WEBVTT 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:05.519 Good morning, everyone. We are starting a new 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:09.759 series. I'm super stoked to get to preach the 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:12.720 first message of it because it really digs into 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:16.739 church history. I really love history, as you 00:00:16.739 --> 00:00:23.480 know. So, yeah, I will just jump right into it 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:25.379 because, well, not because. I always have to 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:28.879 feel like I'm transitioning us into it. If you've 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:30.140 been here a minute, you know me. I don't have 00:00:30.140 --> 00:00:32.600 to worry about that. So, okay, 32 years ago, 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:35.060 it sounds like I'm starting with my life story. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.299 Before I was born, everyone, I want to tell you 00:00:38.299 --> 00:00:40.740 about, okay, 32 years ago, almost a week to the 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:44.840 day, Rich Mullins put out an album called A Liturgy, 00:00:44.899 --> 00:00:48.100 A Legacy, and A Ragamuffin Band. I was a senior 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:50.500 in high school. I had been a Christian for just 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:53.460 a little over three years, and I was in the very 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:56.119 early stages of exploring my faith and how to 00:00:56.119 --> 00:00:59.810 practice it. This album was important to me for 00:00:59.810 --> 00:01:03.670 a lot of reasons, one of which was that for those 00:01:03.670 --> 00:01:06.349 of us who were growing up Christian in a certain 00:01:06.349 --> 00:01:09.650 generation where Rich's music was new, it affected 00:01:09.650 --> 00:01:13.629 us in a way that's hard to describe. Who remembers 00:01:13.629 --> 00:01:17.849 this album? Yeah, thank you. We have two people 00:01:17.849 --> 00:01:20.790 back there. I think there's probably, at least 00:01:20.790 --> 00:01:23.870 for people I know of our generation, it was a 00:01:23.870 --> 00:01:29.219 seminal album for us, for sure. It was music 00:01:29.219 --> 00:01:32.640 that was the most genuine and honest of kinds, 00:01:32.739 --> 00:01:34.900 and it was without guile. It described a faith 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:38.099 that was often messy and complicated, joyful 00:01:38.099 --> 00:01:40.540 and heartbreaking, and not always easy to find, 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:44.659 but worth asking questions about and worth evaluating, 00:01:45.019 --> 00:01:49.319 worth getting to the core of. And very much about 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:52.599 a God whose love was relentless towards its creation. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.359 For me, the songs remind me of New York, where 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.560 I grew up. They remind me of some really good 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.680 time in high school and youth group, new beginnings 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.359 and looking ahead to college. The album also 00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:07.060 helped give me some tools for my faith that were 00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:10.479 new to me. The album formally introduced me to 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:13.379 some historic practices of the church that I 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:17.319 would come to love. The church has these historic 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:19.800 practices like communion and baptism. We're very 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:22.259 familiar with those things. They are in the scriptures. 00:02:22.340 --> 00:02:24.960 We see them laid out. But as the church grew 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:28.560 and spread out, additional practices were added. 00:02:28.659 --> 00:02:31.840 We follow the church calendar here throughout 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:34.300 the year. It is the reason these things change 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:36.719 color. They tell us where in the year that we 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:40.219 are. They lead us through specific times which 00:02:40.219 --> 00:02:43.139 have prescribed structure. We say collective 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:45.460 prayers together that are constructed from within 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:47.979 our local community that we've now set as a body 00:02:47.979 --> 00:02:51.000 for 11 years, one of which we said today as our 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.879 prayer of work. And Rich's album collected a 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:56.780 number of these pieces from... The history of 00:02:56.780 --> 00:02:58.960 the church body. There are songs about communion 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.659 on this album and the passing of the peace, and 00:03:01.659 --> 00:03:05.280 there is a song called Creed, in which he simply 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.139 sings the words of the Apostles' Creed, a predecessor 00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:10.819 of what would later become known as the Nicene 00:03:10.819 --> 00:03:13.479 Creed. This is what our sermon series is about, 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:17.560 the Nicene Creed. You know it as the words we 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.430 say on the fifth Sundays that begin with... I 00:03:20.430 --> 00:03:23.789 believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the 00:03:23.789 --> 00:03:28.189 maker of heaven and earth. And we sang a variation 00:03:28.189 --> 00:03:31.810 of that today in the song, I Believe. At the 00:03:31.810 --> 00:03:34.870 time, back in high school, I had probably said 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:37.270 the Nicene Creed maybe just a handful of times. 00:03:38.009 --> 00:03:40.669 But I had likely not thought about what it was 00:03:40.669 --> 00:03:42.610 or where it came from. And that's the thing about 00:03:42.610 --> 00:03:44.930 a number of these traditions. They are things 00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:46.870 that we've either always known or have always 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:49.110 done, but we have little context for. They are 00:03:49.110 --> 00:03:53.490 tradition. And by that definition, it gets redone 00:03:53.490 --> 00:03:57.169 every year at certain times. It is very easy 00:03:57.169 --> 00:04:02.349 to lose where these things came from. So that's 00:04:02.349 --> 00:04:05.500 what we're going to get into. So a creed is simply 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:08.120 a statement of belief, the word being lifted 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:10.599 directly off the page of the original Latin, 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:13.580 which was the language of the empire in which 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:18.279 this was developed. Credo in unum Deo. Translated, 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:21.639 I believe in one God. This is the opening line, 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:25.040 and from here on out, a statement of belief is 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:28.680 a creed. Credo statements allow us to reenter 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:32.000 the framework to which we adhere. When things 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:34.100 become unclear in our walk with the Lord, this 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:36.800 helps us re -see the structure that holds it 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:40.120 up. The creed is not the thing of belief. We 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:43.620 don't believe in the creed, but it helps us see 00:04:43.620 --> 00:04:46.879 and remember the thing in which our belief is 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.579 founded on. And this is why I love... what the 00:04:50.579 --> 00:04:53.860 church historic has provided over time, and how 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:56.879 I know others have felt the same. They have given 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:00.079 us the gifts in the form of liturgy. These are 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:03.600 scaffolding framework and structures that we 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.420 can look to to understand what is the build of 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:11.850 this thing. I have talked about the church year 00:05:11.850 --> 00:05:17.470 using the metaphor of a map. The church year 00:05:17.470 --> 00:05:19.269 helps you know where you're going, or if you 00:05:19.269 --> 00:05:21.689 get lost, it gives you a marker to get back to. 00:05:22.129 --> 00:05:25.910 Things like creeds do something similar. They 00:05:25.910 --> 00:05:28.589 give you points for pause and reflection. They 00:05:28.589 --> 00:05:30.970 provide reminders of how you got to where you 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:33.870 are today or points to return to when you are 00:05:33.870 --> 00:05:37.310 feeling lost. A creed can be a great tool and 00:05:37.310 --> 00:05:39.810 a reminder of what your faith is meant to look 00:05:39.810 --> 00:05:43.029 like. Creeds get you to the core. They help you 00:05:43.029 --> 00:05:44.990 get unstuck from the weeds. They get you to the 00:05:44.990 --> 00:05:48.990 irreducible minimums. And so the early church 00:05:48.990 --> 00:05:53.490 spent a lot of time working through what these 00:05:53.490 --> 00:05:57.449 irreducible minimums were. So a quick word on 00:05:57.449 --> 00:05:59.750 the format of this and content of this message. 00:05:59.810 --> 00:06:02.470 Because this message is largely a teaching message 00:06:02.470 --> 00:06:06.430 and heavily historic, the creed itself is the 00:06:06.430 --> 00:06:09.529 home text that we are jumping off from. In all 00:06:09.529 --> 00:06:12.589 ways, it is a result of the careful evaluation 00:06:12.589 --> 00:06:16.610 of scriptural texts. But because of this, I will 00:06:16.610 --> 00:06:19.189 be presenting text along the way versus working 00:06:19.189 --> 00:06:22.980 from a passage. We will be jumping around many 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:24.879 passages today, so I suggest if there are some 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:26.899 that you want to circle back to, have a paper 00:06:26.899 --> 00:06:29.899 and pen handy so you can just jot down the references 00:06:29.899 --> 00:06:32.579 and then you can go back and reread them later. 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:35.980 With that said, let's use this as the point at 00:06:35.980 --> 00:06:37.639 which we're going to pray for today's message 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:41.399 and what God has for us. God, we welcome you 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.720 into this space in our hearts. You are here. 00:06:44.819 --> 00:06:47.019 We acknowledge that you are present with us, 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:50.620 but we want to recognize an invitational spirit 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:53.480 within us to say to you, we want to hear from 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:55.439 you. We want to learn from you. We want to grow. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:00.339 And so use these words and our look at the creeds 00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:06.600 today as encouragement. Help. It tie us more 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.620 deeply to the church body historic and the church 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:14.220 body globally. Let us see the bigger picture 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:18.420 of your work in this world and who you have been 00:07:18.420 --> 00:07:23.100 to us. Help us grow in who you are and in our 00:07:23.100 --> 00:07:26.240 faith today. Let me pray this in your name. Amen. 00:07:27.899 --> 00:07:31.079 So, guys, I think we know that the Church of 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:33.240 the New Testament was a scrappy bunch of people. 00:07:33.949 --> 00:07:36.529 They were common. They were unpolished. They 00:07:36.529 --> 00:07:39.490 were not society's best in a contest of clout. 00:07:39.689 --> 00:07:42.730 Even Rich's album holds a word that would be 00:07:42.730 --> 00:07:45.930 appropriate for these early followers. Ragamuffin. 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:48.769 The word in the album's title is referring to 00:07:48.769 --> 00:07:50.750 Brendan Manning's book, The Ragamuffin Gospel. 00:07:50.990 --> 00:07:53.889 If you want to know more about this, ask Greg, 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:56.250 ask Cindy. You will watch their whole face change 00:07:56.250 --> 00:07:59.170 when they talk about this book. The book centers 00:07:59.170 --> 00:08:02.329 on the truth that Jesus came for the bedraggled, 00:08:02.329 --> 00:08:04.910 the beat up, and the burnt out, the outcasts 00:08:04.910 --> 00:08:08.610 and imperfect people, the ragamuffins. The church 00:08:08.610 --> 00:08:11.029 got its start before it really had time to think 00:08:11.029 --> 00:08:13.509 about what it was. And as the church began to 00:08:13.509 --> 00:08:15.850 take root further out from Jerusalem, Judea, 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:18.610 Samaria, and into the areas known as the ends 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:21.709 of the earth, the core aspects of the message 00:08:21.709 --> 00:08:26.699 also started getting a little stretched. 1 Timothy 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:31.019 1 .3 says, As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, 00:08:31.060 --> 00:08:32.980 stay there in Ephesus so that you may command 00:08:32.980 --> 00:08:35.799 certain people not to teach false doctrines any 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:39.399 longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:42.000 genealogy. Such things promote controversial 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.840 speculations rather than advancing God's work, 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:49.740 which is by faith. Galatians 1, 6. I am astonished 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:52.500 that you are so quickly deserting the one who 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:54.820 called you to live in the grace of Christ and 00:08:54.820 --> 00:08:58.159 are turned to a different gospel, which is really 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:00.879 no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:03.179 throwing you into confusion and are trying to 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:06.000 pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.039 or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel 00:09:08.039 --> 00:09:11.409 other than the one we preached to you. Let them 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:13.769 be under God's curse, as we have already said. 00:09:13.870 --> 00:09:16.529 So now I say again, if anyone is preaching to 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:18.870 you a gospel other than what you accepted, let 00:09:18.870 --> 00:09:22.250 them be under God's curse. Wow. So even in the 00:09:22.250 --> 00:09:25.570 early church, already we are starting to see 00:09:25.570 --> 00:09:31.389 a stray, a movement from the gospel was being 00:09:31.389 --> 00:09:35.220 distorted even early on. The young church hadn't 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.740 been around for more than a few decades when 00:09:37.740 --> 00:09:40.059 these words were being written, and things were 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:43.679 starting to go a little off the rails. So I want 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.259 to jump ahead a few hundred years. Can you imagine 00:09:46.259 --> 00:09:48.620 what happened in that time? We're going to land 00:09:48.620 --> 00:09:50.799 in the first quarter of the fourth century, and 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:54.179 it was a really pivotal time in the history of 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:56.980 the world. Constantine, you've probably heard 00:09:56.980 --> 00:10:00.370 his name. Has just become the emperor of Rome. 00:10:00.529 --> 00:10:03.029 The Roman emperor. Christians have been a minority 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:05.549 group, but things are about to change. The old 00:10:05.549 --> 00:10:09.330 Roman empire is on its last legs. The new will 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:12.269 be ushered in. Constantine is a catalyst for 00:10:12.269 --> 00:10:15.409 this. He moves the operations of the empire to 00:10:15.409 --> 00:10:18.289 Byzantium in modern -day Turkey, the city that 00:10:18.289 --> 00:10:21.889 became modern -day Istanbul. Not? There we go. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:25.360 thank you and in a bold move he decriminalizes 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:28.360 christianity and ends the era of persecution 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:32.139 for them so in the two centuries between when 00:10:32.139 --> 00:10:34.080 the church had started and where we find ourselves 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:38.320 now You had those, the church grew significantly 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:41.539 during that time. So you had those that leaned 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:44.620 towards more esoteric and philosophical ideas 00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:47.259 of Christianity and that there's like secret 00:10:47.259 --> 00:10:49.299 knowledge that only certain people can know. 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:52.039 Or you also had those who wanted distinct clarity 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.559 on every single point. So they got really, really 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:58.019 stuck in doctrine and dogma. Certain thinkers 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:00.139 developed unique strains of thought and gained 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:03.360 followers and churches or regional groups of 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.049 churches each. had their own rules of faith that 00:11:07.049 --> 00:11:11.169 would be adopted at baptism. The waters of orthodoxy 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:15.169 had gotten murkier and murkier. Various teachings 00:11:15.169 --> 00:11:19.309 gained strength, and there was no real good collective 00:11:19.309 --> 00:11:21.769 plumb line. There were collections of scriptures, 00:11:21.929 --> 00:11:24.830 but even those were still being verified and 00:11:24.830 --> 00:11:29.789 discussed and collected and canonized. So by 00:11:29.789 --> 00:11:32.649 the time Constantine was ready to say, hey, you 00:11:32.649 --> 00:11:35.000 know, the Christians are cool, We're fine with 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.419 them. It had to get cleaned up a bit because 00:11:38.419 --> 00:11:42.059 once the faith was no longer underground, sharp 00:11:42.059 --> 00:11:46.139 theological disputes emerged, particularly about 00:11:46.139 --> 00:11:50.179 things like the nature of Christ. Is he divine? 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:54.000 Is he one with the Father? So Arianism was a 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.279 prevalent doctrine that rejects the traditional 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:59.830 notion of the Trinity. It is... you might think 00:11:59.830 --> 00:12:02.409 that I'm going on a side quest. When I tell you 00:12:02.409 --> 00:12:08.789 that Arianism was so... I just had the word. 00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:14.470 It was sort of... What's that? It was really 00:12:14.470 --> 00:12:16.889 prolific, and it was a big problem in the church. 00:12:17.850 --> 00:12:19.990 So it was a prevalent doctrine that rejects the 00:12:19.990 --> 00:12:22.470 traditional notion of the Trinity, teaching that 00:12:22.470 --> 00:12:25.549 Jesus was created by God and is therefore distinct 00:12:25.549 --> 00:12:29.750 from and subordinate to God. The council's outcome, 00:12:30.029 --> 00:12:34.750 so this council that got together to decide some 00:12:34.750 --> 00:12:37.870 things, I'm about to talk about it, deemed that 00:12:37.870 --> 00:12:40.370 this was a heretical idea. That was the outcome 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:45.470 of it. But this view threatened the unity of 00:12:45.470 --> 00:12:50.429 the church. The unity of the church was not Constantine's 00:12:50.429 --> 00:12:53.769 concern, but because it was such a big deal, 00:12:53.909 --> 00:12:57.490 it was also... potentially problematic for the 00:12:57.490 --> 00:13:00.590 empire. And that was of Constantine's concern. 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:05.110 How are these things connected? Reasonable question 00:13:05.110 --> 00:13:08.929 from a 21st century church. Religion is to us 00:13:08.929 --> 00:13:11.250 a personal thing and something you practice on 00:13:11.250 --> 00:13:14.490 your own. Not here. Because in the history of 00:13:14.490 --> 00:13:19.269 the empire, religion was civic. It was all of 00:13:19.269 --> 00:13:22.200 us. It was the case with Rome Historic, and it 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.220 was meant to be the case when Constantine eventually 00:13:24.220 --> 00:13:27.960 said, this is our whole personality now. So wanting 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:32.080 both theological and political stability would 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:35.340 make sense. And so things had to get unified 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:38.919 in the church. He called the first ecumenical 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:42.039 council together to resolve it. It was a political 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:46.179 initiative. Let's get you folks together to talk 00:13:46.179 --> 00:13:51.429 this out because it was such... an unstable source 00:13:51.429 --> 00:13:56.070 in the empire. So in the summer months of 325 00:13:56.070 --> 00:13:59.470 Common Era, the first contemporary era, the first 00:13:59.470 --> 00:14:01.690 gathering is said to have occurred. It happened 00:14:01.690 --> 00:14:06.370 in Turkey, in Nicaea, with about 200, so 220 00:14:06.370 --> 00:14:09.769 to 300 bishops, mainly from the Eastern Roman 00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:13.610 Empire. So think Turkey, Palestine, Syria, Northern 00:14:13.610 --> 00:14:16.759 Africa, Armenia, Georgia, Persia. Honestly, places 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:19.700 we today do not think of the Christian church, 00:14:19.820 --> 00:14:22.600 but they were critical. They were our church 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:25.779 fathers. And then there was a small representation 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:28.159 from the West. So there's so much we could talk 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:29.899 about here, like there's so much, and I would 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:31.700 love to talk about that with you if you want 00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:34.139 to talk more after this. But we need to jump 00:14:34.139 --> 00:14:38.600 another 55 years to the future, to 381 CE, rather. 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:41.379 So Constantine's dead. Heresies are still around 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:44.580 in the empire. Arianism, among others, still 00:14:44.580 --> 00:14:48.320 have tendrils and spaces far and wide. Civil 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:50.600 war was literally on the table for the empire 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:55.360 because of this. New Emperor Judas Theodosius, 00:14:55.500 --> 00:14:58.740 the first, is in charge at this point. So Christendom 00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:01.259 has come a long way. New issues have arisen, 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:04.360 new heresies to combat, in addition to the old 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.700 ones. Especially now, what does the nature of 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:09.340 the Trinity, or excuse me, the Trinity and the 00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:12.139 Holy Spirit look like? So Theodosius requests 00:15:12.139 --> 00:15:16.220 a defense of the faith from all the major sects 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:20.789 providing, that they provide sort of... We need 00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:22.889 to get back to this because we are falling apart. 00:15:23.090 --> 00:15:25.649 We need you to really, really nail down what 00:15:25.649 --> 00:15:27.629 you believe. So the first council did come up 00:15:27.629 --> 00:15:29.970 with something. It was in use for about 60 years. 00:15:30.289 --> 00:15:34.950 And then it needed to be expounded upon. It wasn't 00:15:34.950 --> 00:15:37.269 carrying the weight that it needed to for the 00:15:37.269 --> 00:15:39.629 church. It needed to become more robust. Words 00:15:39.629 --> 00:15:41.610 needed to become clearer. So what I'm saying 00:15:41.610 --> 00:15:45.429 is over this amount of time, the thing that we 00:15:45.429 --> 00:15:49.649 say on the fifth Sunday. was labored over. It 00:15:49.649 --> 00:15:54.629 was a potentially empire -crushing thing for 00:15:54.629 --> 00:15:59.470 this not to get solved. That's kind of a surprise, 00:15:59.610 --> 00:16:02.230 I would think, for those of us who, you know, 00:16:02.250 --> 00:16:04.129 we just say this casually on our fifth Sunday, 00:16:04.230 --> 00:16:10.149 right? This is a big, big deal. So, a word on 00:16:10.149 --> 00:16:16.850 this. Christians had to develop the biblical 00:16:16.850 --> 00:16:19.450 and philosophical traditions that they inherited. 00:16:19.649 --> 00:16:22.750 And what I mean by this, so like the principles 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:24.830 of one God and Father Almighty maker of heaven 00:16:24.830 --> 00:16:26.929 and earth, they were present, they existed, they 00:16:26.929 --> 00:16:31.029 were comfortable, but their meanings were not 00:16:31.029 --> 00:16:34.570 fully appreciated until the questions of the 00:16:34.570 --> 00:16:37.450 origin were made clear. We have to talk about 00:16:37.450 --> 00:16:41.360 where does this all get? founded in? What is 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.259 the root of all this? Do we just believe it because 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:46.539 this is what we've just always done? Or do we 00:16:46.539 --> 00:16:51.159 understand where the foundations of this all 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:55.240 lie? And so I think we can all appreciate not 00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:57.620 blindly accepting something because it's the 00:16:57.620 --> 00:17:01.080 way it's always been done, right? That's essentially 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:07.589 what they were trying to get away from. The apostolic 00:17:07.589 --> 00:17:09.950 church got rolling before they could really ask 00:17:09.950 --> 00:17:12.829 questions about what they were doing. We see 00:17:12.829 --> 00:17:16.230 in somewhat real time in the scriptures the things 00:17:16.230 --> 00:17:19.130 that they were figuring out in the moment. How 00:17:19.130 --> 00:17:20.809 to care for widows, how to handle communion, 00:17:20.990 --> 00:17:22.750 how to treat the poor, how to respond to society. 00:17:23.269 --> 00:17:26.529 They had to figure out a lot as they went along. 00:17:26.710 --> 00:17:28.509 They were learning how to listen to the Spirit 00:17:28.509 --> 00:17:32.869 of God and hold true to the words of Jesus as 00:17:32.869 --> 00:17:35.779 things came up. And so with just about everything 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:39.859 we do, we figure out practice in the moment. 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:44.700 What do we do about fill in the blank? Often 00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:48.319 the plan and policy get rarely really parsed 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:52.799 out only after you have had time to look at how 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:56.880 you've been doing things. So these councils reviewed 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:59.519 scripture. Incidentally, the Bible in the form 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:02.160 most Catholics would know it in was also generally 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:07.200 agreed upon. around 382 in Rome, in the Western 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.579 Church. So these councils reviewed scripture, 00:18:11.940 --> 00:18:14.359 considered the practices and the traditions of 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:16.359 the churches that had already taken into consideration 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:18.960 some of these big topics. They debated the position. 00:18:19.500 --> 00:18:22.420 Arianism that I talked about, Arius himself was 00:18:22.420 --> 00:18:24.680 present at the first council to defend himself, 00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:28.500 later got exiled. They prayed and asked the Spirit 00:18:28.500 --> 00:18:30.980 for wisdom, and I believe that they took the 00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:34.289 assignment quite seriously. And they did this 00:18:34.289 --> 00:18:39.269 all so that they could come up with, we believe. 00:18:41.049 --> 00:18:43.849 Given what I just told you, the significance 00:18:43.849 --> 00:18:49.970 of this one opening line, credo, we believe, 00:18:50.210 --> 00:18:55.289 I believe, is profound. When I tell you it was 00:18:55.289 --> 00:19:00.450 a big deal to say as much together, it was a 00:19:00.450 --> 00:19:08.279 big deal. to get to that point. So we believe. 00:19:08.539 --> 00:19:11.539 Sure, belief, it just makes sense to start with 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:14.900 it, right? But it's bigger than that. Yes, it's 00:19:14.900 --> 00:19:16.680 a good place to start when talking about a statement 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:19.440 of faith, but know that it was a hard -fought 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:23.619 landing point. The start carried the weight of 00:19:23.619 --> 00:19:28.200 the whole church up to that point. In our world 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:30.640 today, when we think about what it means to believe, 00:19:31.819 --> 00:19:35.460 We make that word belief and faith nearly synonymous 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:37.900 with each other. We think of something that is 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:40.980 blindly accepted without evidence. Not entirely, 00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:45.019 but we do understand the word almost as even 00:19:45.019 --> 00:19:49.680 things that have evidential backing. Often in 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.779 our world today, faith and science are opposed 00:19:52.779 --> 00:19:55.440 to each other or often pitted against each other 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.519 because one is assumed to be based in evidence 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:03.960 and the other is not. That is our current perspective 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:08.160 in a lot of ways. But the term belief means almost 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:10.480 exactly the opposite today from what they meant 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.539 in the early church. The church fathers, Irenaeus 00:20:14.539 --> 00:20:16.700 being one of them, was writing in the second 00:20:16.700 --> 00:20:19.299 century. He outlines some of the essential elements 00:20:19.299 --> 00:20:23.019 that make clear that faith is not a subjective 00:20:23.019 --> 00:20:27.759 opinion, but is based on actual evidence and 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:31.430 objective reality. Belief is based on what is 00:20:31.430 --> 00:20:36.430 known. So for the early church, belief and knowledge 00:20:36.430 --> 00:20:39.970 work together. We have faith when we learn something 00:20:39.970 --> 00:20:42.369 from another. We have knowledge when we see something 00:20:42.369 --> 00:20:46.509 for ourselves. Honestly, almost everything we 00:20:46.509 --> 00:20:50.609 think we know, we, in fact, believe on the testimony 00:20:50.609 --> 00:20:56.049 and authority of others. We believe most things 00:20:56.049 --> 00:20:58.829 our friends relate to us about their lives and 00:20:58.829 --> 00:21:02.210 experience. That we often have not witnessed 00:21:02.210 --> 00:21:04.950 these things firsthand, but we believe them to 00:21:04.950 --> 00:21:07.470 be true based on what somebody is telling us. 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:12.130 We believe the history, geography, and science 00:21:12.130 --> 00:21:14.410 we've been taught, even though we were not present 00:21:14.410 --> 00:21:16.589 at the events, have not visited the places, or 00:21:16.589 --> 00:21:20.599 cannot verify the science. Due to time, inclination, 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:23.539 or ability, it is actually impossible to investigate 00:21:23.539 --> 00:21:27.299 every question for ourselves, isn't it? It is 00:21:27.299 --> 00:21:30.940 completely reasonable, then, to experience belief 00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:35.660 in most areas of our life based on what we have 00:21:35.660 --> 00:21:40.740 been told from the testimonies of others. We 00:21:40.740 --> 00:21:45.720 cannot operate our daily lives without it. So 00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:48.980 how can we have belief in God based on this thinking? 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:53.140 How can faith exist universally? This was the 00:21:53.140 --> 00:21:57.140 importance of the apostles' work. This was why 00:21:57.140 --> 00:21:59.859 in the development of the Bible canon, the accounts 00:21:59.859 --> 00:22:02.380 of Acts and the letters of Paul, Peter, James, 00:22:02.420 --> 00:22:05.920 and Jude were so important and why they worked 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:09.220 together to recognize their veracity. The church 00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:13.240 history traced back to ground zero. The traditions 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:15.299 that had the deepest roots, the practices that 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:19.900 lined up with Jesus. And so it is with the testimony 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:22.940 of those who had experienced and known Jesus 00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:27.779 that others were commanded to go and tell others 00:22:27.779 --> 00:22:33.640 so that they would also then believe. Mark 16, 00:22:33.799 --> 00:22:36.920 15 through 16 said to them, go into all the world 00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:39.440 and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 00:22:40.380 --> 00:22:42.839 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:45.339 but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 00:22:45.579 --> 00:22:47.900 It was based on, belief was going to be based 00:22:47.900 --> 00:22:51.900 on somebody else's testimony. John 20, 29, Jesus 00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:54.279 said to him, Have you believed because you have 00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:56.440 seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen 00:22:56.440 --> 00:22:59.299 and yet have believed. It was about the testimony. 00:23:00.180 --> 00:23:03.259 We believe was not a guess in the dark. It was 00:23:03.259 --> 00:23:06.460 deeply rooted in what the church had experienced 00:23:06.460 --> 00:23:12.210 from the point of Jesus. It was presenting what 00:23:12.210 --> 00:23:15.450 it had already found to be true as to what to 00:23:15.450 --> 00:23:17.589 build the structure of one's faith on. Belief 00:23:17.589 --> 00:23:20.750 was based on the evidence of the apostles and 00:23:20.750 --> 00:23:23.109 their experience and their testimony and their 00:23:23.109 --> 00:23:27.109 witness. But as we said, the church was dealing 00:23:27.109 --> 00:23:30.250 with all sorts of ideas here in this point in 00:23:30.250 --> 00:23:35.589 which the creed was called upon to be put together. 00:23:35.990 --> 00:23:38.089 So the church was dealing with all sorts of ideas 00:23:38.089 --> 00:23:42.119 about who it was. that they were following and 00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:44.859 how they were following. For the early church 00:23:44.859 --> 00:23:48.240 and the catalyst issues of the councils, the 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:51.140 key questions were about the nature of Jesus 00:23:51.140 --> 00:23:54.680 and the Holy Spirit. God the Father had been 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:56.680 worked out long before the council met in the 00:23:56.680 --> 00:24:00.170 face of challenges from Gnosticism paganism in 00:24:00.170 --> 00:24:01.990 the second and third centuries, early Christians 00:24:01.990 --> 00:24:05.490 started to work out systematically what it meant 00:24:05.490 --> 00:24:09.569 that there is only one God who is Father Almighty. 00:24:10.210 --> 00:24:13.170 Because they had to. Consider the context of 00:24:13.170 --> 00:24:16.210 the early church. Greeks, pantheistic. Romans, 00:24:16.470 --> 00:24:19.009 pantheistic. Even Egyptians had a long history 00:24:19.009 --> 00:24:22.009 there from their dynasties. Pantheistic. It is 00:24:22.009 --> 00:24:24.190 not unheard of to have a monotheistic religion 00:24:24.190 --> 00:24:27.430 in the ancient world, but monotheism was definitely 00:24:27.430 --> 00:24:31.140 in the minority. While there is ample testimony 00:24:31.140 --> 00:24:34.500 in Scripture that God is called Father and Almighty, 00:24:34.779 --> 00:24:37.259 there is no occurrence of these terms actually 00:24:37.259 --> 00:24:41.920 together. So we have, we believe in one God, 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:47.400 Father Almighty. There is no occurrence of these 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:51.319 terms together. But God is called Father 17 times 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:53.839 in the Old Testament and more than 250 times 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:56.240 in the New. And in the Greek translations of 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:58.400 the Old Testament, it occurs more than 150 times. 00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:01.200 The precedent is there. Again, all of this, all 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:05.000 of the things from the creeds are rooted in the 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.559 scriptures. So early Christian tradition speaks 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:13.190 about God as Father in a few distinct ways. And 00:25:13.190 --> 00:25:16.450 because nothing could be taken for granted, it 00:25:16.450 --> 00:25:21.329 all needed to be reviewed and evaluated. I think 00:25:21.329 --> 00:25:24.970 often our idea of God as father becomes very 00:25:24.970 --> 00:25:30.309 zeroed in on one aspect of father. God as dad. 00:25:31.349 --> 00:25:35.869 We hear father and go directly to God, the top 00:25:35.869 --> 00:25:39.430 dad figure. And though that has some founding, 00:25:39.450 --> 00:25:42.039 as we just talked about. Father is mentioned 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:47.319 a lot in the scriptures. We tend to overlook 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:51.160 the broadness of the idea that the early church 00:25:51.160 --> 00:25:54.579 was forced to consider. Jesus certainly led the 00:25:54.579 --> 00:25:56.480 way on this, thinking even instructing us to 00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:58.960 pray our Father and setting the tone for us by 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:02.059 calling Yahweh Abba, with Galatians later guiding 00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:05.200 us to do the same. Galatians 4, 6, because you 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:07.119 are his children, God sent the spirit of his 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:09.720 Son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out, 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:15.440 Abba, Father. But also, God as Father Almighty 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.819 Dad is the bearded dude sitting on the throne 00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:22.440 punishing us when we misbehave. This is the prevalent 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:25.700 thinking when we talk about God the Father. We 00:26:25.700 --> 00:26:28.119 have combated this thinking in our modern worship 00:26:28.119 --> 00:26:29.980 because we know how prevalent it is by singing 00:26:29.980 --> 00:26:32.619 songs like you're a good, good father. Because 00:26:32.619 --> 00:26:36.019 we need to remind ourselves. Because we have 00:26:36.019 --> 00:26:38.519 adhered most commonly to the trope of the dad 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:41.430 who is told all the day's wrongs. You just wait 00:26:41.430 --> 00:26:45.170 until your father gets home. It is where we have 00:26:45.170 --> 00:26:47.309 landed in terms of understanding God the Father 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:50.490 Almighty. However, the early church did not see 00:26:50.490 --> 00:26:54.650 God the Father the same way and in such a narrow 00:26:54.650 --> 00:27:00.440 way. Yes. Yahweh is the father that Jesus referred 00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:03.299 to, and we have created images of God existing 00:27:03.299 --> 00:27:06.140 this way as a parent. Think of all the artwork 00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:09.299 from the Renaissance era. But I want to shift 00:27:09.299 --> 00:27:13.539 that thinking from parent, father as parent, 00:27:13.819 --> 00:27:19.799 to father as source, the starting point, the 00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:24.819 beginning, which has different connotations to 00:27:24.819 --> 00:27:28.980 it. Has different impressions. 1 Corinthians 00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:32.240 8, 6. Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, 00:27:32.339 --> 00:27:35.539 from whom all things came and for whom we live. 00:27:36.539 --> 00:27:39.279 And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:41.220 whom all things came and through whom we live. 00:27:42.500 --> 00:27:45.539 Deuteronomy 32, 6. In this way you repay the 00:27:45.539 --> 00:27:48.319 Lord, you foolish and unwise people. Is he not 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:52.500 your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed 00:27:52.500 --> 00:27:57.640 you? Psalm 139, 13 through 15. For you created 00:27:57.640 --> 00:27:59.859 my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's 00:27:59.859 --> 00:28:01.819 womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and 00:28:01.819 --> 00:28:03.759 wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:08.799 know that full well. And Isaiah 64, 8. Yet you, 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:11.539 Lord, are our Father. We are the clay and you 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:13.480 are the potter. We are the work of your hand. 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:18.940 Father as not just parent, but Father as source. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:23.079 Father as creator. When we broaden our understanding 00:28:23.079 --> 00:28:26.380 of father to include father as source, some other 00:28:26.380 --> 00:28:28.980 things fall into place more easily. Because if 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:32.039 we see God the father as parent only, it changes 00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:36.940 what almighty means. It gives us that sense of 00:28:36.940 --> 00:28:41.460 the judgmental dad, the big guy. But if we understand 00:28:41.460 --> 00:28:45.240 God the Father as source, almighty is refrained 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:49.079 and carries us through to the almighty source 00:28:49.079 --> 00:28:52.980 that is now the maker of heaven and earth, all 00:28:52.980 --> 00:28:56.319 that is visible and invisible. It carries us 00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:02.980 forward. Colossians 1 .16 For in him all things 00:29:02.980 --> 00:29:06.140 were created, things in heaven and on earth, 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:11.359 visible and invisible. Unlike other ancient creation 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:13.880 stories where the world is a result of violence 00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:17.559 or a fall, Genesis 1 tells the story of a good 00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:20.660 God who creates a good world through his creative 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:24.480 reason. Through speech, God brings order out 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:26.819 of chaos and light out of darkness. Written probably 00:29:26.819 --> 00:29:30.420 during the Babylonian exile, Genesis 1 is a kind 00:29:30.420 --> 00:29:32.960 of declaration of war on the Babylonian gods. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:38.279 Heaven and earth is much like a phrase that encompasses 00:29:38.279 --> 00:29:41.019 all, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the 00:29:41.019 --> 00:29:45.380 end, from the east to the west. Some of the other 00:29:45.380 --> 00:29:48.480 prevalent controversies centered around thoughts 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:52.400 of different realms of existence. So the Gnostics 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:54.299 and others often said that there were different 00:29:54.299 --> 00:29:57.920 makers for different realms. There was a father 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.359 of the heavenly realm, but also a malevolent 00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.009 demiurge of the earthly realm. Or our souls came 00:30:04.009 --> 00:30:06.450 from a source of light, whereas our bodies came 00:30:06.450 --> 00:30:09.369 from a source of darkness. These were prevalent 00:30:09.369 --> 00:30:13.710 ideas and philosophies that sort of ran around 00:30:13.710 --> 00:30:17.549 and absorbed Christianity and intermingled with 00:30:17.549 --> 00:30:21.230 it. Alternatively, in a polytheistic culture, 00:30:21.329 --> 00:30:23.509 invisible spirits, where God's rivals, equals, 00:30:23.609 --> 00:30:27.490 or subordinates could be equal to God rather 00:30:27.490 --> 00:30:32.190 than his creatures. The Creed states emphatically 00:30:32.190 --> 00:30:36.710 that God is the maker of heaven and earth, which 00:30:36.710 --> 00:30:40.829 includes all things visible and invisible. God 00:30:40.829 --> 00:30:46.410 was not one of many. God is Father Almighty, 00:30:46.750 --> 00:30:53.589 sovereign, source over all. And by being so capable 00:30:53.589 --> 00:30:59.490 of being the singular source of all things, It 00:30:59.490 --> 00:31:03.410 was a radical and bold move for Christianity 00:31:03.410 --> 00:31:06.630 to say that God is not the highest thing in the 00:31:06.630 --> 00:31:10.309 world, but rather the radically transcender creator 00:31:10.309 --> 00:31:15.470 of it. He is not subject to time or space, but 00:31:15.470 --> 00:31:18.509 is the creator of time and space existing outside 00:31:18.509 --> 00:31:22.390 of it. Creation is not ultimate so that God finds 00:31:22.390 --> 00:31:25.579 a place within it. God is not a being that is 00:31:25.579 --> 00:31:30.299 situated within creation. Rather, God is the 00:31:30.299 --> 00:31:34.059 source of all creation and all the beings found 00:31:34.059 --> 00:31:37.700 within it, which is why God, the source almighty, 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:41.259 is capable of being the source from which all 00:31:41.259 --> 00:31:44.220 things, heaven and earth, invisible and visible, 00:31:44.380 --> 00:31:48.839 are created. In fact, this was driven home harder 00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:53.660 in the revisiting of the creed in 381 from the 00:31:53.660 --> 00:31:58.660 original in 325. In 325, they walked away having 00:31:58.660 --> 00:32:01.660 completed this statement, We believe in one God, 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:04.720 the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:10.579 and invisible. They revisited this in 381, adding, 00:32:11.819 --> 00:32:15.220 We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the 00:32:15.220 --> 00:32:19.019 maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible 00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:22.420 and invisible. Because they were combating very 00:32:22.420 --> 00:32:26.160 real ideologies that were existing that they 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:28.700 needed to come to very distinct understanding 00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:36.220 of. So things we take for granted. had to be 00:32:36.220 --> 00:32:39.359 worked through and worked through and wrestled 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:43.460 and discussed and had to have time to sit and 00:32:43.460 --> 00:32:47.220 be revisited. The framework was not entirely 00:32:47.220 --> 00:32:49.400 built when Jesus called Peter to be the first 00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:52.880 pastoral leader, which feels wild to us, right? 00:32:53.220 --> 00:32:56.059 That feels a little reckless, just picking a 00:32:56.059 --> 00:32:58.640 human to build a church on. I mean, it wasn't. 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:01.720 Let me be very clear. But when you think of all 00:33:01.720 --> 00:33:04.920 that came after it, And how little the disciples 00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:08.740 started with? They started with a calling and 00:33:08.740 --> 00:33:12.319 the Spirit of God. And Jesus said, that is enough 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:14.940 to get you going. And you have my teachings. 00:33:17.299 --> 00:33:22.259 There you go. And truthfully, the early church 00:33:22.259 --> 00:33:25.279 also thought Jesus was returning in a month. 00:33:25.500 --> 00:33:28.579 It was imminent. It was coming very soon. And 00:33:28.579 --> 00:33:30.640 so they just sort of lived in a survival mode. 00:33:31.400 --> 00:33:34.400 But as the church went on, And they had to figure 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:36.900 things out, and they had to work in a world in 00:33:36.900 --> 00:33:38.900 which an empire was changing, and leaders were 00:33:38.900 --> 00:33:42.740 changing, and things were moving, and Christianity 00:33:42.740 --> 00:33:45.500 was moving into spaces where cultures were different. 00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:51.500 They had to figure more things out. And so that's 00:33:51.500 --> 00:33:56.299 what they did. It was forged over time. The church 00:33:56.299 --> 00:34:00.599 developed before it knew what it was. Time necessitated 00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:03.819 organization. Teachings came out of cultural 00:34:03.819 --> 00:34:06.779 settings and practice. The words of Jesus and 00:34:06.779 --> 00:34:09.679 the leading of the spirit. Theology is a luxury 00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:16.039 of time. The creed is not magic. There's nothing 00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:21.219 specifically holy imbued in it. However, much 00:34:21.219 --> 00:34:23.780 like there are things in our world that help 00:34:23.780 --> 00:34:27.300 us remember our path. the direction we're facing, 00:34:27.460 --> 00:34:31.059 the code that keeps us clear -eyed. If anyone's 00:34:31.059 --> 00:34:34.460 ever had a vowel renewal ceremony or reflected 00:34:34.460 --> 00:34:36.860 once again on the commitments made, a creed is 00:34:36.860 --> 00:34:40.280 a tool for us. With all of this said, we can 00:34:40.280 --> 00:34:43.579 appreciate that when we here speak the creed 00:34:43.579 --> 00:34:49.800 together and we begin with, we believe, we can 00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:52.260 hold on to that moment with a bit more understanding 00:34:52.260 --> 00:34:58.130 and even awe for how we got here. It is not a 00:34:58.130 --> 00:35:03.710 given that we can say we believe together in 00:35:03.710 --> 00:35:11.210 one heart and one faith. The book of Hebrews 00:35:11.210 --> 00:35:14.010 is entirely about the faith that was passed down 00:35:14.010 --> 00:35:19.570 to us. 2, 1 through 4 says, We must pay the most 00:35:19.570 --> 00:35:22.090 careful attention, therefore, to what we have 00:35:22.090 --> 00:35:26.750 heard, so that we do not drift away. For since 00:35:26.750 --> 00:35:28.710 the message spoken through the angels was binding 00:35:28.710 --> 00:35:30.650 and every violation and disobedience received 00:35:30.650 --> 00:35:33.429 its just punishment, how shall we escape if we 00:35:33.429 --> 00:35:36.570 ignore so great a salvation? The salvation which 00:35:36.570 --> 00:35:39.010 was first announced by the Lord was confirmed 00:35:39.010 --> 00:35:42.510 to us by those who heard it. God also testified 00:35:42.510 --> 00:35:45.010 to it by signs and wonders and various miracles 00:35:45.010 --> 00:35:47.590 and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according 00:35:47.590 --> 00:35:51.849 to his will. We believe in what was held to be 00:35:51.849 --> 00:35:54.289 true by those whom Jesus chose to build the church 00:35:54.289 --> 00:35:57.880 on. and they mindfully recorded what they knew 00:35:57.880 --> 00:36:01.880 and experienced. We also believe because of the 00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:04.820 faith of those who have come before, who tested 00:36:04.820 --> 00:36:07.500 the truth of Jesus, the work of the Spirit in 00:36:07.500 --> 00:36:10.019 the church historic, with the weight of their 00:36:10.019 --> 00:36:14.519 whole lives. We have valued the lives of the 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:18.530 church parents who came before us. We believe 00:36:18.530 --> 00:36:20.929 the testimony and the witness of the church historic, 00:36:21.250 --> 00:36:23.929 universal, and global. And I am moved to think 00:36:23.929 --> 00:36:27.650 that because of the belief that I have and live, 00:36:27.909 --> 00:36:32.889 and my testimony and my witness, and our belief 00:36:32.889 --> 00:36:36.250 and our testimony and our witness, others will 00:36:36.250 --> 00:36:42.050 also be able to join in belief. The we believe. 00:36:43.980 --> 00:36:46.599 And throughout time, the we believe has gotten 00:36:46.599 --> 00:36:52.760 louder and bigger and stronger. When we say the 00:36:52.760 --> 00:37:00.380 creeds, we join with the early church. It is 00:37:00.380 --> 00:37:05.059 a powerful thing to share these words with those 00:37:05.059 --> 00:37:09.860 that came centuries before, who forged a way 00:37:09.860 --> 00:37:14.760 of faith for us to... have a framework in which 00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:17.719 we understand that we aren't floating adrift, 00:37:17.860 --> 00:37:22.659 that we feel connected to, that draws us back 00:37:22.659 --> 00:37:26.579 to the home of Jesus when he was on this earth. 00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:33.199 And so over the next few weeks, as we continue 00:37:33.199 --> 00:37:35.760 to look at how the creed was broken down and 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:40.519 what it says, Each week, let that go deeper into 00:37:40.519 --> 00:37:43.440 you. Let that settle more deeply into you. Use 00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:45.940 each week as an opportunity to meditate on the 00:37:45.940 --> 00:37:52.840 words of that week. We believe in one God, Father 00:37:52.840 --> 00:37:57.340 Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that 00:37:57.340 --> 00:38:01.480 is visible and invisible. This week, sit with 00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:04.119 those words and consider what it was that got 00:38:04.119 --> 00:38:09.110 us here. And then how does that gird up your 00:38:09.110 --> 00:38:13.090 testimony and your faith to continue to build 00:38:13.090 --> 00:38:15.789 the church forward so that more can say we believe? 00:38:17.250 --> 00:38:22.769 Let's pray. God, we are grateful for the family 00:38:22.769 --> 00:38:29.230 of yours throughout history. It is extraordinary 00:38:29.230 --> 00:38:32.809 that we are here today. And we are so grateful 00:38:32.809 --> 00:38:35.889 for those that you have built up in faith and 00:38:35.889 --> 00:38:41.099 belief. Throughout time, we are grateful for 00:38:41.099 --> 00:38:44.519 every testimony. We are grateful for the witness 00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:47.539 of the church. We're grateful for the witness 00:38:47.539 --> 00:38:52.280 of your spirit. We're grateful to be here today, 00:38:52.360 --> 00:38:58.980 to have a belief, something to believe in. And 00:38:58.980 --> 00:39:01.139 so as we continue to meditate on these things, 00:39:01.239 --> 00:39:04.500 God, may that strengthen us. May it strengthen 00:39:04.500 --> 00:39:09.579 our faith this week. And may our lives be something 00:39:09.579 --> 00:39:11.539 that strengthen other people's faith because 00:39:11.539 --> 00:39:15.840 of the experience we've had. But in all things, 00:39:15.900 --> 00:39:18.920 we look to you. We're grateful for your life 00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:23.000 in us. And we love you. Amen.