For Us and For Our Salvation - The Undertone of Comfort

"As pilgrim people, we constantly need to hear the assurance of the gospel." - Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored (Mike Brown and Zach Keele)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" - 1 Peter 1:3-5

This past Sunday at church we recited the Nicene Creed, although we usually recite the Apostle's Creed. I always enjoy reciting the Apostle's Creed together at church. There is a unifying aspect to it.  Despite all of our differences we can say with one voice affirmatively what we believe. I love hearing the voices next to me knowing that we all are united to each other in Christ. Yet this past Sunday hit differently for me.  I instinctively followed the words of the Nicene Creed until I hit the words, "for us and for our salvation...". My voice broke thinking about the impact of those words. They are Gospel words filled with grace, truth, and life. 

"For Us and For Our Salvation" 

I already had a rough week. I was painfully aware that I did not perfectly love God with my whole, heart, mind, and strength. I did not perfectly love my neighbor as myself. I was already questioning my motives, recalling every charge imaginable to my mind as an indictment to my soul.  What right did I have to recite these words so confidently?  What right do any of us have really? We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Even as a Christian, my sin is ever before me. Everyday is a battle to turn away from either self-righteousness or despair and to the living Christ who has given freely His righteousness.  With all this in mind, it is easy choke up at the words "for us and for our salvation" because the impact of them is inconceivable. For me? Really?  For us? Really? 

Yet 2000 years ago, a little baby conceived by the Holy Spirt was born to cover our sin in the sight of God. This little baby grew into to the Man of Sorrows who suffered the agony and pain of living in a sinful and broken world. Jesus lived in perfect, personal, and unending obedience to the law for us and for our salvation. He was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, and overcame temptation for us and for our salvation.  He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, identifying with us in our weakness. The culmination of His suffering and pain was at the cross, where He absorbed the full cup of God's wrath, paying the penalty for our sin with His body. For us and for our salvation, he was buried to sanctify the grave, and was raised for our justification. He ascended to heaven where He is interceding for us. Did you catch those words?  Everything He did was "for us and for our salvation." 

I don't think we will ever in this lifetime understand the magnitude, the glory, the love, the kindness, the justice, or the mercy displayed for us in Christ. We will spend all of eternity trying to wrap our minds around it. The words of the Nicene Creed last Sunday, despite my failures and insecurities for the week, were a balm to my soul.  Beloved, we are truly, securely, irrevocably, and incontrovertibly safe in Christ

 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"- Romans 8:1. 

Those words are perpetual, true, and etched on our souls with the blood that was shed by Christ.  Let us not hope in our ability to submit, our obedience, our repentance, or even the quality of our faith. Looking to those things for the source of our assurance will lead us further into despair where all we will see is our sin. Let us hope in Christ alone.  We will see that all of the promises of God for us will find their "yes" and "amen" in Christ. May the words of the Nicene Creed make us ponder all that was done for us and for our salvation: 

"We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made; one in being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and this kingdom will have no end

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets.

We Believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen"