What We Believe
Short Answer: We believe the Bible. We believe in Jesus. Looking for a more complete answer? Keep reading.
Long Answer: While the Bible is our first or primary standard, we also use creeds, a confession of faith, and catechisms to organize, explain and apply what the Bible teaches in a way that is intended to help us better know and serve our Lord. Some examples of creeds that we would hold to would be the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. We use the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms as our confessional standards.
In addition to this, we have what we call our Book of Church Order which deals with some of the “nuts and bolts” issues of church life and organization.
Bumper Sticker Creeds
Everyone has a creed of some sort. It could be long or short, written down somewhere or just rattling around in your head, but everyone has a creed. A creed is a statement of belief. The word comes from the Latin credo for “I believe”. A creed could be a simple slogan like “Jesus Saves”, even though it doesn’t say much. Jesus saves who? From what? On the other hand, it could be pages. Today our creeds tend to be short, simple, pithy little sound bites, not much substance but cute and entertaining.
Sometimes people proclaim their creed (or philosophy of life) on bumper stickers. Some are profound, some are silly, others cynical. Here are a few examples:
- Carpe Diem = Seize the day
- WWJD = What would Jesus do?
- I used to have a handle on life, but it broke
- I feel better after I wine a little.
- Just say NO to negativity.
- Is it time for your medication or mine?
- Earth is full. Go home.
- Old age comes at a bad time.
Some bumper stickers even mock God and His word:
- In case of rapture, can I have your car?
- Sorry I missed church. I’ve been busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian.
So if we at Oakland Hills Community Church wanted to summarize our faith in one simple phrase, what would it be?
The Lord is My Shepherd
King David wrote a famous psalm (Psalm 23) that provides a quick summary of the Christian Faith. “The Lord is my Shepherd“. At Oakland Hills Community Church — we are like a flock of sheep, following our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)
God is Knowable
So if God is knowable, why do some people not know Him? Why did Jesus say that His sheep could hear his voice, implying that there were some who do not hear His voice? Does God talk to everyone? If God is knowable, how do we know Him, or better, how does He make himself known?
The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, explaining that everyone knows God, but people suppress the truth, their minds become cloudy, their hearts are darkened. Like a child in a pool sitting on a beach ball they hold down the truth doing whatever they can to keep it from “popping up” into their minds.
Here’s what he said:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. –Romans 1:18-21
So, if people don’t know God, the problem is not that God doesn’t make Himself known, the problem is that people don’t want to know Him. Paul spoke to such people when he went to Athens during one of his missionary journeys.
Here’s an excerpt from his speech given to the Aeropagus:
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him … The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man (Jesus Christ) whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed… – from ESV reading of
First the Bad News…
This isn’t good news. According to the Bible we are darkened in our understanding and even the wisest people live in ignorance of the God who made the universe. Moreover, there is a day coming when we will have our lives laid open and judged by a morally perfect and just God. But as is often the case, you have to start with the bad news to get to the good news.
Then the Good News…
Thankfully, the story doesn’t end with the bad news. There is good news. Here’s what Paul says a little later in his letter to the Romans.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus
Here’s what Jesus said when He spoke to Nicodemus about why He had come:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
So, we believe the Bible and we believe in Jesus. We have creeds, confessions and catechisms that flesh that out in great detail but if you want the highlights, here they are:
- God exists, He made us to be His companions, to love Him and serve Him forever, but we turned our back on Him.
- Rather than leaving us to the futility and misery that existence without Him entails He, at great cost to Himself, satisfied the justice that our sin requires by sending His Son Jesus to live the perfect sinless life that we could not and to die the death that we deserve so that we could be forgiven without God simply sweeping our sin under the rug.
- We as individuals can enjoy this wonderful gift, not by working for it but by trusting God, taking Him at His word that we are sinners, incapable of saving ourselves, entirely dependent on Him to make us right with Him.
- God takes those He saves and gathers them together with others He has saved into a body called His Church. Oakland Hills Community Church is part of that greater church, which is world wide, crossing denominations and theological persuasions. Through His church, God gathers together his people to worship Him, to help them live their lives in a way that pleases Him, and to reach out to the world with the same grace and mercy He has shown them.
- As a result, slowly, over the ages, individuals, families, churches, communities, nations and cultures are brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and are transformed, not by guns, politics or self help gurus but by the power of the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ.
