WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Well, good morning. Good morning. So good to 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:06.339 see you here. Children get going to Treehouse. 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:12.419 My name is Alex, and I serve the youth here at 00:00:12.419 --> 00:00:16.660 the house. I have been working, ministering to 00:00:16.660 --> 00:00:21.559 the 6th through 12th graders since 2019, I think. 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:25.399 And what we affectionately call the shed, we 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:27.940 have the house. The church, the treehouse, and 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:30.399 the shed. And so we meet every morning at 10 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:33.159 o 'clock, and we have good time. This year our 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:35.700 theme is the good life. And so we are working 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:39.539 through the book of Acts and talking about the 00:00:39.539 --> 00:00:42.899 foundation of the early church and what it means 00:00:42.899 --> 00:00:45.560 to live the good life, what it means to follow 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:47.880 Jesus, and what it means to be the church in 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:50.280 today's day. And so I would also love to talk 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:52.880 about that with anyone, if anyone's curious. 00:00:54.450 --> 00:00:56.049 Based off of our two -minute warning question, 00:00:56.170 --> 00:01:00.030 anybody watch the sunrise recently? In your hands, 00:01:00.030 --> 00:01:03.649 a couple. Not, yeah, that's kind of what I expected. 00:01:03.770 --> 00:01:08.010 There was a few hands, but not a ton. I personally, 00:01:08.090 --> 00:01:10.530 I love the sunrise. I get up to work, I go to 00:01:10.530 --> 00:01:14.349 work by 6 .30, so I usually am up pretty early, 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:18.299 which is great because I love the sunrise. So 00:01:18.299 --> 00:01:21.040 every fall and spring, I get to actually witness 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.760 the sunrise. As I drive to work, I head straight 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:28.700 east. It's great, the whole sky. So this September, 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:30.700 I actually rode my bike into work, and so I have 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:34.379 a picture here that I took. And if Liam could 00:01:34.379 --> 00:01:39.420 put that up. This is on my bike ride. This was 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:42.920 towards the beginning of September. By the end 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:46.560 of September, it was kind of just dark blues 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:49.769 and purples. rode into the early October before 00:01:49.769 --> 00:01:52.730 it got too cold for me, and it was just like 00:01:52.730 --> 00:01:55.950 a thin line of dark purple and blue. So I had 00:01:55.950 --> 00:02:01.030 my lights on to get to work. So I loved it. It 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:05.430 was a great way to start my day every day throughout 00:02:05.430 --> 00:02:10.729 that month. But I had also heard that there were 00:02:10.729 --> 00:02:13.530 some real effects of watching the sunrise, so 00:02:13.530 --> 00:02:15.050 I decided to look those up, and I thought I'd 00:02:15.050 --> 00:02:18.330 share them with you. So this is what I found. 00:02:18.370 --> 00:02:22.050 20 to 30 minutes of morning sun, meaning like 00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:24.389 the first two, two and a half hours of the day, 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:29.189 improves your sleep -wake cycle because it suppresses 00:02:29.189 --> 00:02:33.590 the sleepy hormone, melatonin, and releases cortisol, 00:02:33.909 --> 00:02:36.310 the wake -up hormone. And so some of you may 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:39.430 know this, but what color of light suppresses 00:02:39.430 --> 00:02:44.909 melatonin? Blue light, yes. The sunrise has naturally 00:02:44.909 --> 00:02:48.590 occurring blue light in an appropriate level 00:02:48.590 --> 00:02:53.990 compared to the screens that we look at. It also 00:02:53.990 --> 00:02:57.210 may decrease depressive symptoms on an average 00:02:57.210 --> 00:03:00.550 of 40%. It may improve metabolic function by 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:03.289 regulating blood sugar. Improves your eye muscles 00:03:03.289 --> 00:03:06.870 by gradually adjusting to the light levels. May 00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:09.430 reduce inflammation in your body. So there is 00:03:09.430 --> 00:03:12.490 some... Potentially real physical, biological 00:03:12.490 --> 00:03:15.409 things happening in our bodies just from looking 00:03:15.409 --> 00:03:20.469 at the sun rising. So for me, there's something 00:03:20.469 --> 00:03:26.229 that's like both equal parts wonderful to look 00:03:26.229 --> 00:03:28.830 at the sunrise, but also mysterious, like how 00:03:28.830 --> 00:03:31.330 it works. Not only the physicalness of the sun 00:03:31.330 --> 00:03:34.189 rising over the horizon, but how it affects our 00:03:34.189 --> 00:03:38.069 real self. Like we can see the beauty of colors. 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:40.370 just like smeared together in just the right 00:03:40.370 --> 00:03:46.629 order, right? But also if you're trained in light 00:03:46.629 --> 00:03:49.490 optics, the physics of it, you may understand 00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:51.210 there's different wavelengths for each color 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:53.409 of light, and that blue light, red light, or 00:03:53.409 --> 00:03:56.129 blue light, purple light is small wavelength, 00:03:56.229 --> 00:03:59.930 and red light, which is more as the sun rises, 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:05.539 is long wavelengths. And even if you do know 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:08.139 that, or you know much more than that, and how 00:04:08.139 --> 00:04:10.900 it works, the order in which these things occur 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:13.419 still kind of remains a natural phenomenon. We 00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:16.959 don't truly understand the knowledge of why it 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:21.519 is this way, why it was created this way. And 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:24.980 generally speaking, the more you increase your 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:27.819 knowledge in something, the more expertise you 00:04:27.819 --> 00:04:30.620 have in something, the more you grow fonder of 00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:34.560 it. And we really experience this in our professions, 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:39.399 in our hobbies. Your wonder of something, your 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:41.899 love for something, increases alongside your 00:04:41.899 --> 00:04:44.680 knowledge. Well, why is it this way? Well, it's 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:46.939 natural. We pursue things we like. When we're 00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:49.100 young and we're going through school and we like 00:04:49.100 --> 00:04:50.500 something, we start to learn about it. And the 00:04:50.500 --> 00:04:52.120 more we learn about it, the more we like it. 00:04:52.279 --> 00:04:56.759 And it starts compounding in this cycle of love 00:04:56.759 --> 00:05:00.220 and knowledge. And so I really want to keep this 00:05:00.220 --> 00:05:04.660 illustration. in our minds today throughout my 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:09.939 sermon, just to draw our attention to not just 00:05:09.939 --> 00:05:11.439 this kind of sunrise, but a different kind of 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.560 sunrise, because today we'll be talking about 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:18.639 Jesus, our Savior, as the risen Son of God. So 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:20.459 we are continuing our study in the Nicene Creed, 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:23.879 and the Creed really does engage our knowledge, 00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:27.019 engage our minds of understanding by laying the 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:30.399 foundational beliefs of our faith. It grounds 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.259 us to the biblical or the historical faith of 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:36.839 the church, but it also engages our heart by 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:40.639 guiding the direction of our affection. So today, 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:42.879 I hope we can not just know these truths, but 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.579 also that we can stir up some affection and desire 00:05:45.579 --> 00:05:49.180 and awe for them. Yeah? So I'm going to have 00:05:49.180 --> 00:05:52.379 up here on the screen the section of the creed 00:05:52.379 --> 00:05:56.300 that we'll be talking about today. This section 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:58.120 will reinforce kind of what we've already discussed 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:00.620 in the last couple of weeks, but right up here 00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:04.579 it also gives us the why. So for us and our salvation, 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:08.240 he came down from heaven. By the power of the 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.439 Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:15.860 Mary and was made man. For our sake, he was crucified 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:19.339 under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was 00:06:19.339 --> 00:06:24.889 buried. On the third day, he rose again. So the 00:06:24.889 --> 00:06:26.949 first week we heard about God as the creator, 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:30.810 the father, and the source of all things. Last 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:32.730 week we heard about the essence of Jesus Christ, 00:06:32.810 --> 00:06:35.290 that he is one with the father, yet also fully 00:06:35.290 --> 00:06:39.629 human, not a created being. And right at the 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:43.629 top here we get kind of the why, the for us and 00:06:43.629 --> 00:06:47.310 our salvation. About halfway down it says, for 00:06:47.310 --> 00:06:52.990 our sake he was crucified. We are the why. Humanity 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:58.810 is the why and is for our salvation. So this 00:06:58.810 --> 00:07:02.629 section addresses the heresy that Jesus was not 00:07:02.629 --> 00:07:05.509 fully human and therefore did not rise from the 00:07:05.509 --> 00:07:10.149 dead. And if he did not rise from the dead, then 00:07:10.149 --> 00:07:13.129 what do we make of this claim for salvation? 00:07:15.050 --> 00:07:16.889 So we're going to quickly look back on a few 00:07:16.889 --> 00:07:19.410 of the popular beliefs of the time. One belief 00:07:19.410 --> 00:07:22.629 was Docetism, and it reasoned like this. Jesus 00:07:22.629 --> 00:07:27.949 is fully God, but God cannot be limited by humanity, 00:07:28.269 --> 00:07:32.189 temptation, or even physical death. That was 00:07:32.189 --> 00:07:35.970 demeaning to think that he could die. Therefore, 00:07:36.110 --> 00:07:40.129 his bodily presence must be an illusion. It's 00:07:40.129 --> 00:07:43.779 temporary, although necessary. But kind of like 00:07:43.779 --> 00:07:45.519 some of the angels we read in the scriptures, 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:49.220 they were not immediately even recognized as 00:07:49.220 --> 00:07:53.100 heavenly beings. So in their view, Jesus came 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:56.100 not only to save us maybe from our sins, but 00:07:56.100 --> 00:07:58.259 primarily to save us from this physical material 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:02.839 world to take us out of humanity. And so to think 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:07.399 that God would ever become part of it. And this 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:12.120 was their Jesus. Another belief was Apollinarianism. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:15.639 It did accept the physical body of Jesus, but 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:20.279 reasoned that an all -knowing God cannot be restricted 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:24.600 to a human mind. So it rejected just an aspect 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:27.920 of Jesus' humanity, mainly a brain that learns. 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:34.899 There were still a few others, but they all essentially 00:08:34.899 --> 00:08:38.529 challenged the humanness of Jesus. And therefore, 00:08:38.669 --> 00:08:41.450 it resulted in a distorted view of salvation. 00:08:42.509 --> 00:08:45.610 But the church leaders responded saying this, 00:08:45.730 --> 00:08:47.970 What the Son of God has not taken to himself, 00:08:48.370 --> 00:08:55.450 he has not sanctified. This is where Jesus' humanness 00:08:55.450 --> 00:09:02.070 is essential to salvation. It is mandatory. And 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:04.330 the assembly of the church leaders in Nicaea 00:09:04.330 --> 00:09:07.460 understood this. And why? Well... First, they 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:10.059 knew the scriptures. They knew what the scripture 00:09:10.059 --> 00:09:14.679 said. It was necessary, not just because the 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:16.899 scriptures tell us so. Though it does do that, 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:19.179 they tell of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection 00:09:19.179 --> 00:09:24.120 was the fulfillment of prophecy. We can go into 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:26.639 that, right? God said it was going to happen, 00:09:26.659 --> 00:09:29.639 and it did. But there's also a secondary reason 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:34.600 that the logic of why is present. And so as Pastor 00:09:34.600 --> 00:09:36.539 Jen reminded us in the first week, the creed 00:09:36.539 --> 00:09:39.080 is not the thing we believe in. It is a tool 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:41.980 to point us to the thing that we believe in. 00:09:42.019 --> 00:09:44.700 It is itself not scripture, though it reflects 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:47.580 the truths of scripture. So I would like us to 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:49.480 read some scripture today that speaks directly 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:53.960 to Jesus' humanity and salvation to help us make 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:57.879 sense of the why in the logic. To add to our 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:01.320 love with knowledge and to let our knowledge 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:05.570 spur on the love. So if you could open your Bibles, 00:10:05.690 --> 00:10:11.169 we'll be in Hebrews today. We do have a tradition 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:13.870 here of giving the scriptures our full attention, 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:16.549 whatever is read in the context of a sermon. 00:10:17.070 --> 00:10:18.809 So you can do that however you'd like, or you 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:27.549 can join me in standing. Hebrews chapter 2, starting 00:10:27.549 --> 00:10:35.460 in verse 9. What we do see is Jesus, who for 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:37.980 a little while was given a position a little 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:40.919 lower than the angels. And because he suffered 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:43.559 death for us, he is now crowned with glory and 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:47.580 honor. Yes, by God's grace, Jesus tasted death 00:10:47.580 --> 00:10:51.440 for everyone. God, for whom and through whom 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:53.700 everything was made, chose to bring many children 00:10:53.700 --> 00:10:57.159 into glory. And it was only right that he should 00:10:57.159 --> 00:10:59.860 make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect 00:10:59.860 --> 00:11:02.730 leader. fit to bring them into their salvation. 00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:06.870 So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have 00:11:06.870 --> 00:11:10.269 the same father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed 00:11:10.269 --> 00:11:14.070 to call them his brothers and sisters. Verse 00:11:14.070 --> 00:11:17.190 14, because God's children are human beings made 00:11:17.190 --> 00:11:19.970 of flesh and blood, the son also became flesh 00:11:19.970 --> 00:11:23.350 and blood. For only as a human being could he 00:11:23.350 --> 00:11:26.490 die, and only by dying could he break the power 00:11:26.490 --> 00:11:30.440 of the devil who had the power of death. Only 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:33.419 in this way could he set free all who have lived 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:38.200 their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. We 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:40.399 also know that the son did not come to help angels. 00:11:40.539 --> 00:11:43.080 He came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:46.320 it was necessary for him to be made in every 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:50.139 respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:52.779 that he could be our merciful and faithful high 00:11:52.779 --> 00:11:55.659 priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:57.460 that would take away the sins of the people. 00:11:58.029 --> 00:12:00.330 Because he himself has gone through suffering 00:12:00.330 --> 00:12:03.190 and testing, he is able to help us when we are 00:12:03.190 --> 00:12:08.610 being tested. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, God, 00:12:08.669 --> 00:12:11.769 we thank you for this morning, and we pray over 00:12:11.769 --> 00:12:15.070 our time today that you would stir up in us an 00:12:15.070 --> 00:12:17.549 affection and a love for you that would help 00:12:17.549 --> 00:12:21.090 us understand and grow in our knowledge and experience 00:12:21.090 --> 00:12:23.889 of who you are. Lord, I pray for this community, 00:12:23.929 --> 00:12:26.230 this church, that we would encourage each other. 00:12:26.779 --> 00:12:30.879 as we have even just given that vow for our children 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:34.500 this morning. So, Lord, I pray that what we learn 00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:38.100 will become a foundation of our faith, that it 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:40.659 would stick. Lord, and that you would be gracious 00:12:40.659 --> 00:12:44.899 with us today. In your name we pray. Amen. So 00:12:44.899 --> 00:12:50.740 what do we see in this scripture? That Jesus 00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:54.019 came down from heaven, that he was human, that 00:12:54.019 --> 00:12:58.649 is flesh and blood. He was tested, that he suffered. 00:13:00.230 --> 00:13:03.409 He offered a sacrifice that is himself, that 00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:06.769 he died, that he was buried, that he broke the 00:13:06.769 --> 00:13:09.590 power of the devil through his own death, and 00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:11.409 that he is not ashamed to call us brothers and 00:13:11.409 --> 00:13:16.950 sisters, his family. This is the good news. This 00:13:16.950 --> 00:13:22.210 is the gospel. And as early as 300 years after 00:13:22.210 --> 00:13:25.490 the death of Jesus, new theories were being founded 00:13:25.490 --> 00:13:28.769 on who Jesus was that had real implications to 00:13:28.769 --> 00:13:32.470 this gospel, the for us and our salvation part. 00:13:34.470 --> 00:13:37.330 And just to be sure, the scripture is not silent 00:13:37.330 --> 00:13:40.230 on putting Jesus' full humanness on display. 00:13:40.809 --> 00:13:44.789 So Jesus went hungry. He was exhausted from traveling 00:13:44.789 --> 00:13:47.590 and asked for a drink. He was grieved and he 00:13:47.590 --> 00:13:51.570 cried. He reasoned multiple times with the teachers 00:13:51.570 --> 00:13:53.250 of the law over the meaning of the scriptures. 00:13:54.870 --> 00:13:58.730 And even at the end, in his prayer in the Garden 00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:01.389 of Gethsemane, he desired an easier path that 00:14:01.389 --> 00:14:04.570 was his own will rather than God's, yet he still 00:14:04.570 --> 00:14:10.129 submitted to him. And if we could, we could allow 00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:13.809 our imagination to expand a little bit. It's 00:14:13.809 --> 00:14:17.159 reasonable to believe that Jesus sneezed. He 00:14:17.159 --> 00:14:20.279 probably got a few splinters as a woodworker. 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:23.740 Maybe even mispronounced some words as a toddler. 00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:28.700 I know my kids say lello instead of yellow. They 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:33.639 call elevators alligators. Are these not human 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:38.360 things that we go through our lives? And yet 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:41.080 the theories of Docetism and Apollinarianism, 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:44.200 among others, undermined this mystery that is 00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:46.820 the God -man. That Jesus can be fully God and 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:52.279 fully human. And what we experience in our world, 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:56.720 that is dominated by either or. You must choose 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:00.379 a side. It is difficult to comprehend something 00:15:00.379 --> 00:15:04.440 that can be 100 % of two things. Because the 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:07.279 reasoning was that no human could be God, and 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:12.240 therefore no God could be human. But both of 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.899 them... Both of these positions can mostly be 00:15:14.899 --> 00:15:17.340 reduced to this. If Jesus was not fully human 00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:21.000 in body and in mind, if he did not suffer as 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.200 we suffer as we read in the Hebrews text, and 00:15:24.200 --> 00:15:28.080 if he did not die as we die, as we experience 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:33.379 death, then his saving resurrection is not valid 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:37.659 for us. This is why the development of this section 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:40.559 of the creed needed to address the humanity of 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:44.059 Jesus and his physical body. That he became incarnate 00:15:44.059 --> 00:15:48.360 from the Virgin Mary and was made man. That he 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:52.019 experienced what we experience. That he suffered 00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:57.139 death. That his body was buried. Because scripture 00:15:57.139 --> 00:16:00.659 tells us that Jesus needed to be human to do 00:16:00.659 --> 00:16:05.399 the work that brings us salvation. Verse 14 says 00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:08.720 that only by dying could he break the power of 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:14.299 death. The life of Jesus. The life of Jesus is 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.059 God's choosing to experience life as we know 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:19.960 it, so that we may choose to experience life 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:24.539 as he knows it. And in putting these lines in 00:16:24.539 --> 00:16:26.779 the creed, the prominent beliefs of Docetism, 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:30.659 Apollinarianism, and others were determined heresy. 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:35.940 For the church to denounce these as heresy is 00:16:35.940 --> 00:16:40.100 to say that we should too. And if you need... 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:42.580 more historical context, or if you just want 00:16:42.580 --> 00:16:44.559 to learn more about that, there are resources. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:48.980 Talk to Pastor Jen. Let me borrow a book. She's 00:16:48.980 --> 00:16:53.960 got stuff for you. But heresy is, by definition, 00:16:54.179 --> 00:16:57.480 any belief or theory that strongly opposes established 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:03.399 beliefs. Understandably, when I read that, I 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:07.390 thought, this is a pretty wide definition. In 00:17:07.390 --> 00:17:10.170 fact, in Acts 24, we'll get to it later this 00:17:10.170 --> 00:17:13.250 year in the shed, but the first Christians were 00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:16.650 accused of heresy by the Jewish leaders for preaching 00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:20.730 Christ crucified. But heresy just isn't just 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:24.410 a disagreement. It's not a differing opinion. 00:17:26.430 --> 00:17:30.529 But we do know that heresy is divisive, often 00:17:30.529 --> 00:17:34.210 intentionally for the sake of power, but primarily 00:17:34.210 --> 00:17:37.460 we can... check heresy against biblical teaching. 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:41.059 And though it is possible, I don't think it's 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:44.180 a stretch to say these theories were not intentionally 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:47.099 looking to contradict the faith. Maybe they were, 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:50.200 but as we've seen by just reading the Hebrews 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:52.420 passage today, these positions definitely were 00:17:52.420 --> 00:17:55.099 opposed to scriptural teaching and the greater 00:17:55.099 --> 00:17:59.680 church understanding. And so by looking at even 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.799 these theological positions, we can find that 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:07.170 heresy most often involves safeguarding of one 00:18:07.170 --> 00:18:11.049 truth at the expense of another. Because they 00:18:11.049 --> 00:18:12.890 correctly held on to one truth. They correctly 00:18:12.890 --> 00:18:17.069 held on to Jesus is God. But when faced with 00:18:17.069 --> 00:18:20.210 another truth that Jesus is human, rather than 00:18:20.210 --> 00:18:23.349 hold both of those beliefs, even when there was 00:18:23.349 --> 00:18:26.769 tension or discomfort or lack of comprehension, 00:18:27.250 --> 00:18:32.809 one truth was devalued. Because heresy safeguards 00:18:32.809 --> 00:18:36.170 the one truth. for the sake of another. And if 00:18:36.170 --> 00:18:38.130 you know me a little bit, you may have picked 00:18:38.130 --> 00:18:40.589 up on that I generally have a way of doing things. 00:18:40.970 --> 00:18:47.329 That way is called the right way. But you and 00:18:47.329 --> 00:18:50.529 I all have a natural inclination to believe that 00:18:50.529 --> 00:18:53.309 what we believe is right. Why would we not, right? 00:18:54.789 --> 00:18:56.670 I may lean into that a little bit more strongly 00:18:56.670 --> 00:19:00.089 than others. But sometimes what you believe is 00:19:00.089 --> 00:19:03.299 right, you've believed for a long time. Or you 00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:07.640 believe for very good reasons. And when you believe 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:11.079 what you believe so strongly, you start receiving 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:14.200 all new information through that one thing, through 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:17.579 that lens. And the challenge is determining if 00:19:17.579 --> 00:19:20.059 that strongly held belief is something you should 00:19:20.059 --> 00:19:24.079 be holding as tightly as you are. Because how 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:25.700 are we supposed to hold the realities of this 00:19:25.700 --> 00:19:28.539 life, our understanding of scripture, the church's 00:19:28.539 --> 00:19:32.490 understanding of scripture? The culture and society 00:19:32.490 --> 00:19:35.990 of today around us that we participate in and 00:19:35.990 --> 00:19:38.029 that we are creating for the next generation. 00:19:39.150 --> 00:19:41.430 We're holding all of that and something that 00:19:41.430 --> 00:19:45.150 claims to be truth. At some point, things are 00:19:45.150 --> 00:19:50.450 going to start clashing. What about when you 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:52.930 have conversations with friends or family about 00:19:52.930 --> 00:19:55.730 opposing views, differing perspectives, whether 00:19:55.730 --> 00:19:59.200 they are... faith discussions or not, you have 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:02.880 to consider what truths are you molding to make 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:04.759 it fit around something you hold more tightly. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:09.480 So two questions. Is it found in scriptures? 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.940 And is it found in the church? Because look, 00:20:13.980 --> 00:20:16.079 we can look back on these theories and kind of 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:19.680 scoff like, did they really believe that? That 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:24.410 Jesus was an illusion? But really, these are 00:20:24.410 --> 00:20:29.549 the same questions the church humanity is asking 00:20:29.549 --> 00:20:35.069 today. Is Jesus real? Did he actually live? And 00:20:35.069 --> 00:20:38.809 then two, did he rise from the dead? If he did 00:20:38.809 --> 00:20:41.269 live, that might be a little bit easier for some 00:20:41.269 --> 00:20:44.990 people to accept, but did he rise from the dead? 00:20:46.609 --> 00:20:49.329 Because these heresies that this creed is addressing 00:20:49.329 --> 00:20:53.900 came to life through exhaustive learning. theorizing. 00:20:53.900 --> 00:20:57.079 I don't get the impression they're half -hearted 00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:00.460 even, that they were founded on some spiritual 00:21:00.460 --> 00:21:02.500 knowledge of God, or at least what they perceive 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:05.799 to be knowledge of God. So when we follow this 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:07.880 example and start to interpret everything through 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:10.579 one strongly held belief that may not even be 00:21:10.579 --> 00:21:14.480 scriptural, or we're only trying to reason and 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.740 logic out everything, we end up reducing the 00:21:16.740 --> 00:21:19.299 greatness of God to our personal mental capacity. 00:21:20.109 --> 00:21:24.130 We say, what do I understand? Because if I don't 00:21:24.130 --> 00:21:27.910 understand it, it can't be true. Gary said it 00:21:27.910 --> 00:21:29.630 last week, it's like pouring an ocean into a 00:21:29.630 --> 00:21:34.690 jar. We often seek rationalization over mystery. 00:21:34.950 --> 00:21:37.230 And so the other option is to allow the gracious 00:21:37.230 --> 00:21:40.390 mystery of God to sit and to marinate and to 00:21:40.390 --> 00:21:42.890 pull our hearts and to pull our minds, to lead 00:21:42.890 --> 00:21:45.349 our hands and our feet into doing the good works 00:21:45.349 --> 00:21:48.589 prepared for us to do. All with eyes lifted high 00:21:48.589 --> 00:21:52.670 saying, Jesus, help me understand. I want to 00:21:52.670 --> 00:21:55.569 know you, God. I want to seek you with my heart 00:21:55.569 --> 00:22:00.430 and my mind and my soul and my strength. Or perhaps 00:22:00.430 --> 00:22:04.609 my faith is not founded upon a full understanding 00:22:04.609 --> 00:22:08.509 or a proof of everything that you have for me. 00:22:09.309 --> 00:22:11.710 But I will be faithful in what you have revealed 00:22:11.710 --> 00:22:18.539 to me. This is... One of the tensions I'm learning 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:23.500 to hold right now. Because our salvation is not 00:22:23.500 --> 00:22:27.059 dependent upon our knowledge or mental competency. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:33.759 But it is also somehow spurred on by it. That 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:36.319 the writer of Hebrews says the power of the devil 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:40.519 is the power of death. Have you ever thought 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:42.680 about that? That God used the devil's greatest 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:46.019 power. His greatest instrument to take people 00:22:46.019 --> 00:22:49.079 away from God. God used that very thing for the 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:53.220 salvation of all people. This is the victory 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:56.059 we claim in the pursuit of knowing Jesus, the 00:22:56.059 --> 00:23:02.420 risen son of God. The writer of Hebrews also 00:23:02.420 --> 00:23:05.960 says that only in the humanity of Jesus, in his 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:08.980 life, his death, his resurrection, can be free 00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:12.799 from the fear of death. Because death... has 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:15.660 been defeated, we no longer have anything to 00:23:15.660 --> 00:23:20.859 fear in facing death. And when we talk about 00:23:20.859 --> 00:23:23.640 salvation in our cultural and societal climate, 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:27.299 right, we talk about salvation in reference mainly 00:23:27.299 --> 00:23:30.640 to the final act of judgment, when we die or 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:35.400 when Jesus returns again. Yet for Israel, the 00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:37.859 people at the time, their discussion on salvation 00:23:37.859 --> 00:23:42.680 wasn't just an absolute finite occurrence. Salvation 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:45.920 was continuous. It was the freedom from fear 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:50.079 that is ongoing. And many of the Psalms are written 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:53.000 with this understanding. Like Psalms 51 .12 says, 00:23:53.140 --> 00:23:56.140 Restore me to your salvation and grant me a willing 00:23:56.140 --> 00:24:00.940 spirit to sustain me. This salvation is ongoing. 00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:07.059 It restores. It sustains. This salvation is the 00:24:07.059 --> 00:24:09.579 deliverance from the power of sin in us and in 00:24:09.579 --> 00:24:13.420 you. It doesn't have to be fully complete to 00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:17.539 be life -giving because it is ongoing. It's being 00:24:17.539 --> 00:24:19.940 able to say, I was once filled with rage, but 00:24:19.940 --> 00:24:24.319 now I'm free. Or these thoughts of hate or lust 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:27.500 used to fill my head, but now I'm free. It's 00:24:27.500 --> 00:24:31.700 saying I'm paralyzed of fear and anxiety, but 00:24:31.700 --> 00:24:36.220 God, you are my rock, so please restore me. It 00:24:36.220 --> 00:24:39.180 is this continuous... ongoing salvation that 00:24:39.180 --> 00:24:41.519 we're being called by the grace of God through 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:45.400 faith in Jesus, the risen Son of God. Because 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:47.299 there's healing in the name of Jesus. There's 00:24:47.299 --> 00:24:50.160 peace in the name of Jesus. There's contentment 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:52.880 in the name of Jesus. There's boldness in the 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:56.980 name of Jesus. And all this life is just a foretaste 00:24:56.980 --> 00:25:00.940 of what is to come when we pursue the risen Son. 00:25:02.099 --> 00:25:08.329 Know God. And so I want to... To close today 00:25:08.329 --> 00:25:10.890 with something practical. What do I really mean 00:25:10.890 --> 00:25:14.470 by pursue the risen God? The risen son. What 00:25:14.470 --> 00:25:17.210 does it look like? Well, here's just one encouragement 00:25:17.210 --> 00:25:18.490 because there's a lot of things. But here's one 00:25:18.490 --> 00:25:22.130 encouragement. Adjust your schedule to read the 00:25:22.130 --> 00:25:27.329 scriptures. Pursuing the risen son means ordering 00:25:27.329 --> 00:25:31.650 your life around him. But because this isn't 00:25:31.650 --> 00:25:36.269 a do better or be better kind of faith. Just 00:25:36.269 --> 00:25:39.150 remember as you go, because I'm a father of four. 00:25:39.609 --> 00:25:41.650 They're young and don't even have organized activities 00:25:41.650 --> 00:25:46.150 yet, and the days are full. So I get it. Be gracious 00:25:46.150 --> 00:25:49.410 with yourself. I'm not asking to create a law 00:25:49.410 --> 00:25:51.829 in which you have to read at this time or God 00:25:51.829 --> 00:25:53.910 won't show up or your whole day will be thrown 00:25:53.910 --> 00:25:57.529 off. But adjusting your schedule is about creating 00:25:57.529 --> 00:26:00.950 a guideline of how to pursue Jesus daily, as 00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:04.869 sure as the sunrise. As sure as the sunrise. 00:26:06.250 --> 00:26:09.789 And it's meant to happen as you go. Even the 00:26:09.789 --> 00:26:11.970 Great Commission to go and make disciples could 00:26:11.970 --> 00:26:16.230 be better translated as you go. Incorporate it 00:26:16.230 --> 00:26:25.170 into your life. 2 Peter 1, 5 -8 helps me understand 00:26:25.170 --> 00:26:28.009 this. It says, for this very reason, make every 00:26:28.009 --> 00:26:31.230 effort to add to your faith goodness, to goodness 00:26:31.230 --> 00:26:34.970 knowledge, and to knowledge self -control, and 00:26:34.970 --> 00:26:38.210 to self -control, perseverance. To perseverance, 00:26:38.509 --> 00:26:42.369 godliness. And to godliness, mutual affection. 00:26:42.950 --> 00:26:47.029 And to mutual affection, love. For if you possess 00:26:47.029 --> 00:26:50.109 these qualities in increasing measure, they will 00:26:50.109 --> 00:26:52.630 keep you from being ineffective and unproductive 00:26:52.630 --> 00:26:58.730 in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Give 00:26:58.730 --> 00:27:01.849 yourself to the pursuit of God. Explore the depths 00:27:01.849 --> 00:27:05.309 of who God is. And when there is tension, When 00:27:05.309 --> 00:27:07.309 things don't make sense, whether in your mind 00:27:07.309 --> 00:27:10.849 or your body, your heart, chase the risen son. 00:27:11.109 --> 00:27:14.410 Know God and allow this knowledge to stir up 00:27:14.410 --> 00:27:18.690 in you an increased love for our Lord and Savior. 00:27:19.690 --> 00:27:22.950 So every time you see the sunrise, every time 00:27:22.950 --> 00:27:25.190 you see the sunrise, think, pursue the risen 00:27:25.190 --> 00:27:29.450 son. Pursue the risen son. The hope and light 00:27:29.450 --> 00:27:33.740 and salvation of all people. It was for us and 00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:37.079 our salvation that he became man. For our sake 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:40.740 he was crucified, suffering death as we know 00:27:40.740 --> 00:27:45.299 it to bring us life as he knows it. Amen.