Category Archives: Statements of Faith

On Humanity

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Continuing along the “Brief Statements of Faith,” I turn now to a statement on Humanity.

The Bible teaches that human beings were created in the image of God, not that they emerged through the millennia by process of natural selection and evolution.  Instead, humanity was created in the image of God, as the crown jewel of creation, given blessing and charge by God to be fruitful and multiply, to have dominion over all the earth.  As the Psalmist says, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:4–5(ESV).  Created and blessed by God, our first parents enjoyed communion with God and lived for God’s glory as they obeyed His Word.

Still, when tempted by the questioning of God’s Word, Adam and Eve defied God’s commandment and chose to be gods for themselves, placing themselves in the center of creation.  Because of their willful disobedience, sin and death entered into the human heart, and yet we reenact that original sin every time we disobey God.  The corruption of sin is so complete and pervasive that humanity is now broken, no longer living for the glory of God and the joy of His presence.  We choose darkness over light, the momentary pleasures of sin over the eternal blessing of righteousness – “none is righteous, no not one… for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:10, 23).

There exists now a great divide between God and all of humanity.  Our sinfulness prevents us from entering into and joyfully celebrating the glory of God.  Our most righteous efforts to atone for our sins are still laced with sin, the price for our redemption is more than we could ever pay, it is beyond our ability to save ourselves.  Sin’s stain touches everything we do, it is destructive, contagious, polluting, and deadly.  We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners.

As such, we stand before our God, who is holy and just, condemned in our sin.  We owe to God a debt we cannot pay.  Humanity needs a savior.

SDG

About God

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Continuing my posts on a Statement of Faith, I now turn to a brief statement on what I believe about God:

I believe in the one true God, who is the author, creator, and source of all life, goodness and blessing. 

God is one, yet exists and has revealed Himself as three distinct persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  There are numerous ways to describe this Triune nature of God (a three-leaf clover, a triple-helix, a triangle, etc), but no one example is complete.  The fact is, the One and Three nature of God is a mystery, but it is Biblical (see Matt. 3:13-17, 2 Cor. 13:14, 1 Cor 12:4-6; Matt. 28:19-20, Eph 4:4-6; John 14:26, and more).

God, who exists outside of space and time, stepped into space and time, cre­ating everything that is for His own purposes, to demonstrate His own glory, power, wisdom and goodness.  God continues to provide for and sustain His creation.  As the sovereign over all of creation, there is nothing that is beyond God’s control, nothing that is beyond His power to redeem, and no one that is beyond God’s saving reach.  God has a plan for all things (Eph 1:10), and His sovereign will cannot be thwarted.

God is a God of love. In grace God chooses to show love and mercy. When we were dead in trespasses and sin, God made us alive with Christ, saving us by grace through faith, as a sheer gift of sovereign love.  However, God’s gracious loving kindness did not compromise His justice.  God remains perfectly just and holy in the salvation of sinners by placing the judgment and wrath for our sins upon His sinless Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Proving His love for us, He sent Christ to die for us, so that by His grace, we may live righteous and holy lives in the power of His Holy Spirit.

God, and God alone, is worthy of worship.  Worship is what God deserves, simply because of who God is.  Worship is our rightful and joyful response to God’s love.  Indeed, our purpose in life is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 1).  Worship is not merely something that we do when we gather as a congregation on a Sunday morning, it is a way of life that proclaims the gospel, celebrates the goodness and majesty of God, and submits to His righteous and gracious lordship over all of creation, and over every aspect of our individual and corporate lives.