February 28, 2010
6:00 pm Worship Service
Covenant Christian Reformed Church
Winnipeg, Canada
Mr. Jim Stein, Liturgist
Call to Worship: Psalm 72:18-19
Blessed
be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.
Opening Prayer
Hymn: 17 – Step by Step SNC
Greeting I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. Ephesians (The Message)
Confession of Faith – Belgic Confession Article 10 p. 826 OverHead
Hymn: 145 - There is a Redeemer SNC
Prayer
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-31
Sermon: Are "apologetics" or defenses of the Christian faith necessary? What is heresy?
Prayer
Hymn: 81 – It is the Cry of My Heart SNC
Offering: Manitoba House
God's Blessing: Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 NRSV
Hymn: 106 – Soon and Very Soon SNC
Belgic
Confession
Article 10—Jesus Christ True and Eternal God
We believe that Jesus Christ according to His divine nature is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made, nor created—for then He would be a creature—but of the same essence with the Father, equally-eternal, who reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, and is equal to Him in all things. He is the Son of God, not only from the time that He assumed our nature but from all eternity, as these testimonies, when compared with each other, teach us: Moses says that God created the world; the apostle John says that all things were made by the Word which he calls God. The letter to the Hebrews says that God made the world through His Son; likewise the apostle Paul says that God created all things through Jesus Christ. Therefore it must necessarily follow that He who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time when all things were created by Him. Therefore He could say, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am, and He prayed, Glorify Thou Me in Thy own presence with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made. And so He is true, eternal God, the Almighty, whom we invoke, worship, and serve.
1
Corinthians 1:10-31
Now
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but
that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For
it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you,
my brothers and sisters. What I
mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or
“I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has
Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the
name of Paul? I thank God
that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so
that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I
did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether
I baptized anyone else.)
For
Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with
eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For
it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of
the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise?
Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish
the wisdom of the world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God
decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who
believe.
For
Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but
we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to
Gentiles, but to those
who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. For God’s
foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than
human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters:
not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many
were of noble birth. But
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is
weak in the world to shame the strong; God
chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to
nothing things that are, so
that no one might boast in the presence of God. He
is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God,
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in
order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Within Judaism the followers of Christ were initially considered a sect. However, their teaching and preaching about who Christ was and what he had done was soon considered heresy by the Jews.
Within the Roman Empire, Christians were soon identified as different from the Jews, in large part due to the many Gentile Christians. The Christians refused to worship the Emperor, rejected the Roman gods and many Roman traditions. The Christians were the heretics.
Heresy Within Christianity
Docetism - Jesus' physical body was only an aberration or an illusion. They denied the physical resurrection of Christ.
Manichaeism
- This
group believed that there were two Gods. One god created good, the other
created evil and therefore no one was held accountable for his/her sins.
Interestingly, before converting to Christianity St. Augustine was a
Manichaean.
Donatism - Belief that the validity of sacraments depended on the moral character of the priest or bishop who administered them. They held that those who denied the faith during the persecutions could not be forgiven for such a grave sin.
Pelagianism - Pelagians professed that a person could get to heaven without God's help - without the help of God’s grace. A person could be saved by one's own free will, by working hard enough. This group was strongly attacked by St. Augustine.
Orthodoxy – “right belief”
Theology – “…is reflection upon the God whom Christians worship and adore.”
Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner says, “Theology is the science of faith. It is the conscious and methodical explication of the divine revelation received and grasped in faith.”
“Theology is faith seeking understanding.”
John B.. Cobb Jr.