We Believe in God the Father Almighty

The Apostles’ Creed, part 2

A message by Jeffrey Westbrook

Crossroads International Fellowship

7 March, 2004

Text: Acts 17: 22-31 (NASB)

Intro: · This series

· anecdote: “I’ve lost my faith in God”

A small boy riding a bus home from Sunday school was very proud of the card he had received, which had a picture and a caption that read: “Have Faith in God.” Then to his dismay the card slipped from his hand and fluttered out the window. “Stop the bus!” he cried. “I’ve lost my ‘faith in God!’”
The driver pulled the bus to a stop, and as the lad climbed out and went to retrieve his card, one of the adult riders smiled and made a comment about the innocence of youth. A more perceptive adult observed, “All of us would be better off if we were that concerned about our faith.”

· Let’s consider together what we as God’s people believe about Him, based on Scripture. We’ll look at plenty of Bible passages and what they teach us about Him.

Thesis: We believe in God the Father Almighty. Let’s explore what it means to believe in God, to believe that He is Father, and to believe that He is Almighty.

I. We believe in God

To believe or not to believe…

1. Humans are generally believing creatures

a. According to surveys, about 90% of Americans say they believe in God

b. The question is, what do they believe? And who is this God they say they believe in? How does believing in Him affect their lives?

c. Humans tend to gravitate toward belief in the divine:

d. ex.: Buddhism originally a somewhat atheistic religion (no deity), but many Buddhists believe in a god or gods in some sense of the word (same is true of other religions that start from an atheistic premise)

e. That was the case with the Athenians in Acts 17:22-23 [expound]

2. Ultimately, we can’t prove God – we must accept His existence on faith

a. Science can’t prove God or disprove Him – the domain of science is that which is observable, repeatable, measurable

· God is not these things

b. Thus we must accept on faith that God exists, or accept on faith that He doesn’t exist

c. Atheism is a faith religion – it is founded on faith that God doesn’t exist

3. The Bible affirms that God exists à “The first presupposition of the Bible is its claim that God is. The Bible does not spend precious time trying to prove the existence of God. It simply starts with this great affirmation: God is!” –H. Lee White[1]

4. As Christians, we affirm in the Creed that we believe that God exists

5. Of course, we believe much more than that He exists (even the demons believe that!)

Reasons for the existence of God (apologetics)

1. Cosmological à Where did the Universe come from?

a. Romans 1:19-20 God’s existence has been made known to man through Creation

b. Something doesn’t spring from nothing; order doesn’t come out of chaos—without some outside force acting on it

2. Teleological à There is evidence of design in the universe

a. The Bible tells us this (Ps. 19:1)

b. Takes great faith in one’s theory to hold that something came from nothing

c. “Much more faith is required to attribute the complexity of our universe to a chance collision of gases then to an intelligent, all powerful God. It is more reasonable to believe in a designing, creating God then in random generation, unless we want to rebel against God and go our own way.” (Rom 1:21-24)

3. Moral à There is a sense of “oughtness” within each of us

a. C.S. Lewis (part 1 of Mere Christianity)

b. Even people who claim there are no moral absolutes appeal to a sense of fairness, right & wrong

c. Rom. 1:19

d. That sense of “fair play” in all of us had to come from somewhere

4. Ontological à according to the very nature of being, God must exist

5. Resurrection à historical evidence in favor of the resurrection is overwhelming

Who is this God?

1. False notions of God abound

a. “God made man in His own image, and ever since, man has been returning the favor”

b. Influences of Eastern philosophy, New Age, other religions

c. Personal “preferences” about what God must be like or who He is

d. Popular misconceptions of God (from J.B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small)

i. God as morality police/ a cosmic killjoy

ii. God is just a kind old man/ grandfather/ Santa Claus

iii. God is love (that is, according to modern, secular views of what love is)

iv. God is a legalist

v. God is just like my earthly father

vi. God as a high and distant company boss

vii. Me and Jesus—good buddies

viii. God in a box (we think we have God all figured out)

2. It’s crucial to know who God really is, if we say we believe in Him

3. “The revelation of God is objective; it’s what Francis Schaeffer calls true truth—it’s true whether you believe it or not.” Not believing it doesn’t make it any less true; we can’t say “I like to imagine God as…;” it doesn’t matter how we like to imagine God; what matters is who he really is

4. Who we believe He is

a. The God of the Bible

b. The God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob

c. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 15:6)

d. Throughout the Bible, God expresses His concern that the world may know who He is. He wants us to know Him, not some misconception about Him (Acts 17:27, 29-30)

II. We believe in God the Father

A. The Father points to the Trinity

1. “The first thing that we learn from “I believe in God the Father” is that there is Trinitarian fatherhood in God. God the Father is Father not simply by virtue of His creation of us and of the world, but He is eternally Father because of His eternal Son.” Duncan[2]

2. John 5:18 – “For this reason therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He was calling God His own Father and making Himself equal with God.”

3. “If God is Father and God is unchangeable and God is love, then there must be a Trinity. If God exists eternally, how can God be love eternally before the world exists unless He has something else to love?” (Duncan)

4. Jesus’ special relation to the Father – Jesus is begotten, whereas we are created (Lewis, Mere Christianity)

5. Trinity also found in the “Gloria Patri”

6. More on the Trinity later in the Creed

B. God is the Father and Creator of humanity (v. 28)

1. Acts 17:25, 26, 28

2. “When the Apostles’ Creed speaks of God the Father, it is reminding us that He is the Creator, and because He is the Creator, we are all accountable to Him even as children are accountable to their father. When we say that God is the Father and God is the Creator, we are drawing attention to the Creator/creature distinction” (Duncan)

3. Psalm 100:3 – “Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

4. This verse is saying “He is God and you are not.” (Duncan)

5. Implication that we are responsible to God; we are answerable to Him as His creations

6. “For those who are not trusting in god, for those who are not obedient to God, the doctrine of God’s fatherhood is scary, it’s the worst possible news you can find out if you’re not trusting in God through Jesus Christ, that He is the Father and He will hold you accountable.” (Duncan)

C. God is the Father of those whom He has adopted because of Christ

1. God is also Father in a special sense to those who have turned to Him through Jesus Christ

2. “Through Jesus Christ, the Father, Creator and Judge becomes our Father, Redeemer, Adopter, and that is the best possible news that you could ever hear.” (Duncan)

3. Not all people are God’s children in this special salvation sense

a. Unitarians believe that all are (old joke - “The Unitarians believe in the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the neighborhood of Boston”)

b. John 1:12 says otherwise – “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name”

4. Romans 8:15 – “For you have… received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’”

a. It’s not part of who all people are, just those who have received the gift of grace, salvation by faith

b. God is our Father – He has adopted us. What a wonderful thought!

5. If you haven’t been adopted yet by God, why don’t you turn to Him today? You, too, can be one of His children

III. We believe in God the Father almighty

A. God is sovereign

1. The omni’s

a. Omnipresent (always present) Ps. 139:7f – “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.”

b. Omniscient (all-knowing) Acts 15:8 “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (NKJV); joke: “Where is God?”

c. Omnipotent (all-powerful) Jeremiah 32:17 – “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You!” Numbers 11:23–“Is the Lord’s power limited?”

2. God’s providence

a. He is working all things according to His will (Rom. 8:28); He is in control, no matter how chaotic the world seems to become

b. “God’s sovereignty is not undermined by the problem of evil.” (Duncan)

i. In fact, the existence of evil is more evidence for God’s existence:

ii. “The existence of evil proves the absolute, transcendent moral distinction between good and evil, a distinction which cannot be sustained in an atheistic universe.” (Duncan)

iii. The Bible teaches us that God has, does, and will overcome evil

iv. “Evil doesn’t disprove God’s sovereignty, evil is the foil by which God displays His sovereignty. It doesn’t call into question whether God is in control, it gives Him the concrete opportunity to display His dominion over all things for the sake of His people” (Duncan)

B. We have hope because He is almighty

1. “The truth of God’s almightiness is one of the most comforting truths that a believer can contemplate.” (Duncan)

2. Hymn – “This Is My Father’s World,” 3^rd stanza: “This is my Father’s world, o let me never forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”

3. Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: “Without certainty about God’s providence, life would be unbearable. Certainty about God’s providence puts joyous trust toward God in our hearts.”

Conclusion

- God is

- God is our Father, which is means that we are answerable to Him, but also that He wants to redeem and adopt us

- God is almighty

- Prayer: #546 in The Worshiping Church hymnal (“A Prayer That We May Know God”)