What? - Jesus

Please stand for the reading of God's word. "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

‌This is the word of the Lord.

‌Audience: Thanks be to God.

‌You may be seated.

‌It was Friday, March 10, 2023. It had been a long day at this point, not for me but for Aubrey. You see, the night before, we thought it was “the night.” We had come up here, but they sent us home. It wasn’t time yet. The anticipation was killing us. We had waited so long at this point, and we couldn't wait any longer.

Aubrey wasn’t just upset; she was crying. I had seen Aubrey cry before, but not like this. This was different. She was in a type of pain that I had never seen her in. My coping mechanism, in times where I don’t know what to do or what to say, I’ll make jokes.

‌I had been given prior instructions not to make any.

‌After some convincing and a phone call to her mom, we got in the car. It was 11 p.m., so there was no traffic at all. I had practiced the moment a hundred times in my head. We had the bags. We had packed everything we could possibly think of for a trip we had never taken before.

‌It wasn’t like the movies; we weren’t going at 800 mph. But in my brain, we were. Every car in front of me was an obstruction to getting my wife to safety, and every stop light was more than a mere inconvenience. You all know I drive a Subaru Outback, which is a fact, not a manual, but I kept my hand on the stick shift like it was the whole time. But I couldn't seem stressed because if I seemed stressed, she would be stressed, and she couldn't be stressed. My palms were sweaty, my knees weak, and my arms felt heavy. I felt like vomiting; we had eaten spaghetti. I was nervous, but on the surface, I had to look calm and ready.

‌We parked in the exact spot I had in mind. I grabbed the essentials and chose to leave the rest. Someone else could get it for us afterward.

‌We walked upstairs, checked in, and waited.

‌Every moment I have had led up to this. Everything I had ever been a part of, everything I had ever done—every choice I had ever made. My life was about to change completely. I had never felt more alive. And yet I had no control over it; I had no exact role to play; in fact, I wasn’t even the one doing all the work. I wasn’t even the one in all the pain. I wasn’t even the one who was suffering.

When I look around this room and look into your eyes, I don't only see happiness. I see suffering. Not just because it's in your eyes but because this youth group is small enough that we pretty much know at least a part of everyone's story if you are paying attention. More of you have sat across a coffee or lunch table, on the bus drive to camp, or sitting on a couch in a small group and told us about a time in your life that you weren't prepared for. A time in your life that you didnt know what to do with. A time in your life when you felt alone. Everyone in this room has had a moment of suffering where we question, "What is this all for? Why do we have to go through these things? Why am I still dealing with this? What makes life worth living?" Maybe we have physical ailments we can't explain. Maybe our bodies dont produce enough glucose, or our spines didn't align with the rest of our bodies. Perhaps we have a hard time with speech. Maybe we get made fun of.

Possibly, you are the kid that lost your parents when you were little. Maybe your dad is no longer around. Maybe your mom can't seem to go a day without being mad at you for some reason. Perhaps your mom had cancer, your grandpa has dementia, and you don't have anyone to talk to about it anymore. Maybe your dad just doesn't get it. Perhaps you are the kid who seems to have the perfect family, but really, when the doors are closed, your parents fight all the time, and you don't even know why they are together at this point. Maybe this is your third year on anti-depressants, and you don't think you are going to get off of them. You have a small group leader, a pastor, and now a counselor because you and your mom fought about it. However, at this point, it seems like the right thing to do. Your brother used to be your best friend, but now he barely even talks to you. It used to be you and your older sibling. But now it's just you. No one else is at home to be there when things go wrong at the house. They are at college. And you are stuck in your room with no one to fight for you. You have tried being in relationships, but they never work out. They do not seem to like you as much as you like them; maybe you have crossed lines and don't know how to return to the way it used to be. You dont really know why you did that in the first place, but now you keep doing it because, in some weird way, it makes you feel loved, even though when it's all said and done, you feel gross and even more empty than before. Maybe you chose to do that thing that one time, and now you do it, even though you know you shouldn't because for a split second, it helps you escape. It helps you not feel. Rather than trying to make your self happy, why not just feel numb instead?

‌

Maybe you act out, push people away, talk down to yourself, and act like everything is okay, but it really isn’t.

‌We don't get it. Why are we here? Why do we have to go through these things? What is the point of all this? What is the reason? What is the point of all this suffering? What makes life worth suffering for?

This is the third week in our series, “What?”, in which we walk through the Nicene Creed to help us better understand what we Christians believe in. Because, what we believe in makes us who we are, and who we are determines how we live.

Can anyone remember why the Nicene Creed was created in the first place? A guy named Arius was convinced that the word "begotten" in John 3:16 meant that Jesus was a created being and not eternal, like the Father. Remember that Emperor Constantine brought together over 300 bishops to hash out this heresy, and through the first ecumenical council, we have the document we are reading today.

People have been asking that question for a long time. Why is there so much suffering in the world? Why should I want to live with all this suffering? What makes life worth suffering for?

Through this reading of the Nicene Creed, we might find an answer.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him, all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day, he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,”

When we think of the word “Lord,” we probably think of some weird show link, such as Bridgerton or Game of Thrones. It’s not a word that we typically use outside of church. But just because we don’t usually use it, does not mean it is unimportant. To have lordship over something means to have absolute, undisputed ownership, and I think that it is precisely what Jesus requires of us. If we want eternal life, as John 3:16 states, “ whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Then, we have to believe in Jesus. We have to give him our complete allegiance. Our whole heart. No one says this is easy, in fact Jesus says the exact opposite, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” But it is what we are called to do.

Jesus comes from the Hebrew name Yeshua, which means “the Lord saves.” Jesus is entirely God and fully human, and a part of being human is receiving a human name, and Jesus is precisely that. In ancient Israel, names held a high significance in that what you are named almost foreshadows your life and the name you are to live into. It’s not just some random name Mary and Joseph found in a baby name book; it was the specific name God gave them to name him. Did you know that Christ isn’t actually Jesus’s last name? “Christ” means “anointed”. In the Old Testament, priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with oil as a sign of being chosen by God. At His Baptism, Jesus was anointed, not by oil, but by the Holy Spirit, who descended upon Him like a dove.

The only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.

Jesus is God the Father’s son, not in the same way we are God’s children, but differently. One that isn't easy to understand because, as we have stated, and as the Nicene creed is clearly saying here, Jesus is from God, but he is eternally from God. There was no beginning; he just has always been his son. [GU1]

God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made,

As Dr Sherman, This phrase was added as a direct result of the fourth-century Arian heresy. When you hear “eternally begotten,” one might tend to think about the future of eternity, but eternity also projects backward! Jesus, as God, has existed from before the beginning. As humans who live in the realm of sequential time, this is a tough concept to understand. Arius’ teaching was that “The Logos is not eternal. God begat Him, and before He was begotten, He did not exist”. This means that there was a time when the Word did not exist. Saint Athanasius, a young deacon at the Council, fought hard to defend the accurate teaching of the Church on this matter, and his reply to Arius was, “The begetting of the Logos was not an event in time, but an eternal relationship.”

Of one being with the Father.

One of the biggest arguments at the First Ecumenical Council was over these specific words. Typically, this section of the creed is translated as "Consubstantial with the Father.” In Latin, this is homoousion to Patri, meaning the same substance. Those who supported Arius favoured an ambiguous phrase, homoiousion to Patri, which means “a similar substance with the Father”. [GU2]

Maybe you can tell by now, but the Nicene Creed, as we have mentioned, is really focused on Jesus' divinity and making clear whether he was created or not. However, I want us to pay closer attention to this next section.

Through him, all things were made.

This is a direct quote from John’s gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus was the vehicle in which the Father spoke out creation. The very agent in which all created things came into being.

For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man.

For mankind, to save us all, Jesus came from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the virgin Mary and became man.

There are a couple of essential things to note here.

We must see that clearly, Jesus came from God’s space. He was with God the Father, and God sent him down to the realm of man, the space that we had messed up, and impregnated Mary so that he would be born here on earth.

This might not seem that crazy, or maybe it does, but think about the fact that God himself came down to live in a space that was corrupted by sin. To live AND to grow up in a place corrupted by sin. What I mean by that is Jesus grew in Mary’s uterus, just like the rest of us. He was implanted into Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit alone, not by the seed of man. I think of when God spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:5: “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground—to Jesus, growing in the carnal, human, bloody mess that is life here on earth. From the very conception of the anointed one, he stepped into our mess. [GU3] Through the incarnation of Jesus, the union, the communion of the human and divine, divided by sin and death, was reunited.

For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.

For our sake. For our sake, Christ was crucified not just for me, not just for your friends, but for you. He died for you. He was beaten, spat on, whipped with glass shards attached to the end, and his hands and his feet were nailed over and over again to a wooden cross. The weight of his body pulling down on the arms made it difficult for him to breathe as his blood poured out of the holes in his body. A bloody, broken, and bruised head was covered in a crown of thorns as he looked upon the creation that he was dying for, and even in those last moments, before he let go of his spirit, he thought of us as he said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

For our sake, he died. For our sake, he was pierced. For our sake, he died a horrible and horrific death. For our sake, he hung on a cross. For our sake, he became a man. Came to this earth, lived a sinless and perfect life, and died. For our sake. His body was broken, and his blood poured out for us.

Yet, On the third day, he rose again in accordance with the scriptures;

Jesus dying on the cross was not the end of the story. The God of the Universe came down to earth, was born of a woman, and grew up to be a man who would sacrifice himself for the sins of all humanity and creation. And when all hope was lost. When even his closest friends and apprentices left his side, they thought it was all over. He was raised from the dead. Death had been defeated. No longer did the disease of sin and death have control over us. Jesus had victory over Satan himself, and we get to be a part of that. We get to be a part of a resurrected life. Not only after we die, but if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we can start the process of becoming more like life and less like death right here right now. The power of Jesus Christ is that he was the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. He was the unlblemished lamb, who was sacrficed as an offering to God, in remission for our sins. He did what no one else could do. God did what no one else could do. And he did it for us. he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; is a direct quote from Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. And just a few verses later, Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.” If Jesus did not actually rise from the dead, then we are a bunch of fools. He would just be a good teacher who taught us some good things and some crazy things and then was brutally murdered on a cross. Without the resurrection, Christianity is false. Without their resurrection, I am an idiot, and every single person who has ever accepted Jesus is a fool. All this, everything we are doing, everything we believe in would be in vain if Jesus did not rise from the dead. Paul, a couple of verse later, says, “17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Had Christ not been raised from the dead, then you would be stuck in your sin. You would die because death had one. The choice that Adam and Eve made to let sin in our lives would be eternal, life here and now could not become better, and life after death would not be possible. As Paul states, 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

Maybe you haven't picked up on this yet, but the Christian belief is that because Christ died for all of us and went through death and defeated it, then those who believe in Christ and believe in his power are to be raised from the dead. Christianity isn’t about going to heaven when you die.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

When God came to earth in the form of man, he humbled himself even to the point of death, so that he could be lifted up in glory and seated at the right hand of God in heaven. When Jesus went back to be with God the father, he was given his place of honor that was already his. And one day, as Christians, we believe that Jesus will come down and judge every single one of us and all of creation. Christianity isn’t about going to heaven when you die.

As N.T. Wright, a New Testament Scholar, says, “Heaven is important, but it's not the end of the world.”Christianity is less about going to heaven and more about heaven coming down to us. It’s about being raised from the dead and living eternally with Christ when heaven comes to earth.

As Billy Graham once said, “The second coming of Christ will be so revolutionary that it will change every aspect of life on this planet. Christ will reign in righteousness. Disease will be arrested. Death will be modified. War will be abolished. Nature will be changed. Man will live as it was originally intended he should live.”

We believe that in the second coming, Jesus will bring God’s space to our space, and the triumph over Satan and death will be completed, and those who have chosen to live and worship God will live eternally, and those who worship Satan will succumb to the consequences of their choices.

and his kingdom will have no end.

Christ’s reign will never end. The Kingdom of God will be here, and Satan and his dominion will be no more. We will once again be with Christ in the way that it was originally intended. Life with God will be eternal.

I don’t remember how many hours Aub was in labor, but it was a long time. After she got her epidural, she actually fell asleep. But there was no way I could sleep. After hours of waiting, praying, and hoping, it was finally time.

It wasn’t like the movies, except that it was because none of it felt real. I got suited up with gloves and a gown, and he was time to deliver our baby. I did my best not to lock my knees, in fear of passing out or throwing up, so I danced up and down to keep my blood flowing. I had never seen Aubrey in so much pain, yet look so calm and collected.

And after an hour or so of pushing, just like that, I realized what life was really all about. What makes life worth suffering for? My son. Life was worth living because I got to be with him.

And at that moment, I, for a second understood the love and the heartbreak that God, the Father had to go through to see us his, children, die. To define good and evil for ourselves, and walk away from his goodness. And how hard it must have been to send his son down to earth, to let him die, so that all of us could live. To watch his son bleed from stress the night before, yet trust him so much that his son would choose to follow his will and not his own. To see his son die on a cross, and suffer unimaginable pain, as life itself, died.

What makes life worth suffering for? The son.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

As Christians, we can rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. The more we suffer, the more we can endure suffering, and the suffering we endure produces character. That character produces hope in the fact that even though we are suffering, our Lord and Savior suffered more than any of us ever will so that we could no longer suffer.

We have hope in our suffering because Jesus rose from the dead.

We have hope in our suffering because Jesus rose from the dead.

And if we believe that to be true, all of this, all of this pain, t it's all worth it, because if we die, then we get to be resurrected with him.

Understanding that Jesus, who was eternally begotten and who suffered for us, gives us hope in our sufferings. We are not alone, and our pain is not meaningless.

Just as the birth of my son brought meaning and joy out of pain, the truths we profess in the Nicene Creed bring purpose and hope out of our suffering. Through Jesus, we see that our lives, with all their struggles, are worth living.

Pray