We believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is love.
When we say, "We believe, we are emphasizing that we believe, together with others in the fellowship of faith.
This fellowship of faith includes the whole people of God in every time and every place. It is the people of God, down through the ages as well as the people of God in all the places.
* We are thinking here in terms of the great fellowship of faith which has rejoiced in the goodness and mercy of God down through the centuries of the Church's history: "Thy hand, O God, has guided Thy flock from age to age."
* We are also thinking in terms of the whole Church throughout the world. Whatever divisions, conflicts and tensions there are in today's world, it is still gloriously true that "in Christ, there is no East or West, in Him no South or North, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth."
"We believe" - Here, we are thinking of the whole people of God, a great fellowship of faith down the ages and across the world.
"We believe" - Here, we are reminded that we must learn to look beyond the limitations of our congregation and our own nation. we must learn to look beyond the limitations of the Church in our own time. We must allow our thoughts to grow in size as we think of all that God has done down through the centuries. We must allow the Spirit of God to increase our faith as we consider all that the Lord is doing in different parts of the world today.
* Believing together means exploring our Christian Faith together. It means seeking to understand more fully the foundations of the Christian Faith.
* Believing together means looking more closely - together - at the faith first proclaimed by the apostles, the Gospel which we find in the Scriptures, which speak to us of Jesus Christ.
* Believing together, we commit ourselves to discovering more of the richness of "our common salvation" (Jude 3), the salvation which God has given to each of us through faith in Jesus Christ.
As we turn to the Word of God, seeking to understand all that is meant by salvation in Jesus Christ, we will discover that this is not merely a matter of 'your faith' or my faith.'
Neither you nor I have a part in deciding what is meant by "Christian faith."
We can only come to the Word of God to be taught. We do not bring any ideas of our own. We come to the Scriptures to learn what it means to believe in Jesus Christ.
We do not come with our minds cluttered up with thoughts of our own. We come ready to hear and receive what the Lord is saying to us. We come to receive instruction in "the faith which was once for all delivered to the people of God" (Jude 3). We come to receive teaching from the Scriptures, to be taught the faith which is "according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The 'faith' which we will discover in the Bible is a faith which is centred on Jesus Christ, a faith which focuses its chief attention on His death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
This faith is the faith of the Gospel, the unchanging Gospel, the Gospel which is as relevant today as it was in the days of the apostles.
This Gospel is so profound that even the most mature minds find that they are out of their depth.
It is also so simple that even a child can grasp its basic message: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."
As we seek to understand the Christian Faith, we must allow the love of Jesus Christ to touch our hearts.
Real knowledge of God is not merely an increase in head-knowledge. It is a growing love for the Saviour.
At both the outset and every stage of our study of the Christian Faith, we must learn to say to the Lord, "The greatest thing in all the world is knowing You, loving You, serving You. We want to know You more, to love you more, to serve You more."
This is the attitude for which we must pray, as we seek to learn from God's Word that we might live for God's glory.
When God sees, in us, this heartfelt desire to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him, He will surely use us mightily in His service.
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We believe in one God (Romans 5:1-11; Romans 10:9-13; Romans 15:7-13)
The Statement is made up of five sections:
(i) We believe in one God;
(ii) We praise God the Father;
(iii) We proclaim (or confess) Jesus Christ, God the Son;
(iv) We trust God the Holy Spirit;
(v) We rejoice in the gift of eternal life.
Our concern here is not so much with the 'what' of belief. We are thinking more about the 'how' of believing - faith as belief, praise, confession, trust and rejoicing.
The Statement emphasizes the importance of a living faith, a life-changing relationship with God.
As we discover what it means to have faith, we will discover that faith is a many-sided thing.
(i) Faith as belief
Faith means believing the truth of the Gospel. It means believing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins. It means believing that our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.
Christian faith is not merely an optimistic feeling about life.
It is faith in Jesus Christ. It means believing what God has said in His Word concerning Jesus Christ.
If we claim to be Christians, we cannot believe whatever we like. we must believe what the Bible tells us about Jesus.
The direct connection between believing the Bible and believing in Jesus Christ is stressed in the hymn: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."
How do we know that Jesus loves us? - It's because "the Bible tells us so."Without the Bible, we would not know of Jesus.
This is the first thing which must be said about Christian faith. It means believing the Bible's teaching concerning Jesus Christ.
We are not at liberty to disregard the Bible and still claim to be Christians.
When we come to the Bible, we must come with the humble attitude which says, "I believe Your Word. I gladly receive the truth which it teaches concerning Your Son, my Saviour, Jesus Christ."
(ii) Faith as praise
Here, we might stress the importance of the shared life of God's people. as we worship together, we hear and receive the message of the Gospel.
Within the context of worship, we receive teaching from God's Word.Gathered together to offer praise to God, we learn what it means to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will worship Him, together His people. Where there is faith in Jesus Christ, there will also be a commitment to worshipping Him.
The importance of gathering together for worship may be seen when we ask two questions:
(a) How do we come to faith? (b) How do we grow in faith?
(a) How do we come to faith?
In one sense, God brings us to faith in many different ways.
Some have found Christ during their childhood. Some have come to Christ in later life.
Some have been broth in Christ. Some have come to faith only after a long struggle.
In another sense, it should be emphasized that God has one way of bringing us to faith: Jesus Christ - He is the Way. He is the true and living Way.
For all Christians, Jesus Christ is the focus of our faith.
Think back over your own life. How have you come to faith?
I'm sure that, for most of us, worship in the Lord's House has played an important part in our finding Jesus Christ. The Lord works in our lives as we gather together to worship Him.
(b) How do we grow in faith?
here, the emphasis on faith as praise becomes even stronger. We grow in faith as we learn to praise the Lord. Sunday-by-Sunday, we gather for worship. we hear the Word of the Lord together. we are strengthened in faith through our fellowship with God's people.
(iii) Faith as trust
Faith means trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. It means putting our trust in Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
We no longer trust in our own good works - our morality and our religion - to save us. We trust in Jesus to save us.
Looking to Jesus - the Saviour who died for us - we find that He is absolutely trustworthy, completely reliable and thoroughly dependable.
Trust in the Lord is something which grows stronger and stronger as we learn more of the Lord's faithful love for us.
We sometimes say, "I trusted the Lord on such-and-such a date so many years ago." Now, that may have been the beginning of the life of faith, but it is not the end of trusting the lord.
trusting Christ is a life-long experience. we come to trust Him more fully as we discover more of the sheer wonder of His great love for us.
(iv) Faith as confession
Faith as trust and faith as confession are vitally related to each other.
Confessing that 'Jesus is Lord' is one way of saying that Jesus is absolutely trustworthy. It is one way of saying that we can confidently put our trust in Jesus for salvation.
Confessing our faith is an essential part of having faith. Faith is not a purely private thing. If you have a real faith in Jesus Christ, you will want to share it with other people. You will want to let them know what the Lord has done for you.
Faith is not merely something which you believe with your mind. Real faith makes a difference. It will change your life. It will make you a different person.
Are you learning to confess Christ before men? Are you learning to say, with boldness, "I am not ashamed of he Gospel of Christ"?
This is a most important aspect of having faith in Jesus Christ. The faith which we have is a faith to be shared.
(v) Faith as rejoicing
Faith in Jesus Christ is not a kill-joy affair. Jesus made it clear that the people who are truly happy are the people who follow Him.
Following Jesus is the secret of happiness.
Faith does not only affect the mind. It involves a moving of the heart.
John Wesley described his conversion in this way: My heart was "strangely warmed."
John Calvin made the same point: "The Word of God is not received by faith if it flits about in the top of the brain without taking root in the depth of the heart."
The faith which rejoices in the Lord is not a superficial thing, which makes no difference to the way in which we face life's difficulties.
True faith brings lasting joy. True faith enables us to face life's problems - with joy.
When we feel like giving up, the joy of the Lord will be our strength. When everything seems to be getting on top of us, we must - by looking in faith to Jesus our Lord - rise above our circumstances and say, "I will rejoice, for Christ has made me glad."
May God grant that each of us will have that real faith, that living faith, which makes all the difference in our lives.
With such a faith, we will truly glorify the Lord.
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We believe in one God (1 Kings 18:17-40; Acts 17:16-34)
In the Old Testament, there is a continuing conflict between the one true God and the false gods. It is the contrast between the living God and the dead gods, worshipped by idolaters.
* We see this situation of conflict in the days of Moses.
Pharaoh and the people of Egypt worshipped false gods. Moses came in the Name of the one true God, the living God, who, in love, was about to deliver His people, Israel, from their oppression and affliction in Egypt.
When Moses, God's special messenger, spoke to Pharaoh, there was a a great conflict between the true and living God and man-made idols. The victory was won by the Lord.
All of this happened a long time ago. We must not, however, write it off as a "Once upon a time ... " story which has no relevance for our life today.
Is not our life today very similar to life in Egypt under Pharaoh?
Have we not become so comfortable with the man-made idols of this world? Have we not become so attuned to the world's way of thinking that we worship the things of this world rather than the Creator of the world?
There is still a conflict today. It is the conflict between the way of the Lord and the way of the world.
If we say, "We believe in one God", we must go the way of the Lord and not the way of the world.
* Later on in the Old Testament, we find a similar conflict in the days of Elijah.
It is the conflict between God and Baal.
Again, the victory was won by the Lord.
It is better to be one man with the Lord on your side than to be four hundred and fifty prophets whose 'god' is nothing at all.
In our society, many people pursue worldly ambition with no thought for God and no desire to do His will.
Those who earnestly seek to do the Lord's will may be few in number, but they have the wonderful assurance that "God is still on the throne."
* To be on the Lord's side is to be on the victory side. This is the message of the story of David and Goliath.
Goliath seemed to have all the advantages. David seemed to have all the disadvantages.
This, however, was to overlook one thing or one Person - God. The God of Israel, the true and living God, was greater than the false gods of the Philistines. The victory of David over Goliath simply underlined this point. The victory is the Lord's.
In our day, there is no wisdom in going the world's way. It is the way of emptiness. It is the way that will lead further and further away from the Lord.
The story of a life lived without God is not the story of success. It is the story of failure - a life which has failed to achieve its true purpose.
What is the purpose of your life? Are you living for yourself? Is 'self' your god? Or, are you living for the Lord, seeking to honour Him and glorify Him? These are the questions we must ask ourselves.
When we say, "We believe in one God", we must face the challenge of commitment: Do I serve the Lord and Him only? Or, am I more concerned with serving my own interests?
* In the New Testament, we read of Paul going to Athens, a "city ... full of idols" (Acts 17:16).
The situation in Athens has been described thus: "Athenians ... must have needed something equivalent to the Yellow Pages just to keep tabs on the many deities already represented in their city" (Don Richardson, Eternity in their Hearts, p. 23).
Imagine their astonishment when Paul came along with yet another 'god'! They must have been amazed that another 'god' had been brought into Athens, the god capital of the world. It must have seemed preposterous that Paul should bring yet another 'god' into this city which had so many 'gods' already.
That's the way it may have seemed to the Athenians. The truth of the matter was that Paul did not bring along another 'god' - just like all the others.
He spoke not of just another 'god, who was good for nothing. he proclaimed the true God, the living God, the God of love, God the Creator, the God who, in love, never ceases to care for His creation.
The Athenians had never known a God like that!
The God of the Bible, the God who redeemed His people from slavery in Egypt, the God who enabled His prophets and apostles to speak with mighty power, is still our God today.
"Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There's nothing that He cannot do for me, for you. That's true!"
"God can do anything, anything, anything. God can do anything but fail."
Whenever we feel that everything is getting on top of us, we must think of what it means to say, "We believe in one God."
We must remember that He is the loving God. He is the God who brings us to life, when we are spiritually dead.
We must remember that He is the God of love.
* The Lord loves us with a powerful love.
His love is able to lift us out of despondency and give us a real sense of His victory. Through this powerful love of the Lord, we are able to say, "Love lifted me."
When nothing else was working for us, the powerful love of the Lord gave us the strength to triumph over our difficult circumstances.
* The Lord loves us with a purposeful love.
Whatever is going on in your life right now, never doubt that God has a purpose for you. Never doubt that His purpose is a purpose of love.
God is not taking you round in circles. He is leading you on to eternal glory.
You may not understand what's going on, but never forget this: God knows what he's doing with you!
* The Lord loves us with a faithful love.
Are you ashamed of the number of times you have let the Lord down? That seems to be the story of your life and my life. We let Him down over and over again. This seems to be the never-ending story of our lives.
There is, however, another never-ending story. This time, it really is a never-ending story! It's the story of God's faithfulness. He will never let us down. No matter how often we let Him down, He will never let us down.
Isn't that amazing?
We expect God to treat us the way we treat Him, but He doesn't! He blesses us far beyond our deserving. What a great God he is!
"How good is the God we adore! - Our faithful, unchangeable Friend. His love is as great as His power and knows neither measure nor end."
Whenever we say, "We believe in one God", let it not be an empty statement, which leaves us thinking of God as "the unknown God."
Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are able to say, with real conviction, "We believe in the living God, the God of love. We rejoice in His love - powerful, purposeful and faithful love."
He is not the unknown God. He is the God who has made Himself known. He has not kept His distance from us. he has come near to us in Jesus Christ. He has not kept His silence. He has spoken to His Word of love - Jesus Christ, the living Word of God.
"We believe in one God." How wonderful this is! What a joy there is in saying, "This is my God, the living God, the God of love."
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We believe in one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is love (Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17).
Here, we consider the teaching of the Scriptures concerning God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
As we consider this deep message, we must allow God Himself to draw near, in love, and lead us to offer praise to Him: praising “God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.”
We are not required to understand fully what it means to confess our faith in God as “God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.”
We are called to enter into the blessedness which reaches out to us from the heart of the God of love, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We are not required to understand all that it means to say, “We believe in one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is love.”
We are called to receive and enjoy the love of God - the love of the Father who so loved the world that He gave His only Son for us, the love of the Son who loved us and gave Himself for us, the love of the Holy Spirit who fills our hearts with God’s love.
As we explore what the Word of God says to us about God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, our concern is not with increasing our head-knowledge.
Rather, we seek to grow in our heartfelt appreciation of the love of God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Our desire must always be for a deeper experience of the love of God.
We must be constantly seeking to say, more and more truly, from our hearts: “Father (Jesus, Spirit), we adore You, Lay our live before You, How we love You!”
As we think of the Bible’s teaching regarding God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our thoughts may well turn to two well-known Bible passages - the first, the words of the risen Christ; and the second, the words of the Apostle Paul.
After His resurrection and immediately before His ascension to the Father’s right hand, Jesus sent His disciples out into the world to make disciples. he gave them authority to preach, teach and baptize. This ministry was to be carried out “in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:1.
This ministry was to be a ministry of blessing. In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the apostles were to bring blessing to all nations. This blessing, the blessing of the gospel, may be summed up well in the words of the Apostle Paul: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). This blessing may be summed up in one word: love.
Whether we look at God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit, the message remains the same: love. From the heart of God, we hear this message: “I love you.”
* The Father says to us, “I love you. I gave My Son for You.”
* The Son says to us, “I love you. I died on the Cross for you.”
* The Spirit says to us, “I love you and I fill your heart with love, superabundant love, overflowing love, divine love, the love of God.
- As we contemplate the love of God, what will our response be? How can you and I even think about saying “No” to the love of the Father? Can we even begin to imagine a love more total, more generous, more passionate, more committed than the love of the Father? Do you not find that your heart is deeply moved as you think about such love, wonderful love, the amazing love of God the Father for us?
- Think, too, of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ - “There is no love like the love of Jesus”, “No one ever cared for me like Jesus.”
When the love of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, really touches our hearts, we will truly say from the heart: “Yes, Jesus loves me”, “I am so glad that Jesus loves me.”
If we catch even the slightest glimpse of the love of Jesus Christ for us, the love which took Him to the Cross for us, the love which kept Him on the Cross for us, we will say, with real depth of love for Him, “Jesus’ love is very wonderful. It’s so high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t under it, so wide you can’t get round it, O wonderful love!”
- Think, also, of the love of the Holy Spirit. He is the Comforter, the One who speaks to our hearts of the love of Jesus.
How do we find our way to the Cross? - We are led to the Cross by the Spirit of love.
How do we find our way to the Saviour? - We are led to Him by the Spirit of love.
The Spirit of love leads us to loving Saviour, and, once we have come to the loving Saviour, our hearts are filled with praise to the Father of love.
* This is the Good News: God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is mightily at work within us that we might enjoy a richer, deeper and fuller experience of the love, the only love which can make our lives complete - “the great love of God, revealed in the Son” (Church Hymnary, 415), the love which comes to us with a declaration of love - “I love you” - and a call to love - “Do you love Me?”
May our response be “Yes Lord, you know that we love You.”
Here, we consider the teaching of the Scriptures concerning God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
As we consider this deep message, we must allow God Himself to draw near, in love, and lead us to offer praise to Him: praising “God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.”
We are not required to understand fully what it means to confess our faith in God as “God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.”
We are called to enter into the blessedness which reaches out to us from the heart of the God of love, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We are not required to understand all that it means to say, “We believe in one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is love.”
We are called to receive and enjoy the love of God - the love of the Father who so loved the world that He gave His only Son for us, the love of the Son who loved us and gave Himself for us, the love of the Holy Spirit who fills our hearts with God’s love.
As we explore what the Word of God says to us about God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, our concern is not with increasing our head-knowledge.
Rather, we seek to grow in our heartfelt appreciation of the love of God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Our desire must always be for a deeper experience of the love of God.
We must be constantly seeking to say, more and more truly, from our hearts: “Father (Jesus, Spirit), we adore You, Lay our live before You, How we love You!”
As we think of the Bible’s teaching regarding God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our thoughts may well turn to two well-known Bible passages - the first, the words of the risen Christ; and the second, the words of the Apostle Paul.
After His resurrection and immediately before His ascension to the Father’s right hand, Jesus sent His disciples out into the world to make disciples. he gave them authority to preach, teach and baptize. This ministry was to be carried out “in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:1.
This ministry was to be a ministry of blessing. In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the apostles were to bring blessing to all nations. This blessing, the blessing of the gospel, may be summed up well in the words of the Apostle Paul: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). This blessing may be summed up in one word: love.
Whether we look at God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit, the message remains the same: love. From the heart of God, we hear this message: “I love you.”
* The Father says to us, “I love you. I gave My Son for You.”
* The Son says to us, “I love you. I died on the Cross for you.”
* The Spirit says to us, “I love you and I fill your heart with love, superabundant love, overflowing love, divine love, the love of God.
- As we contemplate the love of God, what will our response be? How can you and I even think about saying “No” to the love of the Father? Can we even begin to imagine a love more total, more generous, more passionate, more committed than the love of the Father? Do you not find that your heart is deeply moved as you think about such love, wonderful love, the amazing love of God the Father for us?
- Think, too, of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ - “There is no love like the love of Jesus”, “No one ever cared for me like Jesus.”
When the love of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, really touches our hearts, we will truly say from the heart: “Yes, Jesus loves me”, “I am so glad that Jesus loves me.”
If we catch even the slightest glimpse of the love of Jesus Christ for us, the love which took Him to the Cross for us, the love which kept Him on the Cross for us, we will say, with real depth of love for Him, “Jesus’ love is very wonderful. It’s so high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t under it, so wide you can’t get round it, O wonderful love!”
- Think, also, of the love of the Holy Spirit. He is the Comforter, the One who speaks to our hearts of the love of Jesus.
How do we find our way to the Cross? - We are led to the Cross by the Spirit of love.
How do we find our way to the Saviour? - We are led to Him by the Spirit of love.
The Spirit of love leads us to loving Saviour, and, once we have come to the loving Saviour, our hearts are filled with praise to the Father of love.
* This is the Good News: God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is mightily at work within us that we might enjoy a richer, deeper and fuller experience of the love, the only love which can make our lives complete - “the great love of God, revealed in the Son” (Church Hymnary, 415), the love which comes to us with a declaration of love - “I love you” - and a call to love - “Do you love Me?”
May our response be “Yes Lord, you know that we love You.”
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