Richard Allen Farmer - Caressing the Creed: Reflections on the Apostles Creed

CARESSING THE CREED

Reflections on the Apostles Creed

Richard Allen Farmer

Copyright 2016 Richard Allen Farmer.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-2397-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2398-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015920525

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/15/2016

Contents

Since January 1, 2014, it has been my joy to serve as pastor of the Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Stone Mountain.

I love to preach, and I have not lost my love for and commitment to the discipline of research, writing, editing, praying over, and delivering expositions of Scripture. What a joy it has been to prepare spiritual food for the saints at Stone Mountain. They are a most receptive congregation with whom it is my joy to worship, week after week.

For fifteen weeks of my first year, I preached my way through the lines of the Apostles Creed, which we recite at least once a month in our morning worship experience. I offer these sermons so that we are reminded of what we believe and that to which we hold.

I am grateful to the congregation that journeyed with me as I mused on this historic doctrinal statement.

To them, the Crossroads Presbyterian Church family, I fondly dedicate this book.

Richard Allen Farmer

Stone Mountain, GA

April 2015

Chapter 1
I Believe in God the Father Almighty

Text: Genesis 17:18; 2 Corinthians 6:1418

Trinity Sunday is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost. On that day we celebrate, and we specifically celebrate the TrinityGod the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In some churches they recite the Athanasian Creed. That creed is named after Athanasius, who was a fierce champion of orthodox faith. The Athanasian Creed reads as follows:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal, the Majesty Co-Eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not Three Eternals but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehensibles, but One Uncreated, and One Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not Three Lords but One Lord..)

Without apology, we are Trinitarians. We believe that God has made Himself known in three distinct yet equal personsGod the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

When we recite the Apostles Creed, we take on each of those persons in a section. I want to take a first look at what we are saying when we profess our belief in God.

In this first line, there is both a description of God in a specific role and a statement about one of His attributes. The specific role is father. The attribute is omnipot ence .

God as Father

Before we look at God as a father, lets first examine the phrase I believe. Belief can be quite nebulous and nonspecific. I remember singing a popular song in our middle school choir. It was written in 1953, and it was terribly general. The song spoke of believing but never fully stated the object of the belief.

Some people have a theology like this. It is general enough to cover all bases, and it doesnt nail you down to a specific position or belief. The Apostles Creed is designed to articulate not simply that we believe in God. We believe in a specific God who has come to us in Jesus Christ. The creed will then proceed to name names and make it clear that were not talking about a general, ambiguous deity here.

Actress Shirley MacLaine writes in her book Out on A Limb , Not that I am God, but that we are god, that all is god, that were all part of a cosmic oneness. And if we dont feel that were god, thats simply because were ignorant. And the only way that we can banish our ignorance and discover our godness is by enlightenment that will come through meditation.

When some people say, I believe in God, they really mean, I believe in me, for I am god. They might mean, I believe in a higher power, or they may want to say, I believe there is a force out there and up there.

People of the Christian faith, who have named Jesus the Christ as their only Savior and Lord, dont see themselves as gods. No, we are in an increasingly intimate relationship with the God of heaven and earth, the God of the Scriptures, and the God of creation.

I believe in God the Father. This idea suggests potential intimacy.

Do you remember the plaintive words from Papa God to Israel through the prophet Malachi in Malachi l? A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I then am the father, where is my honor? And If I am a master, where is my reverence? (NKJV)

To say God is our Father is to say there is a relationship that has been established and there is a growing, ongoing intimacy between this Father and His child. That is the presupposition of our OT text. Abram is being addressed by the one who identifies Himself as the covenant maker. He will enter into an intimate relationship with Abram. He will work in Abrams life. In addition, the Father will cause Abram to become a father of many nations (verse 5). Papa God changes Abrams name and his present. He changes Abrams outlook and his future (verses 67). In our NT lesson, Paul says that the ability to make good decisions about those with whom we align ourselves is based on our relationship with God. If we are temples of the living God and God dwells in us, then we will not yoke ourselves to those for whom this is not true. Note the creedal phrase in verse 18, I will be a Father to you. And you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.