Sanctuary Sounds (11/10/24)

• Creed Highlight: The Apostles' Creed

I love that we recite the Apostles’ Creed each week! We get to remind one another of what we believe. So I’m sharing a song-version of the Apostles’ Creed today. This creed is one of the clearest statements of the facts of Christianity. Historical Christianity is summed up here.

Parent/Grandparent Idea: Do you want to pass on your faith to your child? Teach them the Creed. Many historic catechisms throughout history have focused on teaching this creed, along with the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. When you teach the Creed, you are teaching kids to remember their faith, to share their faith, and to detect ideas that are outside of the faith.

• Scripture Highlight: Romans 13

In John 19, Pontius Pilate said to Jesus, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”

Pilate’s authority to crucify was given to him by God.

This is an extreme illustration that all authority comes from God. There is no authority in place that wasn’t put there by God. This is true of Pontius Pilate and the local Clerk of Court.

God is the giver of all authority. Now, this doesn’t mean that all authorities are good or do what is right. But we can trust that they hold power because the wise God put it in their hands. Our job is not to decode his plans, but to obey his command: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.

The Family Worship Bible Guide (one of the best resources for family devotions if you have teens or adults in your home) says, “Though people around us may neither give honor to authority nor exercise authority in an honorable way, Christians must be people who conscientiously honor authority because they honor God.”

And remember that our hope is not in the governing authorities either. They can do good, but not ultimate good. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps 20:7).

Parent/Grandparent Note: God has given you authority in your child’s life. How are you using that authority? Are you training the child in the way he should go? Are you working hard to not to exasperate the child, but to train him in the fear of God?