Confessions and Creeds

Two weeks ago, we started a new sermon series at Storehouse McAllen on the Apostles’ Creed and while it has been a fruitful study and I briefly walked through the importance of historical creeds and confessions of the Christian faith, I still feel the need to elaborate a little more in a few key areas. The Apostles’ Creed certainly raises the questions of why do creeds matter? isn’t the Bible enough?

And yes, the Bible is certainly more than enough as it is the inerrant Word of God that revives the soul (Psalm 19:7). Creeds, however, present us with a number of opportunities for clarity and worship. Here are a couple of reasons why I believe creeds and confessions are critical to the life of a church:

1. Creeds Point To Scripture
Creeds serve as summaries of the Christian faith. The Apostles’ Creed not only summarizes the Holy Trinity and their distinction and roles, but is almost fully dedicated to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Further, each section of the creed forces us to look back to the pages of Scripture.

2. Creeds Help Defend and Define the Truth
As a summary of the Christian faith, creeds and confessions help to defend against false teaching. In our culture today, truth is preached as something that is subjective. But the Bible teaches that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Creeds and confessions help the church stand on the foundation of scripture during such times of subjectivity by defining what the truth is through proclamation. And while the church in the United States may not be in decline, the gospel is certainly in danger. Creeds help to defend and define the truth of the gospel objectively.

3. Creeds Unite the Church
Creeds and confessions help to unite all believers because the statements made are foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. Creeds and confessions are very important to Christian community for the sake of unity.

4. The Historical Church
The Apostles’ Creed was recited and affirmed by new converts as they were baptized during the 2nd century; catechisms were developed around creeds and confessions as a result of the teachings of Scripture; martyrs would pray the words of the Apostles’ Creed before being burned at the stake or executed. When the church today says “I Believe” independently, but corporately we are connected to the saints that have gone before us. To them, creeds weren’t just a part of the service, but integral to them personally.

5. Christ Centered
Creeds and confessions are not simply a summary of facts, but the exaltation of a person: Jesus Christ. This last reason collects all of the previous ones because without Jesus, you lose Christianity and that’s one of the things that makes Jesus so wonderful and unique. He is not a ideology. If that were true, then Christianity could and would survive without Him at the center just like any other idealogical system of beliefs. However, because Jesus is not a system, but a person then the church thrives in spite of trials and culture shifting. Creeds and confessions draw a line in the sand by exalting the name of Jesus.

I hope this helps. I would love to have a conversation with you on what your thoughts behind creeds and confessions mean to you. As for me, my family, and Storehouse McAllen, we affirm the teaching of the Apostles’ Creed as it directs us to the person and work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

RECOMMENDED READING
• The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity In An Age of Counterfeits
• Affirming the Apostles’ Creed by J.I. Packer
• I Believe: Exploring the Apostles’ Creed by Alister McGrath

Reflection on Nehemiah's Prayer

This past Sunday we studied the prayer of Nehemiah during his time of fasting as he begins to prepare for what God would have him do in as he is sent to Jerusalem. I felt that the verses were beautifully appropriate for the time our community and country faces. My heart is weighty and burdened for the families who have lost their loved ones over the course of last week's shootings in Louisiana, Minnesota, California, and Texas. I do not want to make this post long, rather I wish to encourage the church, that is the entire body of Christ, with a few quick thoughts I spoke on yesterday morning. 

HUMILITY

Nehemiah's prayer provides us with an example of humility as he reveals his dependence for God. In a time of great need, his immediate response isn't for the blessing of a great plan or some execution. Rather, he appeals to God's character and faithfulness (who God is and what He has done; not what Nehemiah needs or how "good" he's been). 

Humility begins with our need and dependence on God (Nehemiah 1:5-7). 

CHARACTER

Nehemiah's prayer is filled with scripture references which help us to see that he was firmly grounded in the Word of God; whether it's an appeal to God's faithfulness or a request, it's founded on scripture. If the church is going to stand in a time of confusion, anger, mourning, and grief then we must stand on the foundation of God's Word (Psalm 1:1-3). 

UNITY

As a nation, we are in disunity yet the church has been called to model unity and to carry one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2) and this includes the cries of our community and nation. Right now, there are many who are angry and scared yet the church has been called to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9). This is not a political or economic problem, but a moral problem. 

The church must model unity not because we have it all together, but because while we were still sinning, Christ died on a cross for us (Romans 5:8). We are called to be a bridge in our community not because we have all of the answers, but because the gospel reconciles us to one another and to God. 

FINAL WORDS

Church, in 3 months, when some of this has settled or become a little quieter, will you still be standing? The charge of the church cannot be sustained by simply changing your profile picture and with the use of clever hashtags. Church, the aim of our charge is love. A love that is only possible through a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5). 

A Night of Prayer

This Thursday, we'll be hosting A Night of Prayer at Logos Community Church in light of the shootings that occurred last week. We will be spending time in song and in prayer as we cry out to God to confess our sin, pray over our community and those who protect us, and stand in unity because of the hope found in Jesus. 

Check out the FB Event. 

For The City | The Book of Nehemiah (New Sermon Series)

This Sunday we begin a new sermon series at Logos Community Church. I'm pretty excited as it's one of my favorite books of the Bible. We will be walking through the book of Nehemiah beginning in July (which is tomorrow) through the Fall; finishing somewhere in November. The title of this series is "For The City." 

I am honored to be preaching through this series during the opening month and because it's one of my favorite books, I thought I'd add further thoughts on here in case you wanted to do a little more digging on Nehemiah. But essentially, this Sunday will be "setting scene" so to speak. Nehemiah was written about 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ and about 15 years after the book of Ezra. In fact, in the Hebraic bible and up until the 15th century, scholars considered Ezra and Nehemiah as one book ("Ezra-Nehemiah"). The history is enormous and when you dig around you can uncover a lot of connection in not only Ezra and Nehemiah but also Esther. 

As we take a look at the opening verses of Nehemiah, we need to consider the amount of historical events that have happened before diving into our boy. Events such as the fall of the Northern and Southern kingdoms followed by the conquering of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (not to mentioned the capturing of the Jewish people for nearly 70 years). Later, the Jewish people were then released and allowed to go back to the Promised Land, but only about 2% (along with Ezra) returned. Here's some perspective: the Babylonians captured anywhere between 2-3 million people and only 2% of them (roughly 50,000) returned. The rest? They set up shop in Babylon. Nonetheless, Ezra goes back to Jerusalem and is tasked with the rebuilding of Solomon's temple but the city of Jerusalem is still in rubbles; it was a ghost town. 

I understand I'm giving you the cliff-notes version of all of this history, but it's impactful because the connection of these events to the response from Nehemiah upon hearing about Jerusalem's destruction is astounding. I won't give it away here because I'm still blown away by it. I know I've written a lot about everyone else except Nehemiah and the truth is that the bible doesn't tell us much about Nehemiah prior to the momentum of his calling and heart transformation. We do know, however, that he was working in the city of Susa which is the capital of the Persian empire. And here's where you come in as we prepare for Sunday: 

Nehemiah was just a dude working a job. He was faithful to his work and the Lord. Then one day, God radically changed his heart for Jerusalem (a city he'd never been to). As Christians, we either complain about where we're at in life or are utterly confused on what to do. But from Nehemiah, we see that God can choose anyone at any moment for an immense task. I believe one of the reasons God had favor on Nehemiah was because he was a faithful-bible believing-God fearing dude and his response is evidence of that. 

If I've given you enough ambiguous detail, then let me give you some specifics: join us this Sunday during our 9:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. service to learn about Nehemiah and how God impacted his life radically and what that means for you and me. The coffee is on us and the music is pretty rad. I'll see you then.   

I can remember watching the first Avengers movie with my son and a scene that stuck with me was when S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson tells Loki that he will fail in his pursuits because he lacks conviction. Soon after, we see Loki grow angry and just as he’s going to make his point, is shot.

At the end of 2015, my son and I went to go watch the new Star Wars movie and I was stoked because I can be a nerd. In a scene where Kylo Ren hears disturbing news about his men not being able to catch some of the resistance, he becomes enraged and destroys an entire room with his light-saber.

Here’s my point: both characters throw fits; giant adult-sized fits.

Superhero movies have a great iron as the good guy has conviction and a broken past and while they struggle, they move forward in their convictions to save the day. Men, today, lack conviction. Conviction is a firmly held belief that requires action and that seems to be something of the past unfortunately.

ADVANCING THROUGH CONVICTION

The Bible is full of men who were real, had a crazy background, yet held convictions. In fact, one of the central themes in the Bible is that God chooses ordinary men and does extraordinary things through them to further the advance of His kingdom.

The Lord calls the drunk, the adulterer, the proud, and the weak and does a mighty work through them (fully knowing they’ll jack up) and gives men two big roles: fulfillment and responsibility.

If we look to Adam, Noah, and Abraham we see that in addition to a family, God gives them jobs. And as quickly as they’re blessed, they fail. However, in their failure, we see God covering them in grace and reassuring them of their faith and call as men.

These men were counted as righteous, not because they were awesome but because of their relationship (what we covered last week) with God and their conviction. Superheros are no longer on the big screen, but sit at at the dinner table; innovate and advance; cultivate and create; work and strive.

My prayer is that we stop looking to fictional characters for hope and look toward the One who’s given us a purpose through real men who went before us, failed like us, and helped advance the Gospel of Christ for the sake of His glory and not their own.

Men, conviction is a belief that requires action not passivity.

There is an epidemic going around. It’s contagious and attractive. We have a man problem where men are lacking in the everyday: family, work, and culture. Currently, we have so many boys walking around with a lost identity of manhood that it’s causing more harm than good despite innovations and advances in technologies, degrees earned, jobs obtained, and marriages celebrated.

Over 90% of crimes are committed by men; the divorce rate in marriages are exponential; adolescence is a prolonged (and encouraged) pastime stretching from the ages of 18 to early 30’s. 

Where did we go wrong? Is Manhood simply something that once was and it no longer applies to who we are today?

In this first installment, we place ourselves at the beginning: creation and identity.

CREATION

In Genesis 1:27, God said “Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” The word image means “to be like; to resemble.” Man was created so that he would represent and glorify the One who created him in addition to carrying the responsibility given to Him (Genesis 2:15).

Simply, God hooked man (Adam) up with a job and a beautiful wife (Eve); calling him to cultivate the land and to be fruitful with his wife. Then, something happened. Man sinned. While Eve may have been the one who first ate of the forbidden fruit, it was Adam (who was was next to her) that dropped the ball by doing nothing to protect his wife. The lack of action by Adam would have implications for generations upon generations.

As our culture and technology continually evolve, the amount of ideologies and thoughts on what it means to be a man become further lost. What does is mean to be a man?  

We have boys who are  graduating college, starting a family, sleeping around, or obtaining loads of power and believe it is efforts like these that define men and while many of these aspirations (including several others) are not necessarily bad, they are not what make men. Rather, it is our relationship with the Lord that make men, gives purpose, and most importantly identity. 

IDENTITY

Before getting hooked up, man was first called into a relationship with God. At the centerpiece of creation, God was extremely intentional about having a relationship because it would be the driving force behind what it meant to be made in God’s image!

Our identity as men can only be found in the person and work of Jesus; understanding this will bring relationship, clarity, and acceptance. Acceptance is one of the biggest driving factors behind the decisions being made by boys today. The problem behind boys seeking acceptance is that it will ever be enough.

Let us look to the One who is enough; the One who restores us back to the Father. Men, we do not have time for excuses any more and we must take responsibility for our actions- up front and not passively. You don’t have to be alone, but you do have to step up.