Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.-- Hebrews 11:1
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours.”-- Mark 11:22-24 (NLT)
The Apostle John, in the eighteenth chapter of his Gospel, recounts for us a conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, after Jesus' capture, during His so-called trial. Jesus had just spoken of His kingdom not being of this world, and Pilate, in his best “Ah-hah! Gotcha!” voice exclaimed, “You are a king then!”. The rest of verse 37 is the response Jesus gave: “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate, refusing to cede the argument, countered with the cynical “What is truth?” before turning away and leaving the room. Jesus used two key words in His response: fact and truth.
We basically have three ways of expressing what we perceive as a fact or the truth. Generally, if we can verify something with one of our senses – if we can see it or touch it or smell it or taste it or hear it – if we can somehow prove it exists, we say we know it to be true. This could also include the variations of “I'd bet the farm on it”, or maybe not being 100% sure since we are aware of optical illusions or other phenomena that may fool our senses, so we may hedge our answer just a bit. And there are those cases where we cannot fully rely on our five senses, nor provide sufficient proof, to verify the truth of their existence. Those times we may say “I think it is so”, or “I'm pretty sure”, or “Well, yeah, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it”. These could also be used for what I will call comparative facts, where your opinion and mine may differ. Like, “I think it's hot in here, but I'm wearing this suit and standing up here in front of all of you and more nervous than a long tailed cat in a retirement home so it may not seem hot at all to you.”
And then there are those times when you know something beyond even the glimmer of a doubt, even though you have no proof for it whatsoever. It is then that we exhibit true faith, and we say “I believe it to be true”. In the Letter to the Hebrews, usually attributed to the Apostle Paul, we learn that faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. The author then goes on to say that the ancients were commended for their faith. He gives Abraham as an example, citing that purely by faith, when called to to go to some place he would only later learn the location of, Abraham did just that. He obediently followed God's instructions because he had faith in God. In other words, Abraham believed.
Every week we stand here and recite what has become known as the Apostle's Creed. While tradition has it that the creed was written on the day of, or shortly after, Pentecost by the Apostles themselves, most Biblical authorities today believe the authors to have been a group of close followers of the Apostles, sometime within the first few centuries after Pentecost, or during the Apostolic age. So it is safe to say that these statements of belief have been around a while, and have well stood the test of time. But is this creed so old, and so often used, that we take it for granted, that we no longer listen to the words as we speak them, but instead chant them as a ritual, as a solemn duty? Today, I asked us to join hands as we joined voices, to interject something new into the ritual, so that maybe we would pay more attention to the words leaving our lips. And now, if you will indulge me, I would like to look a little more closely into this list of brief statements that together form the fundamental tenets of Christian belief.
I believe. I am sure of what I hope for, and, in this case, sure of what I cannot see. I have faith. And by faith I know. By faith I believe.
I believe in God. Every time I see the sun set, or a baby's fingers, I believe. When I hear a bird's song, or a breeze fluffing dry leaves, I believe. I touch a snowflake, it melts in my hand, and I believe. I smell the ocean's life, breathe in the earth following a rain, and I believe. I can sip from a cool mountain spring, or bite into an apple right off the tree, and I believe. All five of my senses offer proof of the existence of a living God Who ordered and controlled every thing. I can neither see nor hear nor touch nor smell nor taste God, no more than I can experience the wind itself except by its passing. (No, we do not smell the wind, but only the scents it carries. Neither can we feel it, but only its effect on our skin as it passes.) Yet I know He exists by the effects He creates.
The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I also believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that what it tells me I can accept as truth. Jesus Himself spoke of God as His Father, and even instructed us to address God and consider Him as our heavenly Father also. And since the Bible tells us that God is the one God, the only God, we can know He is all mighty, all powerful. There is nothing God cannot do, nothing that is beyond His power, no force that can prevent Him from accomplishing His great plan. Not only did He create this earth upon which we live, us, and the plants and animals we share earth with, He created the sun that warms us and all the stars and planets and moons that speckle our night sky. He created the angels to worship and serve Him, and heaven where they all reside. He even created Lucifer, who turned on God and now torments us all with his misguided and self-destructive desire to be greater than God. I believe that all that there is, God created.
And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord. It is sometimes a little difficult to think of this all powerful God as a small human baby, but this is exactly how He came into our world in the flesh. God knows that many have trouble believing in something they cannot see or touch. He has witnessed how easily we fall into idol worship. So He knew that for us to more easily believe, He would need to give us something physical. Because He loves us so much, He came to us in the flesh, as His only Son, to walk among us, live with us, suffer our pains, dream our dreams, and ultimately die at our hands. This is our one true Lord, Jesus Christ.
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. For God to become flesh, to take the physical form of a man, it was necessary to be born of a human woman but fathered by God Himself. So the third form of God, the third member of the Holy Trinity, entered Mary and planted the seed within her that would grow to be our Lord and Savior. But even the Son of God needed an earthly father, and Joseph humbly obeyed God's angels and accepted the special circumstances of the birth of Jesus, and raised Him as his own, teaching Him the ways of the world, while allowing Him a religious upbringing as well.
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. As Jesus grew into a young man, He also grew into the role He was born to, just as He later told Pilate as related in the Scripture of John. He shared the truth with the world of man. He taught the true way of life. He promised eternal life to those who would only believe. And He made enemies, great and powerful enemies who sought to silence Him, no matter what it took. So they arrested Jesus and handed Him over to the governor assigned by Rome, for the Jews had no authority to put a man to death but the Romans indeed did. It is significant that we can, through this article of faith, pinpoint with great certainty the time when Jesus suffered and was put to death, because we can determine when Pilate ruled over the Jews by researching independent, non-Biblical documents and records. This places His death as an event in earthly time, not something that simply happened “long ago”. While in Roman hands, Jesus was beaten mercilessly, the flesh literally ripped from His body, was ridiculed and derided, was spat on and jeered, and was nailed to a rough-hewn cross, upon which His earthly body died. His corpse was taken from the cross, cleaned, wrapped in funeral cloths, and interred in a new tomb, the entrance of which was blocked and sealed by a huge boulder.
He descended into hell. Jesus went to the place of the dead. Jesus was really dead. His mortal body ceased all functions. There was no illusion, no slight of hand. Jesus went to where all people who die goes, for He was dead. For those who think death is final, as most did during the time of His walk on earth and many still do today, this would be the end of the story of the Man of Nazareth. Jesus went where the dead all go, never to return or be seen again.
The third day He rose again from the dead. Now this is the one article that makes every Christian heart sing! Even death could not hold our Christ! Through Jesus, God showed us that He can conquer death, that anything is within His power. Jesus did return, he was seen again, in the flesh and by many people, hundreds of people. His wounds could be seen and touched, His voice heard. This was no mere apparition, no illusion. This was the living, walking, talking Jesus Christ once again. The boulder was pushed from the tomb and the once-dead Jesus walked back out. Had our Lord not risen from the grave, there would be no Christian faith today. We would perhaps have an interesting story of a man from somewhere around the Sea of Galilee who preached a little here and there. But no, that is not the case. Now we know for sure that our God lives! He defeated death and rose from the grave and walked among us once again!
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Once His work upon earth was done, once doubtful man was assured of His defeat over death, Jesus bodily arose into heaven. We know that there He has joined God His Father and sits at His right hand. The Son and the Father, both part of God, equals with the Holy Spirit in the form of the Holy Trinity.
From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. In his book of Revelation, Jesus revealed through John that He would come again some day, and would at that time sit in judgment of all mankind, both those who had died and gone on before and those still living on that day, both the quick and the dead. It won't matter if you are dead or alive at that time, or when you died. You will stand before Jesus. Your name will be searched for in the Book of Life. You will be separated, either to Christ's right to enjoy eternal life with Him and His Father, or to His left where you will be cast into the lake of fire, there to spend an eternity in torment. Matthew assures us of this in the twenty-fifth chapter of his Gospel.
I believe in the Holy Ghost. This is the third aspect of God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, share equal power and authority in the Holy Trinity, yet each has specific functions or roles as directed by God to assist mankind. The Holy Ghost is that aspect of God which was sent after Christ's ascension to fill man and become part of him. Its role is to guide us, to speak God's word into our hearts, to give us courage and strength, to console us and comfort us. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us, to continue Christ's mission of teaching us the true way.
The holy catholic church. Many people are confused by this phrase, and some even take offense at it. But this is not what some think. This does not refer to the Christian sect known as the Catholic Church, capital “C”, or any of its variations. The word “catholic” has as a general meaning of universal in extent, involving all, of interest to all. In this sense, in this phrase, it means pertaining to the whole Christian body or church. So when I say I believe in the holy catholic church, I mean that I truly believe in the entire church of Christ, serving as the body of Christ left on earth to fulfill His commission to us. It means that I believe that Christ intended God's word to be available to us all, His plan to be intended for us all, and not just some select few. I believe in the complete and universal love of God.
The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins. Here, the saints are all those who suffered, were persecuted, were put to death for their belief in God and in Jesus Christ our Lord. Throughout time, even to this day, people of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, have suffered great physical and emotional pain, even death, simply because of their beliefs. The forces of Satan cannot stand such faith, and torture those who will not be deterred from God. At the time of final judgment, these saints will be granted life eternal by Jesus. And we all can be forgiven of our sins, just as Jesus forgave so many as He walked among us. If we believe in Him, admit our sins, and truly repent of them, He will forgive us and stand for us before God at our judgment. Again, forgiveness is not for some select few, but for all who believe and who repent.
The resurrection of the body. Just as Jesus bodily rose from the dead and walked among us again before ascending into heaven, He promises we will also be resurrected in the flesh, that the graves and the seas will give up the bodies of the dead and they will stand before the loving Judge. He promises death will not hold us captive, just as it did not hold Him. Just as He walked from the grave, so will we. We were created in the image of God, and in His image will we live forever.
And the life everlasting. This is what Christians live for, what we long for. Eternal life. But we usually mean eternal life with Jesus, life after death, living in the new heaven and the new earth. But the final judgment also promises eternal life for those who do not believe, who did not repent. This is a life of everlasting fire and torment, the punishment promised for the beast, his false prophet, and Lucifer himself as well as all their agents of evil both alive at that time and dead. I believe in the life everlasting, so I understand that I can choose to suffer eternal torment, or live forever with my Lord and Savior. I choose Christ.
I believe.
Amen.
