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.