Sermon - March 7, 2010
Text: Apostles’ Creed
7 March 2010
Topic: What Does It Mean
The Ten Commandments, of which I spoke last week, in my series of sermons on the Catechism by Martin Luther, are the rules that practically every organized society follow. Yes, the first three commandments pertain particularly to ONE God and honoring that God with respect and care, but, even in non-religious societies, there is a presumed acceptance of a ruling authority that has made the rules by which that society lives. In one sense, the Ten Commandments are simply the same rules by which most societies live.
Today’s topic is the APOSTLES’ CREED. And again, you can find Martin Luther’s comments on page 1162 of the red hymnal.
The first two words of the creed are, I BELIEVE. As opposed to a set of rules in the Ten Commandments, in the Apostles’ Creed we have a statement of belief.
When we say on a Sunday morning, as we will today, right after this sermon, “I BELIEVE,” we will be doing something that ordinary people around the world will NOT be doing, unless they are Christians. In fact, only Christians who believe that the apostolic creeds of the Church are important to know and recite regularly, will be using these words today.
Secular people who otherwise are upstanding citizens of their communities, people who don’t cheat, lie, commit adultery, or steal, won’t be saying these words. Only Christians who have learned the words of the Apostles’ Creed, only Christians who have come to accept these words, only Christians who have come to believe what they say, will stand up in churches across the world and declare something about their life and their faith that non-believers will not.
As you know, we have confirmation classes to teach Luther’s catechism to 7th and 8th graders. At the end of those two years it is our expectation that the young student will say for themselves, “I BELIEVE.” It is one thing for parents to have their children baptized, raise them to believe certain things about the faith, it is quite another for a child, or an adult, to stand up, on our own, and say the words, and truly mean them, “I BELIEVE.”
Sometimes, after two years of catechetical instruction, an 8th grader will say, “I don’t believe these words.” And, of course, we honor their decision and the youth is not confirmed, they are not asked to affirm their baptism, sometimes disappointing parents and relatives.
We don’t agree with those who choose not to believe, but we still respect their decision, and pray that one day they will affirm their baptism into Christ.
The Apostles’ Creed was formed early in the history of the Christian Church. By the third century, a basic form of the creed was already in place. It was used as a way of identifying the basic beliefs for Christians and became a kind of litmus test for identifying who was a true believer in the apostolic witness of Christ. It was put into its final form in the eighth century and is the creed used at all baptisms in our church.
At the Council of Nicaea, in the year 325 A.D., another creed, the Nicene Creed, emerged. It originated in the Eastern churches and was quickly adopted in the Western churches as well. The result was that by the end of the fourth century after Christ, there were two creeds that Christians in both the East and West could recite regarding their beliefs.
Turn with me now in your red hymnal to page 1162 to look at Martin Luther’s comments regarding the Apostles’ Creed.
The Apostles’ Creed has three paragraphs, or articles of faith, about three different manifestations of God. The first article is “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” The second is “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son our Lord.” And the third is “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”
Regarding the first article of our faith, “I believe in God, the Father almighty,” Luther says this means, “I believe God has created me with all that exists.” And I believe “God has given me and still preserves to me my body and soul: eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses; reason and all mental faculties.”
There are those who say there is no God and that we have simply evolved from some primordial gas in the universe without any rhyme or reason. Christians proclaim, with the absolute certainty of faith, that God created the heavens and the earth – in however many days, or years, or millennia – and that even if we did begin as some kind of germ that multiplied into living organisms, it was God who put that germ on its path to creating the world as we know it.
When we say, “I believe God created me and all that exists,” we are submitting ourselves to the Creator and decide, then and there, to serve and obey that same God. This is what we expect of those who affirm their baptism, be they long time members, 8th graders, or sojourners among us.
Regarding the second article of faith, the one proclaiming a belief in Jesus as the Son of God, we must begin by saying, there is no absolute physical or historical evidence that Jesus ever lived on this earth. Yes, we have the Bible and its record of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, but outside of our Bible, there is only one historical reference to a prophet in Israel during the time period of Jesus’ life. Outside of the biblical witness, there is no mention of the name of Jesus in that time.
So, when we say, “I believe Jesus is my Lord, [the one who] freed me from all sins, [the one who freed me] from death, and [the one who freed me] from the power of the devil” we are declaring to the world we believe in someone which secular history does not recognize. We are declaring to our neighbors and friends, “I believe that God’s Son came to this earth, died and rose again, and gives me life.” Nobody else has done this, no other religion claims this. In this regard, Christianity very unique.
Finally, regarding the third article, the one in which we profess a belief in the Holy Spirit. We believe that God the Father and God’s Son, Jesus, gave us an eternal presence, an eternal comfort, an eternal guide in the Holy Spirit. We don’t know how this really happens, prompting Luther to write, “[On my own,] I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit … calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.”
The Holy Spirit is God’s ongoing presence, God’s ever present comfort, and God’s daily guide while we are on earth. When we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we are affirming that the God who made the heavens and the earth, the God who made Jesus our Lord and Savior, THAT God is with us today, right here, among us now.
The Apostles’ Creed is what Christians have used for 1700 years to ask those being baptized, “Is this what you believe?” It’s what we will be asking our sojourners today. It’s what we ask of all of us who gather in this place.
Do we believe? Can we state with the absolute confidence of faith, “I believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?” If so, then we are in the right place. AMEN