Tonight we hear about the Second Chief Part of the Catechism, the Apostles' Creed. What is a Creed? Why do we have one? What is it for? What does it teach us? The Ten Commandments we learned teach us what the Lord would have US do. The Ten Commandments teach us how God wants US to live. Yet seeing that we have no power to keep the Ten Commandments because of our sin, seeing that we need rescue from sin and death, the Creed (and also the Lord's Prayer) teach us Who God is and what He has done and still does for us to save and bless us. The word “Creed” comes from the Latin, “credo” meaning “I believe.” So, the Creed is a statement of the faith, of the Lord in whom we put our trust. Now the Creed teaches, as the Scriptures do, that we worship ONE God in THREE persons. And while each person is truly and completely God, we do not worship three gods but ONE God. Brothers and sisters, this is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. HOW God is that sort of God the Creed nor the Scriptures teach us. Rather, the Creed teaches us Who the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are and what they have done for us. So, rather than get all caught up in trying to understand the un-understandable, the Creed instead teaches us what the Lord has done for us and what He still does for us, namely, that He has created us, that He has redeemed us and that He sanctifies or makes us holy. At the Baptism of Jesus, we see the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all present and accounted for doing the work of saving sinners. Thus, this Triune Faith begins for you in your Baptism when the Triune God becomes YOUR God and makes you HIS child. Then, baptized into Christ, you can learn what the Creed is all about because in Christ, everything in the Creed is FOR YOU.
The Creed teaches us first that God is our Father. He has created all things out of nothing. All that exists was made by His Fatherly hand. He has made and created you. He has given you all that you need for this body and life and He takes care of you and protects you. The Creed teaches us next that the Son became a man to save us from our sins. It teaches us, in the shortest summary of the Gospels, who our Lord Jesus is: the Son of God who took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin and suffered, died, and rose again for our salvation and who ascended into heaven and will come back to judge the living and the dead. The Creed teaches us how and in what way the Son has redeemed fallen humanity from the sin into which we threw ourselves. Finally, the Creed teaches that we receive all the blessings of forgiveness and life and salvation in the Christian church where the Holy Spirit is at work through His means of grace—the Word and Baptism and Absolution and Supper—to bring us Christ and the forgiveness of sins, to preserve us in this faith and to keep us through death until the day He will put life back into our bodies when Jesus returns. The Creed, quite simply, teaches us what sort of a God we have: the Father who created us, the Son who redeemed us and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, that is, makes us holy. Learn the Creed, dear Christians, meditate upon it's words, put them in your heart, open your Catechism and learn the meanings of these three Articles. Believe these words and trust in this Triune God who is all about YOU.
But as we meditate upon the Creed, we shall find that it too teaches us repentance! First off, we are to repent of being ungrateful for all that our heavenly Father gives us. We learn from the Creed that we are NOT random blips on the big blue marble who came from monkeys who came from fish who came from amoebas who came from floating space dust. No! You were created uniquely and specially by your Father in heaven. Repent therefore of thinking that you are the one who runs things! Learn to give thanks to God for ALL that He gives you each and every day from your very next breath to your family, home, job, and all of it! Let us next repent of so easily despising the salvation which is ours in Christ the Son! Repent of seeing your sins pile up and then trying to deal with them yourself! Learn to meditate upon Christ's coming into this world and hear that His coming into this world was to take away your sins! Repent of putting your own good works or attempts to live a good life up against your sins rather than putting against them the blood of Jesus shed for you! The Creed teaches us also to turn away from trying to find the Lord in our emotions or experiences or in places He has not promised to be. Rather, seek the Lord where His Holy Spirit is: in the holy, Christian church where His Word and means of grace are the instruments of His delivering forgiveness to you. Repent, ultimately, brothers and sisters in Christ, of living and believing in a way that denies the Triune God is FOR YOU in all things.
Let us learn again from the Creed just how the Lord works salvation for us! In short, the Father sends the Son to be our Savior and the Son promises to send the Spirit to bring us all that is Christ's. We see this at the Jordan River. Jesus is being baptized to fulfill all righteousness, that is, to take sins upon Himself so He may carry them to the cross. The Father speaks, “This is my Beloved Son!” The Spirit descends upon Jesus as a dove, signifying peace with God through the Son who has become a man to save us. The Father, in His grace and mercy, wills that we sinners be saved. The Son comes, obedient to His Father's will and “suffers under Pontius Pilate, is crucified, died and was buried.” In that death for sinners lies our salvation. In that sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus has shown us that God is FOR US and all that He does is done to save us. Then, victorious, He rises from the dead and ascends into heaven and pours out the Holy Spirit on the church. Not just invisibly, but the Holy Spirit goes forth with the preaching of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus' name. Where His faithful apostles and ministers preach, the Holy Spirit is sent and comes with that Word to turn the hearts of sinners back to God. Thus from the Father through the Son by the Spirit to YOU. There is the Triune God's working which is seen in the Baptism of Jesus and now comes to you in your Baptism, which brings you back to God.
In Your Baptism, the Holy Spirit is given to you. The Son delivers you HIS righteousness and God the Father calls YOU His Beloved Son. In Holy Absolution, the Spirit, through Christ's Word spoken by the Pastor, delivers the forgiveness of sins to you. In the Sacrament of the Altar, through the Words of Jesus, His body and blood are given us to eat and drink for forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Through these means of grace, the Holy Spirit does His work of delivering Jesus to us. And having Jesus, who has covered our sins, we now have access to the Father, as Jesus Himself said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” In short, the Spirit through the Word brings us to Christ and Christ brings us to the Father. The Father sends the Son who sends the Spirit who calls and gathers you to Christ who is the Way to the Father. It's all about the Triune God creating you, redeeming you, and making you holy so that in Christ you know who is the true and living God. THAT'S what the Creed is all about! Look to your baptism, to absolution, to the Supper to know that the Spirit is giving you Jesus, and that having Jesus, His Father is now YOUR Father too.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, learn the Creed! Learn it by heart. Learn what it means. Meditate upon its words and believe them. For in the Creed we are guarded from all the false gods out there that the devil would use to lead you astray and despair of God's goodness for you in Christ. The Creed defends us from such attacks by teaching and preaching to us the true and saving works of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that they work all things that they do for you and for your salvation. The Apostles' Creed was born from Jesus' command to baptize “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” As the church grew, it summarized what the Scriptures teach concerning the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Creed so that the Lord's baptized people would learn to believe who God is. Now, having been baptized into Christ, learn and know the Creed! Learn and believe that God is your Father who created and provides for you, that that the Son has redeemed you and will come again to bring you to eternal life, and that the Spirit has come upon you in your Baptism to bring you to Christ and still daily through His Word keeps you in the holy faith until the day you die and will then raise you from the dead. The Creed, dear Christians, is the Second Chief Part of the Catechism which teaches us what sort of a God we have, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who do all things FOR YOU and are therefore worthy of praise unto the ages of ages. Amen.