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This sermon was preached by The Rev. Keith Cardwell at Swift Presbyterian Church.

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June 3, 2018 | Second Sunday after Pentecost

We Believe
A look at the Nicene Creed
John 6:60–71

W E BEGIN A SERIES of three sermons on the Nicene Creed. I have reasons for this.

First, the Nicene Creed is one of the creeds of the PCUSA. Second, the Nicene Creed is the most widely used creed in the Christian church. The Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as several protestant denominations. Lastly, in all the years I’ve been preaching, I have never once covered the Nicene Creed in my sermons.

Traditionally, the Nicene Creed is proclaimed/affirmed on Communion Sundays. It is more specific about the person of Christ, who comes to us in this sacrament with his body and blood. <http://www.goodshepherdmankato.org/resources/pastoral-care/whywedothat_creeds.pdf> That’s why we use the Nicene Creed here at Swift the first Sunday each month.

For hundreds of years after the death of Christ the early church leaders write letters back and forth about all kinds of practical and theological issues. The early church was a mess. There were pretty much two things they could agree on, the practice of baptism, and the practice of coming to the table to share the bread and wine.

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CONSTANTINE, the Roman emperor, converts to Christianity in the 4th century. and the more he studies it, the more he realizes that church leaders disagree with each other on key issues. Particularly one question: Was Jesus God?

There’s a theologian named Arius and he sets forth an argument that Jesus is not equal with God the Creator. In practical terms, he depicts Jesus as God-like, but not totally God. His theology was actually a quite common through the Mediterranean world. The people who ascribed to it were known as Arians. But this theology runs smack into conflict with the Hebrew Scriptures which are quite clear: there is no God but God. There are no such things as demigods or God-like creatures. So Jesus is either God or Jesus is not God. There’s no halfway. Now, for us that seems self evident. But then, we have that affirmation from what took place 1700 years ago.

Emperor Constantine calls a meeting of all the Christian bishops. About 300 show up in Nicea (now in Turkey) and Constantine tells them they have two main jobs:

■ Figure out the date of Easter, because no one is celebrating it at the same time, and
■ figure out if Jesus is God.

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WHAT COMES OUT of that hotly deliberated council is the Nicene Creed. We’ll look more, next week into who we affirm Jesus to be. Today, let’s look at the opening words.

The first word of the Nicene Creed is “we”. The Nicene Creed was not and is not the expression of an individual, but of the corporate body of Christ, the church.

The “we” of the Creed reminds us that the faith we confess is “our” faith, not primarily “my” faith. It expresses what “we” believe and not, first of all, what “I” believe. From its very first word, then, the Nicene Creed expresses the communal character of our faith.

“We believe.” The Greek word meaning “believe” can even be translated “trust” or “have faith.” Those who would follow after Christ must join with others who also believe. It is the faith one shares with others. You and I are not free to modify, restructure, or change the faith in order to suit our tastes. Christianity is not an individualistic religion. It is personal, yes, but not individualistic.

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“WE BELIEVE.” The “we” of the creed’s opening statement demands unity and implies obligation and responsibility to one’s neighbor. I am sure you realize that the trend of society and culture today is to be more and more impersonal. More and more self-focused. Isolation and individualism is a real problem. It has become very hard to forge bonds of attachment to, or cooperate with, other people.

We ignore the pain of families forcibly separated at the border. We are unresponsive to killing of school children. We blame others for their lack of health care, food, shelter, financial success. We don’t want our money used to support someone else’s kids’ education. We don’t care about the Palestinian Christians and their struggles against the nation of Israel.

This creed reminds us we are all in this together. We have a responsibility, because of Christ, to each other. “We believe.” “We trust.” “We have faith.” Words and actions are always connected.

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ACCORDING TO THE CREED, there can be no separation or division between what we believe and how we live. To believe is to follow. We follow the one God the Father Almighty, Who is the maker of all things.

■ “We believe.” ■ “We trust.” ■ “We have faith.”

This is not just a group of ideas, but the Gospel because all of it, from beginning to end, is a summary of the Gospel message. If you know the Creed, then you know the Gospel. As Peter put it in our Scripture reading: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

There you have it — to have the Gospel, as expressed in the Creed, is to have words of life.

— Keith Cardwell

John 6:60–71
Holy Bible, New International Version

Many Disciples Desert Jesus
⁶⁰On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you — they are full of the Spirit^[^a^] and life. ⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

— This is the Word of the LORD.

Footnotes:

a. John 6:63 Or are Spirit; or are spirit

— AFFIRMATION OF FAITH —
The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.