Introduction: Dan Brown, author of the fictional bestseller The Da Vinci Code, has this statement at the beginning of the book: "Fact: All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." While I can’t speak for the accuracy, for some of those I can say the accuracy of his theology resembles that of horseshoes and hand grenades.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. This fictional thriller has captured the coveted number one sales ranking on Amazon camped out for over forty weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, and inspired a one-hour ABC News special. Along the way, it has sparked debates about the legitimacy of Western and Christian history.

Collin Hansen writes, "While the ABC News feature focused on Brown’s fascination with an alleged marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, The Da Vinci Code contains many more (equally dubious) claims about Christianity’s historic origins and theological development. The central claim Brown’s novel makes about Christianity is that ‘almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.’ Why? Because of a single meeting of bishops in 325, at the city of Nicea in modern-day Turkey. There, argues Brown, church leaders who wanted to consolidate their power base (he calls this, anachronistically, ‘the Vatican’ or ‘the Roman Catholic church’) created a divine Christ and an infallible Scripture—both of them novelties that had never before existed among Christians." (Christianity Today, 11/07/03)

What Brown asserts through his characters is a virtually 1800-year-old heresy. He says that until what Christian history calls The Council of Nicea, "Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet…a great and powerful man, but a man nevertheless." Brown’s ideas about Jesus are nothing new however creatively they are presented. What is new is the unquestioned acceptance because the quick proliferation of his distortions within our culture regarding the person of Jesus Christ because of the availability of mass media.

While Brown’s book stirs one controversy, another by Elaine Pagel called Beyond Belief, a book about the Gospel of Thomas, has caused a renewed interest in books that the early church rejected as false as early as the second century A.D. The unquestioned acceptance of her proposition that Christian leaders have kept hidden secret document is false but has resulted in, as Marcus Borg says, "a lot of interest in early Christian diversity because many people who have left the church—and some who are still in it—are looking for another way of being Christian." (Time, p. 56, December 22, 2003)

Is there another way of being Christian other than "I am the Light of the World. If you follow me you won’t be stumbling through the darkness because you will have the light that leads to life" (John 8:12) and "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6)? Is there another way of being Christian? What’s the answer? Well, virtually 2000 years ago Christians began affirming simple statements that answered that question. We call them creeds or statements, confessions of faith. The word creed comes from the Latin word meaning "I believe…"

You don’t have to search farther than the New Testament to find the first creeds used by followers of Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9 and Philippians 2:11 express that the confession, "Jesus is Lord" was adequate to define a follower of Christ. Paul would say in Colossians 2:6 that a Christian is one who has "received Christ Jesus as Lord." That confession declares that a person has unquestioned loyalty to Jesus Christ personally and it defines the relationship as unique between God and Jesus Christ.

Saying Jesus is Lord was once enough but by 300 A.D. there was so much confusion about what Christians believed that it was necessary to define what beliefs were essential to be called Christian. For that reason we have what is called The Apostles Creed. The statements in the Apostles Creed were not authored by the apostles but by followers of Christ. They are not scripture but based in scripture, which as we as Baptists confess is "truth, without any mixture of error." (Baptist Faith and Message, 1963). The creed was once quoted at baptism similar to the way a candidate is asked in this church, "Who is Jesus to you?" "He’s my Savior and Lord."

So, for the next several weeks we’re going to use the Apostles Creed to remind ourselves what Christians believe. Those like myself, whose Baptist pedigree is pure, would say, "I have no creed but the Bible!" Yet we live in a time when truth is without definition and clarity. As believers we must confess our belief in the contents of the Bible as truth not merely the fact of its existence. We must be people who know what we believe and say to a culture that has lost its way in regard to truth: Here it is! There is, as well, so much diversity among Christians and Christian churches that we must define what it is to be Christian. Finally, our own Southern Baptist Convention has created a need for this issue to be clarified. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is no longer based on essentials but demands unquestioned adherence to the interpretations of non-essentials. All of these call us to define: What Christians believe!

For that reason I want us to recite together the words, ancient words, words forged in the fire of challenge and persecution, the words of the Apostles Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth,

Those words define the essentials of what Christians believe!

That confession begins with two very simple words that are the starting point for any discussion about what it means to be Christian. What are those two words? They are, "I believe…" The writer of Hebrews says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Heb. 11:6). What that verse says and the Apostles Creed affirms is that to be Christian means to believe and to believe is to have faith. Those words "must believe" somewhere in our experience are to become "I believe…"

What does it mean to say, "I believe…"? Saying "I believe" means personally believing that certain things are true. It is to agree to something after thoughtful consideration. It is not merely the acceptance of an idea. I believe that NASA sent a vehicle this past week to explore Mars. I haven’t thought much about or read more than the headlines but I accept that. A scientist whose life work has been spent on this really believes. So a Christian who says they have faith believes at a deeper level in the reality of God’s existence. They "must believe that God exists." A Christian says, "I believe."

Saying, "I believe…" means more. To say "I believe" means "I trust." It is not mere agreement with a set of principles or propositions. Many recite the words of the Apostles Creed or John 3:16 and can say that they are a nice set of ideas or that the love of God for the world is a potential source of comfort. That can be done without any sense of trust. Saying "I believe" is saying I trust in someone, "must believe that God (Someone) exists" and for Christians God is revealed to us through the person of Jesus Christ. A Christian says, "I trust my whole person to the person of Jesus Christ…" A Christian says, "I trust."

To say "I believe" is to believe certain things are true, and to trust Jesus Christ fully. It also means you believe enough to make a commitment, a commitment to God. None of these are easy but this especially is an expression of the depth of our devotion. To say I believe is to say or declare our commitment to God without restraint and without restriction. That decision may be as simple as a child’s decision that a parent will catch them if they jump from a height into their arms or as difficult as an adult committing their body to a surgeon to bring them healing. To say "I believe" is to commit all that you are to God. A Christian says, "I commit…"

There is one final thing that saying "I believe" means and that is saying I believe means obedience. Jesus said in Mark 8:34, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Paul would say to the Roman Christians that his purpose was to "bring about the obedience of faith" among them. (Romans 1:5) To believe in Jesus is to obey him. To follow him is to obey him. To obey him is what it means to have faith. A Christian says, "I obey…."

Several years ago I had the chance to go whitewater canoeing down Clear Creek in northwest Arkansas. It was my first time to ever do that and it was perfect weather. Late February, 28°, two days after a devastating ice storm, cloudy and threatening snow! But other than that it was perfect. My guide was a deacon in our church who was an expert canoeist, J. P. Bell. J. P. could canoe Clear Creek with his eyes closed, backwards and lying down. He was good. Trusting J. P. as my guide wasn’t hard until we got to a place in the creek that I heard long before I ever saw—"class 4 rapids."

J. P. pulled our canoe off on the bank and suggested we build a fire, drink some coffee and talk about what was ahead. What J. P. told me was what I needed to hear. He described exactly what was coming, the shape of the rocks and where a whirlpool would be. He told me exactly what I would need to do, how to respond to certain situations and what to do if we capsized. He asserted to me that I was without question to do exactly as he said as to when, where and how to paddle. Then he told me how great it would be to do this and how I would feel when we did.

We drank our coffee, repacked our gear and then I did what only I could do—I got into the canoe. There was no going back up the creek. Walking out was possible if I could climb the bluffs without falling to my death. I believed what J. P. said, trusted that he would get me through but it wasn’t until I got into the canoe and we pushed out from the bank that I really believed.

I heard the roar long before I saw the rapids. Going through them for me was less than a minute of sheer terror. I listened to everything he said and followed his every command. When we got through I have never felt more exhilaration in my life – all because I believed.

Paul said, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17). Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). That is the word of Christ to you today. The question is: have you believed? Not do you agree, not do you accept, not do you consider, or do you wish that what you have heard might be true. No, the question is: Do you believe? Do you believe in God? Do you trust God? Have you committed to God? Are you willing to obey God? All of that wrapped up in one little phrase, "whoever believes in him." If your definition of being Christian does begin with a personal choice to say, "I believe…" then, my friend, you need to ask yourself, "Have I settled for another way of being Christian?" The truth is there is no other way to be Christian than to say "I believe..."

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org