People Matter | A Sermon on Mark 12:28-34

Introduction
This is the second of a series of sermons I’m preaching to remind us what really matters.  Last week, for All-Saints, we considered what kind of legacy we will leave behind.  Did you know you can find all our services?  www.StarkMethodist.Org/Services   

Today, is the second in the series about what really matters – People Matter. 

Mark 12:28a
²⁸ One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well…

 This verse stuck in my brain all week. It isn't the main point of what our passage today speaks to, but it is important background information.  What happened before this passage that caused this teach of religious law to realize Jesus answered well?

It was a debate about the resurrection between two of the main political/religious parties of Jesus day – the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  The Sadducees (were sad, u see) because they didn't believe in life after death.  They only accepted the first 5 books of the Bible as authoritative and these don't talk a lot about the afterlife.  The Pharisees (were fair, u see) because they believed if you followed God's law perfectly, you would be rewarded in the afterlife; they accepted the first five books of Moses as well as the writings and the prophetic books which talk a lot about the afterlife.

Jesus won the debate against the Sadducees by pointing out that the Torah says God is "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" and that He is the God of the living, not the dead; therefore, there is an afterlife.  

This “teacher of religious law" was a Pharisee and he felt like Jesus scored a big point for the Pharisees.  But Jesus was neither a Pharisee nor a Sadducee.  He wasn’t trying to score points for either side.  He was just telling the Truth of God that transcends all sides. 

Mark 12:28b-34
He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. ³⁰ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’^{[g] 31} The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[h] No other commandment is greater than these.”

³² The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. ³³ And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

³⁴ Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Greatest Commandments
Here Jesus has summarized what we call the first and second Greatest Commandments.  Both of these are derived from the Old Testament Law (or Torah).

The first greatest commandment was sort of the the mission statement of Israel from Deut 6:4-5, known as the Shema (the Hebrew Word for “Hear” as in "Hear Oh Israel, the Lord your God is one, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”)  

Note:  The Gospel of Mark was written with a Greek worldview in mind.  Deuteronomy is older and was written from a Hebrew worldview.  Thus Mark adds mind because Greek thinkers believed thinking came from the mind whereas Hebrews believed it came from the heart.  So both Deuteronomy and Mark are saying the same thing, just from a different worldview perspective.

The second greatest is also from the Torah in Lev 19:18. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus adds that everything in the Law and Prophets is based on these 2 greatest commandments.

Ideas Matter, but People Matter More
I think Jesus says this to remind Pharisees (and us) that ideas matter, but people matter more.  Pharisees in Jesus day loved to debate ideas brought forth in the Law of Moses (the Christian Old Testament).  They loved God’s Word.  They read it, studied it, preached it, wrote in on their door post and even on little scrolls of paper they wore in phylacteries on their robes.  It was a noble sign of their love of Scripture.  But Jesus says, the most important commandments are to love God (not just the Scripture) and to love people.  

In our day, these are critical things to remember. We are easily distracted from what really matters.  Some are distracted by the debates.  And there are any number of hot topics we like to debate.  Even if we don't want to debate, we often feel compelled to defend our positions.

I’m not even going to mention what the topics and debates are today, because their mere mention is liable to automatically get your thoughts stating your opinions and formulating the talking points that prove your particular point of view.

When we care more about winning arguments than understanding people, Jesus states God’s Truth:  People matter more than our positions.

Others are distracted by trying to get ahead.  Work hard, climb the corporate ladder, earn as much as  you can, save as much as you can, or spend as much as you can.  Countless marriages, families,  relationships, and communities have been torn apart when it was forgotten that:  People matter more than getting ahead.

Our desires, busy schedules, being right, holding grudges, keeping up appearance…  All these can lead us astray.  Jesus wants to recalibrate your brain.  So He reminds us:  The most important thing is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  And love your neighbor as yourself.

Don’t Get Them Out of Order
I always find it important to remind people not to get these two commandments out of order.  Jesus said the first greatest commandment is what? Love God.  And the second is love your neighbor.

That order matters more than you might think.  There are many charitable organizations who want to do good who are not interested in God in the least (either they have forgotten their work is founded upon love of God or they have made a deliberate decision to de-emphasize the religious aspect in order to have a more mainstream appeal or are just a totally secular organization).  They try to do good for people without any real overt love for God.

But for Christians, the reason we love our neighbor is because we love God.  
First of all, God loves all people.  He cares about the whole world—even those who reject Him.  That’s why He sent Jesus to die for the whole world even while we were lost in our sin.  And if we truly love God, we will love what God loves too.  And God loves people and asks His people to love people too.  And if we love God we will obey His commandments. 

Second, every person bears the image of God.  That is a very sacred truth.  It doesn’t matter how much money a person has, how much talent, whether they are a good citizen or criminal, whether they are smart of ignorant, republican, democrat, or whether they root for Georgia or Alabama or Florida.  They are all made in the image of God.  They bear His image, and that is sacred and worth dignity, protection, and respect.  If we love God with all we are, we should also love the image of Him we find in every person.

But, if we get the commandments out of order, it could be a problem.  What if we love our neighbor more than we love God?  That's idolatry and it never ends well.  And when we love people more than God, we start letting people determine what is right, instead of letting God teach us what real love is. We may become so concerned about pleasing people that we stop asking what will actually help them.

Love doesn’t always mean saying yes. Sometimes love means telling the truth, setting a boundary, or having a difficult conversation. A parent who truly loves a child won’t give that child everything they ask for. Sometimes the most loving answer is no.  

That’s why we need to keep God first. He teaches us to love with both compassion and truth.  He helps us care for people without excusing the things that destroy them.  

But we can’t use “putting God first” as an excuse to treat people badly, either. 1 John 4:20–21 tells us we cannot love God, whom we haven’t seen, while hating the people we have seen.

The first commandment guides our love. The second puts our love into practice.We love God with everything we are, and we let Him shape the way we love every person He puts in our path.

One Person. One Act of Love.
At the end of this conversation, Jesus tells the teacher, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

That’s encouraging. But I don’t want to be someone who gets close because I know the right answer, then walks away without letting Jesus change my life. We can agree that people matter and still go home and ignore someone who needs us.

So here’s what I want you to do this week:
Choose one person and one concrete way to love them.

Start by asking God: “Who have I been overlooking?”

Maybe it’s someone in your own house. You’ve been together all week, but you haven’t really listened to them. Maybe it’s someone who needs a visit. Maybe it’s the person whose opinions make you roll your eyes before they even finish speaking.

Who comes to mind? 

Now ask God: “What would loving this person look like?”

Make it specific. “I should be more loving” is easy to say and easy to forget.
“I’m going to call her Tuesday and listen” is something you can actually do.
So is putting your phone away at supper. So is saying, “I was wrong. Will you forgive me?”

You don’t have to fix everything in somebody’s life.  But you can give them your attention.  You can take their needs seriously.  You can treat them as someone made in the image of God.

And if you’re sitting here wondering whether you matter to anyone, hear this:
You matter to God.  Jesus gave His life for you. You can bring Him your sin, your hurt, your whole life—and trust Him to begin making you new.

The love He calls us to share is love He has already shown us.  So before you leave today, settle on a name and a next step.  One person. One act of love. This week.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving us. Forgive us for the times we’ve been so busy defending our opinions or pursuing our plans that we’ve overlooked people You love. Give us eyes to notice them, patience to listen, and courage to act. Bring one person to mind now, and show us how to love them this week. Amen.

 

What Really Matters? | An All-Saints Sermon on Hebrews 12:1-2

Introduction
Yesterday, we had well over 140 people from our community come to our Halloween party.  It was a great time of fun and we enjoyed meeting and serving families and children in this way.  We invited many to come to our church.  And my hope is that we can see more and more people from our church become active in our church because it will bless them.  

I been thinking about the people in our community a lot.  I’ve been praying for the families here—ones we haven’t even met.  I’ve been wondering what do they, we do we need to hear from God?  What does God want to say to us this fall?  And I think He wants us to remember what really matters.

And so over the next 4 weeks, we’re going to look at 4 big life questions people ponder.  
Does my life matter?
What deserves my attention?
What am I building my life around?
What remains when everything else is gone?

So I hope you will make a commitment to be here for these important messages I believe God wants us to hear.  Today, we start with “What will you leave behind?” 

Hebrews 12:1-2

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.^[a] Because of the joy^[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

The Saints Who Went Before Us
This is an important passage for us on All-Saints Sunday.  As we remember the “Saints” who passed away over the last year, I would point out our particular understanding of “Saints” from a protestant/Methodist point of view.

Some Christian denomination venerate special people as saints—people whose lives offer examples of holiness and whose prayers believers may seek.  But that is not exactly the perspective of Methodists and other protestant denominations.  Rather, we emphasize that no one is worthy of heaven or sainthood.  We are all sinners saved only by the grace of God, not by our own good works.  Furthermore, we don’t pray to saints, but we offer our prayers directly to God through Jesus.

However, we believe everyone who repents of their sins and receives Jesus as Lord is saved.  And thus, every saved Christian is a saint—in this life and in the next.  And so as we gather today, we remember the “Saints” who have gone before us and entered into eternal life with Christ.  We honor them for what they meant to us, celebrate their reward in Heaven, and recognize they continue to cheer us on as we run our race to the finish line.

What Will Your Legacy Be?
As we remember, honor, and celebrate the legacy of these saints, it is natural for us to wonder:  What legacy are we building that we will leave behind for the generations that come after us?

I suppose we would all like to leave behind something worthwhile.  In my early mid-20s, before I was a pastor, I read a wonderfully helpful book by Steven Covey called 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  In it, Covey recommended consider:  What do you hope people will say at your funeral? 

What do you want people to say at your funeral?  Do you want them to say:
"She made everyone feel welcome.”
“He was always there when you needed him.”
“She lived her faith through kindness.”
“He left us better than he found us.”

I encourage you, if you have not done so before, spend sometime this week considering what you want people to say about you after you’re gone.  What will you leave behind?

What Will You Leave Behind?
I suppose we all want to leave behind a proud legacy.  But in order to build a great legacy, you’ll have to leave behind some other things along the way.

Hebrews 12:1 uses the illustration of running in a race.  If we want to receive the prize at the end, we will need to: “strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.”

Sin is bad.  We know we shouldn’t sin.  So the first step to finishing the race and becoming a saint who wins the prize of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven is repentance—turning away from our sins and turning to Jesus as the Lord of our life.  So, if you want to leave behind a good legacy, the first step is to leave behind your life of sin.  Repent.  Turn to Jesus.  Follow Him.

But there are many things in our busy lives that aren’t so clear cut.  Some things that are not necessarily sin, they're just things that slow us down or distract us.  Some weights might be:
Busyness — filling our schedules but neglecting people.
Worry — letting tomorrow’s concerns consume today.
Comfort — avoiding opportunities that require sacrifice.
Distractions — giving screens and entertainment our best attention.

It might be other things too.  Hebrews says, leave these weights behind so you can run the race God sets before you.

The Negative Legacies We’ve Endured
Now, some have been scarred by the hurtful or neglectful behaviors of some who went before.  Some have been abandoned or betrayed or abused.  Some have experienced family wounds.  Others have been hurt by the church.  And these negative legacies threaten to drag you down.  But you don’t have to be derailed by the failures of those who went before you.  You can leave those wounds behind too.  Strip them off.  Learn from them.  Make a commitment not to repeat them.  Let the Lord redeem your legacy and make it new.

More Than Wishful Thinking
It’s great to want to leave behind a great legacy after you’re gone.  But wishful thinking won’t accomplish it.  And it isn’t done through one grand gesture.  We choose the legacy we leave behind—not by wishful thinking, but by the choices we make and the way we live each day.

Perhaps we say, “I love God and I want my children and grandchildren to love God.”  That is a wonderful aspiration.  But your children and grandchildren will not learn to love God if you don’t live out your love for God over your lifetime.  Our legacy is passed on through a thousand small choices we make throughout our life.  You say you love God, but do you worship Him in church on a consistent weekly basis?  Do you talk to Him daily through prayer?  Do you really know God by reading His Bible?  Do you serve Him sacrificially, follow in the footsteps of Christ who laid down His life?

This is such an important message we and the people of our community need to hear.  If we want to leave behind something that really matters, we need to be a people of faith.  We need to be a people who love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  We need to be a people who love our neighbor as ourselves.  And these aspirations need to be more than words we say or wishful thinking.  They need to be values we live out consistently with our actions day by day.

Holy Communion
Today, we have the privilege of sharing the sacrament of Holy Communion.  It reminds us of the sacrifice Christ made to redeem us.  It also strengthens us to live for Him daily so we may leave behind a legacy that will last.

 

The Apostles' Creed, part 4

Introduction
The most important holiday in the Christian year isn’t Christmas; it is Easter.  It is the day we celebrate Jesus’ final victory over sin and death.  On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave.  Because of what happened on Easter, all who believe in Jesus Christ have the hope of resurrection and eternal life. 

Easter comes only once a year.  However, for Christians, every Sunday is a mini-Easter.  It is the Lord’s Day.  And as we worship, we remember Jesus is alive.  He rose from the grave.  We worship a living Christ.  Listen to the Easter story from our Scripture.   As you listen, notice the awkward balance between joy and fear.

Matthew 28:1-10
¹ Early on Sunday morning,^[a] as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.

² Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. ³ His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

⁵ Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. ⁷ And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

⁸ The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. ⁹ And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”

Easter or Halloween
Easter is a spring holiday, but it has a lot in common with a very different holiday we celebrate in the fall—Halloween.  In the Easter story, we find the women in a graveyard hunting for a dead man in a tomb.  Mysteriously, the body is gone.  It is alive again and walking around!  The same plot could be used in a movie about a zombie or ghost! 
What separates Easter from Halloween?  What changes fear into joy?

Christians find the answer in faith.  As we say in the last part of our Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in... …the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.”

This is what Easter is all about—the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.        

We believe in... The Forgiveness of Sins
The women who came searching for Jesus at the tomb had nothing to fear from Jesus. He held no ill will towards them.  The disciples had nothing to fear from Jesus.  He held no ill will towards them either.  Jesus held no ill feelings even toward the soldiers who beat and crucified Him.  Remember His words from the cross?  “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 

No, Jesus had no resentment or desire to get back at anyone.  He willingly forgave all.  Neither do we have anything to fear from the risen Christ.  Instead, we rejoice in the resurrection!  Christ is alive and He forgives our sin!

We believe that God does not harbor a grudge against those who sin.  No matter how terrible the thing we have done—even if we drove the nails into Savior’s hands and feet—we believe in the forgiveness of sins. 

Are you ashamed of something you have done?  Do you struggle with feelings of guilt?  Jesus forgives you.  Let it go. 

Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Don’t beat yourself up for the mistakes you have made—no matter how big.  God does not condemn you.  He welcomes you with open arms through Jesus Christ.  He has forgiven you.  Now, forgive yourself.  

We believe in the forgiveness of sins.  We believe God forgives us and we can forgive others.  And so, we pray in the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

Forgiveness is difficult.  Some offenses may be too hard for you to forgive.  (We are not naturally as forgiving as God.)  However, we believe in forgiveness and so we pray for God—through the Holy Spirit—to help us to forgive.  He wants us to learn to act as Jesus did. 
So, we strive to learn to forgive.  As we forgive, we find the one who is healed is really us.

We believe in the resurrection of the body.
The resurrected Christ was not a ghost out of a horror movie.  He was not somewhere half way between life and death—the undead.  Christ was and is alive!  He is filled with the everlasting life that only God can give!  He is not a ghost or a spirit.  His body and spirit are both alive! 

1 Corinthians 15:20 says Christ is the first to be raised to new life.  We are to be next.  We can be raised to new life if we believe in Christ.  When we are raised, we will not be ghosts or spirits.  We will have a body; not the body of an undead zombie creature.  We will be filled with everlasting life just like Jesus.  We will be perfect in mind, body , and spirit.

Some people have been misled to think the body (and material things) are bad.  There is the notion that flesh is evil and it is only the spirit is good and really matters.  But this is not what the Bible teaches.  When God created the physical world (and us), He said it was “very good.”  (Genesis 1:31)

The physical world and our physical bodies only became corrupt because of sin.  But Jesus restores us and the whole physical world will be redeemed in the end.  And the Bible and our Creed says, “We believe in the resurrection of the body.”

We will not just be spirits when we experience our own personal resurrection.  Just as Jesus had a new body and ate food and was able to touch and be touched by others, we too will have a body.  We will have feet and hands and eyes.  And people will know us and we will know them—better than we ever did in this life.

How this will happen is a mystery and I don’t fully understand it.  But you don’t have to understand something fully for it to be true.  I don’t fully understand how my cellphone works, but that doesn’t stop me from using it.

We believe in everlasting life.
John 10:28 says “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish…”

In this life, we face trials.  We struggle.  We feel pain.  We face very real and difficult problems. 
If this life is all there is, many might wonder if life is really worth living.  But we believe in everlasting life—that this present life is only one phase (and very fleeting).  Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Take a moment and try to comprehend the scale of eternity.  Let’s suppose we compress the history of the whole Bible into one, 24-hour day.

·       Midnight – Genesis 1 – God creates everything

o   Then we have Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, etc. all before we even wake up in the morning. 

·       6 AM (Breakfast) – Moses is born

·       Noon (Lunch) – about 1,200 years have passed since Moses and now Jesus is born

·       6 PM (Dinnertime) – Gun powder is finally invented

·       11 PM – The day is almost over.  And just then with only an hour left, America wins its independence from Great Britain.

·        1:59 PM – You are finally born

·        12 AM – Your life on earth is already over (no more than a minute of recorded time.)

Now, let’s view your life on the scale of eternity.  When we compress the whole history of the world into the timescale of eternity, we can only represent it as a single red line (a tiny blip on the scale).  And your life is hidden somewhere in that line.  (By the way, this is not to scale because eternity has no scale!)  The point is:  your life—including all the struggles you face last only the blink of an eye (not even that long).  But Eternity is forever.

Have you ever had a toothache?  I got a toothache once—on a Friday night.  It was awful!  The dentist couldn’t see me until Monday morning.  You know how I got through it?    I thought to myself, “I can bare anything for a couple days if I know the dentist can give me relief on Monday.” 

It’s easier to bare pain and suffering for a little while if you know there is an end in sight.  Brothers and sisters, the suffering and pain of this life last but a short time.  And then we find relief.  Death is not something we have to fear.  It is only the gateway to Eternal Life, when all our pains are finally relieved. 

Think of all your loved ones who died believing in Christ.  Our faith is a celebration that they have everlasting life just like Christ!  For they have been forgiven of their sins and raised to everlasting life with God in Heaven.  The same forgiveness and everlasting life are promised to us if we truly believe.  In the Apostles’ Creed, we say that we believe.

Conclusion
I want to conclude our message and our series on the Apostles’ Creed with a ceremony to remember your baptism.  Some of you may remember how you were baptized.  Others have forgotten the details.  Some were baptized as infants and can’t remember.  What we mean when I say remember your baptism is:  Remember what your baptism declares.  God’s grace has reached out to you. Christ calls you to belong to Him and live a new life.

(If you have never been baptized, you are welcome to pray with us. Let this be an invitation to talk with me about taking that step.)

Remember Your Baptism
Pastor:  Do you believe in God the Father?
People:  I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.

Pastor:  Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
People:  I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. 
He descended to the dead.
The third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 

Pastor:  Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?

People:  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.

(Pray over the water…)  
(Sprinkle water towards congregation…)
“Remember that you are baptized”

The Apostles' Creed, part 3

Introduction
God called Israel to be His people—to reflect His character and make Him known to the world. But again and again, they fell short of that calling.  Jesus came to fulfill what Israel had been called to do. His story echoes theirs: He came out of Egypt, passed through the waters of baptism, and entered the wilderness. Where Israel had been unfaithful, Jesus remained faithful.

Through Jesus, God gathers His people into a family that includes both Jews and Gentiles. That helps us hear the contrast in today’s passage. Israel once stood trembling before Mount Sinai. Now, through Christ, we come to the heavenly Mount Zion, joining angels and saints in the presence of God. Listen to these words from Hebrews. 

Hebrews 12:18, 22-24
¹⁸ You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; ²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The Apostles’ Creed
Today, we continue with the 3^rd part of our sermon series on the Apostles’ Creed. 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; 

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord:

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, 

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

he descended to the dead;

the third day he rose from the dead; 

he ascended into heaven,

and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; 

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, and the communion of saints…

This last part is what I want to discuss today.  Christians say this every Sunday.  But do we know what is means? 

"I believe in the Holy Spirit…"
The Holy Spirit (AKA the Holy Ghost, the Counselor, the Spirit of God, or simply the Spirit) is the third part of the Trinity of God.  The Trinity is a mysterious and often misunderstood concept Christians use to describe God.  In brief, God consists of three distinct but equal Persons.[1]  We believe God is one being, not three gods; but the One God expresses Himself as the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus was a Jew, and monotheistic Israelite, who subscribed to the Shema in the Old Testament law that says, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." ()Deuteronomy 6:4) and the first of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3, which says, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

Yet the monotheistic Jesus commanded his followers in Matthew 28:19 to “…go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  Christians baptize in the name of One God—who is expressed by Christians in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  

This is a great mystery, because in our human experience, we don't really experience 3-in-1 kind of people.  Humans aren't like that.  But God is above and beyond our experience.  He is not bound to operate by the laws of human experience or even the laws of nature.  And so we are confronted with this mystery:  the Scriptures say God is One, but it also shows us God is three.  And so Christian theologians have developed the doctrine of the Trinity as our feeble attempt to explain what is not fully explainable.  But we know it to be so because Scripture repeatedly expresses God's 3-in-1 nature.

Way back in the beginning, in Genesis 1:26 – ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings^[a] in our image, to be like us…”  The Hebrew word naʿaseh means ‘Let us make’—God speaks in the plural, which makes since if God is 3-in-1.

We see all 3 persons of the Trinity present at the baptism of Jesus.  Matthew 3:16-17 – ^{16 "}After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened^[g] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”  God is present in Jesus (the Son), the Holy Spirit (descending like a dove), and the Father (the voice speaking from heaven).

When we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, God places His Holy Spirit in us.  The Holy Spirit is the part of God that gives us eternal life.[2]  

1 Corinthians 6:19 – “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?”

Titus 3:3 – “He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit is also the part of God that supernaturally enables us to live and serve according to God’s plan.

1 Corinthians 12:4 – “Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all.”

The Holy Spirit is also the voice of God that acts as our conscience to teach us right from wrong and lead us in the way God wants us to go.

Galatians 5:25 – “If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

Listen to the still small voice of God; it is the Holy Spirit trying to lead you.  And cultivate your ability to hear by practicing spiritual disciplines (like prayer, sacraments, worship, and Scripture) and  through obedience.  (God is not going to keep speaking to you to show you the way if you don't actively listen and obey.)

"I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church…"
The word in this phrase that confuses people the most is probably “catholic.”  Why do we believe in the catholic church?

We are not referring to the Roman Catholic Church, which is just one of many denominations of the Church.  The word catholic means “universal.”   As a title for the Church, it was first used by St. Ignatius of Antioch in 107 A.D. when he wrote, “Where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” [3]

So by catholic, we are referring to the mystical union of all Christians throughout the world who are united as one body (or one Church) in Christ.  It is not limited by denomination, or race, or nationality, or even by time.  Christ came for all and all who receive Him are part of his Holy Catholic Church. 

I believe the “catholic” (or universal) Church is Holy.  People in our times often complain about the Church’s shortcomings.  You don’t have to tell me about the shortcomings of the church.  I’m a pastor.  I’m on the “inside” of the church structure. I sometimes see the darkest parts of the church that no one else sees.  Yet still I believe in a holy Church. Why? 

Because the True Church is the spiritual Church that follows Christ.  At our best, Stark Methodist is one expression of this Spiritual Church.  It is what we strive to be—to truly embody the Spirit of Christ as a church.  The Church is holy because it is the only organization in the Bible established by Christ. 

Matthew 16:18-19 – Jesus said, “Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven.”

The Church was established and empowered by the Son of God.  And the Church is Holy because God’s Spirit works through the Church to make people holy.

Matthew 18:20 – “Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there.”   When we gather together as a church, the Spirit of God is present and works to change us into the likeness of Christ.  And the same Spirit leads Christ followers to go into the world to spread holiness everywhere they go.

Christians were never meant to be “lone rangers.”  We must belong to the Church.  A Christian who separates from the church grows cold.  I have never heard of someone growing closer to God after they abandoned the church.  But I can tell countless stories of people whose faith grew weaker or died spiritually because they stopped going to church.

Considered all the lives that have been positively influenced over the centuries by Jesus through the Church.  The best of what we experience in our world today came to be through the efforts of faithful Christians through the Holy Catholic Church.  What other organization can claim such a powerful influence that spans 2,000 years?

"I believe in the communion of saints…"
We say this every week in our Apostles’ Creed, but who knows what it means?  The Communion of Saints is the fellowship and spiritual cooperation of all Christians in the body of Christ.  This includes those on earth and those who already in heaven. 

Hebrews 12:23 from our Scripture lesson this morning says, when you worship “…you have come to the spirits of the redeemed in heaven who have now been made perfect.” 

In worship, we join together even with the saints in heaven!  How glorious!  As we gather for worship, it is a time to gather in the spirit with the saints who’ve gone before us!

Hebrews 12:1, says “We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses…” referring to the believers who have gone before us whose stories encourage us to have faith in God. 

Referring to the same “cloud of witnesses,” Hebrews 11:40 says, “God had far better things in mind for us that would also benefit them [the dead in Christ], for they can’t receive the prize at the end of the race until we finish the race.” 

This says the lives of people already with God in heaven are tied to our lives—they can’t receive their “final prize” until we finish the race.  The final prize they await is the Day of Judgment when the wrongs of this world shall be made right and God shall create a new heaven and new earth.

So, we are part of a great fellowship of saints.  We are all pulling for each other—encouraging one another to love and good deeds.  Even the saints in heaven are pulling for us.

You Are Not Alone
Sometimes the Christian life feels lonely.  You may wonder if anyone understands your struggles.  You may feel too weak to do what God is asking you to do.  But listen to what we have confessed today: You are not alone.

The Holy Spirit lives in you. You belong to a Church that stretches around the world. And you are part of a fellowship of saints that even death cannot break.

So don’t try to live your faith alone. Listen to the Spirit.  Let your church family walk beside you.  Remember the faithful people whose lives taught you to trust Jesus.  And when we say these words again, let’s say them as people who believe they are true:  “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints.”

God is with us. We belong to Christ. And we belong to one another.

---

[1] Quickverse Life Application Bible – Dictionary entry for “Trinity”

[2] http://www.therealpresence.org/essentials/creed/acc09.htm

[3] http://www.therealpresence.org/essentials/creed/acc10.htm