We Believe: A Return to Wonder

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Welcome to Awakening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

My name's Ryan, and we're in a series called We Believe.

Last week we kicked it off.

We were in the Castle Rock area, and today we're actually on the rugged coastline of California.

And here's what we said last week.

We said that the early church was an incredibly diverse group.

It was diverse politically, it was diverse socioeconomically, it was diverse ethnically.

And what was amazing about this incredible group of diversity is they had this unity even in the midst of this diversity.

In fact, Scott McKnight in his book, he writes this that the early church was this fellowship of difference and unlikes.

And yet God used them to bring about such an irresistible, incredible movement of God that reshaped and changed the world as we know it.

And the question is, how did this diverse group actually become this unified, irresistible community?

And the answer is found, as we looked at last week, in the resurrection.

That this is the event that's changed the world, it's changed their world, and it's been changing people's world ever since.

It was the resurrection of Jesus that that moved Jesus in their eyes from a good teacher, from a good and great man, even a miracle worker, to the God man.

That all that he said was indeed true, and he is now risen and alive and Lord over all.

And this was the unifying event and belief of the early church that Jesus is Lord and all that he said, all that he did is indeed true.

And the question for us is then how do we once more return in an age that's so divided and polarized, that the church would once more be that irresistible movement of God's people to bring about renewal in our cities?

And the answer is simply this: that we return, we return to the unwavering belief of who Jesus is and what Jesus said about how to do life.

Now, to help guide us on this journey, we're actually diving in into what's called the Apostles' Creed.

Now, it wasn't written by the Apostles, it's actually a summary of what the Apostles taught.

It was a very early teaching that was used as a baptismal confession for those who were stepping into faith in Christ and a teaching tool for brand new believers.

And were discovering and learning what exactly did the first followers of Christ absolutely fundamentally believe in.

And the apostles' creed goes like this: it starts this way: I believe, I rely, I place my confidence on God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

It's the foundation, it's the starting point.

Now, after the resurrection, the early church was predominantly a Jewish movement.

Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, birthed in Jerusalem and Galilee, and so the first followers of Christ were uh Jewish uh believers, or if not, they were Jewish converts that then began to believe in Jesus.

I mean, and so uh it they all had this foundation and understanding of who God was.

They they all agreed in what the Hebrew scriptures declared who God was, what we call the Old Testament.

There wasn't any confusion, there wasn't any question when they said, I believe in God.

And then that all changed.

In fact, it was in Acts chapter 10, just a few years after the birth of the church, that all of this changed for the better, but it actually was incredibly hard in the moment.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

Now, in Acts chapter 10, we see something that is completely foreign in the ancient world.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

In fact, in the ancient world, you have the haves and you have the have-nots, you have the um the in-crowd and the out-crowd, you have those that are powerful and those that are powerless, and and you're set within your socio classes and you don't mix, and it was actually this moment, which was an application of Jesus' teaching that paved the way for us when we're where we're at, when we're talking about equality and inclusion, it goes back to this moment.

It's actually in Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

If you got your Bibles, I'd ask you to pick it up there.

We see Peter uh the apostle, he's he's actually pretty hungry.

And uh he goes up to the rooftop to pray.

And while he was praying, he had this vision, and it was a bit strange.

There was this sheet that unfurled down out of heaven, and all these animals uh that were unclean for a Jewish person to eat, and and the voice of God says, Peter, get up, kill, and eat.

And and Peter says, No, I I would never do that.

And then God says, Don't call something impure or clean, what I've made pure and clean.

And this happens three different times, and Peter's like, Okay, what is this all about?

And as he's pondering and thinking about this, all of a sudden he hears, you know, this commotion downstairs, and that there's three men from out of town looking for him.

They're from uh Cornelius' house, and Cornelius was this Roman centurion guard.

And in fact, he um he was of the Italian regiment.

I mean, he was um probably the last person that a Jewish person would ever interact with.

Well, one that he was a gentile, and Jewish people wouldn't interact or associate with Gentiles.

The second, he was a Roman guard.

He he was the uh helping enforce all the Roman oppression of the Jewish people.

And these three men come to him and say, This Cornelius, he's a God-fearing man.

And and he actually heard from an angel uh telling him to go find Peter to tell them about God and how they can know him.

And Peter's like, Okay, well, I guess I know what that vision was all about.

He welcomes in, they spend the night, and then he heads to Cornelius' house.

And as he gets there, just this image is that a huge crowd had gathered all around.

And Peter sees this large crowd, and I just want you to hear what he says.

And Peter says, This, you're aware, well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile, but God has shown that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

And then he goes on.

He says, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

You know the message that God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

And he keeps preaching, and as he keeps preaching, telling about this Jesus, the Holy Spirit falls on them.

And they begin to experience the Spirit and speaking in tongues, just like the apostles did.

It's just a sign of God welcoming the Gentiles into the family of God.

And Peter says, Well, then they they should be baptized in that moment, in this moment, this movement that was primarily a Jewish movement, was no longer just a Jewish movement, it was also a Gentile movement.

It was now a movement of every tribe and tongue and nation.

No.

What's amazing is the Gentile people began to embrace Jesus in such large groups.

In fact, in Antioch, uh it was such large numbers of believers came to know Jesus that it actually created quite a division in the church.

It was this moment where uh some of the Jewish followers of Jesus said they need to become Jewish first.

They need to be, you know, take on all the customs and laws that we are doing.

And the apostle Paul and Barnabas said no, they received the Holy Spirit, and and there's this deep division and strife within the church at this moment.

So the apostles gather in Jerusalem and they're beginning to meet and figure out exactly what to do.

And in their meeting, James, the brother of Jesus, who is the leader in the church, he says this and it's so amazing.

And if you got your Bibles, you flip over to Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

He he stands up and says to them, It's my judgment, therefore.

After they've talked a lot about this, prayed a lot about this.

He says, It's my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for Gentiles who are turning to God.

Like we don't need to set up hoofs, we don't need to set up more kind of steps along the way.

Don't make it difficult for those who are turning to God.

And we're called to do the same, not to make it difficult for those turning to God.

Now I I love this line.

You might have missed it.

He said, for the Gentiles who are turning to God, which means they're turning from something else.

They're turning from the gods and the way of life that they had been living.

And the early believers were now faced with how do we then begin to explain this God that they're turning to?

How do we begin to unpack for them this God that they're now turning from their gods that they were believing in, their way of life, and they're saying we're turning to Jesus, and and all that he says is true?

How do we begin to explain and express so that they can understand who they are worshiping, who the one true God is?

And the question for you and us is who is the God we believe in?

It's fashionable today to kind of pick and choose the parts of God that you want to believe in.

To have your own designer faith.

And we form and worship a God in our own image, a God that looks like us, a God that sounds like us, a God that votes like us, a God that responds like us.

And we too need to be once more reminded of turning from and turning to God.

Who is this God?

Who is the God the resurrected Jesus came to explain?

Who?

Who is the God these Gentiles believers were turning to?

And this is what the Apostles' Creed does so beautifully and succinctly and clearly of declaring who this God is.

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

I believe in God.

Now, to us, we take that at face value, but this was revolutionary for those first Gentile believers.

Because it's singular.

I believe in God's singular, not God's pearl.

The Greco-Roman world was polytheistic.

They had a pantheon of gods.

They, you know, they believed in all these gods, and and typically you would have in your city or village a local deity that you worshiped, and then you would worship the Roman cult uh idols along with that.

Then you might even have your own personal gods within your home that you worshiped.

You had all these gods that you believed in, and and the gods of of the Gentiles was capricious and vicious.

They they they changed their mind.

They were uh, you know, gods to be appeased, and you would do these sacrifices and rituals and these moments to somehow appease the gods and manipulate them to do what you want.

And so that first line is so powerful and beautiful.

I believe in God.

There's one God, there's not many gods.

In fact, it roots itself all the way back into the very first line of Genesis, the Old Testament or the Hebrew scriptures where it says, in the beginning, God.

In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth.

There weren't a war of the gods, there weren't uh all this background story, there just is one sovereign God who is outside of time, who created all that we see and understand.

And as you travel through the scriptures, you get to Moses who has this encounter with God, and and as he's wrestling and trying to understand, like, who is it that I'm speaking?

Who is this God?

What is your name?

God reveals himself and says, I am.

It's Yahweh.

I am who I am.

I am, and it reveals so much of this God that you see that we we are following and believing.

See, see, the God we are turning to, the God they were turning to, and and maybe if you've never turned to him, the God you're turning to today.

When God declared, I am, he's saying, I am eternal.

There's never a time I was not.

I am being in life itself.

I'm completely sufficient.

I need no one, rely on no one.

Self-existent, uncreated creator.

In him alone is life.

We're turning to not just the God who is eternal, who always was and always will be, but the the God who's immutable.

I am means I'll never change.

I am who I am, I am consistent.

God is consistently himself, and and in the Greco-Roman world, the gods change their minds all the time, and they they never knew exactly if God was in a good mood or in a bad mood or or or how to respond.

And God says, I am consistent, I am perfect in every way, and so being perfect, I can never get better, and being perfect, I will never change for the worse.

And finally, when he hears this word, I am, he's active.

In the Hebrew mind, God was not distant, God was not passive, God was not apathetic.

I am, I am, I am your healer, I am your protector, I am your provider, I I am your righteousness, I am your peace.

It was a God who was engaged and active in their life.

See, who is it the God they were turning to?

It just begins, I believe in God.

This God.

And then, and then it shifts and it's so beautiful and so powerful.

It says, I believe in God, the Father Almighty.

And if if just the God was was a just so such a like a what do you call it?

Uh um a paradigm shift for the Gentiles, God as Father was a paradigm shift for the Jewish believers.

In fact, the primary way Jesus um wanted to explain God was he used the word father.

In fact, out of this uh um creed, it's pulled directly from the Lord's Prayer when Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray, and he says, When you pray, pray this way.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Let your name be sacred and holy to me.

A Jewish person in that day never would have dreamed of addressing God as Father.

That word Yahweh was so sacred to them they wouldn't even utter it.

God's high, God's holy, God's immense and grand and great, but father intimate, no.

He says, I believe in God, the Father Almighty.

Now, when when the Bible expresses God as Father, he's not actually expressing God as a man.

It's our relationship with God.

God's not male or female, but it's talking about the how we are to relate and the type of relationship we get to have with God.

Now I know for some, the idea of father's hard, right?

Maybe you grew up with a dad who is absent or gone, maybe he was just absent emotionally.

Maybe even you grew up with an abusive dad in some ways, and and so when you hear the word father, it it evokes images that hurt and that are painful.

And I want to let you know that as the scripture unveils, God is not like your earthly dad, even if he was an amazing dad.

He is your perfect, all-good heavenly father.

See, when we think about God as Father, think about this.

God never has a bad day.

You you don't have to wonder or worry, am I bothering him in any way?

Is he annoyed with me?

You know, is he just in a you know a mood swing dad or is he an absent dad?

No, no, no.

You have a perfect, good, attentive, heavenly father.

In fact, the way Jesus was trying to explain it uh a little bit later in the Sermon on the Mount, he's unpacking God as Father, and he says this.

He says, if you then being evil as dads, know how to give good gifts to your kids, like if you then being, you know, broken and sinful and you know, we don't always do it right, and some just have had bad dads, but if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your kids, then he says this line is so good, so amazing, because this is the God you're approaching, this is the God you're you're moving towards.

He says, How much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask?

Like we don't come groveling to God, we don't come like hoping maybe somehow I gotta like say just the right prayer or or or like uh we come with full and complete access because he is our heavenly father who says, I am the God of the how much more I want to bestow my blessing and love.

My love for you never varies or changes in any way or.

Whatsoever.

See this.

This is the God you're turning to.

A God who's eternal, immutable, a God, a God who is active, a God who is your heavenly father.

And the creed closes this way: Creator of heaven and earth.

Listen, if there is no creator, if there is no maker of heaven and earth, then there is no meaning or purpose to life.

There's no such thing as beauty and justice.

But if there, I mean, if you just think about it, if we're all just a cosmic accident, then we're just aimlessly going through this life, and really nothing matters.

But if there is a creator, then there is beauty, there is justice, there is purpose.

In fact, back in Genesis, it would say it this way: about not just creation of heaven and earth, but creation of humanity.

In the image of God, he made them, both male and female, that that like it's not just that God created all that we see, but then in you and in me and in every single person, you're a reflection of who God is.

Which means, which means you have intrinsic value and worth.

You have never met an ordinary person in your life.

All you've come across are image bearers of the God most high.

And it doesn't matter what they believe, it doesn't matter where they come from, it doesn't matter what the color of their skin is, they are valuable and worthy image-bearers of God.

And so when we think and lean in to justice and righteousness and equality, it's found, it's found in the Creator God, who has designed all that we see, and made you and made me a reflection of Him.

Every time you see the beauty of the ocean, the night sky and the expanse of the stars.

May it remind you of the God who's the God who is infinitely big and powerful and yet intimately personal as your Father.

I like how the Apostle Paul would say it.

He said, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes have been on display for all to see.

Like when we're here, we just can't help but stumble upon it.

You can't help but have your heart be lifted up and go, Oh my God and mean it.

Now, here's what I've found in this season in my life.

I've found that the wonder has diminished and faded.

The wackiness of our world, maybe it's the uncertainty of the future, the chaos of this moment, all that's going on and the pressures and demand and being torn by all that's happening in this world.

I just have found that the wonder has gone from my life.

It was interesting last week when we were filming and we walked into that grove of trees.

It was powerful.

I mean, I I can't help but say it, but it was a sanctuary.

It was sacred, and and a hush came over my soul as I I walked in and began to look up, and and it drew me out of the moments and the fray of my day and reminded me of the God that I worship.

And for some, your response to this is my response and my need.

It's to return to wonder.

Maybe the wonder and the awe of God has been pressed out in this season, and honestly, you need to go somewhere in his creation that draws and lifts your spirit up.

In fact, it's the ocean for me.

And both me and Jenny.

Like, like when I come to the ocean, I can't help but be reminded of the vastness, the beauty, and the magnitude of God and my smallness in that, and then see his attentive hand and care.

And it just draws my heart upward of like, I guess I believe in God, my Father, maker of heaven and earth.

And maybe you need to go on a drive, maybe you need to go on a hike and return to the wonder and awe of who God is.

And for others, I think perhaps your response is like the Gentile believers.

Is they they turned.

And for you, this would be the first time where you turn to your heavenly father.

Like you turn your heart and your soul and your mind and your affection, and you turn to the God you had no idea that is not just intimate and active, but invites you and wants to be your heavenly father.

Now the reality is we're not all children of God.

Only those who place their faith and trust in God.

Every single person is invited in, but you have to receive it.

You have to say, I'm turning from the things that I'm living for, I'm turning from the gods that we live for, which is really success.

The gods that we live for, which is which is really kind of my my self, you know, realization.

The gods that we live for often is happiness, and say, I'm turning towards God.

Father.

Where you would cry and say, God, I want, I want to have that type of relationship.

I had no idea I could have that type of relationship with you.

I I believed in a God, but I didn't really know you were knowable, or I want to know you as Father.

Well, how do you come to know God as Father?

John, the apostle who who wrote the Gospel of John, says it this way.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believe on his name, he gave the right to be called children of God.

It's all the way back to what we talked about last week.

That believing, I rely on, I put my confidence, the full weight of my life, on you, Jesus, as my Savior and my Lord.

I want to know you, God, as Heavenly Father.

Would you come into my life and make me your kid?

And if that's where you're at, I'm just gonna pray for us and invite you to turn to your Heavenly Father, who no matter where you've been, what you've done, or what's going on, welcomes you with open arms.

In fact, he's wild about you.

And he wants nothing more to welcome you home.

And if that's where you're at, would you just pray with me?

Heavenly Father, I can't believe that I get to call you that.

Today, I'm turning from the things that I've been running after.

Maybe it's my success or job or relationships or happiness or whatever it is.

God, I'm turning towards you, God, the Father Almighty.

Today I believe Jesus, your son, came for me.

He died for me and rose again to new life that I might have life.

I place my full trust in you.

Would you come into my life and make me your kid?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.