Question 31: What do we believe by true faith?

QUESTION:  What do we believe by true faith?
 
ANSWER: Everything taught to us in the gospel. The Apostles’ Creed expresses what we believe in these words: We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into 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. We 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.
WARM-UP
Reflecting on your life over the last decade, what aspects of your worldview have changed?  What caused this change?  Was it pressure? Learning more about something? A life experience?

WORD
BIG IDEA
  • When Jude mentions “the” faith, he refers to the common belief that all Christians must hold to be true. 
  • “The faith” is summarized in The Apostles’ Creed. (See above). 
  • The content of Scripture is something that does not change and has never changed throughout history. 
  • The content of our faith does not evolve but meets the needs of each culture throughout history and matters for all people at all times.
  • Like Jude, our role as Christians is to “contend” for the faith amid pressure and persuasion. 

READ
Jude 3-4
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
WATCH/LISTEN
OLD SELF
  • Read through the Apostle’s creed. What aspects of “the faith” do you experience the most pressure within our culture? 
  • Bonus Question: Reflect on Christianity as a whole and your own Christian experience. Do you sense that we focus (or contend) on the things mentioned or not mentioned in the Apostles’ creed?

NEW SELF
  • Where do you get the most pressure to adjust or change the faith? How do you deal with these pressures?
  • What does it look like to successfully “contend” for the faith in our culture? What does it look like to unsuccessfully “contend” for the faith in our culture?

WORLD
  • How do you answer the pressure from the world around us when someone says, “The content of your faith needs to evolve/get updated/catch up with current culture?”
  • What do you wish you could explain to people that think the content of Christianity is outdated?

PRAYER
Maker of Heaven and Earth, make the startling claims of our faith come alive to us. Let us not divorce theological truth from the history of your salvation, which occurred in time and space. Let us not waver in unbelief, but rest our lives upon the truth that you raise the dead. Amen.