If that is not true, what does it matter whether God is almighty or Jesus Christ was born, died and rose again? It is because these things have a bearing on my forgiveness that they are important to me.”

The author of Psalm 130 would agree. He knew how it felt to reach the depth of despair. “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy” (vv. 1-2). Verse 3 says that he had reached bottom because of his sins which were too numerous to count. The psalmist is expressing the futility, despair, and guilt that Martin Luther described.

You may know the feeling. Guilt is pervasive. Sometimes it is false guilt which cripples people psychologically. Sometimes it is true moral guilt which has resulted from awareness of a moral failing. When we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that God has written on our hearts a sense of right and wrong (Romans 2:15). We know we haven’t always lived up to our own standards, much less God’s (James 2:10). The Bible calls this sin. Every one of us has broken God’s law (Romans 3:23).

The psalmist asks, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (v.3). Who could survive the scrutiny of God’s judgment? Who could be righteous enough to deserve a place in his presence? The writer is helpless. We all are helpless. We need God’s forgiveness because of our sinfulness and our inability to do anything about it.

What hope do we have for forgiveness? The good news is in words addressed to God: “But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared” (v. 4). “Fear” is reverential awe and worship. One of the reasons we worship God is because he makes a habit of forgiving sins. He is eager to forgive. He loves to forgive.

In the vocabulary of the Bible, forgiveness means to be set free, loosed, liberated. It means to be set free from guilt and from sin’s penalty. This is possible because of the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He purchased redemption with his blood. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Those who are in Christ are forgiven. Have you, like the psalm writer, admitted your sinfulness and helplessness to God? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ and asked for forgiveness? God loves to forgive. That is why he sent his Son the Redeemer. He is a God of unfailing love and full redemption (Psalm 130:7).

The Bible illustrates forgiveness in various ways. God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). God puts our sins behind his back (Isaiah 38:17). God blots out our sins like a cloud (Isaiah 44:22). God forgets our sins and remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34). God buries our sins in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

That is why Martin Luther said his favorite part of the Apostles’ Creed was “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” It is the reason for everything else in the creed. Forgiveness is the very point at which all the profound theology expressed in the creed touches our lives.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Have You Ever Met a Saint?

“I believe in the communion of saints.”

This statement in the Apostles’ Creed affirms the existence of a fellowship, a partnership, a community of people set apart to God. Who are these people called “saints?”

In the common understanding, saints are thought of as exceptional, extraordinary spiritual heroes of the past. “Too good for the rest of us,” they are separate or aloof from ordinary people. They may have been recognized as unusually holy by a religious order. The word is sometimes used of the spirits of those who have died who are honored as examples to the living.

The way the New Testament uses the word is of believers in Jesus who have been made holy in the sight of God by his grace. They called are God’s people.

The communion of saints is not a collection of stained glass heroes from ancient history. They are not marble statues adorned with halos. In the Bible they are real people, with the same successes and failures, the same strengths and weaknesses, as the rest of us.

For example, the Corinthian Christians were called saints (1 Corinthians 1:1-3). But they were far from exemplary Christians. Paul’s letters to them were written to correct a long list of sins, faults, misunderstandings and conflicts in the church. Yet they were, Paul told them, saints in the sight of God. Saints are sinners who have been declared righteous by God’s grace.

The famous Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte was approached one day by a church member who told him, “Dr. Whyte, I just love being in your presence. You are so saintly!” He looked at her with a serious expression and replied, “Madam, if you could look into my soul, what you would see would make you want to spit in my face!” He had a profound sense of his own unworthiness. The word “saintly” should not be applied the way the woman was using it.

When I think of “the communion of saints,” I think of Hebrews 12:23. “You have come . . . to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven . . . to the spirits of righteous men made perfect.” These beautiful words describe some of the privileges of sainthood.

The true church is mentioned. This is the universal Body of Christ on earth. The names of those who are in Christ are inscribed permanently in heaven. Their names are recorded in heaven but they are not there yet. They are the redeemed all over the world from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 12:9). These are the saints on earth with whom we have communion.

Then the verse looks heavenward to “the spirits of righteous men (and women) made perfect.” These are the saints who are already with the Lord. They are believers who have died. They are with Christ awaiting their resurrection bodies. They are said to be righteous. According to the Bible, the only way to be made righteous is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his hymn “The Church’s One Foundation,” Samuel Stone wrote: “Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one, / And mystic sweet communion with those whose race is run. / O happy ones, and holy, God grant us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly / may dwell on high with thee.”

Here are biblical reasons to declare our belief in the communion of saints. All who are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 12:24), are declared righteous by God’s grace. Some saints are still here on earth as part of the true church. Others have died in faith and have gone to be with Christ.

A group of schoolchildren were touring an Orthodox church. They saw icons and statues. One of the children asked, “Who are the people in those paintings on the wall?” The priest answered kindly, “They are saints. Can you tell me what a saint is?” A child piped up, “Someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.”

The child was right. One becomes a saint not by being canonized, but by being in Christ. Have you ever met a saint? I know many of them personally.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Catholic with a Small “c”

The phrase, “I believe in the holy catholic church” in the Apostles’ Creed has raised more questions than any other part of the creed. This troubles some people because they think it has something to do with the Roman Catholic Church. Protestant pastors find themselves explaining to parishioners that the word “catholic” simply means “universal.”

When we say, “I believe in the holy catholic church,” we are affirming our belief in the worldwide family of God, all Christian believers everywhere. Jesus left us with the commission to make disciples in every part of the world. He said that “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:47).

Those who believe in Jesus as savior become a part of a new humanity called the church universal. This is what the New Testament calls “the Body of Christ” (Ephesians 1:22-23). This term is used 13 times in the New Testament, always in the singular, never plural. There is one Body of Christ and Jesus is its head. It is not a denomination. It is not a local assembly. It is the universal and spiritual Body of Christ.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he is teaching about the universal, or “catholic” church.  Ephesians does not give instructions about local church order or polity. In Ephesians, rather, the emphasis is on the Body of Christ of which Jesus is the head. The terms “church” and “Body” are used interchangeably. Christ is said to fill the church with himself just as he fills the whole universe (Ephesians 4:10).

This is not to diminish the Bible’s teachings about the importance of local churches. Every believer should be an active participant in a local assembly. It is in the fellowship of local assemblies that we are taught the scriptures, pray for one another, serve our communities, unite in worship, and support worldwide missionary advancement. Each local church, if it is faithful to the gospel, is an outpost of the church universal, the Body of Christ.

Maxie Dunham wrote, “There is no Christianity apart from the church. This is true because there is no such thing as solitary Christianity. Although our Christian faith and experience must be personal, they can never be private.” I think he is right. Jesus loves his church, he promised to build his church, and he is present whenever his church is gathered in his name.

The word “church” comes from the Old English, related to the Scottish word kirk, or German kirche. These are derived from the ancient Greek word kuriake, which means “belonging to the Lord.” A Greek word translated “church” in our English Bibles is ekklesia, which means a “called out assembly.” That is precisely what Paul has in mind: a group of people called out from the world and belonging to the Lord.

We may stumble over the word “holy” in the statement, “I believe in the holy catholic church.” This is because we who are in the church know how unholy we can be at times. Saints are not always saintly. The people of God are not always godly. That is why we are taught to regularly confess our sins to God.

The church can only be called holy because Jesus Christ is holy. The church is made up of unholy sinners who, by God’s grace, have been reckoned as righteous through the merit and sacrifice of Jesus who died for our sins. Thus the church is holy in the sight of God because we are “in Christ,” clothed in his righteousness. Bumper sticker theology puts it this way: “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.”

We have no right to despise or neglect the local church. This is because it represents the universal church. Anyone who turns away from the church turns away from Christ’s Body. Loyalty to Jesus includes being loyal to the physical, visible expression of his universal Body on earth.

Will you join me in affirming, “I believe in the holy catholic church?” If you do, I expect Jesus will want to see you with his people in church on Sunday.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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God Behind the Scenes

The Holy Spirit is the silent partner in the Trinity. He does his work behind the scenes. The Spirit is, Jesus said, like the wind, invisible, yet powerful. We see the effects of his ministry, but we do not see him.

Any interest in the Holy Spirit is a good thing because of the worldliness and weakness of the church in our day. Many of us are dissatisfied with the condition of our spiritual lives. We hunger for a deeper and fuller experience of God’s Spirit working through us. Many of us pray for revival in our churches and in our nation.

If we say, as the Apostles’ Creed does, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we are not merely reciting an abstract theory of theology. We are talking about what happens when God goes to work in the lives of people like us, when he makes himself known in the life of his church.

I have observed this in a large church in Seoul, South Korea, as I joined a gathering of over a thousand worshippers who met at five o’clock in the morning to pray for spiritual awakening in their nation. I experienced the same thing at Ambaricho Mountain in Ethiopia where over fifty thousand Christians met for an all-day prayer gathering. They were there to pray for the progress of the gospel in their land and for spiritual renewal in their lives.

These devoted followers of Jesus in Asia and Africa had a spiritual urgency that we desperately need here in America. They believe in the Holy Spirit and they are hungry for his fullness. In the words of Ray Stedman, “Ministries that genuinely touch the world can be traced to the movement of the Holy Spirit. This is a truth that seems lost to today’s church.”

Paul brings this to our attention in 2 Corinthians 3. He mentions the Holy Spirit seven times in that passage. He practically shouts, “I believe in the Holy Spirit!” He wants us to recognize the necessity of the role of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives.

In 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 he wrote, “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

The Holy Spirit may be invisible, doing his work behind the scenes, but he is the Spirit of God. He is eternal. He has been at work in this world since the creation. Jesus said he has been sent from God to help, encourage, and strengthen believers (John 16:7; 14:17, 26). It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to live for Christ. “Our competence comes from God.” “The Spirit gives life.”

William Temple illustrated it this way: “It is no use giving me a Shakespearean play like Hamlet or King Lear and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it. I cannot. And it is no good showing me the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it. I cannot. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like that! And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like that!

That is what Paul was writing about in 2 Corinthians 3. It is not possible to live up to the holy standard of God’s law (the letter). We could die trying but we are simply not competent to do so. That is why Jesus has given us the promised New Covenant and the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is his life in us that gives us the ability to live for him.

John Stott had a thriving ministry as a pastor in London for over 25 years. His church, All Souls, was packed every Sunday with young professional people and students. Someone asked him, “John, what do you think of as you walk to the pulpit, knowing that a thousand people will be hanging on your words?” He replied, “As I make my journey to the pulpit, I just say over and over again, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit.'”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Good News on the Third Day

“He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again.”

These words from the Apostles’ Creed are good news. They recognize the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the centerpiece of Christian faith.  The Creed is the oldest confession of Christian faith not found in the New Testament. It was not actually formulated by the apostles of Jesus, but it is based upon their teachings. It was used to instruct new believers in the essentials of the faith. It was their personal confession at baptism. The Apostles’ Creed brings us back to the true gospel as it is revealed in the New Testament.

Jesus was crucified

“Crucifixion” is related to the Latin word for “cross.” There is a word which captures the torture involved in this form of death. It is the word “excruciating,” which literally means “of the cross.” Think of Jesus’ excruciating agony  the next time you see a cross atop a church spire or worn as a piece of jewelry.

Jesus’ enemies hurled insults and mockery as he was dying. They challenged him to come down from the cross if he was really the Son of God. “It is because Jesus did not come down from the cross that we believe in him,” wrote William Booth. He stayed there to complete his rescue mission.

There was once an eccentric preacher named Alexander Wooten. He was approached by a young man who asked, “What must I do to be saved?” “It’s too late,” Wooten replied.

The young man became alarmed. “Do you mean that it is too late for me to be saved? Is there nothing I can do?”

“Too late!” said Wooten. “It’s already been done. The only thing you can do is believe.”

Jesus completed what he had come to earth to do. It was a demonstration of love so great that Jesus was willing to suffer for our sins so that we might be forgiven and accepted by God the Father. This forgiveness is offered to us. All that remains is for us to receive it by believing in Jesus. He died that we might live.

Jesus was buried

This detail is important because it is evidence that the human Jesus actually died. He was not in a death-like coma and later revived. His disciples did not stage these events in an attempt to contrive a phony resurrection. Everyone involved knew he was really dead.

The Roman governor Pilate sent a message to the centurion asking if Jesus was dead. The chief Roman executioner confirmed that he was dead. Joseph, a prominent member of the Jewish high council, and a secret disciple of Jesus, secured permission to bury the body of Jesus. With the help of Nicodemus, another Jewish leader, he wrapped the body of Jesus in a linen cloth with a large quantity of spices.

Often criminals who were crucified took several days to die. Their bodies were usually dumped unceremoniously into the public garbage heap to be burned or to be food for scavenging birds or wild dogs. Instead, the body of our Lord was treated with respect and care by two of his secret followers.

The New Testament tells us that they buried the body in a new tomb cut out of rock which was near the place of execution. Matthew’s gospel says that this was Joseph’s own tomb. If you go to the Holy Land today you may visit a first century tomb called the Garden Tomb. It matches the description we read in the gospels. It is cut out of solid rock. It has a trough in which a  stone could be rolled in front of the entrance. There is a chamber for visitors and a chamber with a ledge where a body could have been placed. It is near a hill called “skull hill” which many believe to be the place of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Whether or not this is the actual burial place, it is very much like the place we see described in the Bible.

He rose again

William Barclay wrote, “If Jesus had not risen from the dead we’d never have heard of him.” Indeed, the resurrection is absolutely essential to the Christian faith. If it did not happen, Paul said, our faith is empty, void, vacuous.  Biblical scholar C.H. Dodd said that this is “not a belief that grew up within the church; it is the belief around which the church itself grew up, and the ‘given’ upon which its faith was based.”

Novelist John Updike put it poetically: “Make no mistake, if he rose at all / it was as his body; / if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, / the Church will fall.”

The New Testament gospels tell of events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. The immediate response of his disciples was alarm, amazement, and unbelief. The news spread rapidly of the presence of angels, the empty tomb, and the subsequent appearances of Jesus to his disciples. “By far, the best proof of the resurrection,” wrote William Barclay, “is the existence of the Christian church. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into people radiant with joy and flaming with courage.”

This is what believers celebrated last Sunday in Easter services all over the world. “He was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). “He was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). This is why the Apostles’ Creed insists, “On the third day he rose again.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

A NOTE TO READERS: If this article is helpful to you, please consider passing it along to others. Reposting this on your favorite social media platform may be a way for you to join me in bearing witness about our faith in Jesus.

 

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He Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

“He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.”

It is fitting that we read these words on this day of days. This phrase from the Apostles’ Creed reminds us of what happened to our Lord Jesus on Good Friday.

In Good Friday services today believers will be reminded of the stark facts surrounding Jesus’ agonized prayers in Gethsemane, his betrayal, his mock trials, his death on a cross, and his burial. Sometimes worshippers will be instructed to depart from services in silence to emphasize the solemnity of these themes.

“He suffered”

The gospel of Mark, chapter 15, recounts the sufferings of Jesus. He suffered open rejection by his own people. “Crucify him!” they shouted (v. 14). He was also rejected by friends who betrayed him, denied him, and fled the scene when he was taken captive.

He suffered torture. Roman soldiers flogged him (v. 15). This was a brutal whipping that lashed and lacerated his back, hips, arms and neck. It was not unusual for prisoners to die by this means.

He suffered mockery. Mark describes how the soldiers put a purple robe on him, twisted thorns together to form a rude crown for his head, and then knelt before him in sarcastic mockery of “the king of the Jews” (vv. 12, 16-20).

He suffered disgrace. If you and I had witnessed all this in person, we would probably have turned our eyes away in embarrassment and shame. He was paraded through the streets of Jerusalem with insults being hurled at him. He was too weak from the flogging to carry his own cross. He was led to the place of execution to be crucified with common criminals. He was stripped naked and soldiers gambled to see who would get to keep his clothes (vv. 20-24).

It is important to remember that he did not deserve this. The apostle Peter says that “he committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). Paul adds that he “had no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Hebrews 4:15 declares that Jesus “was without sin.” He was like “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19).

“Under Pontius Pilate”

Why was Pilate named in the Apostles’ Creed? Perhaps it was to establish the historical certainty and time of Jesus’ trial and death.  There are references to Pontius Pilate in the annals of Roman history, as well as in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. In 1964, archaeologists discovered at Caesarea in Israel, a first century inscription bearing the name and title of Pilate. Also, naming him in this way establishes the complicity of the Gentile governor in the death of Jesus. The Jews were not the only ones responsible.

Mark’s account of the interrogation of Jesus before Pilate reveals how eager the governor was to appease the Jewish leaders. He knew Jesus had done nothing wrong, but he was willing to violate all the laws of justice to keep himself in power and to try to keep order in Judea.

It has been said that when Pilate thought Jesus was on trial before him, it was he who was on trial before Jesus! William Barclay wrote this about Pilate: “He did the wrong thing because he was afraid to do the right thing. He was not the first, who, when confronted with the choice between worldly ambition and obedience to Jesus Christ — chose worldly ambition.”

“Was crucified, died and was buried”

Crucifixion has been described as a hideous death in which the victim literally dies a thousand deaths. It is hard not to think of Jesus as a victim of a great tragedy. Humanly, it is a tragedy and a travesty of justice. But theologically — and we are called to think theologically about this — it is not a tragedy, but a victory.

Mark does not explain the theological significance of the crucifixion. His gospel states the historical facts, but it does not interpret them. It is the teaching and writing of the other apostles that gives us the fuller explanation. Nor does Mark give a detailed description of all that was involved in crucifixion. Many contemporary scholars have researched the matter. History and archaeology give ample evidence to support the Bible’s brief description of events.

The Creed is correct. Jesus died by crucifixion. The Romans executed thousands by this method. They were experts at it. They knew when a victim had died. Jesus was buried. This is proof of his death. This is what we remember on Good Friday.

Why?

Looking at this from God’s point of view — and that is what it means to think theologically — we are given reasons for Jesus’ suffering. It was God’s purpose. It was his eternal plan. Jesus prayed shortly before he died, “What shall I say? ‘Father save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name” (John 12:27).

It was the Son’s obedience. Jesus said, “I lay down my life. . . . 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” (John 10:18).

It was our sin that caused the death of Jesus. It was necessary that a perfectly sinless human being (God’s Son) die for the sins of the world. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Not long after the release of his film “The Passion of the Christ” Mel Gibson was interviewed by Diane Sawyer. “Who killed Jesus?” she asked. “We all did,” he answered.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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The Virgin Birth Really Matters

I know this is not the Advent season but in our examination of the Apostles’ Creed we have come to the phrase concerning the Lord Jesus: “He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.” This matters. From the very beginning, Christians have believed in the sinless deity, miraculous conception, and the virgin birth of Jesus.

This is because it is what the Bible teaches. There are skeptics who say it doesn’t really matter whether or not Jesus was born of a virgin. But they must concede that the early church, the earliest creeds,  and the New Testament taught these things. When Christians affirm their faith in the virgin birth of Christ, it is not with fingers crossed or with mental reservations. It is because we believe Luke who recorded what the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Luke was a physician. But he was not writing on the basis of his medical experience. This was not a case study for peer review in a medical journal. What he was describing is a great miracle of the Holy Spirit. He wants us to draw certain conclusions.

First, Jesus was fully human. He had a human birth. While his conception was supernatural, his birth was according to natural processes. This agrees with the idea that in Jesus Christ, the human and the divine are united in one person.

Second, Luke implies that Jesus was without sin. This is taught repeatedly in the New Testament. Here our Lord is spoken of as “the Holy One.” It is inconceivable that God could be incarnated in human flesh if it involved sin. This is attributable to the Holy Spirit and to Jesus’ divine pre-existence.

A third conclusion is obvious from Luke 1:35. We are told that this Holy Child “will be called the Son of God.” As Mary’s son, he was fully human. As the Son of the Most High, he was divine. How could he be the Son of God if he had a human father? The virgin birth really matters. It involves the entrance of God into the stream of humanity. It highlights our Lord’s absolute uniqueness. He is “Immanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

To deny this is to deny the supernatural character of the gospel. It is the story of a great miracle. If one denies the miracle of the virgin birth of Christ, it is only a short step toward denying the many miracles, the resurrection, and the second coming of Jesus Christ as well.

The trustworthiness of the Bible is at stake. Let’s just say it plainly. If Jesus had a human father, the Bible is not true. It comes down to this: can we trust the Bible? Were Matthew and Luke and the other writers of the New Testament guilty of falsifying their testimony about Jesus? If the virgin birth is open to question, so is everything else the Bible teaches.

On the other hand, if the Bible is truthful and trustworthy, then we can accept the fact that it contains the record of supernatural events that are beyond our comprehension and must be accepted by faith.

When we recite the Apostles’ Creed, we acknowledge that God used miraculous means to bring his Son into the world. This was a special act of his love in providing a Savior who “was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.”

This matters. It means that Jesus was, and is, human like us. He understands our problems and needs. This also means that Jesus is divine. He is the powerful Son of God who is able to save and sustain all who put their faith in him.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Jesus is Lord

I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

These are the opening lines of the Apostles’ Creed. They repeat the theme of the earliest Christian confession of faith: “Jesus is Lord.” This was a dangerous thing to say in the environment where the early believers lived.

First century Romans were compelled by the state to confess, “Caesar is lord!” The Romans attributed divinity to Caesar who was to be revered not only as a king but as a god. Emperors were invested with divine authority in religious ceremonies. The declaration, “Caesar is lord” was a unifying principle throughout the various regions of the empire. It was a test of the loyalty of the people.

There were many cases where Christians would be singled out for their refusal to say those words. Many of them paid with their lives when instead they uttered the confession, “Jesus is Lord!”

The apostle Paul included these words in one of the most profound Christological passages in the New Testament. He wrote of Jesus, “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” (Philippians2:9-11).

In the time of Paul, these words were subversive. They taught the Christians to challenge the divinity of Caesar by declaring the absolute authority and deity of Jesus. No wonder Paul was martyred as an enemy of the state by the Roman government!

Whenever Christians today recite the Apostles’ Creed, or its equivalent, we are declaring that there is no higher authority than Jesus in our lives, that we worship him as we worship God. We are agreeing with Paul that his name is above every name.

Paul uses three distinct names or titles for Jesus in Philippians 2. “Jesus” is his human name. It was in common use among the Jews of his day. In his writings Paul mentions the name of Jesus over 200 times. Only four times is the name Jesus referred to without another title attached.

“Christ” is an honorific title referring to his Messiahship. It means he is God’s anointed king. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed when they began their service for God. The title “Christ” meant that Jesus was divinely commissioned to be the king of Israel and to bring salvation to the world.

“Lord” denotes his authority as absolute ruler and divine sovereign. When the early Christians called Jesus “Lord,” they were actually confessing that Jesus of Nazareth is the God of Israel, Yahweh, the only true God. In Philippians 2, Paul is quoting the prophet Isaiah. In one of the most outstanding statements of monotheism in the Bible, the God of Israel says, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. . . . Before me every knee will bow and by me every tongue will swear” (Isaiah 45:22-23). Without hesitation Paul applies these very words to Jesus Christ!

Is Jesus your God and savior? You cannot know God without knowing him. A university student wanted to share her faith in Jesus with a friend. The two of them agreed to read and discuss the Bible together. They read though the opening chapters of the gospel of John where Jesus is called God several times. After several weeks of study the young friend exclaimed, “Why, I see what it means. It means that Jesus is God!” She had been reading it for weeks and had only at this point come to the realization of it. It was not long after that that she committed her life to Jesus as her God and savior.

Jesus Christ is Lord.  He is now the Lord. In some parts of the world it is still dangerous to make that confession. The name of Jesus is cursed and blasphemed. Many people alive today have never heard his name uttered in reverence or prayer. So when we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,” it is a witness to a world that needs to know him.

Someday every tongue will make that confession.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Creator of Heaven and Earth

“You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Revelation 4:11).

I do not understand everything I believe. I believe what the Apostles’ Creed says when it leads me to declare, “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” I believe this. I really do. But that is not the same thing as saying I understand how God could speak everything into existence.

Faith in God as creator leads to humble worship. This is one of the reasons why the living creatures around God’s throne give thanks and praise to him. He created all things. This is one of the reasons we worship him. We know that we did not create ourselves. God is our creator. We owe him our worship.

The Bible is replete with references to God as creator. This is not incompatible with science. Faith in a creator is a reasonable faith.

Science teaches us that truth is knowable through experimentation. It says that the universe operates in orderly, predictable ways. It tells us that we can trust our senses, language, numbers, and logic to formulate scientific theories. When experiments are repeated and the results are the same, we say that we have discovered a scientific law. The laws of science reveal the magnificent creative power of almighty God.

This is the conclusion of a leading scientist, Francis Collins, former head of the National Institutes of Health and director of the Human Genome Project. When his team completed the mapping of human DNA, he wrote, “For me it was both a stunning scientific achievement and the occasion for worship.” Collins, who is a Christian, said that there is the possibility of a “richly satisfying harmony between science and faith.” Dr. Collins told this story in his book The Language of God.

So when I confess, “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth,” it is not because I understand everything about God or his wonderful works. It is because his creative power is evident in the universe all around me. It is not unreasonable to believe that the universe did not create itself. Everything we see in nature is derived, dependent, created. God is the creator.

The Bible does not tell us when creation occurred. It does not give a scientific explanation of how creation occurred. It does tell us that creation unfolded in a sequential pattern, one creative day following another. Science cannot explain the origin of matter. The Bible gives us that information. “He is the Maker pf all things. . . . The Lord Almighty is his name” (Jeremiah 10:16).

We are told that the Trinity was involved. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:2 says that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” In Hebrews 1:2 we read that God has spoken through his Son “through whom he made the universe.”

The Bible tells us why creation occurred. Why is there something and not nothing? It is because God willed it so. The God we worship created all things for his own good purposes. Being exists. Matter exists. Persons exist. Consciousness exists. Why? Because God is a self-giving God of love and pure grace. Creation is a free act of grace.

There is a faint parallel in the work of human artists. Humans are creative because we are made in God’s image. The creative process involves thought and feeling, then expression. This is true of an artist painting on a canvas, a musician composing a masterwork, an architect designing a building, or a florist preparing a bouquet. The conception begins in their thoughts and imagination, then is made visible in the creative act.

It is the same with God.  Just as we can know something real about artists from looking at their creations, so we can know something about God from looking at his creation. This leads us to awestruck wonder and worship.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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I Believe!

“We believe. That’s what we do to live. Believing is like breathing: we do it, but we only know we are doing it when someone calls our attention to it.” So wrote philosopher James Sire in his book Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?

Today I am calling your attention to belief in God. I have read that surveys show that more than 80% of Americans say they believe in God. That raises questions. What kind of God?  What can we know about him? Does it matter whether or not we believe in him?

James Sire was right. Belief is automatic. It is a part of what it means to be a human being. Everyone believes in all kinds of things. As far as God is concerned, the important thing is to know what and in whom and why we believe.

The Apostles’ Creed begins with the declaration, “I believe in God the Father Almighty.” This is to say more than “I think,” or “I feel,” or “I hope.” It is a declaration of trust in the God who is revealed in the Bible. It is to make a personal commitment to the truth that God exists. It says a relationship with him is possible.

Not everyone is ready for this. Some time ago student volunteers affiliated with a Christian campus ministry at an eastern university were conducting a survey of fellow students. They asked questions about belief in God. One student replied, “I think people should believe whatever they like, whether there is a God or not.”

Another said, “God is everything each person thinks of him or her.” Another student answered, “God exists in each individual and the form their God takes is entirely up to them.”

These survey responses showed that the highest authority in these students’ lives was self. There was no higher moral authority than themselves. This is hardly surprising in a postmodern society when the very idea of absolute truth is being called into question.

According to the Bible, God is more than a psychological category. He is not a philosophical construct. He exists as a “Father,” who created us and to whom we must someday be accountable. He is a living person and he invites us into a relationship with himself through Jesus his son.

The statement we read in the opening phrase of the Apostles’ Creed is based upon Bible verses like this one: “For us there is but one God the Father from whom all things came and for whom we live, and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came, and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6).

Everyone believes. What we believe determines our destiny. Several years ago a drug was being prescribed by doctors to women with problem pregnancies, for relief of morning sickness. It worked — that is, it relieved the discomfort. But unfortunately it also caused many babies to be born with birth defects and severe handicaps.

The women who took the drug were sincere in their belief that it would help them. They were misled and the consequences were devastating. The drug was, of course, withdrawn from use by pregnant women. Its side effects were too costly.

Belief in the wrong version of God or Jesus may be even more costly. It can cost you your eternal happiness. According to the Bible, “one God, the Father” is the creator, who through Jesus his son, is ready to make it possible for us to live, really live.

Our response should be to say from our hearts, “I believe!”

Pastor Randy Faulkner