Pastor Jonah Sage preached Deuteronomy 6:4-5. He said that creeds provide guardrails for thriving relationships. Lector: Megan Shaffer
Pastor Jonah Sage preached Deuteronomy 6:4-5. He said that creeds provide guardrails for thriving relationships.
Lector: Megan Shaffer
I recently drove to Louisville with my wife and 4 year old
Going down brown station way to the 2nd street bridge, a car passed us way too fast.
Without thinking, I said, "that dude is FLYING right now."
Without thinking, my 4 year old said, "WOWWWW. How is he flying daddy?"
Did my son understand what I said? Yes...and no.
He understood the words, but he didn't understand what they meant.
Not a big deal, he's 4. I explained. He learned. On we go.
What would happen if I never explained that to him?
He might grow up thinking 2003 white Honda civics can fly.
What might happen if he grew up thinking that? Who knows?!
Confusion breeds chaos. Chaos creates carnage.
Carnage in relationships, in our internal worlds, in the decisions we make...
Confusion and chaos...what are we to do?
With children, we instruct them. I explained to Salem what happened.
It's cute when your 4 year old says something incorrect or goofy.
"Can't sleep FOR OUT an adult" Salem often says. But eventually, he must learn.
Because if you can't communicate clearly, you create confusion.
Confusion creates chaos. Chaos creates carnage.
We need the clarity of instruction, and this always begins with the basics.
Imagine if I handed an infant the complete works of Shakespeare
Said to her "here little one. This is all you need to know English. Good luck!"
Insanity. Instead, we speak English to her and put her in school to learn
Men and women over the centuries created rules and rhymes to master the basics so you can learn the rest.
I before E except after C (and sometimes Y). Those rules don't contain all you need to know to learn a language...but they do contain the basics that can hold the rest.
Often hear some version of "all I need is my Bible"
Many see mature Christianity as sitting in a solitary room just you and the Bible.
"This book holds all you need to know the language of God. Good luck!"
This is dangerous, fertile ground for confusion. And confusion creates chaos...
People have been thinking about this book for 3,000 years.
It contains 65,000 cross references, 1,500 years of history, written in 3 languages
This does not mean the Bible is impossible to understand, but it's complicated, and too complicated to go alone.
As people have searched the Scriptures for centuries, just like we do with human languages, they have developed tools to help us learn the grammar/language of God
We need help. We need the basics. We need fundamentals to help us learn.
Just like with English, people have created rules and rhymes to help us master the basics.
These tools are called Creeds, simple summaries of our beliefs.
Intended to be easy to memorize, offering clear boundaries for what we believe
They bring clarity to quiet our confusion, help us explore the scriptures with confidence.
We learned how to write Creeds by studying the Scriptures, filled with them.
These ancient creeds give us a window into the hearts of ancient believers, and it all began from one place. Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
-Deuteronomy 6:4-5
A few verses before this we receive the Ten Commandments.
They represent the guardrails for relationship with God and each other, rooted in the nature of God and humans.
These verses of chapter 6 are a summary of the entire covenant handed to us in Deuteronomy 5.
In just 16 words, we are given the essence of who God is and what he's up to.
In the Jewish tradition, these 2 verses are known as the SHEMA...because that's the first word that's said. Means "HEAR" or "LISTEN"
This is not an invitation, either. It's a command. LISTEN! And this is special in Hebrew
In contexts of relationships like this one, it essentially means OBEY.
Obey, O Israel! The Lord is alone...he is one...there is no one like him.
This simple, memorable statement is the first Creed in the Bible
It represents a summary of the first four of the Ten Commandments.
Don't worship any other gods, he is alone.
Don't make idols of other Gods, there is only one.
Don't use his name recklessly, he is holy.
LISTEN! OBEY! The Lord your God is one.
Notice who it's addressed to—an entire NATION.
This was not a prayer to memorize and repeat all alone.
It was a corporate confession of what we believe together.
They would repeat this, as a people, gathered together, every day. Usually twice.
The language here is a bit tricky, but the most favorable translation would be something like "God is OUR God, God is ONE."
So, this one line sets the tone for how we relate to God, and the second is like it
You must love the Lord your God with everything you have.
This is the heart of the entire Old Testament, and it formed the basis of everything they believed.
What's more, it formed the heart of what we believe.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he quotes the Shema
And he makes a point to explain how this not only shapes the way we relate to God, but also to each other.
The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these
-Mark 12:29-31
What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
Remember, the SHEMA is a summary of the 10 commandments.
So...to love your neighbor as yourself means you honor your parents, you don't murder, you don't commit adultery or steal. You don't lie about other people, and you don't wish for what other people had. Do you see?
The life of faith can be overwhelming. It can be confusing.
We need guides to help us begin with the basics. So, the Lord gave us a Creed.
Our ancestors recited it daily, because within it everything we could grow to learn was contained.
It was like a seed of faith. From it could grow a great oak of righteousness.
This simple creed tells us where to begin.
There is one God, and he made us for a relationship. With him and others.
It teaches us how to relate to him, and how to relate to each other.
It creates for us a fence of safety, a guardrail, to keep us from going into dangerous places, places of confusion, chaos, and carnage.
This is the essence of the title of our series Orthodoxy.
To be "orthodox" is to agree with the guardrails.
Do we agree with them in order to be right? In order for God to love us?
No, not at all. We agree with them as a way of recognizing we are loved already.
They are guardrails to help us have thriving relationships.
SO let's summarize. What is a creed?
Simple. Just a few words and lines. It's basic in that it's foundational.
Everything is built off of it.
Memorable. It sticks with us, something we can refer to.
Summary. It contains incredible depth. Just like a fence encloses a huge yard...it sets the boundaries so we can safely explore.
If someone comes and says "there are multiple Gods" we recite the SHEMA. That's not a safe place for us to play. That belief is not good for our relationships.
No confusion here. Simple and memorable. It's a clear antidote to confusion.
And it's compelling—this is for the sake of our thriving.
Someone says "just lie to your boss..." that's outside of the fence, that won't get us where we want to go.
Fundamentally, the SHEMA is about relationships.
Everything God created exists in service of relationships.
Doctrine, Orthodoxy, is in service of relationships.
The more we grow in our understanding of God's design, the better we live as humans
Just like children becoming more sophisticated with language are better able to navigate a confusing world, so it is in the life of faith.
This became even more clear in the early church, because a unique structure was developed for Christian creeds. We aren't the only ones who do this you know!
Early Christian creeds, like the NICENE CREED we're about to recite together, are all structured around God's relational nature, the TRINITY.
In there, we learn what God is like.
We learn how we can come to him—through the second person of the Trinity, JesusGod from God, light from light, true God from true God.
He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate
For OUR SAKE, he was crucified, died, and was buried.
On the third day HE ROSE AGAIN...do you see?
Every week, deeper and deeper into our bones these truths sink so that, deeper and deeper, we may learn to live them.
Creeds are thus guardrails for thriving relationships.
Do we recite them to sound old and cool?
No. We recite them to remember them.
Do we remember them so we can win doctrinal arguments?
NO. We remember them so we can embody them for the sake of relationships.
Do you want to know God?
Then you must learn what he is like.
Do you want healthier relationships?
Then you must learn how HE designed them to work
Perhaps you can open the Bible and figure it all out on your own...but oh Christian that road is dangerous.
That's not how God has instructed us to learn what he's like...we learn what he's like from those who are older, just like children, and we learn what he's like by rooting ourselves in simple, memorable rules and rhymes. Creeds.
Guardrails for thriving relationships.
Let's pray.