Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord
The Apostles’ Creed • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
We have come to the section of the Apostles’ Creed that addresses Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I will be preaching on this section over the span of several weeks because there is much to cover regarding Jesus.
There is a significant amount to be said about God the Son. Over the span of church history there have been many beliefs in Jesus that we would fully reject. Here are just a few examples.
Arianism states that Jesus Christ was created and does not possess the same sort of divine identity that God the Father does and therefore rejects the doctrine of the trinity.
Adoptionism is the belief that Jesus was only born a human being and was later adopted by God at the time of His baptism.
Nestorianism is the false theological doctrine that Jesus had two separate natures of divine and human that were loosely connected in one body. This heresy more or less states that Jesus would switch back and forth between the two.
Needless to say, it is vital for us to spend a significant amount of time talking about Jesus and what we believe about Him. This morning we will look at two aspects of Jesus: that He is the son of God and that He is our Lord.
Read Matthew 16:13-20
Jesus asks His disciples this question and I think that it is important for you and I to ask the same sort of question of one another from time to time. “Who do you say that Jesus is?” I have preached on this passage many times and one of the curious things that I run into every time is how the disciples seem to waffle around for a moment when asked who people say that He is. It is only when he asks them who they say that He is that Peter speaks up. The reality of this, as I realize this morning, is that the most important answer to the question of who Jesus is is your answer. And Peter answers for Himself, and we can assume that He speaks for the rest of the group as well.
While it is not clearly stated in this way, it is implied that this was a belief of Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. He gives an emphatic answer. Not just, “well, the Son of Man is…” Instead, he answers with certainty. And Jesus’ response is a part of why I decided to use this passage to look at Jesus as the Son. Because Jesus clearly states that He will build His church on the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!
With that passage in mind, I want to look at two facts this morning, pulling evidence from all of scripture. Then we will look at the results of believing that Jesus is Lord. First,
Jesus is Lord
Jesus is Lord
We begin with the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord, although it appears second in the Apostles’ Creed. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word often translated as Lord is “Jehovah”. For instance, listen to the first two verses of the 16th Psalm.
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
We also see the use of the word Lord in the New Testament where it is “kyrios” in the Greek. This is an important note to make because Jesus is often referred to as Lord by His disciples and other followers. One example is in John 9 where Jesus heals the man who was blind from birth. His confession is essential, though it is just three little words. “Lord, I Believe.”
However, this word for Lord was not used exclusively for a divine being. Often it was used to address a master or one to whom people would submit to. The first century historian, Josephus, noted that early Christians refused to address the Roman emperor as Lord, though it would have been commonplace, because they stood on the fact that there is but one Lord, more than likely citing Ephesians 4:4-6.
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
But what does this have to do with the confession that Peter makes in Matthew 16? To make the connection, I’d like to read for you Philippians 2:8-11.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Every tongue will some day make the exact same confession that Peter made in Matthew 16. To confess Jesus as Lord is to be a disciple of His! However, I want to point back to the Creed for a moment here. Because there is a possessive word that is attached to ‘Lord’. To say that He is MY Lord is to make a claim to the atoning work that was accomplished on the cross. Make no bones about it. There are many who will say that they believe in Jesus as the man but no claim to the fact that He is God or as their own Lord. When a person believes that Jesus is their Lord, there are actions that come behind that.
That person values His words. They trust in His promises. They cherish His name. They mourn the reality of the cross but celebrate His resurrection!
We believe that Jesus is Lord. But to believe that means that we also believe the former claim made about Jesus
Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus is the Son of God
Just as the word Lord has both Old Testament and New Testament applications, so does the title of ‘Son of God’. There are reference to sons of God but these are more in reference to angelic or divine beings. An example of this is Daniel 3:25, though some have said that the fourth in the fire was Christ himself.
He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
However, there are direct messianic references to the Messiah being a son of God, still being a divine being of a different variety. We can also read Psalm 2:7 and see the tie to Christ.
I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
Psalm 89:26-27 is also vital to our understanding of the messiah’s need to be the son of God.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
This brings us to the New Testament and references to Jesus as the son of God. Mark 1 tells of the baptism of Jesus. The skies open up and a voice from the Father announces Mark 1:11.
And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
This is just the beginning of the references that are made to Jesus as the Son of God. The transfiguration in Mark 9:7 has a very similar statement from a voice out of the cloud.
And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”
One of the most important statements made that references Jesus as the Son of God is found in Matthew 15:39.
There is significance in the fact that the centurion recognizes that Jesus was the son of God.
Now, with these references, paired with the requirement of the Messiah to be the Son of God, it is clear that in order for Jesus to have been the Messiah, the Christ as Peter put it, He HAD to be the Son of God. Beyond the Centurion, many others past that point believed that Jesus was the Son of God and thus the Messiah.
Listen to the introduction of Paul’s Letter to the Romans (Romans 1:1-6).
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
So, what does it mean for those of us who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, our Lord? First, it means that
Jesus is the Source of Salvation
Jesus is the Source of Salvation
Who is it that can save us from our sins? It is God and God alone according to Isaiah 45:21-22.
Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
It is only the Lord who is able to save. It is the Lord who those who desire to be saved must turn to.
Because of this established fact, Peter stands before the Sadducees and proclaims the following (Acts 4:8-12).
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus is Worthy of Our Worship
Jesus is Worthy of Our Worship
Is it true that God is the only being worthy of worship? One of the first references to worship of the Lord, or calling upon the name of the Lord in this case, is in Genesis 4:26.
To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Psalm 105:1 sets the standard as well.
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
_____
Do you claim Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as your own? If the answer to that is yes, then He is the source of our salvation. And because He is the Son of God, He is worship of our worship!
Belief in Jesus as Son of God and Lord has an impact on our lives and should provoke us to worship!
