The Nicene Creed - Week 3 w/Alex Campbell

Well, good morning. Good morning. So good to

see you here. Children get going to Treehouse.

My name is Alex, and I serve the youth here at

the house. I have been working, ministering to

the 6th through 12th graders since 2019, I think.

And what we affectionately call the shed, we

have the house. The church, the treehouse, and

the shed. And so we meet every morning at 10

o 'clock, and we have good time. This year our

theme is the good life. And so we are working

through the book of Acts and talking about the

foundation of the early church and what it means

to live the good life, what it means to follow

Jesus, and what it means to be the church in

today's day. And so I would also love to talk

about that with anyone, if anyone's curious.

Based off of our two -minute warning question,

anybody watch the sunrise recently? In your hands,

a couple. Not, yeah, that's kind of what I expected.

There was a few hands, but not a ton. I personally,

I love the sunrise. I get up to work, I go to

work by 6 .30, so I usually am up pretty early,

which is great because I love the sunrise. So

every fall and spring, I get to actually witness

the sunrise. As I drive to work, I head straight

east. It's great, the whole sky. So this September,

I actually rode my bike into work, and so I have

a picture here that I took. And if Liam could

put that up. This is on my bike ride. This was

towards the beginning of September. By the end

of September, it was kind of just dark blues

and purples. rode into the early October before

it got too cold for me, and it was just like

a thin line of dark purple and blue. So I had

my lights on to get to work. So I loved it. It

was a great way to start my day every day throughout

that month. But I had also heard that there were

some real effects of watching the sunrise, so

I decided to look those up, and I thought I'd

share them with you. So this is what I found.

20 to 30 minutes of morning sun, meaning like

the first two, two and a half hours of the day,

improves your sleep -wake cycle because it suppresses

the sleepy hormone, melatonin, and releases cortisol,

the wake -up hormone. And so some of you may

know this, but what color of light suppresses

melatonin? Blue light, yes. The sunrise has naturally

occurring blue light in an appropriate level

compared to the screens that we look at. It also

may decrease depressive symptoms on an average

of 40%. It may improve metabolic function by

regulating blood sugar. Improves your eye muscles

by gradually adjusting to the light levels. May

reduce inflammation in your body. So there is

some... Potentially real physical, biological

things happening in our bodies just from looking

at the sun rising. So for me, there's something

that's like both equal parts wonderful to look

at the sunrise, but also mysterious, like how

it works. Not only the physicalness of the sun

rising over the horizon, but how it affects our

real self. Like we can see the beauty of colors.

just like smeared together in just the right

order, right? But also if you're trained in light

optics, the physics of it, you may understand

there's different wavelengths for each color

of light, and that blue light, red light, or

blue light, purple light is small wavelength,

and red light, which is more as the sun rises,

is long wavelengths. And even if you do know

that, or you know much more than that, and how

it works, the order in which these things occur

still kind of remains a natural phenomenon. We

don't truly understand the knowledge of why it

is this way, why it was created this way. And

generally speaking, the more you increase your

knowledge in something, the more expertise you

have in something, the more you grow fonder of

it. And we really experience this in our professions,

in our hobbies. Your wonder of something, your

love for something, increases alongside your

knowledge. Well, why is it this way? Well, it's

natural. We pursue things we like. When we're

young and we're going through school and we like

something, we start to learn about it. And the

more we learn about it, the more we like it.

And it starts compounding in this cycle of love

and knowledge. And so I really want to keep this

illustration. in our minds today throughout my

sermon, just to draw our attention to not just

this kind of sunrise, but a different kind of

sunrise, because today we'll be talking about

Jesus, our Savior, as the risen Son of God. So

we are continuing our study in the Nicene Creed,

and the Creed really does engage our knowledge,

engage our minds of understanding by laying the

foundational beliefs of our faith. It grounds

us to the biblical or the historical faith of

the church, but it also engages our heart by

guiding the direction of our affection. So today,

I hope we can not just know these truths, but

also that we can stir up some affection and desire

and awe for them. Yeah? So I'm going to have

up here on the screen the section of the creed

that we'll be talking about today. This section

will reinforce kind of what we've already discussed

in the last couple of weeks, but right up here

it also gives us the why. So for us and our salvation,

he came down from heaven. By the power of the

Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin

Mary and was made man. For our sake, he was crucified

under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was

buried. On the third day, he rose again. So the

first week we heard about God as the creator,

the father, and the source of all things. Last

week we heard about the essence of Jesus Christ,

that he is one with the father, yet also fully

human, not a created being. And right at the

top here we get kind of the why, the for us and

our salvation. About halfway down it says, for

our sake he was crucified. We are the why. Humanity

is the why and is for our salvation. So this

section addresses the heresy that Jesus was not

fully human and therefore did not rise from the

dead. And if he did not rise from the dead, then

what do we make of this claim for salvation?

So we're going to quickly look back on a few

of the popular beliefs of the time. One belief

was Docetism, and it reasoned like this. Jesus

is fully God, but God cannot be limited by humanity,

temptation, or even physical death. That was

demeaning to think that he could die. Therefore,

his bodily presence must be an illusion. It's

temporary, although necessary. But kind of like

some of the angels we read in the scriptures,

they were not immediately even recognized as

heavenly beings. So in their view, Jesus came

not only to save us maybe from our sins, but

primarily to save us from this physical material

world to take us out of humanity. And so to think

that God would ever become part of it. And this

was their Jesus. Another belief was Apollinarianism.

It did accept the physical body of Jesus, but

reasoned that an all -knowing God cannot be restricted

to a human mind. So it rejected just an aspect

of Jesus' humanity, mainly a brain that learns.

There were still a few others, but they all essentially

challenged the humanness of Jesus. And therefore,

it resulted in a distorted view of salvation.

But the church leaders responded saying this,

What the Son of God has not taken to himself,

he has not sanctified. This is where Jesus' humanness

is essential to salvation. It is mandatory. And

the assembly of the church leaders in Nicaea

understood this. And why? Well... First, they

knew the scriptures. They knew what the scripture

said. It was necessary, not just because the

scriptures tell us so. Though it does do that,

they tell of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection

was the fulfillment of prophecy. We can go into

that, right? God said it was going to happen,

and it did. But there's also a secondary reason

that the logic of why is present. And so as Pastor

Jen reminded us in the first week, the creed

is not the thing we believe in. It is a tool

to point us to the thing that we believe in.

It is itself not scripture, though it reflects

the truths of scripture. So I would like us to

read some scripture today that speaks directly

to Jesus' humanity and salvation to help us make

sense of the why in the logic. To add to our

love with knowledge and to let our knowledge

spur on the love. So if you could open your Bibles,

we'll be in Hebrews today. We do have a tradition

here of giving the scriptures our full attention,

whatever is read in the context of a sermon.

So you can do that however you'd like, or you

can join me in standing. Hebrews chapter 2, starting

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

in verse 9. What we do see is Jesus, who for

a little while was given a position a little

lower than the angels. And because he suffered

death for us, he is now crowned with glory and

honor. Yes, by God's grace, Jesus tasted death

for everyone. God, for whom and through whom

everything was made, chose to bring many children

into glory. And it was only right that he should

make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect

leader. fit to bring them into their salvation.

So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have

the same father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed

to call them his brothers and sisters. Verse

14, because God's children are human beings made

of flesh and blood, the son also became flesh

and blood. For only as a human being could he

die, and only by dying could he break the power

of the devil who had the power of death. Only

in this way could he set free all who have lived

their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. We

also know that the son did not come to help angels.

He came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore,

it was necessary for him to be made in every

respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so

that he could be our merciful and faithful high

priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice

that would take away the sins of the people.

Because he himself has gone through suffering

and testing, he is able to help us when we are

being tested. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, God,

we thank you for this morning, and we pray over

our time today that you would stir up in us an

affection and a love for you that would help

us understand and grow in our knowledge and experience

of who you are. Lord, I pray for this community,

this church, that we would encourage each other.

as we have even just given that vow for our children

this morning. So, Lord, I pray that what we learn

will become a foundation of our faith, that it

would stick. Lord, and that you would be gracious

with us today. In your name we pray. Amen. So

what do we see in this scripture? That Jesus

came down from heaven, that he was human, that

is flesh and blood. He was tested, that he suffered.

He offered a sacrifice that is himself, that

he died, that he was buried, that he broke the

power of the devil through his own death, and

that he is not ashamed to call us brothers and

sisters, his family. This is the good news. This

is the gospel. And as early as 300 years after

the death of Jesus, new theories were being founded

on who Jesus was that had real implications to

this gospel, the for us and our salvation part.

And just to be sure, the scripture is not silent

on putting Jesus' full humanness on display.

So Jesus went hungry. He was exhausted from traveling

and asked for a drink. He was grieved and he

cried. He reasoned multiple times with the teachers

of the law over the meaning of the scriptures.

And even at the end, in his prayer in the Garden

of Gethsemane, he desired an easier path that

was his own will rather than God's, yet he still

submitted to him. And if we could, we could allow

our imagination to expand a little bit. It's

reasonable to believe that Jesus sneezed. He

probably got a few splinters as a woodworker.

Maybe even mispronounced some words as a toddler.

I know my kids say lello instead of yellow. They

call elevators alligators. Are these not human

things that we go through our lives? And yet

the theories of Docetism and Apollinarianism,

among others, undermined this mystery that is

the God -man. That Jesus can be fully God and

fully human. And what we experience in our world,

that is dominated by either or. You must choose

a side. It is difficult to comprehend something

that can be 100 % of two things. Because the

reasoning was that no human could be God, and

therefore no God could be human. But both of

them... Both of these positions can mostly be

reduced to this. If Jesus was not fully human

in body and in mind, if he did not suffer as

we suffer as we read in the Hebrews text, and

if he did not die as we die, as we experience

death, then his saving resurrection is not valid

for us. This is why the development of this section

of the creed needed to address the humanity of

Jesus and his physical body. That he became incarnate

from the Virgin Mary and was made man. That he

experienced what we experience. That he suffered

death. That his body was buried. Because scripture

tells us that Jesus needed to be human to do

the work that brings us salvation. Verse 14 says

that only by dying could he break the power of

death. The life of Jesus. The life of Jesus is

God's choosing to experience life as we know

it, so that we may choose to experience life

as he knows it. And in putting these lines in

the creed, the prominent beliefs of Docetism,

Apollinarianism, and others were determined heresy.

For the church to denounce these as heresy is

to say that we should too. And if you need...

more historical context, or if you just want

to learn more about that, there are resources.

Talk to Pastor Jen. Let me borrow a book. She's

got stuff for you. But heresy is, by definition,

any belief or theory that strongly opposes established

beliefs. Understandably, when I read that, I

thought, this is a pretty wide definition. In

fact, in Acts 24, we'll get to it later this

year in the shed, but the first Christians were

accused of heresy by the Jewish leaders for preaching

Christ crucified. But heresy just isn't just

a disagreement. It's not a differing opinion.

But we do know that heresy is divisive, often

intentionally for the sake of power, but primarily

we can... check heresy against biblical teaching.

And though it is possible, I don't think it's

a stretch to say these theories were not intentionally

looking to contradict the faith. Maybe they were,

but as we've seen by just reading the Hebrews

passage today, these positions definitely were

opposed to scriptural teaching and the greater

church understanding. And so by looking at even

these theological positions, we can find that

heresy most often involves safeguarding of one

truth at the expense of another. Because they

correctly held on to one truth. They correctly

held on to Jesus is God. But when faced with

another truth that Jesus is human, rather than

hold both of those beliefs, even when there was

tension or discomfort or lack of comprehension,

one truth was devalued. Because heresy safeguards

the one truth. for the sake of another. And if

you know me a little bit, you may have picked

up on that I generally have a way of doing things.

That way is called the right way. But you and

I all have a natural inclination to believe that

what we believe is right. Why would we not, right?

I may lean into that a little bit more strongly

than others. But sometimes what you believe is

right, you've believed for a long time. Or you

believe for very good reasons. And when you believe

what you believe so strongly, you start receiving

all new information through that one thing, through

that lens. And the challenge is determining if

that strongly held belief is something you should

be holding as tightly as you are. Because how

are we supposed to hold the realities of this

life, our understanding of scripture, the church's

understanding of scripture? The culture and society

of today around us that we participate in and

that we are creating for the next generation.

We're holding all of that and something that

claims to be truth. At some point, things are

going to start clashing. What about when you

have conversations with friends or family about

opposing views, differing perspectives, whether

they are... faith discussions or not, you have

to consider what truths are you molding to make

it fit around something you hold more tightly.

So two questions. Is it found in scriptures?

And is it found in the church? Because look,

we can look back on these theories and kind of

scoff like, did they really believe that? That

Jesus was an illusion? But really, these are

the same questions the church humanity is asking

today. Is Jesus real? Did he actually live? And

then two, did he rise from the dead? If he did

live, that might be a little bit easier for some

people to accept, but did he rise from the dead?

Because these heresies that this creed is addressing

came to life through exhaustive learning. theorizing.

I don't get the impression they're half -hearted

even, that they were founded on some spiritual

knowledge of God, or at least what they perceive

to be knowledge of God. So when we follow this

example and start to interpret everything through

one strongly held belief that may not even be

scriptural, or we're only trying to reason and

logic out everything, we end up reducing the

greatness of God to our personal mental capacity.

We say, what do I understand? Because if I don't

understand it, it can't be true. Gary said it

last week, it's like pouring an ocean into a

jar. We often seek rationalization over mystery.

And so the other option is to allow the gracious

mystery of God to sit and to marinate and to

pull our hearts and to pull our minds, to lead

our hands and our feet into doing the good works

prepared for us to do. All with eyes lifted high

saying, Jesus, help me understand. I want to

know you, God. I want to seek you with my heart

and my mind and my soul and my strength. Or perhaps

my faith is not founded upon a full understanding

or a proof of everything that you have for me.

But I will be faithful in what you have revealed

to me. This is... One of the tensions I'm learning

to hold right now. Because our salvation is not

dependent upon our knowledge or mental competency.

But it is also somehow spurred on by it. That

the writer of Hebrews says the power of the devil

is the power of death. Have you ever thought

about that? That God used the devil's greatest

power. His greatest instrument to take people

away from God. God used that very thing for the

salvation of all people. This is the victory

we claim in the pursuit of knowing Jesus, the

risen son of God. The writer of Hebrews also

says that only in the humanity of Jesus, in his

life, his death, his resurrection, can be free

from the fear of death. Because death... has

been defeated, we no longer have anything to

fear in facing death. And when we talk about

salvation in our cultural and societal climate,

right, we talk about salvation in reference mainly

to the final act of judgment, when we die or

when Jesus returns again. Yet for Israel, the

people at the time, their discussion on salvation

wasn't just an absolute finite occurrence. Salvation

was continuous. It was the freedom from fear

that is ongoing. And many of the Psalms are written

with this understanding. Like Psalms 51 .12 says,

Restore me to your salvation and grant me a willing

spirit to sustain me. This salvation is ongoing.

It restores. It sustains. This salvation is the

deliverance from the power of sin in us and in

you. It doesn't have to be fully complete to

be life -giving because it is ongoing. It's being

able to say, I was once filled with rage, but

now I'm free. Or these thoughts of hate or lust

used to fill my head, but now I'm free. It's

saying I'm paralyzed of fear and anxiety, but

God, you are my rock, so please restore me. It

is this continuous... ongoing salvation that

we're being called by the grace of God through

faith in Jesus, the risen Son of God. Because

there's healing in the name of Jesus. There's

peace in the name of Jesus. There's contentment

in the name of Jesus. There's boldness in the

name of Jesus. And all this life is just a foretaste

of what is to come when we pursue the risen Son.

Know God. And so I want to... To close today

with something practical. What do I really mean

by pursue the risen God? The risen son. What

does it look like? Well, here's just one encouragement

because there's a lot of things. But here's one

encouragement. Adjust your schedule to read the

scriptures. Pursuing the risen son means ordering

your life around him. But because this isn't

a do better or be better kind of faith. Just

remember as you go, because I'm a father of four.

They're young and don't even have organized activities

yet, and the days are full. So I get it. Be gracious

with yourself. I'm not asking to create a law

in which you have to read at this time or God

won't show up or your whole day will be thrown

off. But adjusting your schedule is about creating

a guideline of how to pursue Jesus daily, as

sure as the sunrise. As sure as the sunrise.

And it's meant to happen as you go. Even the

Great Commission to go and make disciples could

be better translated as you go. Incorporate it

into your life. 2 Peter 1, 5 -8 helps me understand

this. It says, for this very reason, make every

effort to add to your faith goodness, to goodness

knowledge, and to knowledge self -control, and

to self -control, perseverance. To perseverance,

godliness. And to godliness, mutual affection.

And to mutual affection, love. For if you possess

these qualities in increasing measure, they will

keep you from being ineffective and unproductive

in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Give

yourself to the pursuit of God. Explore the depths

of who God is. And when there is tension, When

things don't make sense, whether in your mind

or your body, your heart, chase the risen son.

Know God and allow this knowledge to stir up

in you an increased love for our Lord and Savior.

So every time you see the sunrise, every time

you see the sunrise, think, pursue the risen

son. Pursue the risen son. The hope and light

and salvation of all people. It was for us and

our salvation that he became man. For our sake

he was crucified, suffering death as we know

it to bring us life as he knows it. Amen.