CREDO 3/09/08

He guys, this is John.

CREDO 3/09/08

The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
born of the Virgin Mary.
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand
of God the Father Almighty.
From thence he shall come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

We begin our series CREDO, a look at the Apostles Creed. This week we will examine the top two lines in particular, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” But before we delve into specifics I think a quick overview of the Creed, and the purpose of a creed would be good. The Apostles Creed is a description of the basic principles of Christian Faith. It was created mainly to refute a particular theology called Gnosticism. This can be seen in the specific nature of almost every phrase. And although the Creed isn’t scripture (from the Bible) each phrase is rooted in it. For example:

“who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin, Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” (Luke 1:26-31; 23:14-25, 24:46-56).

By simple definition, a creed is a system of principles, or beliefs of a group that are generally accepted by that group. The Apostles Creed does just that, citing Christian beliefs and basic doctrine (teachings). And depending on your Church back you may or may not be familiar with it. If you’ve grown up at CPC you’ve no doubt heard it from time to time. Something similar, and more commonly heard, is the Lord’s prayer “give us this day our daily bread...” These, along with other things we recite, all serve the same purpose - to remind us of something that we think is very important. In fact, most early Christian beliefs, like the Creed, would have been memorized because paper, ink, distribution, etc..., were incredibly hard to come by and because the literacy rate was dramatically low. Therefore, the early Christians came up with a simple way to pass on teachings and beliefs from one person or group to another.


Back to this week’s focus on the Creed:
(1) I believe in God, the Father almighty,
(2) creator of heaven and earth

As we talked about before, this is rooted in scripture.
(1) Isaiah 44:6 ...I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
(1)Isaiah 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.
(2) Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
(2) John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
(2) Acts 14:15 Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

These, and many more verses from the Bible support this section of the Creed. In this week’s talk we will do a refresh on what the Creed is, why it is important, and break down what it means to believe the first two lines of the Creed.

Small Group Questions

Start by reading the Creed together in your small group. Maybe have each person read a line aloud. Start each week of the series this way so we become more familiar with it and learn it.

Why was it important for the early Christians to have/and memorize the Apostles Creed? Why would you think the Creed is something important for us to remember? What could we get out of it?

When you step back and think about God being the creator or heaven and earth, what sort of thoughts about him come to mind? (powerful, big, in control....) Then when you think about the fact that the same God created each person in your small group, knows everything about them, and loves them more than we can possibly imagine, what comes to mind? (loving, close, friend, etc...) Then talk about what it means that we have a God who is so great and powerful, yet so close and intimate.