I believe in God....

I am excited that in the month of September, we will be joining forces with Hope Presbyterian, down the road and having a joint confirmation class. This is a wonderful time where young people will connect their beliefs to their earlier baptism. We will go through some important aspects of faith. So, I thought since we will be walking our young people through some of the basics of faith, it wouldn’t hurt to give a reminder to everyone else. So, for the next few weeks, we will be going over the basics of Faith. For me, the basics of faith begin with God. Now, I have mentioned it several times that although I have theological degrees, I have yet to actually master the divine. I mean I know a good bit and I am constantly striving to learn more and know more about God, but there are aspects of God that I don’t understand. For example, I think the trinity is one of God’s mysteries. There are just some aspects about God that I do not think anyone will ever fully understand. Yet, even though we don’t fully understand God, we make an affirmation of something we believe. In some churches, this statement is made almost every Sunday. In fact, I would bet a good majority of people have this statement practically memorized. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and Earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I can see some of yall mouthing the words! The Apostle’s creed is part of our confessions that make up the constitution of our denomination. While it was not written by the Apostles, it reflects the theological formulations of the first century church. In John Calvin’s Institutes of Religion he writes, “Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Now there is a wonderful goal of understanding the Trinity. We need to obtain a certain knowledge of God’s benevolence, founded upon the truth of the promise of Christ, revealed and sealed on our hearts through the Holy Spirit. However, as nice as that sounds, it doesn’t exactly clear things up.

For so many of us God begins as an idea. If you grew up in church, God was something we heard since we were children. I mean, we hear people talking about God in church, we sing hymns of praise to the Deity, but in the beginning God is just an idea, and a very vague one at that. God is “out there,” or “up there,” somewhere. And depending on our situation, God can seem far, far away. For example, Jesus on the cross cried out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?! Now, he was quoting Psalm 22 which has some other things about his crucifixion but in his moment of pain, he calls out God why have you forsaken me? In fact, this is a common problem. There are several books where people have told their stories about how they have been unable to reconcile a loving God with all that is going wrong in their world.

I get it. We talk about how I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth. Our reading in John 1 speaks about God being the creator. The first three words remind the readers of the first words of the Bible. In the Beginning. In Genesis it says In the beginning God, but in our reading today it says in the beginning was the word. But what is meant by ‘Word’? D.A. Carson writes, “The underlying term, logos, was used so widely and in such different contexts in first-century Greek that many suggestions as to what it might mean here have been put forward.7 The Stoics understood logos to be the rational principle by which everything exists, and which is of the essence of the rational human soul. As far as they were concerned, there is no other god than logos.” And sure enough the text builds on that presumption. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and life was the light of all people. So, I get why these people are wondering what is going on. If, as our text reads, All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being, what gives? Why does it seem like everything is so messed up?

That is a tough question! Unfortunately, there isn’t a great answer, but I am going to try! John writes, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” After talking about John the Baptist he writes, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” Now, it seems to me, at times, like the darkness gets some wins. But, then I read the rest of our scripture reading where it says He was in the world yet the world did not know him. In fact, his own people did not accept him. In fact, in our other scripture reading, the one from 1 John, it says, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God. Yet, I have to quote the musical lyrics of the Black eyed peas which reads, “People killin', people dyin' Children hurt, hear them cryin' Can you practice what you preach Or would you turn the other cheek? Father, Father, Father, help us Send some guidance from above 'Cause people got me, got me questionin' Where is the love?”

Unfortunately, this is a big problem in the church. The church doesn’t always love. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, in their book, UnChristian, write, “Christianity has an image problem. In fact, one person from Mississippi observes, ‘Christianity has become bloated with blind followers who would rather repeat slogans than actually feel true compassion and care.’” People do not feel like the church cares anymore. And I wish that was the only book. Then it would just be an anomaly. Unfortunately, it is not. See, in systematic theology, we have all kinds of complicated words to describe God. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient. God does know all thing and is everywhere and is able to do everything. These are important words to describe God. We sum them up with the word Almighty. I believe in God the Father Almighty.

However, the writer of 1 John really gets to the heart of the matter about who God is. God is love. Everything God does is directed by love. The text reads, “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” Now that is a tall challenge. God is love and his love is revealed to us by sending his only son, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, so that we might live through him. God, this big idea that is up there or out there and sometimes far away, loved us so much that he couldn’t stay a big idea. He had to become real to us. He had to pitch his tent among us, so that we might live through him.

Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t live through him. Sometimes, we don’t love. Now I know I am saying something. This is one of the most loving congregations I have ever known! However, I am going to go ahead and throw that blanket statement out there that even though this is quite the loving congregation, sometimes it doesn’t love, which if you wondered, includes me as well. I can make that statement because in our scripture text it reads, “not that we loved God but that he loved us.” We don’t always love. We don’t always do what we need to do and unfortunately, that shapes Christianity’s image problem.

But, what can we do? After all, we are human. I think the writer of 1 John recognized that as well. He writes, “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

The greek word for perfect is actually an action verb. It is a process. God’s love continues to change us. That is what the rest of the text in 1 John is describing. The writer uses words like abide, testify, and confession, all in relationship with God who is constantly perfecting love in us. So, while God’s love is perfect, ours needs some work. So, my confession to anyone who wonders about Christianity’s image problem is a kid’s song. I am sure you have heard it. 𝅘𝅥𝅮He’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be. It took him just to week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth and jupiter and mars. How loving and patient he must be, He is still working on me.𝅘𝅥𝅯

We presbyterians say reformed and always being reformed. We say this because God’s love continues to change each and everyone of us. It is embarrassing and without standard. Unfortunately, sometimes our mess ups and failures blind people of God’s amazing love. The good news is the Apostle’s creed doesn’t say I believe in Michael or fill in whatever name you want in that blank. That wouldn’t be any good or life changing.

Thank goodness it says, I believe in God.

And that God, my friends, is love!