Please stand with me as we read The Apostles Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hades; the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit; the Church universal; the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen!
Please turn in your Bibles to Acts 1:1-11 which we will read in a minute or so ...
You may wonder why the version found in our hymnals has substituted the phrase “the Church universal” for the common words “the holy catholic church”.
The word “catholic” has become synonymous with the Church of Rome and so it has adopted a different meaning than when the Apostles Creed was written.
The English word “catholic” comes from the Latin word “catholicus” and the Greek adjective “katholikos”, both of which mean universal. That’s all they mean, universal!
We do not know when the Apostles Creed was written. But the phrase “holy catholic church” in the Apostles Creed was never intended to endorse or confirm our belief in the Roman Catholic Church but only to show that the Church founded on our Lord Jesus Christ is a universal church.
We value the Apostles Creed as a guide just as we value the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed but these creeds are NOT Scripture and all of our beliefs are based on God’s Holy Word and any deviation that may be found in any creed must yield to the teachings found in the Holy Scriptures.
So … Why did we read the Apostles Creed today? We read it because it affirms what is found in the Bible; the fact that forty days after Jesus’ resurrection He ascended into heaven. He returned to the Father from Whom He came.
This past Thursday was Ascension Day so today we will turn our attention to the Ascension of Jesus our Lord as He returned to the God the Father.
The ascension of Jesus back to the Father was a determined part of the plan of salvation and a necessary part of the plan as well.
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Acts 1:1-11
The book in the Bible called Acts was written by Luke; the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke.
Luke was a gentile! The Jews despised the gentiles; called them dogs, but here’s gentile Luke writing two of the books in the New Testament. Actually, Luke wrote the largest amount in the New Testament. Paul wrote more books and so did John but Luke wrote the most words.
How beautiful and useful was this endorsement of the Jewish Messiah as the apostles spread out throughout the gentile world proclaiming the Savior who had come from the Jews!
Both of the opening verses of the Gospel of Luke and Acts contain salutations and greetings to “most excellent Theophilus”.
Theophilus means “Loved by God” and/or “One Who Loves God”.
Theophilus may have been a gentile official who took the name when he became a Christian or it may be a name which Luke used to write to all who love God and are loved by Him.
We know that you are Loved by God, God loved you so much that He sent His only begotten Son so that you might have eternal life. The question is … do you love God?
Are you Theophilus?
If you are Theophilus, One Who Loves God, then the ascension of Jesus, the Son of God back to God the Father in heaven is very important to you. The ascension of Jesus was and is an integral part of the plan of salvation that was determined before the foundation of the world.
So far, in all of human history, Jesus the Messiah is the only person who died and was raised again in a glorified, immortal body who has ascended to heaven.
It is written of Enoch in Genesis 5:24 that, “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
And it is written of Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11 that, “As [Elijah and Elisha] were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”
So, in a sense we can see that Enoch and Elijah were taken up into heaven without death and without resurrected, glorified, immortal bodies so how that will all work out I don’t know and it’s not really our concern.
What we do know and can be sure of and what the Bible teaches is that humanity lost its special relationship with God and became corrupted when sin entered into the human race and even before that the Lord had a plan of redemption and reconciliation in place.
Here’s what we do know from the Holy Bible; Jesus the Son of God was with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit from the beginning when the plan of salvation was formulated.
Titus 1:1-2
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness - in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time …”
Why was the plan of salvation promised before the beginning of time?
Because … Theophilus – we are loved by God!
The plan of salvation which was determined before the beginning of time was not to be put into action at some random time but was executed at just the right time …
Galatians 4:4a “But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son …”
Why was the plan of salvation which was promised before the beginning of time executed at just the right time?
Because … Theophilus – we are loved by God!
When God the Father sent His one and only begotten Son to earth the act was initiated in a way that was marvelous. This marvelous way was called the incarnation; God the Son and God the man; the Son of God and the Son of Man. Fully human and fully God.
Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel” which means “God with us”.
Why did the plan of salvation which was promised before the beginning of time include the eternal Son of God taking on the likeness of a man to walk among us?
Because … Theophilus – we are loved by God!
Now, we could continue to go on and list many other parts of the plan of salvation which was put into place before the beginning of time. Such things as:
- Jesus sinless life
- The torture and crucifixion of Jesus
- The resurrection of Jesus from the dead
- The ascension of Jesus back to the Father in heaven
- The giving of the Holy Spirit
- The imminent return of Jesus
- And many more …
Why were all of these put into place before the beginning of time?
Because … Theophilus – we are loved by God!
And, that’s great! But it’s not enough ….
What do you mean it’s not enough!?!
You see, the name Theophilus has two meanings,
Loved by God and one who loves God.
As we look at the Ascension of Jesus into heaven today through the lens of Theophilus we see that all of the action that has taken place has been on the side of God which demonstrates that we are Theophilus – loved by God.
But up until this point all of us have been anti-Theophilus – one who does not love God living in rebellion.
Jesus could have stayed here on earth in His immortal body and He could have tried to get around to as many of us as possible but even if He only spent ten seconds with each of us the vast majority of us would die without ever interacting with Jesus.
You see part of the great plan of salvation which was decided before the beginning of time was for Jesus to return to heaven via the Ascension at which point He would become our Advocate and in His place He would send the Holy Spirit who would interact with every one of us, calling us to salvation.
We don’t celebrate the ascension much but we should!
The ascension of Jesus into heaven and the subsequent giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was finalization of the full plan of salvation.
Just look at how God calls us to Himself.
John 6:44a
“No one can come to Me (Jesus) unless the Father who sent Me draws them ….”
John 14:6-7
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me!”
John 15:26
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father - the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father - He will testify about Me.”
You see, the Bible teaches us that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all working together to make Christ known to us and to bring us to the point of salvation.
Why? Because … Theophilus – we are loved by God.
And He does this because the best spiritual position we can ever be in is to be … Theophilus – to be One Who Loves God.
We know that we are loved by God.
But only you know if you are one who loves God or not.
Jesus came to bring reconciliation so that the love that is taking place is not just one sided but reciprocal – God loves us and we love Him back.
Do you want to be fully Theophilus today?
