“But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.”
- Acts 24:14-16
Our above verses are Paul’s defense to the Roman governor Felix. Felix is currently hearing the case of why Paul was arrested and is now standing before him. The Jews accusing Paul make a fairly weak accusation based on a ton of assumptions. Paul though, Paul’s defense is a declaration of faith, it's essentially a creed and how he has decided to live. His faith and beliefs are more than simple theories but are ingrained into his very life and blood.
Our faith should also become alive. Or another way of looking at it, the way in which we live should make reasonable sense if someone saw what we believe. There should be consistency with how we believe and how we live! That’s the idea behind Paul’s defense and the term, pragmatic creeds! Of course, it all starts with what we confess to be true…
Worship God:
Paul asserts first in whom he believes. He says, “I worship the God of our fathers.” Not only is that getting at the belief in the God of Israel, but behind that, we must hear, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” It both ties his current faith in the God who made covenants with Abraham and his descendants but also how that God continued His work through “the Way,” which is the early Christian church movement.
This remains true for the church today. We believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who make up the Holy Trinity, the distinct yet inseparable persons who in whom all things were created and by whom all things are sustained. This God of Abraham is the One who sent the Son to die on the cross as a sacrifice for all our sins since Adam’s original, and graces the repentant with the Holy Spirit to continue the work of grace in their lives.
This belief spurs us to worship! Bringing the proper honor and glory to God!
Law and Prophets:
For some strange reason, there are movements and groups today that want to get rid of the Old Testament, and have then decided to not use it. The basis of their argument is that Jesus brought a New Covenant and thus everything in the Old can be done away with. Paul would think otherwise, and even at this time in Paul’s life a lot of the New Testament wasn’t written yet, and most of it loosely collected letters with no intention to write a sacred text, all of it was to spread the Gospel and encourage churches. So our New Testament requires we keep the Old Testament.
While many aspects of the Old Testament do not apply to us anymore, especially those of Gentile descent, we still must look back to it all and understand it. In it, we come to understand the full picture of who God is and why the Gospel of the Kingdom is so important. We learn more about Jesus and what is to come when we look back to the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and the Prophets (essentially every other book!). Each text is God-breathed and enriching for us today.
The full Bible helps us better see and know God and how He works today!
Hope in the Resurrection:
Yet our faith is about a lot more than just what has happened in the past. We must also be drawn to everything that is to come as well and that brings us to the resurrection. The problem is, the resurrection is an easy belief to leave as a creed, but what would it mean for the belief in the resurrection to change how we live? Especially if the resurrection is for the just and the unjust, how then does not change my life now?
One of the important pieces of believing in the resurrection is to acknowledge we will never know exactly when it will happen, and we better hope when it does we are judged to be on the side of the just. This requires living with a faith that sends us into the world with a gospel instinct. It encourages us to live with consistency so when someone examines our life and words they see and hear the gospel. They see grace made alive and experience a pang of hunger for righteousness that only leads them to Christ. Perhaps it could be said this way, to live out our faith in the resurrection is to live as if we have been resurrected already. Taking on the challenge to live in and out of God’s presence, worshipping Him with our every breath, and knowing and being known fully by God.
The resurrection later challenges us to live resurrected now!
Clear Conscience:
Paul holds himself to live in good and clear conscience to both God and man. If only many of us could maintain that same striving. I believe it begins with developing that consistency between belief and action. It means to live by these pragmatic creeds, enabling these abstract trusts in God to take on our flesh and bone. There’s work to be done to make this happen. It acknowledges that faith alone saves and yet action is what reveals such faith. This pragmatism leads us to worship God rightly and to live in peace before all humanity. Because at the end of this era, we will face not our enemies, nor our friends, but only God and be helpful for how we did or did not live out our faith in Him.
Final Blessing:
Let’s write pragmatic creeds with our hearts and lives. Combining faith and obedience as it should always be. Living out our statements of faith, elevating our prayers through serving, and bringing praise through every breathe.
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey!
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