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5/11/22 Glenda Simpkins Hoffman
Sunday we begin “We Believe,” a new sermon series on The Apostles’ Creed. This is one of the earliest creeds written, and perhaps the most familiar.
Each week we will be exploring one of the key beliefs of our faith—about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In addition, we will explore the implications of these truths for us as followers of Jesus. The daily devotions provide scriptural passages related to the topic for the week, which you can print or sign up to receive in your inbox.
Why is it important to reflect on The Apostles’ Creed and to know what we believe? This week I happened upon a quote by Soren Kierkegaard that relates to this question: “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
In our world today, we are inundated with information—more than we can really assimilate—and it is coming at us fast and furious from a variety of sources. We are constantly being manipulated and sometimes persuaded even to believe that we need a certain product, that we need to act in a certain way, that we need to believe “the facts,” even if it is sometimes actually fake news. It’s hard, perhaps even impossible, to process all the information that is coming at us. All of us are daily tempted to be fooled into believing what isn’t true.
However, it’s not just information that influences. Our culture as well as the events and circumstances of our lives in this broken and sinful world also shape us. There are pressures, challenges, and circumstances that are sometimes beyond our control. Many of us have come to believe it’s all up to us to make things happen, to make things better, to change or control situations. We may say we believe in God, but we live as if we are on our own. Our words and actions do not reflect a deep reliance on the one who created, redeemed, and continues to sustain us for our lives in this world. All of us are daily tempted to refuse to believe what is true.
Let’s be clear. We live what we believe. Unfortunately, there is much confusion about what it really means to believe. To believe is often confused with intellectual assent. But that is not what the Bible means by “believe.” As Dallas Willard has said, “We don’t believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true” (Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ).
Consciously or unconsciously, our lives reflect what matters to us. Our priorities—how we spend our time and money, and what we think about—reflect what we actually believe about God, ourselves, and the world in which we live.
I came across another wonderful quote this week in my reading, this one by Thomas Merton: “If we have no real interest in praising Him, it shows that we have never realized who He is. For when one becomes conscious of who God really is, and when one realizes that He who is Almighty, and infinitely Holy, has done great things to us, the only possible reaction is the cry of half-articulated exultation that bursts from the depths of our being in amazement at the tremendous, inexplicable goodness of God to men and women” (Praying the Psalms).
Esther De Waal concludes her book The Celtic Way of Prayer with these words: “Celtic blessings do not beg or ask God to give this or that. Instead, they recognize what is already there, already given, waiting to be seen, to be taken up, enjoyed. What a waste to go through life surrounded by all the good gifts that God showers on me, ‘gently and generously,’ yet blind and deaf to this presence hidden in all things, human and nonhuman. As I learn not to take for granted, to wonder anew, I find that a constant attitude of gratitude is life-giving. In the face of such amazing grace and generosity, the only possible response must become that of continuing and ever-deepening praise.”
I think her words are encouraging to us as we begin a season of reflection on The Apostles’ Creed. It’s really an opportunity to reflect on the wonder and beauty and majesty of our Great Triune God and what he has done, is doing, and will do for us and the world in which we live. This can only lead to praise and gratitude, which is not only a reflection of what we believe (or not) but also our faithful response to the one true God.
Here are some questions for consideration for this week’s reading: Do we believe in “God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth”? Do we believe God has created all things for his glorious purposes? Do we believe we are created in love to live in a loving relationship with God now and forever? Do we believe our chief end “is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” (Westminster Catechism)? To believe is to filter what we say and do through a new filter that has God at the apex and center of our lives and present in everything we do. Are my beliefs in “God the Father almighty” reflected in a deep experience of his love, joy, and peace?
The next fourteen weeks can come and go, but I invite you to join with me and others in the church as we take the time to really process what we believe about God through worship, hearing God’s word proclaimed, and meditation on scripture provided in the daily devotions. Our hope and prayer is that we will grow, not only in our understanding of who God is but also in our desire to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to worship him with our thoughts, words, and actions—with our lives.
