PRAYER: Pray for any personal needs of your group, church, community, etc.

Transcription

1 PRAYER: Pray for any personal needs of your group, church, community, etc. NOTE: Our insights are important so remember to respect each other s thoughts/reflections. DISCUSSION: The Apostles Creed has helped align what people say they believe about God, against what Jesus actually taught the disciples to believe about God as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The creed is to also help us understand ourselves as image bearers of this particular God against images of other gods in our world. The apostle s creed began with an image of God as Father, Creator of heaven and earth. How do we bear God s image in ways as a parent, creators of life, spiritual & physical beings? Another way to see this might be to ask how might others see God s character by watching how we express our relationship with God by how we are transformed mentally, physically, morally & socially? READ: Luke , 2 Samuel NOTE: In Luke, Moses represents The Apostles Creed The Son (discuss as many or as few of the following questions as you wish) Why was it important for Jesus to take these three disciples with him up the mountain? What did God say and why was this important for the disciples to hear this? What do you see in Samuel that relates to who we affirm Jesus was and how we relate to him as Lord? How do you feel (if at all) that you are a part of establishing the throne of the Lord forever? GOING DEEPER: Google the Apostles Creed. What makes sense? What is confusing, or do you not understand? What part of Jesus identity in this way is expressed through your life? COMMUNAL PRAYER Lord Jesus Christ You are our brother, friend, comforter and teacher. As we sit at your feet, may we have hearts open to be guided by your wisdom. As we walk with you, may we learn your ways. As we serve your people, may we see them with the same mercy and grace with which you saw us. We thank you for your sacrifice upon the cross which brought us before our heavenly Father. Bless us that we may bless others, in your name. Amen

2 Apostles creed Over the next three weeks we re going to explore the Apostles Creed - we ll cover: What was the purpose for this creed in the early church How did it help them and the church over the last 2000 years? What does it do for us and what is its importance for sharing the gospel message today CREEDS Who s said to you; I don t believe in God and you know they don t know what they believe! With such a vast world that lies beneath the molecular level or the macro level of the universe isn t it worth asking - If God didn t create the world, how did it get here? How about this I have my own beliefs about God! Have you ever thought - with so many who ve believed and experienced Jesus for 2000 years why make something up? Why make God into a god you want rather than the God he s shown himself to be for us? A loving God, in front of us who people have followed and can share this with you! People say these things to me quite often they assume I judge them for either position Mainly because they think the God I believe differs from theirs often it does - as their version is an angry God who hates humanity and doesn t pursue or care for them. Unfortunately, often that image of God has come from poor relationships with parents. Maybe it s a bad experience with a church or church or they ve mimicked anger at a negative stereotype of God from those role models in their lives so they never question My boys have often told me how they ve been targets for fellow student s skewed perception of me - not me as an individual me as a priest (think royal commission) Kids can be cruel - like I ve said before stupid people are a pain and I d like to taser them I ve been looking for the scripture to let me I can t find it yet. But, when the boys tell them who I am, what I m like, etc. they often find the kids don t have much to say their perception is challenged it hasn t aligned with the truth. Whether we delved into learning what we believe about God through theology, philosophy or sociology, we d find people of all cultures and generations have wanted to know.

3 For Christians, we ve declared for 2,000 years belief in a God that has made himself, Godself, known in a particular way, revealing a particular nature, for a particular purpose. Creeds help Christians: trace our heritage to the early church receive the teachings passed on by Jesus disciples see the bigger picture of God's word and how to know God. Creeds have formed the church s teachings of what is essential to show we follow Jesus. I BELIEVE Unfortunately, even churches have argued with each other about doctrine (true teaching and knowledge of God) since the Church began often splitting the church The earliest split was between Christians in Constantinople and the Christians in Rome. The Roman church became what we know as the Roman Catholic Church - all various Protestant denominations of the West, ours included, came out of that. In the East, the Church in Constantinople was the beginning for all churches with the name orthodox : Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc. The Roman church called itself catholic which actually means universal,. Rome was making the statement - we are the true church and only universal church The church of Constantinople adopted the title of Orthodox, which means to follow or to conform to a traditional or accepted set or beliefs. It was their way of saying, you may be universal, but we re right! Both East and West had a very early version of the Creed which was recited at baptism. Over time, the creed grew from saying we believe in Father, Son and Spirit, to giving more specific details about what we believed about the Father, Son and Spirit Though the words would continue to differ slightly, the intent was the same to ensure that the same Gospel message proclaimed by Christ was passed on to subsequent followers The creed eventually became almost as important as Scripture. By the middle ages, if you questioned it, you were either tossed out of the Church or burned at the stake as a heretic.

4 The Latin word Credo translates as I believe, - it involves more than our brain. A better translation is really I put my trust in, which involves something much deeper. Belief is theory to put my trust in is to say I know this thing is true. Our creed isn t said as WE but I because true belief is always personal and must be experienced by ourselves. The tightrope walker named Charles Blondin famously walked across Niagara Falls with a chair, carried his manager and even pushed a wheelbarrow across. Then he asked a man if he believed he could take someone across in the wheelbarrow one man heartily agreed until he was asked him to jump in. I can believe it s safe enough but its not until I ve walked across that I know it s true. The earliest forms of the Creed were put together by Jewish Christians and the Hebrew word for creed is aman it means "to be firm or sure". What are we to be sure or firm in? This relates to the relationship between a foster parent and child. The foster parent offers security and provides for a child s needs. It s a relationship of trust and loving dependence. IN GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY This links to the image we re given in the Word for a relationship with God as father 2 Corinthians 6:18, Psalm 68:5-6, Romans 8:14-15 For many, a Father image is not an image of a loving parent. It s an image of abuse, violence, coldness, harsh judgement. The church has often used the image of God as father to keep women in subservient roles. For me, in not having my father around, I came to know God in such a way that encouraged me, supported me older men in my church were tangible models of my heavenly father. The point the creed makes is not God is only father there s many other images for God It s that God has the desire, love and authority to encourage, support, empower and adopt us so that we may become his heirs - secure and provided for reliant on his love and trust When our lives express God s identity in the creeds from theory and into knowledge, we ll: challenge the world s perception beyond negative experiences show our knowledge is grounded in experience and biblical truths show how it s a firm foundation to learn more about God, and find more people want us to share our image of a loving father with them

5 MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH When we say we believe God created heaven and earth, we re acknowledging something particular of God as the author of creation and our amazing relationship to our Creator. We re part of the Creation God has made, which makes us different from God, and yet God created us as a father creates a child, which also means we share God s DNA. Genesis says we re made in the image of God - others say we re sons and daughters of God. What s funny is that we as Christians get caught up in how God created rather than why. The story of creation in Genesis is a beautiful narrative of poetry However, the focus from here is about the beginnings of the relationship between creator and created the almighty maker of heaven and earth and we as the image of our maker Yet this is also to point to our responsibility in being stewards in God s image of these In the Lord s prayer we pray specifically for God s will to be done in heaven and earth We re responsible for caring for God s created world and all peoples within that world. We re responsible to redeem, sanctify and make holy the things of this world by participating in restoring them back to mirroring the image of God our maker. And we re responsible for being the transformative hands and feet through our prayers which transform the course of what happens in the spiritual realm. You may have heard that if you don t stand for something, you ll fall for anything. Our creeds declare God calls us to stand to live an exciting, transformative & powerful life. We have been given a beautiful map that reminds us not only who God is but who we are God s people have transformed this world for him for thousands of years now it s our turn We stand upon the faith of those who ve gone before and pass a faith to those who follow If you don t know God, I invite you to know him now, so you too may stand with confidence in the God who loves and pursues you today. Let s pray