Credal Sermon Series (Sermon 1)

The First Article.

Of Creation.

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

What does this mean?—Answer.

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

Sermon 1 (Article 1):

Genesis 2:4-25

Psalm 24

Matthew 22:15-22

Audio Available: https://youtu.be/IT16OxT7FUA

The exchange between Jesus and the group of individuals—people who were not his biggest fans—is at the very least, interesting. They attempt to trap Jesus! They try to get Jesus to say that taxes should be paid (and consequently anger the Pharisees) or say taxes shouldn’t be paid (and anger the government officials). Jesus has a choice to make, but Jesus manages to spin the question onto the Pharisees and Herodians. Jesus asks, “Who’s head is on the coin and what is his title” and the group responds “The emperor’s” and cleverly Jesus asserts “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.” 

Ah! I see what you did there, Jesus! Because Jesus knows that everything is God’s. Like Paul says in his first Letter to the church in Corinth (echoing Psalm 24), "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." What is interesting to consider is what this tax was for… the tax in question is the imperial tax. This specific tax was used by the Roman government to continue the occupation of 1st-century Palestine. In a sense, the Jews were paying their oppressor to oppress them…

Jesus asks about the image on the coin. I don’t think Jesus is asking us to declare our allegiance but reminding us who’s image is already imprinted on us from the creation of the universe. God says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” We are part of God—made in God’s image, yet not left to our own devices…Fortunately, we don’t mark our allegiances to God, instead God marks God’s allegiance to us! God makes us in God’s image. We are imprinted forever with the image of God no matter where we live, when we live, if we are democrat or republican, male or female, gay or straight, white or black or brown…

What belongs to God? We live in a society that makes us want to claim the things that we feel like we’ve earned. I like to think that my clothing are mine because I bought them and I wear them and I store them, I like to think that my 50” television is mine because again I worked hard to buy it. I mean saying my TV or clothing belong to God is pointless, right? I mean, God doesn’t need a TV or clothing or anything for that matter. So what does it mean to say everything we have belongs to God?

The first article of the creed, which we will recite in whole a little later this morning, goes like this: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” This statement is one that can just wash over us because we hear it so often. Sure, we believe that God created heaven and earth, but what does that really mean. Luther, the theologian for whom our church is named and by whom our church was founded says this, 

"I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true."

What belongs to God? What belongs to God, and what belongs to Caesar? And what if Caesar is Hitler, or apartheid, or global climate change, or poverty? What is to be the attitude of Christians toward domination systems, whether ancient or modern? God provides us with everything… including the coins with Caesar’s face. Everything belongs to God even if we don’t recognize it, or if we don’t want to recognize it, or if we forget….

I think what Jesus is getting at is that our identities, the things that make up who we are, all those things are to be rendered or given back to the creator. What is beneath all of these categories and things belongs to God (below the surface), what is deep within us… that is God’s! The identity that God has created within us, first and foremost as Child of God, shapes what we do with the freedom that God has given us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Spirit of God lives in us and continues forming us and urging us to be the people God created and calls us to be. We are stewards of ourselves, our time, our possessions… we give God what God has already given to us… We serve in various ways according to our various gifts. 

Despite our attempts to make things the way we want to make them—God is moving and changing everything all the time! God created us and will sustain us!

The coin might belong to Caesar but the people, they belong to God! 

Amen