Who is Your God, What did HE do?
I love to tell stories, and most of them have a point to them. I love teaching and talking about God’s Word, and it definitely has a purpose. There are some things that are harder than others within Scripture, sure, but in the end, it shows how God has been faithful to us throughout man’s existence. When some people ask us what we believe though, we clam up or we go too deep and drone on chasing squirrels without ever saying what we actually believe. There is a multi-paragraph statement of faith that we use every week that explains in a nutshell what we believe about who our God is and what He has done for us. It is a Creed, which is what we believe, teach and confess.
The Apostles Creed is very succinct. It has three parts two it that can be summed up in three words that describe what each person of the Trinity has done to and for us. God has created, redeemed and sanctified us. When we get to Luther’s definition of each article though, we begin to struggle with our role in God’s work because we want to have responsibility for our own future. We want control, but we don’t have it.
In the First Article, we confess that God the Father Almighty has created us and all creatures. He daily and richly provides us all we need to support this body and life, He defends me against all danger and guards me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.
In the Second Article, we confess that the Son, Jesus Christ, has two natures (fully God and fully man), He lived the state of humiliation from conception to death, then exaltation from descent to His return. Within this article, we confess that He has redeemed us, lost and condemned persons, purchased and won us from all our sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, THAT WE MAY BE HIS OWN.
In the Third Article, we confess that we have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The hardest part about our faith is that we did not do it on our own. Before we knew God, we were dead in our sins. We admit and believe that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, sanctified (made us holy) and kept me in the true faith. In the same way, the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it it with Jesus Christ in one true faith. In this Christian church, He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. We also believe that the Holy Spirit will raise us and the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
So, when people ask you what you believe, instead of trying to say bits of trivia, we can respond with, “let me tell you the story of my God. I believe in God the Father Almighty….”
In Christ,
Josh Cromley
Director of NexGen Ministries
