Meditation: 1 Peter 3:18-20 He Descended into Hell

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Meditation: 1 Peter 3:18-20 “He Descended into Hell”

Maundy Thursday

March 28, 2013

We don't know what happened inside when the stone was rolled in front of the tomb. Three days later the tomb was empty so something must have happened. The Apostles Creed says that (Jesus) “descended into hell.” This phrase was not in the original Old Roman Symbol of the first century church. We first see it in the creed in a fourth century commentary and it officially was added to the creed in the seventh century. Today it is controversial. Some churches change it and other omit it entirely. It is difficult to believe that Jesus actually went to hell.

The Apostle Peter had some thoughts on this.

1 Peter 3:18-19 ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.

So according to Peter Jesus descended into hell for the purpose of offering salvation to those who had died before he came.

All of this is fine, but it seems that Jesus' suffering, death and burial were enough. Why did he also have to experience the tortures of hell too?

I think the best way to think about this is to believe that Jesus descent into hell was not the last awful event of his suffering, death and burial. Rather it is the beginning event of his resurrection. Jesus descended into hell in order to defeat death the devil and Sin so that he could then be raised victorious on that first Easter morning. So Jesus descending into hell it good news because Sin is defeated and no longer holds us in bondage. Amen.

Sermon – Luke 23:44-53 - Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified Dead and Buried

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Luke 23:44-53 - “Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified Dead and Buried”

Palm Sunday

March 24, 2013

On this Palm Sunday I am continuing when my exposition of the Apostles Creed. This creed, which is based on the Old Roman Symbol of the early church in Rome, has been used by the church to teach those who desire to join the church through baptism about our faith. Therefore it is a statement of what the church believes. It has sustained the church though theological heresies and external persecutions. Through all of this the church continues to proclaim it's belief in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin Mary. This is the bedrock of our faith that sustains us no matter what happens. Today we will look at the might be the most unexpected phrase in the creed, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Luke 23:44-53 ⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. ⁴⁷ The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." ⁴⁸ When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. ⁴⁹ But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. ⁵⁰ Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, ⁵¹ who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. ⁵² Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. ⁵³ Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.

In the year 64AD a great fire swept though Rome. It raged mercilessly for six long days. We know about this fire from a book written a few decades later called Annals by the Roman historian Tacitus. According to Tacitus, a rumor was spreading across Rome just days after the fire that the Emperor Nero had started the fire himself. Nero, hoping to deflect the criticism, looked for a scapegoat, some group that could be blamed for the fire. The group he chose was a rapidly growing group that had been around for about 30 years. They were known as Christians, named after their founder who was called “Christus”. These Christians were suspected tof being atheists because they refused to bow down and worship Roman gods, and even refused to worship the emperor. Nero found out that their leader had been arrested and crucified, executed on a cross, by the Procurator, Governor, of Judah, Pontius Pilate. Nero argued that this group of atheists, whose founder had been duly executed, must have been responsible for the fire, and he ordered their persecution.

Christians were arrested and executed. Church tradition tells us that the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down. Church tradition also tells us that the Apostle Paul, being a Roman citizen, was spared crucifixion and was beheaded. Many Christians were taken to the Colosseum or the Circus, clothed in fresh animal skins so they would be eaten by hungry lions and tigers for public entertainment. We hear that the Christians were not particularly entertaining because as the animals approached the would not fight or even try to run away, rather the Christians would kneel and pray that their persecutors would be forgiven.

What got Christians in trouble was this phase in the creed, “suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried”. It is an awful reminded of the suffering and death of Jesus. Just days after entering Jerusalem on a donkey, with palm branches lining the road in honor of a liberating king, Jesus was arrested and executed in a brutal and humiliating way. Why would we want to remember these events? Why would we teach this shameful part of our history to new initiates? Why would we have this in our sacred texts? Why would preachers talk about this every year? Why would we even erect crosses in front of the church telling other outside of the church what had happened to Jesus?

The reason we do these things is because our faith in rooted not in some myth, but in actual historical times and places. Pontius Pilate is the key to know that God entered into human history at a particular time and place. Our faith does not start in a time long long ago and in a place far far away as do many fairy tales. Our faith is based on the historical reality that Jesus died at the hands of a Roman governor who was in Judah between 26 and 36 AD. Jesus was in Jerusalem for passover during that time period when he was arrested, tried, executed and buried. These are all indisputable historical facts. Jesus really existed; he lived and died.

This claim that Jesus lived and died is the only historically provable part of the creed. God's creation and power over the physical and spiritual is not something that can be historically documented. We believe this by faith and the authority of Scripture. Likewise Jesus' conception by the Holy Spirit and birth from a virgin cannot be verified outside of scripture so again it is a matter of faith. But Jesus' life and death is part of the historical record which cannot be denied. There is no doubt that Jesus suffered sorrow and disappointment just like us. There is no question that Jesus suffered shame and scorn just like us. And Jesus suffered not inwardly but publicly at the hands of the Roman government.

So why would Emperor Nero and others fear Christians so much that they would persecute and kill them? The answer to this lies in what the Christians were doing. Christians astonished the Romans by their love for one another. They cared for the poor and the needy and the outcasts of society. They forgave not only their friends but also their enemies. They led disciplined lives of prayer and fasting. And they were willing to die before renouncing the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Without the fear of death Christians could not be controlled by a tyrannical government, and so Nero and many others who have followed in his footstep, have feared us and have tried to persecute us into submission.

You may think that the days of persecuting Christians are over. After all we can safely worship in our church without the interference or persecution of our government. And our nation wants us to pray and care for those in need. But did you not that more Christians were killed for their faith in the 20^th century than at any other time? At any moment a tyrant can demand of us thing we cannot do and our loyalty to Jesus will be tested.

The reason Christians will not submit to tyrants is because we believe that in his death Jesus conquered sin. Pontius Pilate and religious leaders who pushed him represented all of us in our complicity with Sin. As Luther told us Sin is not lying or cheating or even murder. These are all sins, plural, and are terrible manifestations of what we call Sin, singular. We understand Sin to be the rejection of God's mercy and grace. It is our refusal to believe in, to trust our lives completely in the hands of God. In his death Jesus took the Sin of the whole world on his shoulders. He lifted the yoke of Sin from us so that we never again are weighed down by it. And Jesus freed us to believe in God and trust him with our very lives.

We are called to take up our own crosses and follow him. We are to follow Jesus into hospital rooms to pray with people dying from incurable diseases. We are to follow Jesus into the home of a mentally or physically disabled child. We are to follow Jesus into miserable work places and terrible old age. We do these things because we follow the one who suffered and died so that we would be free to love one another just as God love us.

This Holy Week we will be following our Lord to supper in an upper room and to a cross just outside the city gate and to a dark tomb and into the depths of hell. Christ is doing all this, sacrificing himself, for our sake so that we will be free from Sin, trust in God and follow Jesus right here in Pocomoke. So I urge you to look for ways to love you neighbor this week. Find some way to lift another's burden. Be Christians and love and care for least among us. And do this fearlessly because you know that no one has the power to stop you because even if you are put to death, in Christ you will live on. Sin not longer has hold of you. Sin no longer processes you. You are free to love and serve.

Lord Jesus we thank you for all you have done for us. We thank you for lifting the burden of Sin and freeing us to live lives of love. We will follow you this week all the way to your tomb and beyond. This we pray to Our Father in your name. Amen.

Sermon – Luke 1:26-38 - Who Was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Luke 1:26-38 - Who Was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary

Lent 5

March 17, 2013

Since the beginning of Lent we have been carefully studying the Apostles Creed. This is a statement of what the church believes and is passed on generation after generation as a training tool for those preparing for baptism or confirmation. It calls us to believe in God who created and governs the physical and spiritual worlds. It also calls us to believe in Jesus, our anointed prophet, priest and king who is God's only son and our Lord. Today we will see that this Jesus we believe in was born in a truly extraordinary way. But first, let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Luke 1:26-38 ²⁶ In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." ²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." ³⁴ "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" ³⁵ The angel answered, "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. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For nothing is impossible with God." ³⁸ "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

You are probably wondering right now why the pastor is preaching about Christmas in March. These are things that we usually talk about in December when we are preparing for Christmas. Of course you are right. The church does talk about the birth of Jesus every year during the season of Advent. We do this because the birth of Jesus is an important part of our faith. And so it is included in the Apostles Creed because new initiates to the faith need to know exactly who the Jesus is that we worship.

The first Christians had to try to understand who Jesus Christ is. They had the experience of serving as his disciple during his ministry so they knew him personally and were familiar with his preaching and teaching. They had also experienced Jesus' resurrection from the dead. In addition to this direct experience they had the Hebrew Bible, translated into Greek, our Old Testament. They used all of this to come to an understanding of who Jesus is, and their conclusion was startling. Jesus is both man and God. When you hear something extraordinary like that you immediately want some kind of explanation. How can Jesus be both human and divine?

Two weeks ago we talked about the second century gnostics and a Christian teacher named Marcion. Marcion believe that the spiritual world was good and the physical world was bad. It was inconceivable to him tht God, the perfect spirit, would come into the world as a physical man. So he taught that Jesus was God, but he only appeared to be a man. Marcion said that Jesus did not really have flesh and blood and that is why he never really died. But the church disagreed with Marcion. They had known Jesus as a real live man. They had seen him get tired and hungry. They watched him walk from village to village. They saw him eat and sleep. There was no question in their minds that Jesus was really a man.

There were others who said that Jesus was certainly a physical man, but he was no God. He walked and ate and was a great teacher, but he was not God. This contradicted Jesus' own words and the testimony of the Holy Spirit that Jesus and God are one. An attempt to reconcile these differences was made. Some said that Jesus has been born as an ordinary man but became God at his baptism when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and God proclaimed Jesus as His Son whom He loves. But the church rejected this as well. Jesus was not just a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit at his baptism. Jesus was always both man and God.

For this reason the church focused it's attention on the certain aspects of Jesus birth. First of all Jesus had a mother, Mary. Since he was born of a human mother, he must be human. So Marcion must be wrong. Jesus did not appear like to be man, Jesus was a man. But Jesus' mother Mary was a virgin. Mary knew this already. An angel was dispatched from God to assure Joseph, her fiancée, that she was a virgin. And all this fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. And so even though Jesus was born in the ordinary way of a human mother his conception was truly extraordinary. Both Mary and Joesph were independently told that Jesus' conception was the work of God's Holy Spirit. And so Jesus was God too from the moment he was conceived. The church concluded from all this that Jesus was always fully God and fully human. This is very important for us because Jesus must be both God and man if he is to reconcile us with God.

Suppose that there are two people who used to be friends, but now refuse to even talk with each other. Something happened, it doesn't matter what, to pull these two apart. Let's give them names, Mark and Lisa. Mark and Lisa have not talked with each other for years. They use to be very close, but them something happened. Someone told Lisa what Mark had done and she became hurt and angry. Mark refused to admit that what he had done was wrong. So they stopped speaking to each other. Let's suppose that you want to help Lisa and Mark reconcile with each other. If you are Mark's friend but barely know Lisa there is no way for you to help them reconcile because even though Mark may trust you, Lisa would not. Or if you are Lisa's good friend but you hardly know Mark you can't help them reconcile because Mark doesn't trust you. The only way you can help these two be reconciled is if both of them trust you. So you would have to be friends with both Mark and Lisa and when you have developed sufficient trust with both of them then and only then can you help them reconcile.

Jesus came to reconcile us with God. Our relationship with God has been disrupted for thousands of years. Our willful disobedience of His commands, sin, has caused this breakup. As a result both our own lives and the world we live in are completely messed up. We can see this right here in Pocomoke where single women are trying to raise numerous children without fathers because their husbands and boyfriends are all in jail because of drugs and drug violence. This mess has been going on for several generations and will continue until God does something about it.

What God did do was to send his Son into the world to begin the process of reconciliation. God needed someone he could trust. So he sent his only Son. We needed one of our own to trust. We needed a human being we could relate to. God sent his Spirit so that Jesus would be both fully human and fully divine someone both we and God could trust. This was the only way God could reconcile himself to us. If we believe in Jesus, trust him with our lives, then the work of reconciliation can begin and sin purged from the world. This is the work of the church. We are here so that people will come to know Jesus and develop trust in him. It is only by trusting Jesus that we open ourselves to be reconciled with God.

So as a church of people who trust Jesus and are reconciled to God in obedience what should we now do. The only hope for our world is that everyone should learn to trust Jesus. People develop this trust through relationship. And relationship takes time. So what we do is to bring the love of Jesus to everyone we meet. Treat everyone, even welfare moms, like they are children of God. Act like you are on the leading edge of the Kingdom of God. Be Ambassadors for Christ to the world you live in. When people learn to trust you they will be open to trust the God you worship. Do these things and God's people will learn to trust Jesus and will be reconciled with their creator. Let us pray.

Father in Heaven we thank you for sending Jesus into this world to reconcile us to you. We thank you for coming into this world as a man we could trust. Turn us into people others can trust so that we can reconcile them to you through Jesus Christ. This we pray in the name of one fully human and fully divine. Amen.

Sermon – Romans 1:1-7 – And In Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Romans 1:1-7 – “And In Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord”

Lent 4

March 10, 2013

I am continuing this morning with our study of the Apostles Creed. So far we have seen that it calls us to believe in God. This belief is more than believing that some facts about God are true. This belief in God is a matter of trusting God with your whole life. The God we believe in is the same God Jesus invited us to call “Our Father”, and is also the creator God of the ancient Hebrews. This God has power and authority over both the spiritual and physical worlds. And as we will see today, this God left the spiritual world though His Son to come into the physical world to save it. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Romans 1:1-7 ^NIV Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-- ² the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³ regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, ⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ⁶ And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. ⁷ To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second article of the Apostles Creed begins with this statement, “And In Jesus”. Jesus, we know, was a man who live two thousand years ago. In what sense are we to believe in someone from so long ago? How could we believe in, trust our lives to someone who live thousands of years ago? Well, the only way we can believe in, trust completely, this Jesus is if he is still alive today. And he is. Jesus is in heaven with God and so we can trust him with our lives.

To believe in Jesus is to believe that God entered into the physical world to restore it. God's creation had been so distorted by sin that it was no longer recognizable. Evil seemed to have corrupted everything. God could have sent a comet to destroy the Earth if he wanted to. But he didn't. Rather he came to Earth as a man to begin the long and difficult process of restoring creation. And he left behind a church to continue this work. We know all of this because the name God gave his son was Jesus, ya-shua, which means Yahweh Saves.

The Creed teaches us that this Jesus, who lived two millennia ago, was the Christ or Messiah. Christ means “anointed one”. And so we believe that Jesus is the anointed one, who came to fulfill Old Testament prophecy, the messianic expectations of the Jews, and serve as our prophet, priest and king. As our anointed prophet, Jesus speaks the Word of God. His teachings are reliable indications of what God wants from us. As our anointed priest, Jesus listens to our prayers and delivers them to God. And as our anointed king, Jesus has all power and authority over the world we live in. So when we say “I believe in Jesus Christ” we are trusting in the anointed one sent by God to save us.

The creed also teaches us that this Jesus the anointed one, is also the only Son of God. This is a truly extraordinary statement. It says that Jesus and God are one. And it says that God has entered into the physical world to begin the process of restoration that will one day “deliver us from evil”. How do we know that Jesus is the Son of God? How can we be sure of all of this? Well the evidence is in and the witnesses have testified that Jesus, who was put to death like a common criminal, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. This is sufficient proof that Jesus is exactly who he says he is, he is the Son of God. So we believe that God, the maker of Heaven and Earth, came into the physical world to restore it from the corruption of sin by being born as a man named Yahweh Saves and by being anointed as our prophet, priest and king fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament, and lives today having been resurrected from the dead. So what should be our response to all of this? The only response I can think of is to pledge total loyalty to this Jesus. He is our God and anointed King. So we should call him “Lord”. And so the Creed reads, “(I believe) in Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord.”

This proclamation that Jesus is Lord is the oldest Christian creed. Paul tells us that the earliest Christians called Jesus “Lord”, and he said that if you do this and believe in the resurrection you will be saved. Calling Jesus “Lord” is more than just a confession of our lips. It is an attitude that we have that causes us to follow Jesus and do he tells us. Calling Jesus “Lord” and believe in our hearts his resurrection from the dead is what makes us Christian. This is the only non-negotiable part of the creed. Confessing that Jesus is Lord is not optional. If you don't do it you are not a Christians. But confess that Jesus is Lord and you become a child of God.

Calling Jesus “Lord” and following him have from time to time throughout history caused conflicts with government because the government wants your total loyalty and will use force to get it. If the will of God is a odds with the will of the government, Christians have to make a choice. Do we renounce the Lordship of Jesus Christ and follow the government? Or do we defy the government and follow Jesus at the risk of our lives? This choice has been presented to the church over and over again throughout history and will no doubt will happen again. What will we do when it does?

On the 20^th of January in the year 250 AD the church was presented a stark choice. Either renounce the Lordship of Jesus Christ and accept the Lordship of the emperor or die. The Bishop of Rome, Pope Fabian, was martyred for his faith on that day. The emperor Decius had issued an official edict of persecution. Christians were ordered to renounce their faith or face the same fate as the bishop. Church pastors were the primary targets of this law. Government officials would demand that pastors renounce the Lordship of Jesus Christ by burning their Bibles or face death. Many pastors did that to save their lives. Many pastors went into hiding to avoid making the difficult choice. Many pastors proclaimed that Jesus Christ is Lord all the way to their deaths as Christian martyrs.

This persecution lasted eight months and when it was lifted Cornelius was elected as the new Bishop of Rome, but the church was divided. Many pastors, who had renounced the Lordship of Jesus Christ by burning their Bibles, wanted to return to the church. Cornelius said that they could if they underwent a Sacrament of Penance where they would confess what they had done and receive God's forgiveness. Many of the bishops disagreed with this saying that renouncing the Lordship of Jesus Christ after being baptized is an unpardonable sin. Three bishops who believed that the lapsed should not return elected one of their own, and priest named Novatian, as Pope Novantus. The church had two popes. Eventually the church decided that God could save even those who had renounced the Lordship of Jesus Christ. No matter how bad the sin, if we confess and humbly repent God will forgive us and take us back. Novatian was declared a heretic and excommunicated from the church.

Declaring that you believe in “Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord” is a matter of life and death. It is a statement not about who you think Jesus was but about who you will serve and obey today. You are making a political statement that you will follow Jesus wherever he leads even if this leads to your death. We know that we have been called as witnesses to what Jesus has done. But did you know that the Greek word for “witness” can also mean “martyr”. So it is possible that you have been called to be a Christian martyr and lose your life for your faith. But always remember that the Lord we follow is also the God who saves.

But we can't stop here with just a profession of our belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As you heard earlier the Apostle Paul said that through our faith in Jesus Christ we have been given grace and apostleship to go out into the world and call people into a life of faith and obedience. These are gifts provided to all who profess that Jesus is Lord and believe in the resurrection. With these gifts all of you are now empowered to talk with your family and friends and the people you work with or go to school with about your faith and your obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. These gifts allow you to invite people to church to engage in conversations that lead to a life of faith and obedience.

We can boldly proclaim our faith knowing that death cannot stop us because in Jesus Christ our Lord we have been promised resurrection to new life. And so we joyfully proclaim our belief “in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord.”

Lord Jesus Christ, we are ready to follow you wherever you lead even if this means to our own death. We do this because of your promise of eternal life through the resurrection of the dead. We thank and praise you for leading the way. Amen.

Sermon – Romans 1:18-20 – Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Romans 1:18-20 – Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth

Lent 3

March 3, 2013

As we move through the season of Lent on our march toward the events of Holy Week we have been closely looking at the faith that saves us. Our faith is summarized in what we call the Apostles Creed. This creed is the church's statement of faith that has been used for two thousand years to prepare new Christians for baptism. It contains an explanation of who God is as defined by Jesus when he told us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Last week we looked at what it means to believe in God the Father. Today we will consider the second phrase, “Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” But first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

The Apostles Creed has as its original source the Old Roman Symbol, a baptismal training tool of the Church in Rome in it's earliest years. Initiates were taught to believe in God the Father. But the second phrase, “Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth”, was not there. It was added sometime in the second century to deal with false teachings that had come into the church. And it has remained in the creed ever since so that we are very clear on who the God is that we worship. Here is what happened.

In the second century there were people called Gnostics who claimed to have special knowledge. From this knowledge they believed that the world was divided into things physical, like me and you and this building and weather outside, and into things spiritual. They believed that everything physical was bad, inferior and evil, and everything spiritual was good, perfect and desirable. The goal of the Gnostics was to flee this physical world by becoming more and more spiritual.

There was a teacher in Rome who held similar views. His name was Marcion. Marcion was the son of a bishop of the church from somewhere near the Black Sea. He taught that God the Father of Jesus Christ was a different god from Yahweh, the god of the ancient Hebrews. His reasoning went like this: Since the God of the Old Testament created the physical world he must be an inferior God. But God, the Father of Jesus Christ was the true God because he created the spiritual world. So according to Marcion the God of the Old Testament was a different God than God the Father as worshiped by Christians. The faith of Abraham and the faith of Christians were quite different.

The church rejected this teaching because Jesus had always taught that the God he called “my Father” was also the creator God of the Hebrew Scriptures. This God had created the physical world and called it good. And this God became incarnate as a physical man to redeem the physical world from sin. Christians did not see the physical world as bad with a desire to flee. Christians saw a physical world corrupted by sin needing a redeemer to come to save it.

The difference here is crucial for us. If we were to believe that the physical world is bad then it would not matter what we do here. We can lie and cheat and defraud all we want to. All we would have to do is come to church on Sunday to become more and more spiritual so that one day we can flee the evil world and go to heaven. But if we believe that God has come to redeem the physical world from sin, and will created a new physical world then our mission is not to flee it, but to participate in God's plan to transform it.

The second century church needed to change their method of Christian education in preparation of baptism in light of the fact that teachings of Marcion and other Gnostics that had come into the church. They needed to emphasize that the creator God of the Old Testament was then same God who Jesus called “my Father”. To do this they added a single Greek word to the creed, pantokrator, which means “authority and power over all things”, and is translated as “Almighty” in English. By adding this word the creed taught the God is in control of both the physical and spiritual worlds.

The earliest churches in Rome and surrounding areas originally worshiped in Greek because that was the language of commerce at that time and people from many different nations could speak it. But over time these churches began to worship in Latin, their native tongue. And so the Old Roman Symbol had to be translated into Latin. The Greek word pantokrator which means “authority and power over all thing” became the Latin word omnipotent, which comes into English as “omnipotence”. This Latin word omnipotent means “all powerful”. Saying that God is “all powerful” is quite different that saying that God has “authority and power over all things.” The church wanted to preserve the original meaning of the Greek pantokrator so they added the phrase, “Maker of Heaven and Earth” This ensured that Christians would believe not that God is all powerful, but that God exercises power over both the spiritual and physical worlds. With this understanding Christians do not believe that spiritual is good and physical is bad like the Gnostics. We believe that there is nothing inherently wrong with the physical world, just that it needs redemption. And so God came into the physical as one of us, a man named Jesus, to save it.

Philosophers in the Middle Ages misunderstood all this. And they began to ask absurd questions. Could an all powerful God make a four sided triangle? Could an omnipotent God make a rock he could not move? These questions are ridiculous and demonstrate a misunderstanding of the creed. We believe not in an all powerful God, but in a God who has all power and authority over both the physical and spiritual worlds.

Today we see the opposite of Gnosticism. Many in the world today see the physical word as good while the spiritual world can be safely ignored. In fact many people are not so sure there is a spiritual world. People set their own goals to motivate themselves to acquire as many things and as much power as they possibly can. They will use any means necessary to achieve these goals. Their faith, if they have any at all, is compartmentalized and limited to an hour on Sunday morning, if that. But we, as Christians, cannot confine our faith to the spiritual world we enter on Sunday mornings. We are called to take our faith back out into the physical with us. And we are to use this faith to work towards God's purpose of redeeming this world. So the Christian faith is at work 24/7.

God has authority and power over all things. That means that God has authority and power over your school, all authority and power over your farm, all authority where you work, all authority over your family. You have been placed where you are to manage your piece of the physical word for God as part of his plan for redemption. This is the calling of your faith.

We are left with one last objection from the Gnostics. And we must take this one seriously. They would say that if we believe in a God who has authority and power over both the physical and spiritual worlds then why is the physical world so messed up? Why would a shooter be killing kids in a school if God is in control of things? Why are good Christians abusing children? Why are faithful people killing each other in war? Surely if God created the physical world, called it good, and is still around to care for it, as Christians say, then why is their such evil here? These are all good questions which we must address, but not today. Today we are focusing on our belief in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth. Next Sunday we will look at the Son, God incarnate in the physical world beginning the process of the destruction of evil and the transformation of creation.

So when we say the words of the Apostles Creed we are affirming our faith in the God who Jesus calls “father” and invites us to call “our father” This God loves us as a parent loves a child. But this God is also the creator and sustainer of all things, the physical and the spiritual. Therefore our faith is not that we hope to leave this world and fly off to someplace better. Rather we are called to align ourselves with God to work in God's mission of transformation of this world. But we must never loose sight of the spiritual world that we enter in prayer, Bible study and worship. Our spiritual disciplines equip us for our Christian work in the physical world. So this Lent enter into the spiritual world each day in prayer and meditation on scripture. And under the authority and power of God go out into the world each day to transform it. “I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” Let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing of worship where we can enter your spiritual world each Sunday. And we thank you for the blessing of being able to pray throughout the week. We ask that you now use us in your work of transformation recreating the world after being damaged by sin. Guide us and protect us as we do your work in this world. This we pray in the name of your Son who came into our world to redeem it. Amen.

Sermon – Romans 8:12-17 – I Believe in God the Father

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Romans 8:12-17 – I Believe in God the Father

Lent 2

February 24, 2013

Today we continue our study of the Apostles Creed. As we learned last week, the Apostles Creed is a statement of the church's belief. It has it roots is the Old Roman Symbol, a Latin creed that was taught to initiates as they prepared for baptism. It's content is consistent with the teachings of Jesus' Apostles. It comes to us in its current form from the seventh century. And the protestant reformers affirmed it's use in worship and study. The Apostles Creed is our document and is worthy of study. We begin that study today, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

The creed begins with the simple words, “I believe”. When we say “I believe” we can mean different things. First we might mean that we “think, but don't know for sure”. For example, if you asked me when Grace will be home from her church this afternoon I might say something like, “I believe that she will be here around 3.” By this I would mean that “I think she will be home around 3 because she usually is, but I am not really sure when she will be home today.” So the words “I believe” could be a statement of what you think will happen, but you are not 100% sure.

But this is not the only thing we might be mean when we say “I believe”. You might say that you believe something because you have certain knowledge of it. For example, you might say. “I believe that water boils at 212 degrees, Then if you measure the temperature of boiling water with a thermometer your belief becomes certain knowledge. At that time you can say “I believe that water boils at 212 degrees with a high degree of certainty. So we have seen that sometimes when we use the words “I believe” we are saying that we know something it true with a level of certainty, high or low.

And there is a third way that we might use the words “I believe”. Suppose you are about to jump off the high diving board for the first time. When you first learned to swim you believed that you could jump in the water and not get hurt, but you weren't so sure until you jumped for the first time. From then on you believed that the water would protect you when you jumped with certainty. But now on the high dive this certain knowledge is not enough. You know with your brain that the water will hold you when you jump, but your heart is beating fast telling you to go back down the ladder. What's happening is that you know with certainty that the water will save you, but you are still not ready to trust it with your life. But when your are ready to trust your belief then you are ready to jump off the high dive. So the simple words “I believe” can mean “I think, but I'm not so sure” or “I know it for a fact.” or “I trust it with my life”. I believe.

In what sense are the words “I believe” used in the Apostles Creed? For some people they believe that the existence of God is likely, but they are not completely sure. The say “I believe” in the creed to express their doubts. Other people, who have greater spiritual development, say the words “I believe” in the sense that they believe everything that is written about God in the Bible. They are 100% certain that God exists. But I would argue that what is meant be the word's “I believe” in the creed is far more than this. I think that the creed wants us to trust God with our lives. And that brings us to today's scripture.

Romans 8:12-17 ¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- ¹³ for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" ¹⁶ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

So according to the Apostle Paul we believe in God in the same way that a child believes in her mother and father. We trust our lives to God. We trust that God will provide what we need each day. We trust that God will love us and bless us so that we will be a blessing for others. We trust that God will be with us when health fails, parents age, jobs are lost, and relationship ends. When we say “I believe in God the Father” we mean that we trust that God will care for us as parent cares for a child.

Jesus exemplified this total trust of God. According to Jesus every word he spoke came from God, and everything he did came from God. He was totally dependent and fully trusted the God he called Father. When Jesus addressed God in prayer he called him “Father”, including the night of his greatest distress in Garden of Gethsemane. He called God “my father” and told his disciples to address God as “our Father”.

There are some people who have difficulty thinking about God as father. Perhaps they have negative memories of their own fathers. Maybe they were abandoned by their fathers. An idea that should stand for compassion and commitment means somethings else. To those of you who have a stumbling block when it come to thinking of God as father I have some things that might be helpful. First there are several places in scripture that compare God to a mother.

Isaiah 49:15 ¹⁵ Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

Isaiah 66:13 ¹³ As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you;

So if thinking of God as father is a problem try thinking of God as mother. The second thing to do is to remember that saying that God is like a father indicates what human fathers should be like. No human father is perfect, but we should seek to be more like God. And finally remember that when you think about the word “father” you also think about Jesus who said, “ I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

So how would we live our lives if we fully trusted God as “our father”. First, we would realize that God gave us birth. It was God that created the world and us in it. And it was God who chose us to trust him. Second, we would see that God provides for us just as a father and mother provides for their children. The food we eat, the homes we live it, our jobs, businesses, farms and families are all gifts from God. And God, like a father, protects us, his children, from evil. And third, God expects from us what every good father expects from his children, honor and obedience.

Learning to trust God with you lives is a life long experience of spiritual growth. We all start off believing in God without complete certainty. But as we grow we become increasingly assured that God is the one revealed to us in scripture. We fully mature by trusting our lives to God as we follow him into his kingdom. Our full trust in God the Father comes in the last days with the Kingdom of the Father being established here on earth. At that time we will fully trust God will our lives.

Spiritual growth is necessary for our belief to become trust. This process is initiated and sustained by the Holy Spirit. And there is something you can do to accelerate this growth. You need to pray and meditate on scripture every day. Do it with me at 6am. Do it on you own or with family or with friends. But set aside a devotional time every day. The church provides a daily devotional for you called These Days. This little booklet is free and has readings for each day. I urge you to take a copy and use it daily. You will quickly experience spiritual growth and will trust God more and more.

So what we have seen is that people say “I believe” in different ways. New believers may say they believe in God, but they are not certain what they believe. More mature believers say they believe in God meaning that they believe what the Bible says about God. And the goal of a spiritual life of daily devotions is to believe in God the Father as revealed in Jesus Christ who created us, cares for us, and will one day rule us in a new kingdom here on earth. “I believe in the God the Father.”

Let us pray. Our Father, listen to our prayer. We thank you for creating us. We ask that you bless us so we may bless other. We ask that you send your Spirit to help us fully trust in you. We pledge to come before you each day in our devotions. These things we pray in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Sermon – Romans 10:8b-13 – The Apostles Creed

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Romans 10:8b-13 – The Apostles Creed

Lent 1

February 17, 2013

Today I am beginning a sermon series on The Apostles' Creed. We say this creed every Sunday as a statement of what the church believes about God. The word “creed” comes from the Latin “credo” which simply means “I believe”. Knowing who God is and what God does is essential for your salvation. And we use the creed as a way of reminding ourselves who we worship.

There is a old legend about the Apostles Creed that has hung around the church. In a sixth century sermon some pastor said that the Apostles Creed was written by the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Supposedly, Peter said, “I believe in God the Father Almighty.” To which Andrew replied, “And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord.” James responded “Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.” John added, “Was crucified dead and buried.” And Thomas said, “He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again.” James reminded them, “He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father.” To which Philip added, “ And will come again to judge the living and the dead.” Then Bartholomew said, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” And Matthew added, “The holy catholic church, the communion of saints.” Simon responded to this saying, “The forgiveness of sins.” Thaddaeus said “The resurrection of the flesh.” And Matthias finish, “Life everlasting”. In didn't happen this way, but it is a good story. Let us pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

I once heard a story of a young man who grew up in a holiness church. At this church he was clearly taught right from wrong. And he was taught to be holy, to always do what is right. But as this young man grew older he began to fall into some bad habits. And he increasingly saw a disconnect between between what the church was teaching and how he was living his life. He hid it the best he could, but eventually the church found out what he had been hiding. It became harder and harder to go to church knowing that people we judging him. So when he went off to college he stopped going to church at all.

While in college he began to feel a urge to go back to church. He confided all of this with friend who invited him to his church, a Baptist church, where he could be baptized and be born again into a new life. This sounded pretty good so he went to church with his friend, was baptized and born again. He felt good for a while, but eventually he fell back into his bad habits and felt like a hypocrite sitting in church on Sundays and behaving like an unbeliever the rest of the week. He soon left that church.

Years later he expressed his desire to return to church to close friend after work one day. This friend invited him to his church, a Pentecostal church, where he would experience the power of the Holy Spirit. The young man went and loved the rhythmic music and eventually started to pray in tongues. He was told that this was his spiritual baptism. He hoped that the Holy Spirit would empower him to emerge from his sinful ways. And it worked for a while. Then he went back to doing what he had always done and left the church.

Today he attends an Episcopal church and loves the beautiful liturgy and prayers. He thinks that at last he has found the “right” way to pray. But he is still living a life that he keeps hidden from his church. And he is fearful that one day they will find out who he really is.

The problem this young man is facing is that he sees religion as something that is focused on him. Is he obeying the rules? Is he truly born again? Does he experience the Holy Spirit? Is he praying in the right way? As he asks these questions about himself he always comes up short. He is never good enough. You see, Christianity is not about you. It is not about who you are and what you do. It is about who your worship. The key questions are not about you. They are about God, who God is, what God does, and how we can follow. And this brings us to todays scripture.

Romans 10:8-13 "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: ⁹ That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ¹¹ As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

According to Paul it doesn't matter if you obey all the rules. It doesn't matter if you are born again. It doesn't matter if you experience the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter if you pray in the right way. The only thing that does matter is that you believe in the right God. And the Apostle says that the God we worship is revealed to us in the “word of faith” that is proclaimed by church. We don't know exactly what this “word of faith” was in the Roman Church around 60AD. But we do know that within a hundred years they had developed a “rule of faith” which they used to prepare people for baptism.

An initiate into Christianity would spend two years being instructed from scripture, the Old Testament. Then, during the season of Lent, the good news of Jesus Christ would be revealed to them though the rule of faith which has come to be known as the Old Roman Symbol. After their instruction, the initiates would be asked three questions. Do you believe in God, the father, almighty? Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit. If the initiate believed in this God they would be baptized on the Saturday evening before Easter, when the whole church would affirm their belief in this triune God as the initiate passed through the baptismal waters.

This Old Roman Symbol is the basis of our Apostles' Creed. It has been used in the church as a statement of our belief in God. And since Jesus commanded us to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit we use the Apostles' Creed to help us understand the God we believe in. The creed was not written by the apostles. Rather, it is apostolic, that is consistent with the teachings of the apostles to the early church. We believe that it is an accurate representation of the God revealed to us in scripture and the world around us.

From time to time the church has found it necessary to change the creed slightly, and the final form of the Apostles Creed comes to us from the seventh century. The protestant reformers affirmed the importance of the Apostles Creed. They insisted that it be translated from Latin into the ordinary languages of the people so they would know the God they believe in.

Not every Christian believes every phrase in the Apostles Creed. Some churches erase one or more phrases from the creed. Other wish it said more. Some people recite the creed in church, but silently skip those passages that don't like.

There is an old story about a monk who went to his superior saying that he could not recite the creed in the daily mass because he didn't believe all of it. His superior told him to recite it anyway. A month later the monk return insisting that he be allowed to remain silent during the creed. But his superior told him to say it anyway. The monk returned the following month with the same request, and his superior gave the same response. And the monk asked why, “Why should I recite something I don't believe in? And his superior said that the Apostles Creed is not a statement of your personal belief. Rather it is a statement of the what the church believes. And you recite the creed because you belong to a church that believes it.

Our confirmation class is engaging in the ancient practice of learning about the God we worship through the Apostles Creed. Last week I asked then to list all this big events they could think of, all of the big things in nature, all the big objects they have seen, all the big feelings and fears they have experienced. After they wrote these things down I went though each one and asked if God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, was bigger that this. And they replied “yes” to each one. These students are well on their way to a profession of faith in the God of the Apostles Creed. By the way, there homework for this week is to memorize the Apostles Creed.

In the coming weeks we will look at each phrase in the Apostles Creed and think about what it says about the God we worship. Through this process our focus will always be on God, not ourselves. My prayer is that through this process we will come to know the God we worship in this church. As we do this the Holy Spirit will initiate a life long process of makings us more obedient to God. As we understand more about God we will begin to experience a new birth into a new life and we will experience the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer. But our focus will not be on ourselves and our own shortcomings. Rather our focus will be on the God we worship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, and Holy Spirit, we pray to you asking that you reveal yourself to us. Help us to study the Apostles Creed the Lent to know who you are and what you do. Make this a life changing processes for each of us. Accept our humble prayers. Amen.