THE NEED FOR C.R.E.E.D.
Acts 2:14,22-36
April 3, 2005
Thesis: Historical creeds may seem dry and dusty in our digital age, but they play an important role in the life of faith.
Fans of Rich Mullins may have been surprised when he sang the Apostles’ Creed on a CD collection of his songs. Mullins is best known for the song “Awesome God,” considered by some to be the national anthem of contemporary Christian music.
Yet, it is not widely known that before his tragic death, Mullins was embracing the most ancient traditions of historic Christianity. The song “Creed,” which is the Apostles’ Creed sung in the style of a fast-paced chant, builds to a refrain that explains why Mullins adopted the Creed as a statement of his own faith:
“And I believe that what I believe/ Is what makes me what I am/ I did not make it, no it is making me/ It is the very truth of God and not/ the invention of any man.”
You might be thinking, “So what? Mullins needed some material for a song. What’s the big deal? Why do I need a creed? Historical creeds may seem dry and dusty in our digital age, but they play an important role in the life of faith.
"We must remember that everyone has a creed, as does every church/assembly. Even if a church says, “We don’t believe in creeds,” it obviously does have a creed ... its creed is “We don’t believe in creeds”! Thus, if one has the capacity to believe in something, one has a creed. This is what creeds are for: to explain the common beliefs of individuals and groups of people ....
"In post modernity, creeds are making a comeback, primarily because we see that everybody has a creed, even those who have said for years, “We have no creed.” We postmoderns are rediscovering our Christian heritage, preferring to be connected to a larger entity than just our recent era. While for years, modernists, especially “liberal” modernists, told us to forget about the ancient creeds and just “believe what you want.” Many postmoderns are rejecting the creed of “believe what you want” and discovering the ancient creeds, which are worded in such a way to allow real freedom of belief on side issues, yet still connect us to present and past believers."
—David Bennett, “The creeds: Why do we need creeds?” Ancient and Future Catholics Web Site, ancient-future.net. Retrieved October 15, 2004.
Before we begin to dig into our scripture for today let me begin by sharing with you four important reasons why you need a creed. These are four important benefits of adopting an historic Christian creed like The Apostles Creed.
Why do I need a creed? A creed…
1. Protects me from self-invented forms of religion and from false teaching.
Creeds ground our faith in a tradition while protecting us from the self-invented forms of religion that are so popular in our time. Creeds protect believers from the tendency toward radical individualism or simply inventing their own faith.
Creeds provide the framework within which all of our beliefs and doctrines must be contained. To go outside of the creedal framework is to go outside of orthodoxy and to stray from the true Christian faith. The framework that the creed provides is not meant to be a barrier that constricts us, but to be a guide that protects us.
2. Unites me with the church across time and around the world.
Jaroslav Pelikan, the renowned Yale scholar, whose recent book, Credo, is a monumental exploration of the history of creeds and confession, describes his own sense of wonder in worship that occurs when he recites the same creed that was likely sung that same morning in the Philippines (or somewhere else in the worldwide church), and recited down through the ages from the early church fathers, to Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, to his own grandfather in the 20th century. The creed forms a universal foundation for the Christian faith that unites people across time and around the world.
Creeds are important because they serve to unite the church. When so much else divides, the story held in common by all Christians and expressed in the creed, brings us together. Christians can and do disagree on any number of social issues, political issues and secondary theological issues, but still maintain unity through a common confession of faith.
3. Provides me with a handle on my faith.
Of course, the God whom we seek to know, love and serve, who is revealed in Jesus Christ and descended upon the church at Pentecost in the person of the Holy Spirit, can never be contained by any creed. God remains beyond our grasp; we can only comprehend what our minds can contain and they cannot contain the fullness of God.
The creeds cannot fully comprehend God, but they do have a powerfully positive function. One scientist, Lyndon Eaves, has suggested that creeds function as operational hypothesis — the best formulations of what we can never fully grasp.
Experienced in this way, creeds, like stories, open up a new world of faithful exploration. Once we accept the truthfulness of what they are expressing, that can shape our lives in the way Rich Mullins described so personally. “And I believe that what I believe/ Is what makes me what I am/ I did not make it, no it is making me/ It is the very truth of God and not/ the invention of any man.”
4. Defines what I give my life too.
Now when we talk about definitions we need to be careful about redefining our terms. I want to share with you some words that have been redefined in such a way that they no longer mean what they used to mean:
1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you’ve gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Flatulence (n.), the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
5. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
6. Frisbeetarianism (n.), the belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.
Now we might find those redefinitions funny, but there is something to be concerned about here. When we say that the creed defines what we give our lives too we must be careful that we are not just redefining the creed to mean whatever we want it to mean. Someone once said, “I love saying the Nicene Creed … And, I love saying the OLD words. I just interpret them differently for our time.” Now I will have to give this man the benefit of the doubt because I am not sure what he meant by that, but I know what many people would mean by a statement like that. Many would recite the same old words, but they would redefine them in such a way that they no longer meant what the original authors of that creed intended for them to mean. When we recite the creed we must make sure that we are not simply redefining our terms.
William Sloane Coffin, in what may be his last book, Credo, says that a creed is that “to which I give my heart.”
The task for us all is to take the creed — words on paper — and allow those words to become a living, breathing reality in our experience.
Our faith, embodied by the creeds, is something we must give our hearts to, our lives to.
So what is it that we are giving our hearts to? Career? Pride? Unhealthy habits? Leisure toys? Consumerism? Vanity? Greed?
Whatever it is, that’s our creed.
Is it serving others, increasing the supply of human kindness and happiness? Serving God? Giving our time selflessly to family, friends and community?
Whatever it is, that’s our creed.
Peter’s sermon recorded in our text for today is an account that describes not so much what we can comprehend about God, but about the God who comprehends us and provides for our salvation — and that’s something we can love, and give our hearts to.
5. Identifies the beliefs that influence my behavior.
In his recent book, Creed: What Christians Believe and Why it Matters, Luke Timothy Johnson points out that not all religions have creeds.
Many of them focus on the practice of religious convictions more than specific beliefs. Some, like tribal religions, emphasize imaginative ways of experiencing reality with little or no standard belief system that is comparable to Christianity’s emphasis on tradition. Johnson wonders why Christianity historically has placed such a high value on belief, and from the beginning formulated a specific set of beliefs into creeds to be shared in common by all Christians.
The answer to that question, according to Johnson, finds its roots in the earliest creedal statements of Judaism found in Deuteronomy 6:4: (“Hear O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”) This is known in Judaism as the Shema from the word Hebrew word meaning “hear.” What’s important about this statement is that it describes a common belief about God and a personal response to God, so the creed here is both communal (“our God”) and personal (“your God”). The creed identifies both belief (“The Lord is one”) and behavior (“Love the Lord”). This is a classic example of a belief influencing behavior.
Our creeds can and should be more than just dry and dusty statements of theological propositions. They should be statements of truth that identify what we believe and influence how we behave. With that in mind I want us to turn our attention to the first sermon every preached by the New Testament church. The apostle Peter delivered this message on the day of Pentecost after the Holy Spirit had descended upon the disciples who were gathered in the upper room for prayer.
Although Peter’s message is not a creed in the sense of being formally or poetically worded the way creeds are. His message is a statement of the beliefs of the early church about Jesus Christ. And it is the beliefs that Peter expounds here that have found their way into the great, historic creeds of Christianity. As we look at these beliefs I want to focus on how these beliefs should affect our behavior.
C.R.E.E.D.
Lets look now at Acts 2:14,22-36 and identify the five key statements of faith highlighted by Peter in this sermon. The practical application of these statements of faith spell the word C.R.E.E.D.
14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.”
Let’s stop right there for just a moment. This verse is basically the introduction to his sermon. He begins by exhorting the crowd to “listen carefully to what I say.” Let’s take his advice this morning and listen carefully to what the apostle has to say to us because he is about to “explain this to you.” Now what he was about to explain to the crowd that day was the phenomena surrounding the coming of the Holy Spirit. However, he actually only takes a few verses to explain that and actually spends most of his time defining the new churches beliefs about Jesus Christ. So today we are going to skip over the verses about Joel and his prophecy and leave those to another day.
How do these beliefs affect our behavior? First, we must…
C - Consider the evidence.
22“Men of Israel, Listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.”
Belief #1: Jesus was a man accredited by God.
When you go to college you want to go to an accredited college because that means that an outside organization has thoroughly examined this school and found that it is a quality institution and that it will give you an appropriate education. But Jesus was not just accredited by some accrediting agency he was accredited by God himself.
During height of last years’ election campaign we were literally bombarded with political ads on TV on a daily basis. At the end of many of these political ads we would see or hear George Bush or John Kerry saying, “I approved this message.” Well essentially what this scripture means is that when Jesus finished his message on earth God said, “I am God Almighty, and I approved this message.”
How did God show that he approved of Jesus message? Peter says that it was through the “miracles, wonders and signs” which Jesus performed among them by God’s power. Peter is implying that if God disapproved of Jesus, he wouldn’t have given Jesus his power to perform these acts.
The Pharisees understood this. One night Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees and a member of the Sanhedrin, came to Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2).
It is interesting to note that Nicodemus doesn’t say, “I know” that you have come from God, but “We know.” Why is that significant? Again, who was Nicodemus? He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. By saying using the word “we” he is including his peers – his fellow Pharisees and council members. They knew the truth, but the majority of them rejected him in spite of the evidence. Their behavior didn’t match their beliefs.
The disciples also understood the significance of Jesus’ works. Earlier in his Gospel John had written: “(Jesus’) miraculous signs … revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11). His miracles revealed his glorious nature – his identity as the Son, not only of Man, but also of God. What separated the disciples from the Pharisees? The disciples allowed their beliefs to influence their behavior. The disciples saw the miracles and “put their faith in him.”
The greatest miracle of Jesus – the miracle that forever ends the debate of whether or not he was really God – was his resurrection. If you want to consider the evidence for his resurrection, I would urge you to join us this Wednesday at 6:30 P.M. for Bible study. I am teaching on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and for the next four weeks I will be teaching about the evidence we have for believing that Jesus really did arise from the dead. Come and consider the evidence with us.
R - Repent of your sin.
23This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Belief #2: Jesus was put to death.
On the one hand Peter says that they, the Jews, were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. But on the other hand he says that it was God who handed Jesus over to them. In other words, if God hadn’t allowed it, they couldn’t have done it. This fits well with what Jesus told Pilate during his trial: “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:11a).
So the question is: Why did God allow this to happen? Peter says that it was according to “God’s set purpose.” What possible purpose could God have in handing his innocent Son over to wicked men to be tortured and killed? Isaiah, prophesying of the death of the Messiah, writes: “The Lord decided his servant would suffer as a sacrifice to take away the sin and guilt of others” (Isaiah 53:10 – CEV).
There you have it. The purpose for which Jesus died was to take away the sin and guilt of others. He died on the cross to take away your sin and your guilt. That also means that you share in the responsibility for the death of Jesus. If you hadn’t sinned, he wouldn’t have had to die to pay for your sins.
The appropriate response to this truth is to repent of your sins in order to receive the forgiveness, which he died to provide. In a later sermon Peter would say, “God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out…” (Acts 3:18-19).
E - Engage in living a new life.
24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him… 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.
Belief #3: Jesus was raised from the dead.
Circle that last word – “fact.” Peter says that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact, not a fantasy. It was a miracle, not a myth. It was history, not a hoax. Let me tell you that facts are what you found your life upon. Beliefs are what you build your life upon. This conviction is the cornerstone for a new life.
Look at what the apostle Paul taught about this: “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Romans 6:4 – NLT).
What kind of a new life can you live? Later in Romans 6:22 (TM) Paul tells us: “Now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!”
Is anyone interested in that today? Would anyone like to have “a whole, healed, put-together life right now?” It is yours for the asking this morning. Consider the evidence. Repent of your sins. And engage in living a new life through the power of Jesus’ resurrection.
E - Express praise to God.
33aExalted to the right hand of God…
Belief #4: Jesus ascended into heaven where he sits and the Father’s right hand.
Because he has been lifted up, we should be bowed down in worship and adoration expressing our praise to Jesus. After his death, resurrection, and appearances to his disciples Mark tells us that “he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). It was to this event that David had prophesied and Peter quotes him as saying:
34bThe Lord (God the Father) said to my Lord (God the Son), “Sit at my right hand 35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
In light of the great truth of the exaltation of Christ, Paul writes: “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” (Philippians 2:9-11). Amen!
D - Depend on the Spirit’s power.
33bHe has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
Belief #5: Jesus sent the promised Holy Spirit.
Peter refers to the Holy Spirit as “promised” because earlier in the book of Acts we learn that just before he ascended into heaven Jesus promise to send the Holy Spirit to the disciples. Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
It was the fulfillment of this promise that resulted in Peter having an audience to preach to on this occasion. When the Holy Spirit came upon them as they were praying the Bible says that he came with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and that tongues of fire settled upon them. The Holy Spirit then gave the disciples the power to preach to all the various nationalities of people who were gathered for the Jewish holiday in their own languages. “Amazed and perplexed, they (the people) asked one another, ‘What does this mean’” (Acts 2:12)? Peter’s sermon is his answer to this question.
Jesus had promised that Holy Spirit would give them the power to be his witnesses and immediately upon his coming that is exactly what he did. He transformed the disciples who had abandoned Jesus at the time of his arrest, denied ever knowing him during his trial, and remained hidden behind locked doors after his crucifixion into men who were willing to go to the Temple and proclaim for all to see and hear that Jesus Christ was Lord.
The really good news is that this gift of the Holy Spirit was just for a group of 120 disciples some 2,000 years ago, but that it is for each of us today.
38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized …And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
The secret of super successful Christian living, is to depend upon the power of the promise Holy Spirit to be and to do what is pleasing to God. As long as you are trying to live the Christian life, as it is outlined for us in the scriptures, in your own strength you will have the same experience that Paul had when he said, “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:17b). Paul found the solution to this dilemma when as he says, “the Spirit of life set me free” (Romans 8:2).
Look at this list of the benefits of depending on the Holy Spirit as found in Romans 8:
· The ability to live a holy life.
“…the righteous requirements of the law (are) fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” (v. 4)
· Peace of mind.
“…the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;” (v. 6)
· Power over sin and temptation.
“…by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,” (v. 13)
· An intimate relationship with God.
“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (v. 14)
“…you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (v. 15)
· The assurance of our salvation.
“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (v. 16)
Let me ask you: Where else are you going to find those things? Ability. Peace. Power. Intimacy. Assurance. They all come into our lives as a direct result of basing our lives on the C.R.E.E.D. so consider the evidence, repent of your sin, engage in living a new life, express praise and worship to God, and depend upon the Holy Spirit’s power.
In verse 36 Peter succinctly sums up his creed:
36Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Is that your creed? Are you building your life upon it? Are you allowing your beliefs to influence your behavior?
Would you stand and join me in confessing our faith by reciting The Apostle’s Creed together?
Sources:
Brinton, Henry G. “A Need for Creed.” Homiletics, March-April, 2005
Johnson, Luke Timothy. Creed: What Christians Believe and Why it Matters. Doubleday. 2003
Mullins, Rich. Songs. BMG Songs, Inc. 1998.
Pelican, Jaroslav. Credo: A Historical and Theological Guide to the Creeds and Confessions of Faith of the Christian Tradition. Yale University Press. 2003.
Please email me if you use this message or an adaptation of it. Thanks!
steveamanda8297@hotmail.com
