Out of Neutral | Grace Baptist Church

A Beginner’s Guide to the Apostles’ Creed

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b23a868a65e24fb5da70bb/501e3355-af92-46de-9bb3-3ade27e5d440/OON+m12w1+Thumbnail.png?format=1000w] The rate of change in our society continues to speed up, and there is both more information and more error in our world all the time. At a time like this, history can serve as an anchor and test of whether we have strayed from the truth. The Apostles’ Creed is one of the oldest confessions of Christian faith and one of the three creeds that have been almost universally affirmed by all branches of the church for more than 1600 years. If someone tells you, Christians don’t agree about anything, point them to the Apostles’ Creed. You can recite it in less than a minute, but it gives a short summary of Christian belief that’s been used from the earliest times to disciple converts. Let’s break down the three sections, each of which begins with a member of the Trinity. SECTION 1 INTRODUCES US TO THE NATURE OF GOD > I believe in God, the Father almighty, > > creator of heaven and earth. People sometimes think that any belief in God qualifies a person for heaven, but in the ancient world, almost everyone believed in some kind of god. The question was whether a person trusted in the true God. The first statement in the creed requires individual, personal faith in the God who is Father, almighty, and creator. Calling God Father here describes His relationship to the Son, not so much His relationship to us. While it is also true that the Bible calls God our Father, this title prepares us to see God as a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is all-powerful and so able to accomplish all that He purposes. As creator, He is the maker and therefore the rightful ruler of heaven and earth. And “heaven and earth” are listed like “night and day” or “east to west,” giving two opposites as a way of describing everything in between. God is the creator of all things. SECTION 2 TELLS THE STORY OF JESUS > I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, > > who was conceived by the Holy Spirit > > and born of the virgin Mary. > > He suffered under Pontius Pilate, > > was crucified, died, and was buried; > > he descended to hell. > > The third day he rose again from the dead. > > He ascended to heaven > > and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. > > From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. To be a Christian is to trust in Jesus as Christ, Son, and Lord. Christ simply means anointed one, the promised Messiah. To call Jesus “Son” doesn’t just mean that He’s a child of God the way that all believers are. Jesus is the “only Son,” the second member of the Godhead, who is Himself divine and uniquely related to God the Father. Jesus is our Lord in that He’s the one to whom all believers owe their allegiance and commitment. The story that follows describes why. Jesus entered our world and took on a human nature through the miracle of the Holy Spirit who conceived Him and in the womb of the virgin Mary who bore Him. Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit ensured that He took on a full human nature without inheriting our sin nature. Belief in this event is a good test of a person’s confidence in the miraculous. Naming Pontius Pilate as the one under whom Jesus suffered crucifixion situates Jesus’ story in time and place as real, verifiable history. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are taken almost directly from 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, but the “descent into hell” is confusing and disputed. The problem stems from the fact that both the Latin and Greek words behind the English translation simply mean the realm of the dead for both the righteous and unrighteous, not the place of eternal torment that we call hell. After His resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven where He reigns with the Father until He returns to judge the world. When someone says they believe in Jesus, this summary helps determine whether they believe what Scripture teaches about Him. SECTION 3 AFFIRMS THE RESULTS OF SALVATION > I believe in the Holy Spirit, > > the holy catholic church, > > the communion of saints, > > the forgiveness of sins, > > the resurrection of the body, > > and the life everlasting. Amen. The final section begins with faith in God the Spirit. His name highlights His holiness, and He is the one who applies the benefits of salvation to believers. On the Day of Pentecost, He gave birth to the church. The catholic church here doesn’t mean the Roman Catholic denomination, but rather the universal church made up of all believers. The communion of saints describes the relational sharing of believers together in community. The creed gives no place for a person who believes in Jesus but doesn’t believe in the church or the need to share in fellowship with other believers. The section ends with three aspects of our salvation: forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life. The resurrection of the body is the one that people most often ignore. People think of “going to heaven,” but the reality is that our bodies will be raised and made new and more glorious. We have a great salvation. As you affirm the Apostles’ Creed, you stand in agreement with Christian truths that have been taught and recited for hundreds of years in congregations around the globe. As you read through it, reflect on why these truths in particular were seen as so primary. Take any statement you’re unsure about back to Scripture. And consider how the Apostles’ Creed could help you teach your children and confirm their understanding of our faith. In awe of Him, Paul

Is “No Creed but the Bible” Biblical?

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b23a868a65e24fb5da70bb/7366d8e4-f605-4e3c-a5ad-484d2dcd0a4b/OON+m11w4+Thumbnail.png?format=1000w] Some things sound so spiritual we assume they must be true. * “We believe in the Bible, not creeds.” * “We don’t want to be bound by the traditions of men!” * “We believe in Scripture alone.” Each of these statements contains a grain of truth but wrongly understood can lay the groundwork for theologically naïve thinking. Without learning from the creeds, we can make false conclusions from the truths of Scripture. HOW WHAT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA WENT WRONG The phrase “No creed but the Bible” became popular in the 19th-century American Restoration Movement. It was a time of religious revival in the United States, and leaders emerged believing it was an opportunity to do away with denominations and unite the church around the Scriptures once and for all. They thought that all that was keeping believers from standing together was the creeds and confessions of their history. The desire for unity and commitment to the Scriptures was admirable, but it naively assumed that everyone would read the Bible the same way. In fact, the movement itself split in 1906 over whether instruments should be used in worship and whether missionary societies could be used to advance the gospel. What became clear was that the leaders in this movement did, in fact, have a creed, but they just hadn’t articulated it in writing. WHAT’S WRONG WITH “NO CREED BUT THE BIBLE”? The division of the Restoration Movement highlights the problem with ignoring or eliminating creeds. Creeds are just statements attempting to summarize the Bible’s teachings. Even if you reject written creeds, everyone still has a set of beliefs that guide their actions and decisions. Evaluating your beliefs in light of what a consensus of church leaders has expressed is an important way to clarify whether you’ve correctly understood the Scriptures. Creeds have also been used to protect the church against false teaching. If you and another person disagree about what the Bible teaches in a particular area, do you just assume that they’re wrong? Or do you give up your own position and assume they’re right? Disagreement should force us back to the Scriptures, but creeds and confessions show us what a majority of the church has believed. The church can, of course, be wrong, and God might reveal new insights to you from His Word, but surely that’s the exception, not the rule, which is why humility is essential. If you’re excited about what the Holy Spirit is teaching you through the Bible, you should be all the more excited about what the Holy Spirit has been teaching His people from the Scriptures throughout history. ARE CREEDS BIBLICAL? The Bible itself contains what scholars believe are simple creeds. Deuteronomy 6:4 is probably the oldest: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Jews have been putting these words on their doorframes for thousands of years as a short summary of their faith. Their Assyrian or Egyptian neighbours might hear some of the Bible’s teachings and be impressed by them, but the creed would help clarify where they stood. They could ask, “Do you believe that the LORD our God is one, or do you believe in multiple gods or another god altogether?” In the New Testament, many believe, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 functioned in a similar way. Paul writes: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. Notice that he identifies these words “as of first importance” and has received them and passes them on as a way of preserving the faith. This would be one way that a church could identify a true disciple from a false teacher. Philippians 2:6-11, 1 Timothy 3:16, and Romans 10:9 might have functioned in the same way. DON’T PROTESTANTS BELIEVE IN “SCRIPTURE ALONE”? The Reformation cry of “Sola Scriptura” never meant that we don’t learn from anything but the Bible. It says that only Scripture holds ultimate authority over us. Creeds and confessions can and should be tested by the Bible, critiqued by the Bible, and subject to the Bible. Nevertheless, creeds can guide us, protect us, and unify us. In future episodes, we’ll look at some of the creeds and confessions that have been foundational to the church. Understanding why creeds exist prepares us to appreciate what they say and why the church has guarded them for centuries. In awe of Him, Paul

Faith Is Finally Making a Comeback

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b23a868a65e24fb5da70bb/e583dba0-5662-4f08-8086-450f44996613/OON+m11w3+Thumbnail.png?format=1000w] When a CTV news report [https://youtu.be/tHWxNcTxn24?si=S6sYfsQqe9A6C-cv] uses words like “revival” and “religious resurgence” to describe the reversal of the trend of religious decline, it’s worth taking notice. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard such language used for the Western church in my lifetime. It signals that God is at work in our generation. It’s important that we understand and respond to what’s happening. THE UK HAS BEEN EXPERIENCING A “QUIET REVIVAL” The UK Bible Society was among the first to document the trend. In a report titled “The Quiet Revival,” [https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revival] they reported a 50% rise in church attendance (from 8% to 12%) over the last six years. That amounts to an increase of over two million churchgoing Christians in just six years. Most encouraging was the fourfold rise in church attendance among 18- to 24-year-olds (from 4% to 16%) and the threefold increase among 25- to 34-year-olds (from 4% to 13%) over the same period. The authors of the report give some of the potential reasons for the trend. Dr. Rob Barward-Symmons says, “With much of the population struggling with mental health, loneliness and a loss of meaning in life, in particular young people, church appears to be offering an answer. We found that churchgoers are more likely than non-churchgoers to report higher life satisfaction and a greater feeling of connection to their community than non-churchgoers. They are also less likely to report frequently feeling anxious or depressed – particularly young women.” YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE US ARE HUNGRY FOR GOD This isn’t just happening in the UK, though. There are signs of renewal in the US as well. In America, there hasn’t been a 50% increase in church attendance over six years, but the third quarter data from the Unstuck Group reports an 11% increase in attendance across the 252 churches that it surveyed. Even more encouraging is a recent Barna study [https://www.barna.com/research/young-adults-lead-resurgence-in-church-attendance/] that reported, “for the first time in decades, younger adults (Gen Z and Millennials) are now the most regular churchgoers.” In fact, the rates of church attendance among young people are the highest they’ve seen since Barna began tracking these statistics. Perhaps one of the most visible demonstrations of this was the Asbury Revival [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Asbury_revival]. A regular Wednesday Chapel at Asbury University on February 8, 2023, ignited 16 days of renewal attended by more than 50,000 visitors, coming from as far away as Russia and Japan. There were reports of healing, salvations, and many young people re-dedicating themselves to the Lord. THE MOST COMMITTED IN CANADA ARE YOUNG ADULTS While there are major differences between Canada and America where faith is concerned, Canadian young people show the same hunger for God that their counterparts in America and the UK show. While just 18% of Canadians were deemed “religiously committed” in a recent Angus Reid Poll [https://angusreid.org/canada-us-religion-cardus-spectrum-of-spirituality-comparison/], almost 24% of 18- to 34-year-olds fall into that group. In other words, the Canadians most likely to be earnest in their faith are under 35. THE FELLOWSHIP OF EVANGELICAL BAPTIST CHURCHES IS GROWING Closer to home, our own Fellowship has seen encouraging growth. For many years, our church association just seemed to be holding its own. Some new churches were planted and others died off, but our total number held steady at around 500. That has changed. Over the last five years, The Fellowship has grown from 507 to 541 churches. In fact, there have been 11 new church plants this year alone. HOW DO WE RESPOND? For many years, Christians have had a defeatist attitude regarding decline. “We’re in the last days, so come Lord Jesus!” We’ve become reluctant to share our faith and have often adopted a defensive mindset. That has to change. Seeing God at work in this generation should move us to respond in at least three ways.  1. PRAYER This is a moment to ask, seek, and knock. It’s a time to pray for the Lord to send workers into the harvest. This is our chance to show God that we care as much about a lost and dying world as He does. 2. PROCLAMATION Now is also a time to speak up. The promises of secularism have failed people, and many are looking for new answers. We have a ripe opportunity to share the good news, share our testimonies, and invite people to church. 3. PREPARATION When the wind starts blowing, it’s time to raise the sails. If God is creating a spiritual openness in the people around us, we need to prepare to receive them. We need to open our hearts and make room for new people and care well for those whom God gives us. If the tide of faith is beginning to turn, let’s not be caught watching from the sidelines. Let’s be among those who welcome it with open arms. God is stirring this generation. May He find us prayerful, bold, and ready. In awe of Him, Paul

Why Most People Wouldn’t Want God to Send Them to Heaven

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b23a868a65e24fb5da70bb/884c8186-9d9a-4dbf-b8d9-4f2155acf546/OON+m11w2+Thumbnail.png?format=1000w] Hardly anyone thinks they’re going to hell. Even the most irreligious of people assume they’ll end up in a better place. But if anything the Bible says about heaven is true, most people wouldn’t want God to send them there. It would violate everything they’ve believed in and committed themselves to. Let me explain. OUR IDEA OF HEAVEN HAS A FATAL FLAW The popular notion of heaven is of a big family reunion (if you’re fond of your family, that is) or else the place of your greatest pleasures and pastimes. “Uncle Joe is probably up there having a round of golf, right now,” we comfort ourselves. But I don’t think we’ve thought through that picture well enough. If heaven doesn’t somehow eliminate the problem of sin, how could it still be heaven? If Uncle Joe is up in heaven, addicted to fentanyl, doesn’t that sound more like hell than heaven? THE BIBLE RESOLVES THE PROBLEM OF HEAVEN THAT MOST PEOPLE AVOID The Scriptures explain that heaven is holy and free from all impurity. Revelation 21:27 says, “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Not only is there no cocaine in heaven, but there are no rapists, murderers, gossips, or cheats either. Most people assume this without considering how. To keep all that is unclean out of heaven, God must root it out of our hearts. Sin is like a cancer that has to be removed. The problem is that most people aren’t willing to give up their sin. They deny it’s a problem and excuse its effects. But even sins like pride, judgmentalism, and selfishness would have disastrous effects if left to develop for eternity. ONLY AN UNJUST GOD WOULD FORCE PEOPLE TO GIVE UP THEIR SIN It would be cruel and unfair for God to violate our freedom and force us to conform to His will. And yet without that, we would cling to our addictions, weaknesses, and bad habits and turn heaven into hell. Jesus has a different plan. He invites all—the good and the bad—and only asks that they repent and put their trust in Him. Through repentance, we renounce all that God calls sin, and through faith, we put ourselves under new management with Jesus as our Lord. Through His death, Jesus opens the door to new life. When we respond to His invitation, He begins to change us now and will perfect us later. HEAVEN ISN’T THE PLACE FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T CARE FOR GOD God is the host of heaven and the centre of attention. His people will worship Him and reflect the glory of His character (Revelation 7:15). People who ignore God in this life and reject His will for their lives show by their decisions that they don’t want what the Bible calls heaven. It would be unfair for God to force them into it. Hell is that place reserved for all who want to be free of God’s interference and prefer their own will to His. Notice how it’s described in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. > “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” Completely separated from God’s favour and glory, people will realize that God was the One who made life worth living. They’ll see that every good gift in this life was ultimately from God. Without God, His goodness, and His restraining presence, even golf would feel like torture. Of course, it takes faith to believe that, and that’s the faith that can spare people hell. HEAR THE INVITATION OF HEAVEN If you’re someone who has vague notions of heaven marked by reunions and buffets, consider the problem of sin and Jesus’ invitation to repentance and faith. And let your heart be captured by the amazing vision of heaven that the Bible presents. > They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; > the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. > For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, > and he will guide them to springs of living water, > and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. > > - Revelation 7:16-17 In awe of Him, Paul

How to Grow in the Art of Spiritual Conversation

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b23a868a65e24fb5da70bb/1db12392-6407-4063-a204-c92786fada60/OON+m10w4+Thumbnail.png?format=1000w] Jesus never forced conversations, but He always seemed to be talking about the gospel. Whether He was sitting by a well, sharing a meal, or answering a question, He drew people in with compassion and truth. Often, our conversations get bogged down in surface discussions about the weather, vacations, and the latest sports scores. How did Jesus do it? We recently hosted ShareWord Global for an event that focused on this very question. We looked at Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in John chapter four and then went out to have spiritual conversations with people in the neighbourhood. We focused on four levels of conversation. 1. SMALL TALK Christians who are most eager to share the gospel can sometimes be the weakest at small talk, but small talk is the icebreaker where people take the first steps toward trust. In safe areas of surface conversation, people are asking questions like, “Does this person listen? Do we have anything in common? Could I trust them with more personal information?” With a simple request for a drink of water, Jesus forms a bridge with a woman of a different culture in John 4:7. She’s clearly intrigued that He, as a Jew, would be speaking to her, a Samaritan (John 4:8), and she opens up as a result. As we practiced these skills in the neighbourhood, I met a Jewish man. As we spoke, he was eager to talk about the release of hostages in Israel and the recently signed peace plan. Rather than rushing past this conversation, I saw it as an opportunity to learn more about what matters to him. I shared about a couple I know who do relief work in Israel through Christian Friends of Israel. If we want to have more spiritual conversations, we need to have more conversations, and we need to grow in small talk. Taking the time to establish rapport and find areas of common ground is an important part of building trust, and no one listens to people they don’t trust. Once trust is built through small talk, the next step is to get a little more personal. 2. PERSONAL TALK As trust is established through small talk, we want to get more personal. Conversations never move beyond small talk, either because we don’t open up or because we don’t invite others to do so. In personal talk, we look for opportunities to share about our feelings, our struggles, and our failures, and we ask questions of others that show our interest in them as a person. Jesus did this with the Samaritan woman by asking her to call her husband. It revealed an area of need in the woman’s life and moved their discussion to a deeper level. As I talked in the neighbourhood with the Jewish man, I asked if he had any family in Israel affected by the war. He opened up more and said in a sense that all of the victims on October 7 were like family to him. I learned that both of his grandfathers were rabbis. It helped me understand him better and appreciate his sense of identity and solidarity. In the same way that we need to expand the number of people with whom we engage in small talk, we also need to grow in our willingness to have personal conversations. Opening up about our lives and asking questions that show that we care deepens our interactions and makes spiritual conversations more natural. As personal conversations deepen, we may find natural openings to discuss faith. 3. SPIRITUAL TALK Spiritual talk is a move to discuss faith, but without any personal stakes yet. It’s like the small talk of evangelistic conversations. And like small talk, it’s where you need to build rapport and establish that you’re someone who can be trusted to have this level of conversation. You can see this in Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well when she brings up the long-standing debate between the Jews and Samaritans about whether to worship in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim (John 4:20). Jesus addresses the debate (John 4:21-22) but doesn’t get bogged down in it. Instead, He speaks about it in a way that offers hope (John 4:23-24). As I continued to speak with the Jewish man, I asked him what he thought about the promise in the Hebrew Scriptures about a coming Messiah. He said simply, “He’s coming. In fact, He might have already come.” He shared how some people believe that Lebovic might be the Messiah. I then said that I was curious what reasons people have for believing that he might be the one. He shared that there were reports of miracles, and he was a great man. The more that he shared his own faith, the more natural it became for me to share my own. The key to spiritual talk is finding natural opportunities to express curiosity about what someone believes. 4. GOSPEL TALK Gospel talk is when you’re no longer just talking about religion or spirituality, but you’re actually discussing Jesus and how He came to save us from our sins. Ideally, though, it should still be naturally connected to the conversation you’re already having. When Jesus and the Samaritan woman were talking about water, Jesus moved into a discussion of living water (John 4:10) and described eternal life as being like a spring of water inside a person that forever quenches their thirst (John 4:14-15). Jesus also explicitly identified Himself as the one who can give that water. After the Jewish man had given me the reasons that people offer for believing that Lebovic is the Messiah, I asked him if I might share how I became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. I talked about His virgin birth, His miracles, but primarily how He predicted His death on the cross for our sins, and promised that He would rise from the grave on the third day. He said that he had heard of an Alexandrian document that said that Jesus had only gone into a coma and was revived by the disciples who had brought medicine to the tomb. I explained that the biggest problem with that theory was that the resurrection was a core part of the apostles’ message and that they had each died for their faith. He said, “Many people have died for their faith.” I agreed but then added, “People don’t die for a faith that they know is a lie.” It was a productive conversation that was made more natural by an awareness of the value of the different levels of conversation and how they function. Growing in the art of spiritual conversation isn’t about forcing every conversation into a gospel presentation. It’s about meeting people where they are and helping them draw a step closer to Jesus. When we approach people with humility, curiosity, and compassion, God delights to turn our ordinary words into opportunities for eternal impact. In awe of Him, Paul