"I Believe - Why?"

Scripture: 1 John 4:1-15

Today, we begin a series on what we believe as Christians. We will be considering what our creeds say about our faith, and how we live out our faith within a corrupt and fallen society.
To begin with, I would offer two thoughts – first, that the United Methodist Church is a “non-creedal” church. That means that we don’t have a list of issues that everyone who is a member must believe in. John Wesley didn’t have a list, per se, but there were some very basic aspects of the Christian life that he held dear, such as that salvation was totally based in our faith and trust in Jesus, that our God is Triune in nature, that Jesus died and rose again into new life, and that we, too, must be born again into the life of Christ.
The second point is, of course, that even though we don’t subscribe to an absolute and specific set of beliefs, the vast majority of United Methodist churches join together each Sunday during worship in repeating one of the historic creeds. It may be the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, it could be in the singing the Gloria Patri, or in some other expression of Christian faith, and for many, it is always an important part of our worship experience.

But how many people really think about the words they are saying? The danger is always that the creed, when it is constantly repeated from memory, will become a statement by rote. So today, we will begin a series on what we are actually saying, and we will be using the Nicene Creed as the basis for our consideration.

The Nicene Creed, the oldest of the statements of faith, was originally established in the 4th century AD during the Council of Nicea. The Church had been experiencing a lot of turmoil and false teaching, and the Bishops knew that they had to bring sanity back to worship. There have been a few additions over the centuries, such as an expansion of the section on the Holy Spirit, but for 1,700 years, this has been a strong and important part of our faith.

And with that, we go to an explanation of our faith, as contained in 1 John.

Read 1 John 4:1-3

The first reason for our faith in Jesus Christ and all that he stands for is right here – that everyone believes in something, but if, in our heart, we don’t believe that Jesus is Lord, and won't confess the truth of Christ with our mouth (Philippians 2:5-11), then we, by default, have placed our trust and hope in the world’s lies, and in Satan’s condemnation.
The second issue that is raised in these verses is in regards to the Holy Spirit. The author writes that the only Spirit that comes from God will – must – acknowledge Jesus Christ Incarnate, that even while he is God, he had come to the people of earth in a mortal and human form.

But, as we all know, there are other spirits at work in this world. They are the cause of disbelief in the lives of our friends and relatives, and they are the source of dissention that has become so rampant throughout the Church of today. They inspire the “false prophets” that John writes about, and they are the cause of the problems that we saw at work in the Corinthian church. These false spirits, and the false teachers that they motivate, are revealed through the testing that this letter calls for. If they won’t proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, come to earth in the flesh, then their message is not the truth of God.

And why is this important? It is founded in the very nature of Jesus. This is known as “Christology” – the theology and interpretation of who Jesus is and defines all that he has done while in his humanity. And John writes that every other spirit, every one that refuses to follow Jesus in his truth, follows the son of Satan – the antichrist.

Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit can only proclaim, teach, and remind us of what he taught and did for us (John 14:15-31). And that is also true of the false spirits – that they, too, can only proclaim, teach, and remind us of what the antichrist stands for. So this makes life pretty easy – if we are told that there is something that we should believe in, all we need to do is test it against all that is recorded in the gospels, all that Jesus taught, and that will be enough to reveal its source. If the gospel account confirms that it is in the way of Jesus, either directly or indirectly, and is consistent in the context that it is written in, then it is truth. Otherwise, label it for what it is – a lie.

That is one reason why we believe what we believe – we are to live in God’s truth.

Read 1 John 4:4-6

Now we’re being told to remember just who we are part of and why. Greatness seems to be the issue, and rightly so. The world tells us that we need to claim that we are the most important person in our life – that we need to be great within ourselves. But God tells us just the opposite.

Micah 6:8 – God has showed us what the good life is all about – that we are to act justly, love mercy, and walk humble with our Lord.
Matthew 23:11-12 – Jesus tells us that greatness will be revealed by our servant’s heart, that the high and mighty will be humbled, and the humble will be raised up to greatness.
Mark 9:35 – If you want to be seen as first on the “greatness” scale, you need to be, first of all, a servant.

And there are more passages that speak to the humble heart, but this should be enough for now. Obviously, the Lord’s ways have nothing to do with the world’s, and vice versa. John goes even further, though – he writes that the only ones who listen to the truth of Christ, have the capacity to give themselves over to his way. Those who are immersed and dedicated to Satan’s ways, aren’t able to hear, or accept, the truth of God in Christ.

1 John is offering an explanation as to why some people listen to the call to God’s way, and why some never will. We may wonder, if the Lord is within us, why everyone doesn’t come to his way! I think that it all comes down to that blessing/curse that we know as “free will”. It will always amaze me that with all the power at work within and through the Holy Spirit, that we can still prevent that power from working for us. But there is still grace, and the Lord’s “Prevenience” will always be calling, always nudging, always encouraging, always showing, always revealing the love of God that is so much a part of our letting go of our own will.

Another reason why we need the creeds – they remind us of who God is, and who the Lord has created us to be.

Read 1 John 4:7-12

Reminiscent of John 3:16 isn’t it? God is love, and he showed us that love when the Anointed One of God came to earth to be our redemption. And we are to let that love work within us – after all, we were created in the Lord’s image, the image of Love. The truth is that we have nothing to do with love. It isn’t from us, it isn’t our nature, it isn’t our way, and we aren’t even comfortable with God’s version of love. Loving our enemy? (Matthew 5:43-48) Loving sacrificially like Jesus loves? (John 13:34-35) No one can do that all the time! But when we finally come to follow these commandments on love, we prove to the world that we are his, and that he is ours.
This way of life, even though it isn’t our own, is ours to use, and God wants us to use it in his way, and to his glory. But still, we get to choose as to what we do with it.

And our author reminds us that the Lord must be our example for love, and because we have never seen God, we experience him in our lives when we let his love become perfected through living a life that reflects Christ and his ways. The love that we have received from God, and which has been refined for us by faith, has become our responsibility to use wisely.

We believe in this love, because the Holy Spirit enables us to embrace the depth of Godly passion, and because, as we read the creeds, we remind each other that the love of God has come into our lives, through the life, the commitment, and the zeal that defines our Lord Jesus.

Read 1 John 4:13-15

And our author comes back to his original premise – that we are to share the message of Jesus Christ with the world – whether they listen or not. And why not? We are the evidence of God’s presence in this place – we feel his grace, we have known his forgiveness, we have his grace at work within us, and we have felt his power moving in and through us. And we have to realize that others may have never known that power and love for themselves.

We have the power of the Spirit. We have God’s redeeming love. We have Christ’s perfection. So what is the next step for us? To put it all into action. And that is another purpose of the creeds – to encourage us, as the Church, to be the Lord’s ambassadors to the world, and we can never do that if we don’t live it out so that others can experience it through our faithfulness.

Next week, we begin a deeper look at portions of the Nicene Creed, considering who God is, who he would have us be, and how we live out Christ’s commandments in spite of living in a dark and broken world. Living, proclaiming, and sharing the basics of our creeds should be a joyful opportunity for us, and joy in Christ is an unmistakable blessing for all who believe.