We Believe
Church - Part 2
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Acts 2:14-41, Matthew 16:13-20
Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:13-16 (CEB)
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
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“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks us.
Or as we say in our third vow of baptism and membership:
Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations and races?
In other words:
Do you affirm the declaration that has been made about the person of Jesus and testified through the Holy Scriptures?
Do you believe Peter’s foolish words; that this man is indeed the Son of God, that he was crucified, dead and buried, yet on the third day God raised him from the dead?
Do you believe that by his sacrifice for us, you can experience the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life?
If your very life was on the line, as were Peter’s and the other apostles’, would you declare this truth, that Jesus is Lord, over all of the powers and rulers of this world, and that he is the Christ, sent to save us from the power of sin and reconcile us with God our Creator, not as servants, but as children of the most High?
Do you trust wholly in his grace and promise to serve him with full and joyful obedience?
Today we will renew our baptism together. We will reaffirm our belief in Jesus, which is revealed to us by the Father through the Holy Spirit.
May the declaration of faith spoken by Peter under the power of the Holy Spirit cut us to the heart once again, as it did the crowds that first Pentecost. Let us pray for the faith to overcome our doubts in this foolish message, for as Paul writes:
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved…
- from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Lord, we believe. Help us in our unbelief!