Acts 2:22-36
June 15, 2025
Many people in our culture today have dismissed the church as being outdated or irrelevant. Our society says that there are many groups or organizations that you can belong to, that they believe are serving the world’s needs much more effectively. You can tell people about our wonderful worship services, but some will say that you don’t have to go to church to worship God. You can worship God alone or out on the golf course. You can boast about our outreach ministries that care for people in the community, and others will quickly point to the United Way and other agencies that seem to be much more effective at meeting the needs of people. You can speak of the love and care that the church provides, only to hear of the great things happening in a variety of different support groups.
So we are faced with a tremendous challenge. How do we effectively explain the importance of the church? How can we keep the church relevant in our culture, especially to people who are skeptical about the church, who don’t see a great need for a church, and those trying to avoid what society terms as “organized religion?” Maybe the best approach would be to start by remembering where the church came from in the first place. The church may resemble other organizations, but nothing ever compares to the church, because the church was designed and conceived in the mind of God. But with all of our Christian denominations, created by human beings, what is it the truly unites the Church? What unites us as Christians? One thing that unites us, that other organizations and religions do not have is a Creed. While some people may view our ancient creeds, such as the Apostles’ and the Nicene, to be nothing more than old theological statements, creeds are statements of truth that identify what we believe, they connect us to present and past believers in Jesus, and they influence how we behave.
With this in mind I would like us to look at our Second Lesson for today from the book of Acts that contains the first sermon ever preached. While Peter’s message in this text is not a creed, his message is a statement of the beliefs of the early church about Jesus. And as we look at these beliefs, I want to use each letter in the word CREED to help us see how these beliefs should affect our behavior.
First, the letter “C” reminds us to Consider the Evidence. In verse 22 Peter says, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, was a man accredited to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.” Peter reminds them that Jesus was a man accredited by God. When you go to college you usually want to go to an accredited college, because that means an outside organization has thoroughly examined the school and found it to be a quality institution that will give you a quality education. But Jesus was not accredited by some accrediting agency, He was accredited by God himself.
Whenever we go through an election season, it seems like we get bombarded with political ads on TV. And at the end of these political ads we usually see or hear the candidate saying, “I’m so-and-so and I approved this message.” Well, essentially what this Scripture text means is that when Jesus finished His message on earth, God said, “I am God Almighty and I approved that message.”
And how did God show that He approved of Jesus’ message? Peter says in this verse that it was through the “mighty works and wonders and signs” which Jesus performed among them by God’s power. Peter is implying that if God had disapproved of Jesus, He wouldn’t have given Jesus His power to perform these acts.
Now the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, understood this. The Gospel of John tells us that a Pharisee named Nicodemus came up to Jesus one evening and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Note that Nicodemus said, “we know,” meaning that all of
his fellow Pharisees knew the truth, but the majority of them rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah from God in spite of the evidence. Their behavior did not match what they knew to be true. The disciples, though, put their faith in Jesus and allowed their beliefs to influence their behavior. So consider the evidence in your life.
Second, the letter “R” in the word CREED stands for Repent of Your Sin. Peter went on in verse 23 saying, “This Jesus was handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God; and you crucified and killed him with the help of lawless men.” On the one hand Peter says that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus; but on the other hand he says that it was part of God’s plan. So if God hadn’t allowed it, they couldn’t have done it; but why did God allow this to happen? The Old Testament tells us that God decided that His Son would suffer as a sacrifice to take away the sin of all people. Therefore, since Jesus died on the cross to take away your sin and my sin, that means we also share in the responsibility for the death of Jesus. So the appropriate response to this truth is to repent of our sins and to receive God’s forgiveness.
The letter “E” stands for Engage in Living a New Life. Peter said in verses 24 & 32 that “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him…and we are all witnesses of the fact.” Notice that when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus, Peter says that he and the other disciples are witnesses of the fact. Not a myth, or a hoax, but a fact. Beliefs are what we build our lives on and this fact is the cornerstone for our lives and the new life that Jesus offers to all of us with Him today and for eternity through His resurrection.
The second letter “E” in CREED stands for Express Praise to God. In verse 33 Peter said that Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God. In light of this truth, Paul wrote in Philippians saying, “God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The Bible makes it clear that because Jesus has been lifted up, we should bow down in worship – expressing our praise to Jesus.
Finally, the letter “D” stands for Depend on the Spirit’s Power. Peter goes on to say in verse 33, “He (Jesus) has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” Jesus sent the promised Holy Spirit on Pentecost, which we celebrated last week, and it was the fulfillment of this promise that resulted in Peter having an audience to preach to on this day. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, the Spirit gave the disciples the power to preach in the languages of the people who were gathered there that day. Amazed and perplexed, the people asked one another, “What does this mean?” and Peter’s sermon is his answer to this question. Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would give them the power to be His witnesses and that is exactly what the Spirit did. The Holy Spirit transformed the disciples, who had abandoned Jesus at the time of His arrest and remained hidden behind locked doors after his crucifixion, into men who were willing to go out into the world to proclaim the news for all to see and hear that Jesus Christ was Lord, even to the point of death.
One of the secrets to enjoyable Christian living is depending on the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8, it lists all of the benefits of depending on the Holy Spirit, such as the ability to live a holy life, peace of mind, power over sin and temptation, an intimate relationship with God, and assurance of eternal life. Where else are you going to find these things: ability, peace, power, intimacy, and assurance? Our world may try to offer these things, but they won’t happen or they will never last. These things all come into our lives as a direct result of basing our lives on the CREED. So Consider the evidence, Repent of your sin, Engage in living a new life, Express praise to God, and Depend on the Holy Spirit’s power. Build your life on these things and we will show the world the power of the church in action.
