The past few weeks we’ve been breaking down what we confess (meaning, what we admit we believe) when we say the Apostles’ Creed. These are our essential Christian beliefs at the most basic level. If you remove these statements from your actual beliefs, then you no longer have a distinctively Christian faith. You may have a mixture of your own ideas, your culture’s beliefs, and some Christian thinking which you find agreeable. The word for this is syncretism. It is the same as mixing two incompatible religions. This Creed and other Biblical creeds help us weed this out in our thinking.
It comes as no surprise to anyone from Grace Community Church that we believe in the forgiveness of sins. It is something we refer to nearly every Sunday in some way. Some Sundays it is mentioned in the music, the prayers, and the sermon. It certainly is the part of communion when we celebrate it. Is it any shock or surprise to say with believers through ages, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins”?
But friends, we should back up and be thunderstruck at the audaciousness of the claims of the Apostles’ Creed. The confession of the forgiveness of sins is as radical an idea in our day and time as the idea that God created the universe, and that Jesus rose visibly and bodily from the dead. To whatever degree the average person believes in “sin”, it isn’t an offense against God.
If you don’t believe me, try this experiment: call something a “sin”. Don’t tell them it is wrong or bad; tell them it is a sin. Point out to them that God will be offended and you will be in trouble - it’s a sin. I hope you have a heat shield, because you will find out just how hot and angry people can get when we introduce the concept of sin. It shouldn’t surprise us much, because if we are honest, we don’t like having our “issues” called “sins,” either.
In the Creed, we are confessing that there is something called “sin”, and it is not merely a psychological construct of human communities. Some think that societies erect taboos for reasons of their own, and give dreadful names and consequences for reasons that make sense to that culture. The Creed confesses that sin is about forgiveness from God. We are confessing that sin actually affects the relationship between humans and their Creator. Sin is not merely a violation of norms of religious and civil communities. God is offended and angry at sin. It is a complete rebellion against God’s righteous authority to define good and evil. It is cosmic revolution; it is seeking the overthrow of God our King.
Fortunately, we don’t merely admit that sin exists, and that it is evil. We are confessing that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven. Once again, we aren’t just creating a mental game to help us calm our guilt. Before God our guilt no longer exists. The Lord God has forgiven our sins in Jesus Christ.
There is much in modern thought about the power of forgiveness apart from any belief in God. Forgiving yourself is important. Forgiving others sets you free. But in this thinking notice two flaws in an otherwise hopeful conversation. It’s all about you. You will be a better adjusted person if you forgive yourself. You will be free if you forgive others. Me Me Me Me Me Me….once again, it’s all about me.
Let the forgiveness of your sins in Jesus Christ be the basis of the absolution of your sins (read Psalm 32 and Psalm 51). You can’t send yourself to hell. Offending God will send you to hell. You need God’s forgiveness. You have it totally in Jesus Christ. You don’t need to forgive yourself. If God has forgiven you there is no reason to hold something against yourself. You simply aren’t God!
Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins? Take some time to pray and praise God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. You can be one of the freest people alive. You are a sinner, but you are forgiven in Jesus Christ. Your debt is paid and your burden lifted off of you. This is what all Christians believe.
In Him,
Don