THE BASIC FAITH

Romans 10: 8-13

Most of us know what we believe and live it right? Did you hear that the “more-or-less-religious woman” was deeply shocked when the new neighbors came over on Sunday morning to ask to borrow her lawn mower. 
   
"The idea," she exclaimed to her maid, "of cutting grass on Sunday! Shameful! Certainly, they can't have it. Tell them we don’t have a lawn mower."

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 an 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 finished, “Life everlasting.” And the crowd said, “Amen.”

Folks, it really didn't happen this way, but it is a good story.

There is a story of a young man who grew up in a plain vanilla church. At this church he was clearly taught right from wrong. He was taught to do his best, to always do what is right, and he always thought about what he did.

But as this young man grew older he began to fall into some bad habits.

He increasingly saw a difference between what the church was teaching and how he and others in the church were living their lives.

He hid it the best he could, but eventually everyone at church found out what he had been hiding. It became harder and harder to go to church knowing that people were judging him. So when he went off to college he stopped going to church at all.

While in college he began to feel an 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 change and emerge from his sinful ways. It worked for a while. Then he went back to doing what he had always done and so he left the church.

Today he attends what’s called a “high” 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.

WHY DOES THIS MAN STILL HAVE A PROBLEM?

The problem this 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.

Friends, 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 our Focus scripture from 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: 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. 

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 

As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 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 should be 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.

1)   Do you believe in God, the Father, Almighty?

2)   Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord?

3)   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 directly by the apostles. Rather, it is considered apostolic, meaning that it is consistent with the teachings of the apostles to the early church. It is affirmed to be an accurate representation of the God revealed to us in scripture and the world around us.

From time to time the church has changed the words of 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 seminary student who went to his professor saying that he could not recite the creed in the daily service because he didn't believe all of it. His superior told him to recite it anyway.

A month later the student returned insisting that he be allowed to remain silent during the creed. But he was told to say it anyway. The student returned the following month with the same request, and was given the same response.

Finally the student asked, “Why should I recite something I don't believe in?” The answer given simply said the Apostles Creed is not a statement of personal belief, rather it is a statement of what the church believes. As a person you recite the creed because you belong to a church that believes it.

Our young folks continue learning about the God we worship through the Apostles Creed. I challenge them and you: If you list all this big events you can think of, all of the big things in nature, all the big objects you have seen, all the big feelings and fears you may have experienced, could you still say if God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, is bigger any of them?  

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.

Let us pray: Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, and Holy Spirit, we pray to you asking that you reveal yourself to us through your Holy Spirit.

Help us to study the Apostles Creed during our Lenten season and to know who you are and what you do. Make this a life changing processes for each of us. Accept our humble prayers. Amen.