Sermon for August 25th, 2019

John 3:16-17 (NT page 94)

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 20:24-28 (NT page 115)

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

The Apostles’ Creed – I Believe in Jesus, Part 1

A few years back (okay maybe a lot of years back), you may remember there was a fashion trend of wearing rubber bracelets, or t-shirts, or just about anything else, with the letters WWJD on them. WWJD stands for what would Jesus do, and the letters were supposed to remind people to ask the question, and then (presumably) to act better, like they imagined Jesus might have in any given situation. But sometimes it backfired. Like the mom who was serving her two sons pancakes for breakfast, and they were fighting over who got the last one. She said to them, "Now what would Jesus do, boys? I bet if he were standing right here today, he'd say, 'let my brother have the last pancake.'" So one brother turns to the other and says, "Okay, you be Jesus."

We are in the midst of a sermon series on the Apostles' Creed--one of the oldest statements of belief in Christianity--and today we come to the second line of the creed, "I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, our Lord." This statement is probably the oldest part of the creed itself, and is certainly the one affirmation that is at the very heart of what we call Christianity. Wait for that to sink in a little. These ten words--I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, our Lord--are the reason we exist as a church, the reason we call ourselves "Christians" and the one thing that distinguishes us, that uniquely identifies us among all other religious systems and beliefs.

Notice I did not say the one thing that makes us *better* or more right or more true than other belief systems. Rather, this statement is what makes us who we are, kind of like our DNA, our genetic imprint. For better or worse, all that we believe, all that we say and do, all that we ARE as Christians springs forth from this one statement, this one proclamation. So it's not lost on me that of all the 307 sermons I've preached to you in the past seven years, this one is, hands down, THE most important. Aren't you glad you came today?

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, our Lord.

Let's break that down a bit. Starting with the words "I believe." We use those words in a lot of different ways, don't we? My favorite is the t-shirt that says, "Everyone ought to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer." Of course, that kind of statement doesn't tell us anything about a person's deeply held convictions or understandings about life and the universe.

Or we'll say, "I believe in happy endings." Does that mean we believe that they exist, for some few lucky people? That we want one for ourselves? Or that we believe everyone gets one, or that everyone is entitled to one?

The Latin word for "I believe" is Credo, where we get the word "creed" from, and also words like credibility, credence, and credit. The Greek word is even older; it's Πιστεύω (pisteuo). Both of these words imply more than just a narrow factual belief in the existence of something. Πιστεύω is sometimes translated as "confidence" or "trust." The kind of belief you hang your hat on.

So if I say, "I believe in the 1st Amendment, the right to free speech" it's more than saying I believe there actually is a 1st Amendment somewhere in the constitution...it means I support that amendment, I put my trust and confidence behind it.