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.