Proper confession and belief are vital to growing to your full potential in Christ.
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:9-10
Confessions are not true and life-giving because I confess them. I confess them because they are true and life-giving.
Beliefs are not true and life-giving because I believe them. I believe them because they are true and life giving.
The most succinct and powerful of all confessions is “Jesus is Lord.” Romans 10:9
The most succinct and powerful of all beliefs is “God raised Jesus from the dead.” Romans 10:9
Confessions and beliefs are integrated matters of the mouth and the heart.
- What you confess with your mouth should be what you believe in your heart.
- What you believe in your heart should be what you confess with your mouth.
Confession without belief is hypocrisy.
Belief without confession is doubtful and incomplete.
Notice the confess/believe tension in John 12:42-44
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
Early Christians, expanding upon the “Jesus is Lord” creed, unified the Apostles’ beliefs and teaching into what is known as the Apostles’ Creed.
This creed is called the Apostles’ Creed not because it was produced by the apostles themselves but because it contains a brief summary of their teachings. It sets forth their doctrine “in sublime simplicity, in unsurpassable brevity, in beautiful order, and with liturgical solemnity.”” https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/creeds/apostles-creed
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to 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.
I 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. Amen.
*that is, the true Christian church of all times and all places
Creedal scholar Jaroslav Pelikan has collected and evaluated “nearly 1,000” Christian creeds. In various times, places and cultures the Apostles’ teaching has been woven into relevant creeds.
Masai Creed
We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.
We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.
We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.
Today’s primary text, John 20:24-29, invites us into the confess/believe struggle with Thomas.
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Without a doubt Thomas missed it, got it and then changed the world.
The honesty of Thomas confessing what he believed is healthy. Authentic honesty is necessary.
Thomas’ disbelief of the other disciples’ report, “We have seen the Lord,” is a huge mistake and error. Mistakes and errors are costly and painful.
Jesus meets Thomas in the place of his disbelief with grace, mercy and love.
Jesus corrects Thomas. “Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
Thomas immediately corrects his error becoming the only disciple in the Bible to be recorded as confessing Jesus as, “My Lord and my God.”
Jesus then prepares Thomas for a life of ministry that requires believing (and its twin – confessing) BEFORE or WITHOUT seeing.
The Holy Spirit will minister with love, grace and mercy to you when you are in the “Thomas moment” of tension between belief and disbelief.
Like the father in Mark 9:23, 24 we may fully believe and at the same time have room for more belief.
23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can? All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
This week I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead because it is with my heart that I believe and am justified and with my mouth that I confess and am saved.
This week I safari with Jesus and trust Him to protect me from the hyenas.