John 1:29-42

29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold,the Lamb of God, whotakes away the sinof the world!30This is he of whom I said,‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’31I myself did not know him, butfor this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”32And Johnbore witness:“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, andit remained on him.33I myself did not know him, buthe who sent me to baptizewith water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain,this is he who baptizeswith the Holy Spirit.’34And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Sonof God.”

35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold,the Lamb of God!”37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,“What are you seeking?”And they said to him,“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”39He said to them,“Come and you will see.”So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesuswas Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have foundthe Messiah” (which means Christ).42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said,“You are Simon the son ofJohn. You shall be calledCephas”(which meansPeter).

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

15Now I would remind you, brothers,of the gospelI preached to you, which you received,in which you stand,2and by whichyou are being saved, if youhold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3ForI delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ diedfor our sinsin accordance with the Scriptures,4that he was buried, that he was raisedon the third dayin accordance with the Scriptures,5and thathe appeared to Cephas, thento the twelve.6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.7Then he appeared toJames, thento all the apostles.8Last of all, as to one untimely born,he appeared also to me.9ForI am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, becauseI persecuted the church of God.10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary,I worked harder than any of them,though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.11Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10

7But we have this treasure injars of clay,to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.8We areafflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;9persecuted, butnot forsaken;struck down, but not destroyed;10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

The Creed

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered

under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried;

descended to the dead.

On the third day rose again;

ascended into heaven,

is seated at the right hand of the Father,

will come to judge the living and the dead.

We’re taking the Apostles’ Creed apart phrase by phrase between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. Our purpose is to confirm or reconfirm our faith. Last week we said the Creed begins by revealing God the Father and that the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ is at his baptism by John.

The second (and longest) segment of the Creed has to do with revealing God the Son.

Trinity in the Creed

Right off, at the first mention of Jesus, just as at his baptism, the Triune God is present: “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit.” Jesus the Son of God the Father Almighty, incarnate through the action of the Holy Spirit.

Do Christians believe in one God or in three?

Moderns and Post-moderns teach that the Trinity doesn’t matter; that all that is important is that you believe in God. But the God who revealed himself in time and space, the God who entered into history and created history is one God eternally existing in three persons; a perfect unity, a perfect trinity.

The writers of the Apostles’ Creed are very clear about the Trinity and they want us to be. The structure of the Creed includes one phrase about each of the persons of the Trinity and all three persons are mentioned here in the incarnation of Jesus. And what an incarnation it is!

The Claims about Jesus

There are twelve specific claims in the Creed about Jesus of Nazareth, and I have to go through these very quickly. The words “I believe in Jesus Christ… our Lord” are not specific claims about Jesus, they are descriptive. They identify who we’re talking about: Jesus of Nazareth, and that some believe that he is the long-promised Christ (that’s a Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah), and for those who believe Jesus is the Christ, he is also Lord. 1 John 5:1 says, “Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child.“

Just a reminder at this point: we said last week that the Creed is not something someone can believe for you. The Creed is a very personal confession. At every turn it reinforces, “This is what I believe and what I am staking my life on by offering a public proclamation of it.” But there is also a suggestion; just a hint, really, of our mutual confession as a church when it says, “I believe in Jesus Christ… our Lord.” I believe in Jesus and we believe in Jesus.

Like I said, there are twelve specific claims in the Creed about The words I left out of that phrase, “his only son” are the first claim about Jesus. Some have suggested there is one claim for each of the Apostles. Perhaps.

1. His only Son. I know that in 2017 it is hard to imagine the claim that Jesus is God’s only Son was ever audacious; but consider that the Greek god Zeus had 92 children. The Roman God Jupiter had three by his only wife; but he had hundreds of other women; both divine and human, and many, many offspring. The claim that Jesus is the only Son of God was truly audacious in the First Century world. When John 3:16 claims, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” it is saying something outrageous to First Century ears.

2. Conceived by the Holy Spirit. “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit;she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:20-21). “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be bornwill be called holy, the Son of God. (Luke 1:35) The idea that Greek or Roman gods should have children wasn’t odd; but that any god should have only one child was.

3. Born of the Virgin Mary. Even if a god should have only one child; the union would have been assumed to be a natural one – the gods of both the Greeks and the Romans were assumed to be able to have intercourse in the same way any human would. The claim in Matthew 1:23 as he quotes Isaiah 7:14 changes every thought anyone had about how the child of a god might come to be: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.”

The next phrase contains words that, if we will understand them correctly, absolutely change our model of what it means to receive Christ and to live in him. We usually read this phrase in English, “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.”

French writer Jacques Ellul (in his book If You Are the Son of God)has observed that the original Latin text of the Creed lacks both punctuation and personal pronouns. It would be just as valid to translate the Creed this way in reference to Jesus: “He suffered. Under Pontius Pilate he was crucified, died, and was buried.” This may seem to change nothing; but I believe reading it this way changes everything. The way we usually read the Creed makes it sound like Jesus’ only suffering happened at the hands of Pilate. Of course, we know that was not true.

From the moment of his birth, and more specifically from the time of his baptism, Jesus lived the life of a willing suffering servant. Jesus’ sufferings for your salvation and mine were throughout: his temptation by Satan in the wilderness; his rejection by those he came to save; the intimation that he had a demon or worse; the crowds turning away from following him; weeping over Jerusalem; betrayed by one of his best friends; denied by his chosen #2; forsaken by all but one of his followers at his death. He was beaten; he was stripped naked. And finally, he suffered crucifixion. Truly it could be said of Jesus that he was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

4. He Suffered.

How is it that the Western Church teaches us to do everything in our power to avoid suffering? Paul says in 2 Corinthians speaking about the followers of Jesus, “But we have this treasure injars of clay,to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We areafflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;persecuted, butnot forsaken;struck down, but not destroyed;always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” Should we wonder that living the Christian life is a hard turning away from sin; a difficult wandering in the wilderness of a world gone mad; ultimately, a joyful expectation that I will leave what becomes increasingly a foreign place that I do not understand to enjoy the presence of my Savior forever? We exalt Jesus not because he makes this world a better, happier place for us. We exalt him because we are not left alone in the midst of it.

How do we know? Because, just as Jesus was incarnate in time and space, the Creed tells us that he suffered in time and space. Under Pontius Pilate, on a particular April day around 30 AD, he was crucified; he died, and was he was buried. These three things are here to combat the heresy that circulated widely after the resurrection that said that Jesus merely fainted on the cross; that he was not really dead when they buried him; but revived in the cool air of the tomb and when the time came, his disciples came and freed him. Another heresy said that Jesus was not really human; that he was merely a spirit and that crucifixion was no pain to him; since his body wasn’t real.

What do you need to confirm or reconfirm today? This is the core of it; this is why the Creed spends so much time on the facts of Jesus. Do you accept that Jesus suffered; that he was crucified, died, and was buried?

5. Crucified

6. Died

7. Buried

More important, to you believe that he gave his life as a willing victim? Do you believe that; when Jesus died, he experienced the death you deserve because you were separated from God?

#8 (if you’re counting): He descended to the dead.

No human being knows exactly what this experience was like except for Jesus and anyone who has been raised from the dead. But the Creed affirms that resurrection is the Christian’s hope; not just Jesus’ resurrection. Yours.

9. On the third day he rose again. The stone that sealed his tomb was taken away; Jesus’ body was no longer there. The great proclamation of every believer from Jesus’ day until now will always be, “He is not here, he has risen!” Look at how Paul develops this in his first letter to Corinth: “ForI delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ diedfor our sinsin accordance with the Scriptures,that he was buried, that he was raisedon the third dayin accordance with the Scriptures.” The most important thing you can ever tell another person is this central confession.

Of no lesser importance is what happened next. Jesus could have been born, lived, died, and even rose from the dead and that wouldn’t have proved that he is God or that he has any further claim on your life. But the Creed says,

10. He ascended and

11. is seated at the right hand of the Father.

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus has gone before those who believe in him and has done what we in our sin could never do. I said last week that Jesus did not merely restore our relationship with God the way it was in the Garden. He improved our condition. His ascension into heaven and his intimacy with the Father is our promise as well. Paul develops this in his letter to Ephesus when he says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us,even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:5-7).

Did you know that your best destiny is to just sit around? One day, when all of this is over, everyone who has ever put their trust in Christ will collectively enjoy this kind of intimacy with God. But look! Ephesians 2 tells us we don’t have to wait for that to begin. If you believe today, you are now seated with him in heavenly places.

There is no question there is suffering in this world; but Christians do not suffer for their sins. You do not have to do penance. You cannot make God more happy with you than he is at the present moment; you cannot be more reconciled with God than you are at the present moment if you believe. The work of reconciliation has all been done for you. When you believe you become a Christ-one. From then on you can have the confidence that you will follow your Lord in all things. You will die; but you will not “suffer death”. You will not see corruption. You will not descend to the dead; you will rise again.