“Confessing the Creed” – I Believe, Help My Unbelief Series
Mark 9:14-32, 2 Timothy 4:1-4
March 9, 2003
Purpose: Confessing the Apostle’s Creed is a valuable way to show our Christian belief and sustain us in our doubts.
Introduction
How many of us have our faith down perfectly? You know it all, do it all, be it all…you are the perfect living example of Christianity? Any takers? No? hmmm…
Maybe I should ask this question instead….how many of us have ever doubted our faith?
I believe that there is both faith and the lack of faith in all of us.
Look at our gospel story this morning…(recap Mark 9:14-32)
Jesus had just come down from the mountain of his transfiguration. He had stood with Elijah. He had stood with Moses, and Peter, James, and John saw it all happen. Jesus had just come down from that mountaintop experience to face yet another problem.
Both teaching and healing were a part of this moment as Jesus often did. The author of the book we’re using for this series Ron Lavin said, “He went from the sublime to the ugly.” The disciples had failed in their attempt to heal, and now Jesus was left to pick up the pieces. Only to hear the words of the boy’s father, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”
For the next 7-8 weeks we’re going to use this story as the foundation for rediscovering the Apostle’s Creed. How many remember it being done each Sunday? How many still think they have it memorized?
Well, I will give you this guarantee. If you show up for the next eight weeks, you’ll not only have the Apostle’s Creed memorized, but you will find it speaking to you in many different ways as we live out our lives in Christ.
E. Stanley Jones put it this way: “What gets your attention, gets you.” Over the next eight weeks, I hope that God’s message through me to you, will get your attention.
It is my hope and prayer that unlike the unbeliever who focuses only on their doubts, even though they also have some faith, we as the believers of this congregation, will put our doubts in the hands of our Lord, and focus on our beliefs in a gracious and loving God.
This is where the words of that boy’s father become so helpful. When we say “Lord I believe, help my unbelief” we’re recognizing that our relationship grows with God when we put our faith and trust in Him, instead of our doubts and fears.
How easy it is to focus on everything that is happening around us and become doubtful. Amen?
How easy it would be for us to doubt and fear and worry….
The Pslamist felt that way when he wrote the 73rd Psalm. Lavin says, “In the first verses we see the pslamist as person walking along the edge of a cliff, not looking at where he was going, yet at any moment about to descend to his destruction in the bottomless pit of envy and anger.”
But then, in the midst of worship, in the midst of recognizing who he was, and who God was, the psalmist had a revelation…recorded in Psalm 73:21-24 which reads, “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet, I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”
This is the heart of the Apostle’s Creed. In the face of the world’s injustices, as well as getting bogged down with the world’s considerations, the Apostle’s creed, unashamably politically incorrect, gives us the bigger picture of what we’re here for.
Levin says, “Confessing the faith of those who have gone before us can be a helpful way to give our attention to God. The words of the Apostle’s Creed have been hammered out in the persecutions of the early Christians, the battles for truth in the first centuries of Christianity, and the crises of the early church. These words are time tested.”
But why take a whole eight weeks, the time and energy, to rediscover these words?
This is where Paul’s words to Timothy speak to us, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching….” Why? supposedly asks Timothy, Paul responds… “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away form the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
Is that not where we are at today? Don’t so-called prophets and preachers claim new revelations? Don’t the TV evangelist and the popular book writer try to “itch” people’s ears for their livelihood?
Over the centuries, Christians have used the Apostle’s Creed in worship to remind themselves of the faith that has sustained the church over such times as these.
For me, I believe there is no better time to examine what we believe and why we believe it. In fact the author give five good reasons to confess the Apostle’s Creed in this day age..
1 – Understanding that martyrs have died for the right to say these words, we confess the
creed saying that the God that these words speak of, is the God we’re willing to lose
my life for. “Dying to life. Rising with Christ.” is at the core of our belief.
2 – Confessing the Apostle’s Creed is a way to point our lives to God. If we say this creed
with any ounce of sincerity, we put God as the first and foremost priority in our
lives. In every aspect of our lives, we want God to exist and lead.
3 – Confessing the Apostle’s Creed gives us a road map for our journey. If you’re just
beginning your walk with Christ, or if you’re walk has been well documented, the creed gives the directions we need to continue our journey. What we struggle with, we work on. What we accept, we affirm.
4- - Confessing the Apostle’s Creed recognizes that it is a banner for the Christian church
under which we stand. If we don’t fly our banner for what we believe, who will?
We want others to know that there is something for which and by which we, as Christians, are known.
5 – Confessing the creed is a way for us to respond to our faith in a God (Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit) that has done so much for us. In a way, it acknowledges the relationship we’ve been given by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8).
So, over the next weeks we will confess. We will confess that we are willing to stake our lives on the God we love, that God is our priority, that we need a road map for the journey, and that we raise the banner high as a way to express our relationship with the living God.
Just like the church of long ago we need something to clarify the difference between the one, true faith, and the heresies that abound. Through this study of the Apostle’s Creed, it is my prayer that it will serve as a summary of the Bible for the purposes of teaching this generation and the next in what Christianity is all about.
What happens if you don’t agree or understand everything in the Apostle’s Creed? Maybe you may be one who doubts that some of this actually occurred. Well, let me give you some good news even in that this morning. Even though the Apostle’s Creed is an adult understanding of the faith, Jesus was quick to say to the father, “Bring the child to me” even in the midst of the father’s doubt.
Levin says that “Jesus will start with you where you are willing to start.” The journey begins when we look to Christ and say, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” There is no doubt that each and every one of us needs the help that only the Lord can give.
This morning let’s invite that help as we move through this Lenten season together, preparing ourselves for that Easter morning, when many doubts were turned to faith.
Will you join me in prayer?
Heavenly Father,
We believe, but often our unbelief creeps in to our thinking.
We believe, but the world confuses us with many “gods” and many “priorities.”
We believe, but we’re growing tired and weary.
We believe, but in many ways we feel lost and alone.
Lord, we believe, but help our unbelief.
Help us to stand up for our faith in the marketplace.
Help us to prioritize our lives so that you are first in all things.
Help us to follow the road map that you have provided.
Help others to know, through our actions, what Christians believe.
Help us to express your extraordinary grace, through the relationship we have with you.
Lord, we believe that you are the Father Almighty , creator of heaven and earth. We believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord. We believe in the workings of your Holy Sprit, sustaining us as a people until you come again in glory.
Lord, we believe…help us in our unbelief. Amen.
#555 - Forward Through the Ages
Closing Blessing – As we leave this place…
Know that God our provider and creator goes with us,
That Jesus, our teacher and redeemer, walks beside us,
That the Spirit, our sustainer, guides us every step of the way.
Go, knowing their presence is with you. Amen
NOTE: If you did not find this sermon helpful, please contact me (gb@clergy.net) and tell me why. I appreciate everyone’s advice. Thanks.
