TranscriptRead along
Welcome to the Gospel Focused Family Moment. I’m your host, Eric Novak. Each week we pause as a family to remember what matters most, the good news of Jesus. This podcast is brought to you by gospelfocused.com.
For our opening liturgy today, I’ll be your leader and ask a question, and then you follow along and repeat with your family. Christian family, what do we believe? We believe in God the Father, Maker of heaven and earth. We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. We believe in the Holy Spirit, who gives us life and makes us one.
The scripture reading for today comes from Ephesians 4:1–6. “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” This is the word of the Lord.
Welcome back to the show, listeners. Guys, I’m getting a little sad. We’ve been studying the Apostles’ Creed together since the beginning of September, and this is the second to last episode on the Apostles’ Creed before we start a new series. If you don’t know by now, the Apostles’ Creed is an “I believe” statement that was recited by those close to the beginning of the church so that they could learn what the church believed when they were being baptized. Today it’s still recited in churches across the world.
So let’s read it together, and then we’ll unpack our line:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and 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.
Our line we’ll be studying today is “I believe in the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins.” Out of the entire Apostles’ Creed, this is the line that modern people struggle with the most. And it’s for a very specific reason: people are scared of the word catholic. It’s worth talking about, for sure.
So when Jesus started the church, it was a handful of people who loved Him and believed He was God’s only Son and their Lord. Well, they believed something very close to the words of the Apostles’ Creed. But even 200 years after the church started, Christianity was beginning to be formalized. And that’s not really a bad thing. It just means that there was enough time for people to actually think through the ideas of their faith and write them down. By the 1500s, however, there were a lot of rules and processes in place, and some of them were not a good reflection of the Christianity that Jesus had created. One of those major issues was that the church needed money, so they began to sell forgiveness.
They’d say that if you brought some money to church, you could pay for the salvation of another person. Well, that just flies in the face of God’s grace being something that is freely given to those who don’t deserve it. And some people began to notice. They asked the Catholic church to change its ways, but instead of listening, the church pushed them away and punished them. Pretty soon there was a big split, and something called the Reformation happened. Funny we should be talking about it now, because October 31st is the 509th anniversary of the church returning to Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and glory to God alone, or what is known as the five solas of the Reformation.
That’s a really long way to say that when people are scared of being Catholic, it’s because we really don’t want to be Catholic anymore. Now, that’s not because Catholic people are bad or our enemies. There are many who love Jesus. It’s that we hold to the good news the Reformation recovered, that we’re all saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But the Apostles’ Creed was written when catholic had its original meaning, the catholic, or universal, church. And so that’s what we affirm. We are part of God’s universal church.
Paul says it this way in our reading today: “There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” One enormous family. Not only that, but we’re part of God’s universal church across the world and across time as well. We’re talking about millions of Christians who make up the family of Jesus. And “across time” means something wonderful. It includes believers who have already died and are with Jesus right now. They’re still part of the family, and one day we’ll all be together. So when your family worships on Sunday, you’re never worshiping alone.
When we say the communion of saints, we’re not talking about taking communion, or the Lord’s meal. We’re talking about fellowship and being a family together. And you know, “saints” just means all of God’s people. That’s you and me, not a special few. And what does a family do? We love each other as Christ loves us. We forgive each other as Christ forgives us. We support each other, pray for each other, and break bread together, just like Jesus told us to. These are the things that families do, things your family probably does.
Which brings us to the last thing our line affirms: the forgiveness of sins. And here’s the amazing part. This is the very thing that the Reformation was fought over. Remember how some people tried to sell forgiveness? They had it exactly backward. Forgiveness is not something you can buy, and it’s not something that you can earn by being good enough. Jesus already paid for it on the cross, and He gives it away for free to whoever trusts Him. In God’s family, every sin you have ever done, and every sin you will ever do, is washed completely clean because of Jesus. That’s the best news there is. That’s why we call it the gospel, which means “good news.”
Before our memory verse and prayer, let’s take a quiet moment together as a family. Think about this. Because of Jesus, you’re part of a family bigger than you can imagine, all over the world and all the way to heaven. And in that family, you are completely forgiven. Nothing you have ever done is too big for Jesus to wash away. So let’s thank Him. Parents, you might tell your kids about a brother or sister in Christ who once helped your family, or a believer who has gone to be with Jesus that you can’t wait to see again. And all of us can thank God that our sins are forgiven, not because we earned it, but because Jesus paid for it. Let’s carry that right into our prayer. The memory verse for today is “There is one body and one Spirit.” Ephesians 4:4.
Let’s pray. Father God, thank you for your global family, the Church. It’s through your Son Jesus Christ that we are made a family, that you’ve taken people from all tribes and nations and places and times, and united us together in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Give us unity and peace with each other. In your holy name we pray. Amen.
Thanks for joining us for this week’s Gospel Focused Family Moment. I’m your host, Eric Novak. Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and your hearts focused on the gospel. Go as a family in the peace of your Savior and closest friend, Jesus Christ. See you next week.
Thank you for being part of what we do at gospelfocused.com. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend. Every person we reach brings us closer to our goal of sharing the gospel with every family around the world, by the grace of Jesus.
