Lutheran Essentials: Apostles' and Nicene Creeds on the Resurrection of the Dead

and give me a picture yes okay greetings everybody remotely uh sorry we're a little bit late uh you would know that we were late if you're here in person so please show up on wednesdays uh i'm just kidding uh glad you are here with us uh service went a little long and takes me a little bit time to get everything set up but now we are set up and we are cooking and we are good to go uh so tonight we are going to be finishing off the apostles and nicene creed uh so that is our goal for the evening is to finish it off and then next week uh we'll be moving on to the affination creed uh if i had to guess as to where we're gonna be doing and how long it's gonna be for um since i'm not going home for christmas i don't think uh actually my mom basically said that the state of washington is closed uh we'll probably actually be meeting in between christmas and new year's uh because i'll be around and who cares uh so uh we'll probably finish up i would wager uh sometime in uh late january february with uh with that study uh going forward after that will probably either be uh pilgrim's progress or the poem that uh jerusalem the golden comes from and the class the judgment gather which is by bernard clooney i just need to find a good edition of it so look forward to either one of those if you have opinions on which one you want to do please send me an email i'm happy to take suggestions um has rule we've been so we're working through the second article the third article of the creed uh so so far we've covered in that like i and i believe in the holy spirit the lord giver of life who proceeds from the father and son with the father and son together is worshipped and glorified who spoke by the prophets and i believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church i acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins as far as we've gotten so far through that and tonight we're going to be looking at uh and look for the resurrection of the dead and life will the world become amen so we'll be talking a lot about the end of the world which is appropriate uh given that the end of the world is kind of the entire topic of the next several weeks in the church even into the first beginning of advent so we're we're gonna be talking a lot about the end of the world uh but tonight we're gonna be specifically talking about some of the happier parts of the the world to come namely the resurrection the dead right so let's look at this the uh the apostles creed confesses the resurrection of the body the nice scene created says i like for the resurrection the dead so uh the apostles creek kind of simply confesses that the resurrection of the body is going to happen whereas the nicene creed kind of says this in the future it's not gonna be something that's gonna happen now this is something that actually uh that actually the early church was a little bit freaked out about uh so if you remember paul's letters to the to the uh i think to the thessalonians and to several other ones they're freaking out like people had fallen asleep in christ it is like isn't christ supposed to come back before the before this happens like why are they dying like why isn't christ supposed to come back first whereas christ clarifies no uh these who fall asleep will be the first to be raised and then they'll raise everybody right uh and so those as we saying uh in the hymn of the day on sunday okay those who are dead will be raised those who are not dead will be changed uh at the last trumpet okay so that's what's going to be happy so that's what's going to happen so it's not just the dead that will be raised it's not just a dead in christ that'll be raised but it would be all the dead so everybody so all the billions of people that have ever lived will be alive whether it be the sinner or the not or the just both sides will be actually alive at the end right um those who are raised to uh those who are believers will be raised to eternal life those who be uh who are not believers would be raised to eternal death so basically like they're functionally undead they're not able to die so if you want to think of hell as being super bad not the hell isn't super bad it's gonna be super bad uh but the people that are not just suffering in spirit they'll be suffering in their body so their body will actually be there unable to die in eternal torment conversely we will be an eternal life to enjoy all the blessings that are there right so first thessalonians uh which we've already read uh saint paul talks about the coming of the coming of christ and how the dead will be raised first and those who are alive will be changed uh so those of us who i don't know if you'd be fortunate enough to be alive when christ comes whether or not you would judge that as being fortunate or not um those who are alive will have their flesh changed in that moment into eternal life so they don't have to go through death they'll just have to change uh and that will be it and this of course happens at the second coming right so let's look at uh first corinthians chapter 15 uh and get a larger discourse this is probably actually one of the largest discourses on the resurrection of the dead uh in scripture is first complete first corinthians 15. it's kind of a wonderful chapter uh to read so uh for those of you who were in pagosa springs on uh uh this weekend you heard me read one through eleven those who weren't shame i know i don't shame on you uh we read the first twelve first eleven verses uh a couple weeks ago talking about the resurrection of christ and the evidence for that resurrection namely that 500 people saw christ alive so that's the first section there the second section here which i'll read starting at verse 12 is saint paul talking about the what happens because christ is raised from the dead so here's saint paul in first corinthians chapter 15. starting at verse 12 now if christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead how can you say that that there is no resurrection of the dead but if there is no resurrection dead then not even christ has been raised from the dead and if christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain we are even found to be misrepresenting god because we testified about god that he raised christ whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised not even christ has been raised and if christ has not been raised your face is futile and you are still in your sins then those who have fallen asleep in christ have perished if in christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people to be pitied but in fact christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for as by a man came death by a man came as come also the resurrection of the dead for as in adam all die so also in christ shall all be made alive but each in his own order christ the firstfruits then that is coming those who belong to christ then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of god to the god living delivers the kingdom to god the father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for you must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet the last enemy to destroy his death for god has put all things subju subjection under his feet but when it says all things are put in subjection it is plain that he accepts he is accepted who put all things into subjection under him when all things are subjected to him then the son himself is will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him that god may be all and in all that otherwise what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead if the dead are not raised at all why are people baptized on their behalf why are we in danger every hour i protest brothers and by my pride and you which i have in christ jesus our lord i die every day what do i gain if i if humanly speaking i have fought with beasts at ephesus if the dead are not raised let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die do not be deceived bad company ruins good morals wake up for your drunken stupor as is right do not go on sinning for some i have no knowledge of god i say this to your shame but some will ask how are the dead raised by what kind of bod what kind of body do they come you're foolish person what you sow does not come to life unless it dies and what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bear a kernel perhaps of wheat or some other grain but christ gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of its seed of seed its own body for not all flesh is the same but there is one kind of humans another for animals and therefore birds another for fish there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind the glory of the earth lays of another there is one glare of the sun another glory of the moon another glory of the stars for star differs from star and glory for so it is with the resurrection of the dead what is sown is impera is perishable but is what is raised is imperishable is shown in dishonor it is raised in glory it is sown a weakness it is raised in power it is so natural body it is raised a spiritual body if there is a natural body there is also a spiritual body thus it is written the first adam became a living being the last adam became a life-giving spirit but it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural and then the spiritual the first man was from the earth a man of dust it's like a man and is from heaven as was the man of dust so are those who are of dust as is the man of heaven so also are those who are of heaven just as we have borne the image of the man of dust we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven i tell you this brothers flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable will i tell you a mystery we shut all asleep we shall be changed a moment in twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet shall sound the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptable body has put on the incorruptible and this mortal body shall put must prevent immortality when the corruptible puts on the incorruptable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass with the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory or death where is your victory o death where is your sting sting of death is sin the power of sin is the law but thanks be to god who gives us a victory through our lord jesus christ therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast and movable always abounding in the work of the lord knowing that in the lord your labor is not in vain so we can see that the the resurrection that we have is predicated on christ's resurrection so because right christ has raised the dead we're also raised from the dead okay if christ is not raised from the dead our faith is in vain we might as well be coming back epicureans which is what saint paul's quoting there in that chapter talking about what's eat drink and be married for tomorrow we die uh we might as well go do that if christ has been has not been raised from the dead because his life is futile when we die it will become nothing anyway and nothing ever matters nothing doesn't truly truly matter at all okay but since crisis has been raised our resurrection is assured now we'll still have our own bodies it's not as if i or kaibo or any of you listening are going to look any different than we do right now in terms of the like we'll recognize ourselves as ourselves yeah but we'll be in our prime we'll be as it was before the fall the way we should have been since eternity okay so for those who are missing limbs those who are blind those who are mute those who have any ailment body those will be removed at the resurrection and you'll be as you ought to have bet age will be removed uh if you want to think of it you'll be in the prime of your life about 30 years old or so give or take what you think your primary life was who knows uh but you will be in the prime of your life living in your immortal body that will not be able to die you will be incorruptable and perishable immortal we'll still be able to eat think of christ christ is kind of our great example of what it will look like with a resurrected body okay christ is always appearing and eating all the time when he's resurrected he's like every time he appears it's like he has something to eat he's got to eat something so as long as we won't be able to eat or do like things we normally would do but it's not as if we're also going to have superpowers like christ is christ certainly has more powers than we have in our resurrected body we will still be people humans just perfected and it's not going to be able to walk through walls or like you know uh fly through the air or something like that like superman or something it's not the way it's gonna be but we'll still be people just as we ought to be so we won't get aged we won't get sick as us as uh pastor read tonight from revelation 21 and all the tears from our eyes will be wiped away there'll be no crying nothing sad anymore okay we'll all be given away okay so we'll be without the limitations that sin puts on us but we'll still be the limitations that we have as being people right but we'll be able to see god in his holiness which we can't currently do if god were to appear before us he would destroy us just by his sheer presence which is why he veils himself he comes to us in the sacrament but in our new resurrected bodies we'll actually be able to see god face to face and not just christ we'll be able to see him but we'll actually see god the father which is something quite different uh nobody's ever seen god the father but we'll be able to see him in our new immortal bodies which is going to be quite a great thing indeed to do right saint paul also honestly the question of what will happen to those who believe and still alive they'll be changed okay so they'll have their who knows what they'll feel like yeah well who knows we'll feel like when we're resurrected from the dead okay like those of us who have been died a long time will be just dust and suddenly it would be turned into our bodies and who knows what that will look like or feel like what we will notice when that happens this will all happen in an instant the debt will be raised in a moment but i reiterate the resurrection of the debt applies to both the good and evil it's not as if the evil do not have their bodies they do so everybody will be resurrected and give an everlasting life okay but that life will be a different different sort for those who are evil they're being resurrected into eternal death they'll sell their bodies they'll feel like they're alive but they'll be internal torment receiving nothing good okay those of us who've been resurrected into life okay we will enjoy true life actual life and whereas the things that are of this life our temporal world right now well seen by the but a mere memory and a dream that we had and looked like there's nothing comparable to what we have right now and so any questions about the resurrection of the dead or what it would be like we don't really know much more than what we have here i mean this entire discourse in first corinthians 15 is about the most we have about the eternal life what that'll look like but any questions about the resurrection of the dead all right uh hearing none then let us sing a hymn lord the i love with all my heart 708 what pretty much every single lutheran has at their funeral is this him it just always happens because it's a great hymn uh him 708. [Music] has no pleasure i would share yet heaven itself will her void and bear if the lord would not be me and should my heart for sorrow break my trust in thee can nothing shake the lord the portion i have sought thy precious blood my soul has jesus christ my god and lord my god and lord forsake me not i trust thy [Music] is may glorify thy lavish grace [Music] give strength and patience unto me to bear thy cross and follow thee lord jesus christ my god and lord my god and lord in death thy comfort still are ford yeah lord let out thy angels come to abram's but unbearable that i may [Music] [Applause] [Music] narrow chamber keep my body safe in peaceful sleep until re-appearing and then from death awaken me that these mine eyes with joy may see o son of god my glorious face my savior and my fount of grace lord jesus christ and my prayer and [Music] started reading the second verse again that's not great uh hey excellent so now we move on to and the life of the world come which is the apostles creed is life everlasting and a nice scene creed is the life of the world to come so hey steve so with our new bodies which we just got done talking about we'll have life everlasting as the nice apostles creed confesses okay and we'll live this life in the new heavens and new earth which pastor just got done talking about a bit and we're gonna read a little bit more about okay so god will create a new earth and nerd worth which the his elect will live in as the nicene creed confesses okay so we just got done reading first corinthians 15 so we won't read that but we will enjoy this in our new imperishable immortal bodies okay and we're no longer played by sin and death and this will happen when christ comes again to judge the world let's look at revelation chapter 22 so just after what what uh what uh pastor red okay uh this is actually very convenient the pastor just read that uh it's uh i did not plan this it just happens to be this way uh so kaya both i could have you read uh revelation 22 verses one to five please then the angel showed me the river of the water of life brides is crystal flowing from the throne of god and of the lime through the middle of the street of the city also on the either side of the river the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations no longer will there be any thing occurs but the throne of god and of the lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads a night will be no more they will need no they will need no light a lamp or sun for the lord god will be their light and they will reign forever and ever thank you so at the end of the world when christ comes again in judgment the old heavens and an old earth will be consumed by fire because remember that the uh that the rainbow stands for that god will destroy the world by flood so the only other way he can destroy the world and consume is by fire so this is what happens at the very end okay so the entire heavens and earth will be consumed by fire and and all the evil the will be cast into hell for eternity the eternity of torment okay after that point god will make the new heavens and the earth they make it all in an instant similar to what he did in the beginning what that new heaven and new earth we're not exactly sure will look like remember that revelation is a is symbolic uh and not liberal so what we're reading here is not necessarily literally what happened to look like there may be in fact be a river that has 12 canyons trees or what have you but we don't there's more figurative speaking and what have you that's going on there so there could be that what we know is that christ will be there right that god will be there that christ will be our light that god will wipe every tear from our eyes and christ will be in the midst with us and walk and talk with him we'll be able to talk with christ after all the questions that we've ever had enjoy his presence and he'll enjoy our presence and we'll have access again to something that we have never haven't had access to since the very beginning that's the tree of life so tree of life which has bombarded us is now we now have access to that tree again and now we can live forever with god and so the world as we knew it will be no more and as i mentioned it's going to be a very vague shadow in our memory and we'll still remember it but not with any pain it won't be anything that we'll we will have any pain about in fact i get the feeling that in eternity since i have all this time i get the feeling that there's some of you some historians up in heaven they're gonna try to look back at that and try to write down the history of the history of mankind from god's perspective and what have you we'll get some interesting books out of that i think um because we'll be there and enjoying his presence right and the whole glorious new world be opened up for us this war so it's not as if people have this kind of weird vision of heaven uh and then the new earth is like right up on the cloud like strumming our harp and be like you know just kind of sit there thoroughly and just kind of like you know just gazing at god uh which is almost like roman catholic heaven if you've ever read uh if you've ever read uh dante's uh paradise which is the third third part of his divine comedy uh you get to see what catholic heaven looks like and it's depressing let me tell you uh they it's like basically they sit there and ponder god all day it's like it's like a philosopher's heaven like it's not like heaven for any real person because like who would want to do this the that's what they think the beatific vision is it's just there and be over awed by god all day all night certainly we will have the meditative vision certainly we'll see god and be overjoyed with that but as long as we won't be doing things in heaven heaven the heaven and the new heaven and earth is a new place for us to explore a new place for us to enjoy we'll be doing things in heaven we'll be living life actual true life life is we desire and want to so i tend to think of heaven more as kind of like the elysian fields if you will i think that a little bit more there where you like if you want to have a farm and have like something we want to raise crops all day you can go ahead and do that if you want to go to the city and like enjoy like block playing like you know cantatas whatever sing with him or have you can go do that whatever you want to do in heaven you have the freedom to go do and christ will be there with you enjoying what you're doing as well i get the feeling that christ is going to be like you know duplicating himself over the place talking with people is kind of wandering around so you'll see multiple jesus is kind of wandering around hanging out with people just kind of being there he's god he can do that he can he'd be in multiple places at once but it will be a new universe for us to explore and enjoy for our eternal life and so it won't be this kind of boring amorphous sort of thing uh where you wish you were in hell instead uh flip that around life is dynamic changing evolving doing stuff and that's what we'll be doing in heaven uh is enjoying uh enjoying the entire thing beyond all that we don't really know much more about heaven what it's going to be in terms in terms of what's going on there we know that we'll be immortal we'll know that we will be with god and we'll worship him forever we know that the wedding phil the wedding piece of lamb is kingdom so there'll be a big party going on certainly that right but what it will actually look like what the new what the physics of the new world will look like what they will be doing there or anything like that we really don't know because scripture doesn't really say and i think that's for good reason uh because frankly i think if scripture told us we wouldn't even really understand it uh we'd be like what that doesn't even make any sense like we how do we even process what that is um but we do know we will have a place we'll have mansions we'll have a we'll have a home there to be with our father in heaven uh which frankly uh as the psalm says it's better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the lord than to be anywhere else so even if we get in heaven and all we are doorkeepers in the house the lord it's a better gig than pretty much anywhere else uh and so i i'll take that any day over any anything else in the world so any questions about eternity what eternally would be like what the new heavens and new earth will be like well i i agree with you that it's sort of beyond human comfort indeed um my thought is that it's that eden would be a good model for what i think you're right yeah i think you're right so what what eden was meant to be yeah is what heaven is going to be yeah i i agree with you on that it's that's kind of why he's trying to get to a little bit with elysian feels it's sort of that sort of pastoral but also like setting of like the of like the garden that sort of thinking i want to get us away from is the idea of like this this idea of like sitting up on like cloud pondering all day or something like that that's it's not what it's going to be like so yeah so yeah i mean so there you know there's a concept of you know more and more than just man and woman yeah family yep um there's the concept of animals yep there's a concept of eating what's provided yep but not necessarily having to work for it yeah um and so the only thing in my mind that i sort of add to that is that you know i could fly [Laughter] my body could actually fly through the air you know that we don't know uh i i'm pretty convinced uh that our bodies will certainly be different but i don't think we'll have to have superpowers no i'm just but but still it's beyond human it is it very much is yeah so i take the liberty to think that you know i could at least in my mind you know have that freedom yep so um i would definitely say that's the case so yeah yeah you know i i see it more as a return to eden yeah and i i would agree with that sentiment that that is that is true the it's going to be similar i think it's going to be even greater than the eden though beyond our comprehension it's definitely beyond our comprehension because you know you're in the presence of the holy you know lord god yes and you know you will you will feel a love that you've never felt before yep and you know all as i mentioned before one of the unique things that you get us do one year in habit is see god the father face to face which is something that uh no mortal has ever seen uh and that's uh that's something that's going to be very like very unique things like we'll see god the sun certainly jesus will be around in his body hanging out we'll actually get to see god the father which is pretty extensive he will call you by name exactly which is great and fantastic so this is this is a wonderful stuff we're talking about here in terms of what eternity look like uh in terms of everybody that's going to be there who has bet if you want to go talk to adam and eve your forefathers have you can go ahead and do still they'll be there uh you want to talk to abraham i'm going to personally have a paul party uh i'm gonna have saint paul on all the polls of history together and we'll have a party isn't it awesome uh but you can do whatever you want there in terms of this enjoy the enjoy the the treasure that is heaven we have all eternity to extend there right uh and so so it's gonna be a great time and there'll be no nothing there'll be plenty to do i don't think we're ever gonna be bored uh so don't don't worry about being bored in heaven it's not gonna be boring guarantee that any other questions or thoughts about heaven or about eternity well kind of the flip side of that is that those that are condemned to hell probably have an everlasting life in hell yeah uh as i mentioned before the uh you those in hell will have a body and this is actually i should mention this because i haven't talked about it yet um there are gradations and punishment just as there are gradation including glory so uh in hell for eternity people will be judged there justly so those who have done more evil in this life will be judged more harshly so the dante's vision of the nine levels of hell isn't necessarily wrong uh and his idea about the the upper level of hill being kind of a vague shadow of earth like it's a worse version of verse but still like it's like you're it's like god's not there but it's not like you're like you know getting prodded by demons all the time because these are people that just kind of went through their life and it's like didn't do anything like especially heinous uh so they just live in a human portion of hell it's really like the murderers will have they go straight to the bottom and what have you uh so i think that this is not to give you any comfort about those who are going to hell they're going to hell it's going to be a bad time for everybody uh but it does there is justice in the lord's enjoy the lord will judge according to a person's deeds and in terms of the punishments that are meted out will be appropriate to a person's deeds and remember that the demons and the uh and the satan are there getting punished they're not the ones that are you know enjoying their time there they're also down there getting tormented so that nobody nobody's down there is enjoying themselves about this um but likewise on the flip side there is a there is in heaven a gradation in glory now it's not where we're going to be jealous of each other it's not we're going to be envious of each other about a person getting more glory than another and we frankly we don't know what the rewards will look like uh in terms of the deeds you do in this life but the ideas you do in this life do matter in terms of stuff you get in heaven this is this is a clear teaching of scripture everybody has immortality everybody is in heaven everybody is enjoying that but there's a difference in gifts that are given but we don't know what those gifts are the scripture is basically silent as to what they are we just know we get stuff what that is who knows uh and when we and when people get it we're like oh yeah great for that person to get that because they deserve that and that's something that they they did it commiserate with your actions now this is not to motivate you to do good works you should do good works from from their love for a neighbor but it is the fact that you do get rewards for your good works that you do here on on earth so just be aware of that this is not something that we talk a lot about as lutherans just because we don't want people to get into the idea of works righteousness or thinking that they rely on their works anymore but scripture does clearly teach that we do get rewards for the works that we do here on earth so that's something to be aware of yeah we don't know what's going to look like in terms of what guess we're in again get a nicer crown i don't i don't know i i i just don't know what it's going to be like uh it's just beyond me on this any further comments or questions about eternity all right uh let's sing a hymn that we just sang jerusalem the golden six one i didn't i did not uh i did not make this up uh it was not uh it was not my intention but i ended up telling you nicely this evening and had already scheduled to sing this hymn so we'll sing again jerusalem the golden so for those upstairs you know the tune you just sang it uh 672 672 jerusalem the golden rule [Music] salvation the place of peace [Music] shines bright with [Music] the songs [Music] [Music] and foreign the gleaming robes of white o sweet and blessed the home of [Music] and god that faithful hearts expect a mercy jesus bring us to the eternal rest with you and god the father and spirit ever blessed amen finally we get to the very very end of the apostles of nicene creed amen so amen in hebrew means yes yes it shall be so the similar similar with phrase two this is most certainly true like if you want that way that is in german is this most certainly is most certainly true the same sort of thing it's exactly what ahmed means so when we end the creeds we confess all men because this is we are saying this is true we believe this this is both our confession and our prayer and when we are praying we are praying the creeds and we are con we say all men and you ever saying this is my confession i believe this what it is and so this means that we firmly and confidently believe what we just confessed in these creeds it means that for those who are reading these creeds and this is people like this is true for guests who come to the church i won't stress this necessarily enough uh i generally don't approve of people like saying things they don't believe in so if you're just kind of they're parroting what everybody else is saying i'm not a huge fan of that sort of thing so if you don't actually believe the creed don't say it uh because you are saying that i believe these things if you're struggling with faith say it because it'll help you to believe but for those who don't believe it those people are off the street just coming in just kind of listen pay attention when you do come to faith say it believe it um let's read a psalm psalm 41 and kind of get to a look at this psalm chapter not chapter psalm 41 i don't think you ever would call it a chapter uh psalm 41. and see if i could if i could be read this please psalm 241 psalm 41 blessed is the one who considers the poor in the day of the trouble the lord delivers him the lord protects him and keeps him alive he is called blessed in the land you do not give him up to the will of his enemies the lord sustains him on his sick bed in his illness you restore him to full health as for me i said the lord be gracious to me heal me for i have sinned against you my enemies say of me and malice when will he die and his name perish and when one comes to see me he utters empty words while his heart gathers iniquity when he goes out he tells it abroad all who hate me whisper together about me they imagine the worst for me they say deadly things is poured out a deadly thing is poured out on him and he will not rise again from where he lies even my close friend in whom i trusted who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me but you o lord be gracious to me and raise me up that i may repay them by this i know that you delight in me my enemy will not shout and triumph over me but you have upheld me because of my integrity you set me in your presence forever blessed be the lord the god of israel from everlasting to everlasting amen and amen thank you so you can see with the psalms that we have this ah men attacked to the end here confessing that everything that we want that we say in this psalm is true that we believe it that we wish god would have this sort of thing you see this preservation for sickness certainly would help this in the hope this in this day given that covet go around and illness is happening to us the plague that's around us we pray to god that he would be gracious merciful to us that we give us all blessings and so we attach amen to the end of this now this all men and all men also the blessed be the lord god of israel foreign amen it's also at the end of each of the books of the of the of the uh uh of the psalms so this is the end of book one which is why you find this all men and all men at the end of this you go to the end of book two you also find the amen and nominee at the end of that so at the end of each one of these books you'll end up with this nice little ending on he's capping and off saying we believe everything that just came from prior right and this is certainly the case with the creed that we do this as well so traditionally ahmed is reserved for the end of prayers but also ends the straight statements of faith so that's commonly what you'll find amen's kind of put at the end which is why you say it at the end of the uh of the invocation in the name of the father son the holy spirit amen because we believe this and we're saying uh that when christ says truly truly in the gospels specifically in john you can read him there saying amen amen that's literally what he's saying he's saying oh man ah man blah blah blah whatever he says next and whenever he says truly truly it's something you should pay attention to so ahmed is not saying this that we used to be flippantly kind of flowing or throwing around is a phrase rather it's something that is to be applied to specific cases to say hey look pay attention to this this is something that is so sure and certain that i'm willing to take my faith on this so that's what the word amen means right is something i'm so willing to take my faith on that this is true this is factual and this is the case okay so likewise we do the same since christ is willing to do that with his words we do that with our words reflecting back on what christ has said let's go to second corinthians chapter one get another look at this from saint paul first corinthians chapter one starting at verse twelve second corinthians chapter one else i get right book of the corinthians uh so second corinthians chapter one starting at verse 12 i will read this for our boast is this the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity not with earthly wisdom but by the grace of god and supremely so toward you for we are not writing to you anything other than what you all read and acknowledge and know and hope and i hope you fully acknowledge just as you did partially acknowledge us on that day of the lord of the day of our lord jesus christ you will boast of us as we will boast to you because i was sure of this i wanted to come to you first so you might have a second experience of grace i wanted to visit you on my way to macedonia and to come back to you from macedonia and have you send me on my way to judea was i vacillating when i wanted to do this do i make my plans according to the flesh ready to say yes yes and no no at the same time as truly as god is faithful our word to you has not been yes and no for the lord for the son of god jesus christ whom we proclaimed among you sylvanas and timothy and i was not yes and no but in him it is always yes for all the promises of a god find their yes in him that is why it is through him that we utter our all men to god for his glory and it is god who establishes us with you in christ and has anointed us and you and who has put also put a seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee but i call on god to witness against me it was to spare you that i refrain from coming again to corinth not that i we lord it over you your faith but we work with you for your joy for you stand firm in your faith for i made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you for if i cause you pain who is there to make me glad but the one whom i have pained and i wrote as i did so that when i came i might not suffer pain from those who should have may have made me rejoice for i felt sure of all of you that my joy would be the joy of you all for i wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that i have for you so this is why we say amen because everything is yes in christ we can be confident and say amen to everything that we say about god because everything is yes for because of christ okay and so we say amen because god's promises are true and sure and they will happen right and so all our prayers were answered yes as we answered all end them all in amen our confessions of faith are true and therefore we end them all with all men as well so with intrepid hearts which you confess this faith that the church has confessed for several thousands of years now as our own and bold people claim that this is what we believe as well so any questions about all men or about the entire creeds or why we say them or why we put an emphatic ah men at the end of them all right then let us close with him uh praise god from whom while blessings flow 805. although i imagine most of you have this memorized probably in four part two [Laughter] but for those for those who wish to look up the words uh him 805. praise the [Music] him lord creature tippy low praise him above he have me host praise father [Music] our father lord in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come that will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not in temptation deliver us from evil lion's kingdom and power and the glory forever amen next week we will begin the athenation creed after service of course which will be celebrating thanksgiving it's a good time celebrate thanksgiving after all nothing we all got was written during a plague and so we should sing during a plague that we thank god for the plague uh anyway i hope that you'll join us next week and those remote hope to see you all soon stay safe and enjoy your week

Channel: First Lutheran Church of Boston

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Id: zKs5sBuME40

Length: 42min 5sec (2525 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 19 2020