Untitled Sermon

1. INTRO

a. Captivation

i. “In a day of pluralism and tolerance, everyone has the right to believe in his own god.” This is a prevalent idea in today’s culture. This idea is what lies behind a very famous bumper-sticker that reads: “Coexist”. The idea is not only, we should all get along, but more precisely, everyone’s conception of the divine is equally valid.

ii. Could this be the case?

iii. The truth is that many of these views of the divine oppose one another. And one of the ways in which the Apostle’s Creed helps us as Christians is to determine what God is it in which we believe?!

1. Who is He? What has he done? Why should we trust him?

iv. my purpose today is that, by the end of this class, you might be brought at least one step closer to using this Creed

a. in your prayers, your devotions, your conversations, while giving counsel to others, in your family devotions, etcetera.

2. We must distinguish, one could cognitively understand the importance of creeds, and even repeat them in worship, and yet not truly use them apart from when they appear in our bulletins on Sunday.

3. I believe that the leap from mere assertion to actually using them is brought by deepening our understanding of what the Creed is saying.

b. Orientation

i. Where we’ve been?

1. Last week we saw from the phrase: “I believe…” what is the importance of Creeds in general, and of the Apostle’s Creed in particular.

2. Dr. Smith taught about what is their use, origin, authority, and its basic message from which no true Christian would depart.

ii. Where are we going?

1. In the next 25-30 minutes we will begin to dive into the articles of the Apostle’s Creed.

a. The first of which reads as follows:

i. I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

b. We are going to divide this article into two sections.

i. Who God is:

1. Trinity

2. Father

3. Almighty

ii. What He has done

1. God as Creator

c. We are going to spend more time on who he is today, and briefly touch upon his work on creation.

i. The reason being that his work of redemption will be discussed also in the following Sundays.

d. Hopefully, we will have some minutes at the end for questions.

2. Explanation

a. Who God Is…

i. I believe in God

1. Against Atheism

a. One of the first thing we may want to notice from the statement ‘I believe in God…’ is that we, as Christians, affirm and assert the supernatural.

b. We are not bound by a naturalistic-materialistic worldview which limits us on explaining who we are, how did we get here, and what is our purpose in this world.

c. We know that there is a God because he has self-disclosed to us both in creation, and more explicitly, in Scripture.

d. This is quite important, because since it is God who has complete and exhaustive knowledge of himself, we depend upon his own self-revelation to know him and affirm truths (or facts) about him.

2. Trinity

a. One of the first things we state about this God in which we believe is that he is only one God

b. And yet, the Creed will move on to identify this one God with three distinct persons within the Godhead.

i. As Dr. Smith commented last Sunday, the Creed indeed has a trinitarian shape, it follows a trinitarian pattern.

1. Now, the Doctrine of the Trinity as such is a matter of a whole seminary course, and we will not enter into every single detail regarding this biblical teaching today.

c. However, what is most important to note is that we believe in a particular God.

i. And this particular God is unique and different from any other idol out there in that His one essence, his only being, is shared among three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

ii. It is to the first of these three persons that we turn now our attention.

3. The Father

i. In a day like ours, the simple recognition of God as a Father might be found offensive to many.

ii. There are two important distinctions to be made as we speak of God as our Father.

1. First Distinction: Patriarchy or Parenthood?

a. When we listen to the word Father some even among us here will be tempted to think of this term in contrast to mother.

i. And the temptation with this is that we buy into the notion that the Creed (and Scripture, even) has an underlying patriarchal system which discredits our notions of God.

ii. What we need to understand is that the distinction that the Creed (and Scripture) is drawing by calling the God in which we believe a Father

1. is not one between a sin-lead dominating male and a helpless or needy woman.

2. But one of an impersonal and utterly transcendent deity, with that of a personal God, who cares for his children and is involved in the lives of his creatures.

3. So, the Creed is not speaking about patriarchy as some may infer, but about parenthood.

2. Second Distinction: Analogical Term

a. We ought to understand that when Scripture speaks of God as a Father (Matt 6:9; Mk 14:36; Ro 8:15; Gal 4:6) it is primarily speaking on analogical terms.

b. This mean that Scripture is not drawing an exact parallel with every single aspect of what entails to be a human father; but rather there are some aspects that are true of both earthly fathers and our heavenly father, and others that are true only of one, while not being true of the other.

i. True of Both Examples: Fathers have sons. They care for their sons. They provide for their sons. They exercise authority over their sons.

ii. Not true of both examples: Earthly Fathers are limited on what they are able to do for their sons. Earthly fathers require a woman to beget a son. Earthly fathers are limited on the places they can be at once. Earthly fathers are limited on the knowledge they have about themselves and about their sons. Earthly fathers are sinful, many times even sinning against their sons. None of this is true of our Heavenly Father.

c. Why is God called a Father, then?

i. Primarily, the person within the Godhead we know as Father has disclosed himself with that name on account of the relationship he has with the second person of the Trinity, this is, the Son.

1. The Father is not begotten on anyone, while the Son is eternally begotten of the Father.

2. And so, though they share in their one being, Father and Son are two distinct persons.

a. Because God, who has eternal knowledge about himself, has self-disclosed in these terms, we do good in follow the Biblical pattern and call God, Father.

b. In addition, through Jesus Christ, those who put their trust in him are regarded as sons and daughters of the Most-High God.

3. A Personal God

a. At the end, the main concern of presenting God as a Father is that,

i. Although he is a transcendent being, he is not an impersonal being.

ii. We are indeed invited in Scripture to come near to God and seek his blessing and favor.

iii. We are instructed to call him Father in our prayers and to direct our prayers to him.

iv. We are told not to despise his fatherly discipline when it comes.

v. And because he is our Father, through the blood of Christ, that makes sin among Christians even more grievous, and at the same time, his provision of forgiveness through the only sacrifice of Christ, even more gracious.

vi. We can indeed come to the Father with our needs and burdens, and one of the reasons why we are able to do so is because he is almighty.

iii. Almighty

1. What is Almighty?

a. Παντοκράτωρ and Omnipotente

i. The Greek points more towards authority and power to rule and exercise his will.

ii. The Latin is more closely associated to what comes to our mind when we listen the world Almighty.

iii. However, non of this terms express that God has no limits whatsoever.

1. NOT able to go against his nature (which is good!)

a. Not able to sin

b. To die

c. To lie

d. To be unjust

e. To change his nature

f. To be evil

b. The term Almighty conveys the idea that God is unlimited as to whatever is needed to accomplish his holy purposes.

i. God is ABLE to do far more than we are, think, or expect (Eph. 3:20)

ii. So, the term has an emphasis on Sovereignty, Authority, Power to exercise his holy will.

2. A Trustworthy God

a. This are amazing news!

b. Combine the facts that:

i. There is a God

1. There is an order and a purpose to all what is happening, regardless of what we see in the news or read on our social media feeds;

2. regardless even of the darkest circumstance in which you or I may be going through.

3. The mere fact that there is a God, with all the perfections of what being God implies, is a guarantee that all the evil in this world has a holy purpose.

ii. He is our Father

1. Furthermore, this God, through Jesus Christ, is our Father.

2. He is in a personal relationship with us as adopted sons and daughters.

3. He has endowed us with his Spirit so that we can come close to him in prayer.

4. He listens to us. Have you ever thought about that? The Almighty God listens to your prayer with Fatherly care and love, knowing what you need.

iii. He is Almighty

1. He is not limited by anything to achieve his holy purposes, one of which, is to make you grow in holiness; to make you more like Christ.

2. He is able to fulfil his promises.

3. He is the covenant Lord.

4. What happens when something goes off at home? Or with a relative? Or even with your car? Do you repeat to yourself: “I believe in God, the Father, almighty…”?

Now, the creed does not end there. On the contrary, after stating that God is the Father almighty, it goes on to assert that He is the Creator of everything that exists.

b. What God has done…

i. …maker of heaven and earth…

ii. There are two main errors from which this little phrase will keep us apart: Idolatry and Dualism

1. First Error: Idolatry

a. Gen. 1:1 sates clearly enough that what we see around us has been created by God, the one and only God, and if created, then, by definition, it should not be deified.

b. We are not to turn creatures into gods.

c. Also, it humbles us. It reminds us that you and I are not gods.

i. As creatures, we are to submit to the Creator, we are to worship Him alone, and seek to be satisfied in him alone.

2. Second Error: Dualism (Both from God, Both Good)

a. Gnosticism and Marcion**-Historical Remark

i. Basically, some taught that the physical realm was evil, or even repulsive, and salvation was to be obtained only by transcending the physicality of nature.

b. Though we are not to turn creation into gods, we do affirm against many people, that there is inherent worth in creation because of its Creator.

i. God says that after creating everything, he declared creation good.

ii. God has put on his signatureover all creation. That’s why the heavens declare the glory of God, and also why all are without excuse.

1. Because God manifests some of his perfection and wisdom and power to us through his creation.

iii. Even us, then, as created beings have an inherent worth and dignity, regardless of our age, gender, accomplishments in live, money in the bank account, language we speak, country we are from, even if we disagree about our political views, about wearing masks, or about any other thing. Our worth as human beings rests on the fact that this Almighty God, created us as special image bearers, and so we are instructed to love one another, care for one another, help one another, especially those of the household of God.

4. Conclusion

a. Summation

i. Who is God?

1. God is Trinity, therefore, he is unique and the only true God.

2. God is Father, therefore, he is a personal and compassionate God toward his children.

3. God is Almighty, therefore, he is a trustworthy God, able to fulfill his promises.

4.

ii. What has God done?

1. He made the heavens and the earth, therefore, he is actively involved in a good creation, is Lord over all creation, and all creation is bound to ascribe glory to his name.

b. Recitation

c. Prayer

d. Q&A Time

The New International Version Chapter 14

27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?