I Believe

For Meditation

This Sunday we begin a new sermon series on the Apostle’s Creed called “We Believe.” For centuries, the Apostle’s Creed has been the most universal articulation of the Christian faith. It summarizes in the most succinct way not only what we believe, but also what millions of Christians of innumerable ages and cultures have affirmed as well. Studying it in depth gives us an opportunity to remind ourselves of what we believe and also anchors us in the global and historic Christian community.

But the creed doesn’t just provide us with what we believe. It also tells us who we are. The creed invites us to relate to the God it proclaims: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The creed tells an alternative story about reality, one different than the culture around us provides. And it invites you to live your life according to that story, living as a child of God the Father, united to God the Son, and filled with God the Spirit. The creed reminds you who and whose you are. 

The Creed begins with the simple words “I believe.” Unlike many religions that focus on behaviors, rules and laws, Christianity is unique in that it centers on beliefs. The reason for this is because our faith does not center on human behavior, but a set of events that changed the world forever: God revealing himself in the person of Jesus who died and rose for us. Our faith is centered in grace, because we believe we are saved not by what we do but by what God has done for us in history. By saying the words of the creed, we affirm that we are joining our own individual life to the global, historic body of Christ that has claimed Jesus as the true revelation of God.

As you prepare for worship this Sunday, consider the difference between your stated beliefs and your actual, real beliefs. What difference would it make if you lived your daily life believing in the truth of what the creed affirms? How would it change your habits, your commitments, your attitudes? What difference does your set of beliefs make on your life?

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because
I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to
me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of
God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what
you believed.