Sermon Tone Analysis

Creeds

Today we are beginning a new series on something that is going to be relatively new and uncomfortable for many of us.

We are discussing a creed.

So before we dive into it let’s talk about creeds a little bit.

We have all used creeds in our life before, we just may not have been aware of them.

A creed is simply a formal statement of faith.

Even in the Christian church we have creeds.

How many of us have heard it said No Creed but Christ?

But that in and of itself is a creed.

We are stating that we believe in Christ alone.

We are formally making a belief statement.

There is also the Christian creed of Sola Scriptura, sola fide, solo gracia.

That is only scripture, only faith, only Christ.

Here at the church we have even had a creed in the past, we have just not referred to it by that name.

There is this sheet of paper that has been widely available that explains in brief what the church believes.

This has been in the back of the church until now.

Now it is in my hand.

But what is this if not a creed?

It is a formal state of beliefs by the church.

There are other public creeds.

Almost every corporation has a creed, it is simply called a belief statement or a mission statement.

It is something that shows the values of each corporation at a glance.

So we all know that we have interacted with creeds.

If you are still unconvinced let me talk about a few creeds that are in the bible.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Dt 6:4–9.

“4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

This is something that thew Jewish people would learn from an incredibly young age.

They would memorize this chunk of text called the Shema and they would recite it often.

This was their creed.

What they believed as a people.

But then again this was the Old Testament so maybe you still need a little more convincing?

Turn you bibles to

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .“Hear,

O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

This is something that thew Jewish people would learn from an incredibly young age.

They would memorize this chunk of text called the Shema and they would recite it often.

This was their creed.

What they believed as a people.

But then again this was the Old Testament so maybe you still need a little more convincing?

Turn you bibles to

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is a portion of Philippians in which Paul is stating that what the Philippians should believe.

He is laying out the simple Christian belief system of Jesus Christ.

He walks through the gospel in brief and gives the Philippians something short that they could remember easily as they articulated what they believed.

I believe that Creeds do three very important things for us.

Explain

These creeds explain what we believe.

These are not documents that come up with new doctrine.

Instead these are carefully crafted paragraphs that are put together by people who make it their life’s purpose to explain the gospel.

This is beneficial for those who are coming into the faith and for those who have been in the faith.

There are times in which it is difficult for us understand what we believe.

We may lose sight of what the most important things we believe are.

A Creed explains the most true things of Christianity.

Remind

Remind

Creeds are ment to be memorized.

they are meant to be repeated so that they could be a constant reminder of what we believe.

When you wake up, recite the creed, when you go to bed recite the creed.

The creed that we are going to be introduced to in a moment is one that was repeated in many different services.

The most important one was baptism.

It was used in its earliest forms as a confession for baptism.

As a reminder to the commitment that a person was amking by allowing themselves to be immersed in the water and committing themselves to Jesus.

So then it is a constant reminder from the beginning of faith.

Simplify

Creeds simplify what we believe.

This allows us to tell other what we believe in a well articulated fashion.

If we know our creeds then when someone comes to ask you what you believe you can simply recite it.

When they start asking question, this will give you the opportunity begin to explain what the creed actually means.

It is in the explanation that you can really dive into the personal aspects of Christianity, but I know that when someone asks me what I believe that can be such a broad question.

Such a difficult thing to answer.

I believe a lot, but a creed helps me identify the most simple aspects of that believe and articulate them to others.

So, understanding all of those things I want to introduce this next series that we will be going through.

It is something that will probably take a while, but something that I have wanted to do for a long time.

We are going to be dissecting the Apostles’ Creed.

Now, I have printed the Apostles’ creed and inserted it into each of your bulletins.

If you didn’t grab a bulletin it will be on the screen.

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth

And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary

Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell

The third day he rose again from the dead

He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty