Jesus – His Death Series

Jesus – His Death

Series: CREED: Truths that Unite

Brad Bailey – February 7, 2021

Intro...

Well... good morning Westside Vineyard friends and family.... each of you joining today... as well as those who may connect sometime in the future.

It’s a PRIVILEGE to have this time to share with you...and I’m EXCITED to continue together in our series entitled Creed: Truths that Unite.

In this series we’re engaging the central truths captured in the Apostles Creed. As I shared in previous weeks, The Apostles Creed is the oldest known and most widely accepted Christian creed... recognized by all branches of Christian tradition - Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox. And each week we are engaging one of the great truths declared in this creed ....truths that can center us, form us, and unite us. And each week we are starting by first having different members read the creed... which we can say aloud as well by following the words we will put up.

And today it’s a pleasure to welcome Dean and Flora Guevara. Some may know Dean as one of our gifted worship leaders. Some may know Flora as a teacher of French and some social science classes at Crean Lutheran High School. And others may know them simply as Aviela and Asher’s mom and dad. Here’s Dean and Flora. [1]

Thanks Dean and Flora.

A few weeks ago we began at the start of the creed... with what it means to believe in God, father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth... And we then we engaged what it means to believe in Jesus Christ... God’s only Son, and our Lord... and then last week... the significance of his being “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” And today...we engage the significance of the next line... of believing that Jesus... suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; and descended to the dead.

The Apostles Creed...

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

One might notice that there are several significant and notably sobering words here... all connected together by how Jesus died.

Suffered... crucified ...died... buried... descended.

It could strike someone that the creed seems to leap from his birth directly to his death. It may seem like a strange loss that nothing is said of everything he said and did.... the profound words he spoke...the lives he healed. There’s no doubt that ever word and act as testified to in the Gospel accounts is vital to knowing him. But the point of the creed is to declare that Jesus was not simply another good teacher...or an honorable priest or a prophet.

God had spoken through the prophets over hundreds of years... and when he spoke about sending a savior... God predicted his birth...and his death... because they are what define who he is. It is his birth that would set him apart as being the incarnation of divinity and his death being the real sacrifice of divinity. Jesus himself spoke of what he must fulfill in his suffering and death. His sacrificial death would define this life. And so it isn’t surprising that this is what the creed affirms.

And so the creed affirmed that Jesus entered our human nature and suffered as a representative of our human nature. And this was significant, because it stands in contrast to some who viewed the material world as something too inferior for God to actually engage. There were, and still are, some who see this whole material world as a façade ... who believe that the material world is just a deception... a matrix or mistake. They believed in discovering a secret knowledge to exist merely as spiritual beings free of the false material nature. Those who believed such things are referred to as Gnostics...and they wanted to recast Jesus as one who held such secrets...and who never truly lived or died a physical life. [2]

Such ideas were entirely bizarre to any of the Jews at the time...let alone those who personally knew his flesh and blood life... from his mother to his brothers to his team of disciples to those who would beat him... crucify him...and bury him. No matter how much he spoke with an authority unlike any earthly teacher... he was not simply some spiritual ghost.

And the creed sets forth the profound truth that this Jesus was really born in the flesh....and he really died in the flesh. These words we engage today...bring that home... he suffered... was crucified ...died... buried... and descended to the dead. Now that last line... “he descended to the dead.”... may seem a little unusual.