20 Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God

1995. Remember? It's been 27 years ago. Many of our fundamental beliefs in the Church of God came under attack. You remember the Sabbath? No longer really necessary. Holy days? No longer necessary. Tithing? No longer enforced. Clean land, clean meats. And other beliefs in the Church of God were being watered down.

How many of us remember 1995? We have a good number of hands out there. It was in 1995 that the United Church of God formed in order to safeguard our fundamental biblical beliefs. We came up with a safer form of government where no one person would have that power to make changes of this type. And we also came up with a Constitution with bylaws. A very basic part of the Constitution of the United Church of God are 20 fundamental beliefs.

The Church, in fact, has a booklet here which I'll show. Fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God. I hope that all of us have a copy of this. And that's what I'd like for us to think about today. Fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God. These fundamental beliefs are not actually new at all. They've been around in the Church of God for 2,000 years. In 1958, when I was a freshman at Ambassador College, these fundamental beliefs were taught.

So I'd like to ask us the question today. Do we know and do we thoroughly understand the fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God? Let's take a quick look in this split sermon at the fundamental beliefs that we hold. And we're going to go over things that are contained in this booklet, Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God. So I guess a good title for this sermon would simply be 20 fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God.

I'd like to begin by asking who gave or who put these fundamental beliefs in the Church? Was it our Council of Elders? Was it our President? Was it the Ministry of the Church? What about members? Did members come up with these fundamental beliefs?

The answer is no. Actually, it was Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, who put these fundamental beliefs in His Church, which have been around for 2,000 years. Let's notice that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, and He is not a passive Head of the Church. Go to Colossians 1 and verse 18. He, and talking about Christ, is the Head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.

So Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, and we need to always keep that in mind. So the one that has put these fundamental beliefs into His Church would be Christ.

Revelation 1 describes Christ as being in the midst of the seven churches that are listed there. Jesus Christ is in the very midst. You know, that's something that we must never forget. Sometimes we can think, well, you know, that the human leadership in Cincinnati is the Head of the body, the Church. No. No, the leadership in Cincinnati operates under the Head of the Church. The Head of the Church is Jesus Christ. And it's dangerous if you or I begin to think that the Head of this Church is at a human level. The human level in the last 2,000 years has come and gone. Mr.

Armstrong, many years, he was at the top of the human level. He's gone. He died many years ago. Other human leaders down through the centuries died. But guess what? The Head of the Church in the early New Testament era is still around today, and he's going to continue to be around Jesus Christ. It's very healthy if we realize that Jesus Christ is the Head of this Church, not any human being. That's very healthy.

And Jesus has promised that He would be with the Church until the end of the age. So He's still with us. The age has not ended yet. He's promised. Is He going to keep that promise? Is He with us today? 2022. Yes, He is. He will be with us next year and year by year until the end of this age. He will fulfill that promise. What is the role of the Church, then, which operates under the Head of the Church? Let's go to 1 Timothy 3.

Here's the role and responsibility of the Church that is given to the Church in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15. But if I am delayed, I write, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself. He's writing to a minister. Paul is. This minister's name is Timothy. So he says that you, Timothy, may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. The house of God is the Church that we are part of. In the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Brethren, this Church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. The Church has a responsibility to preach the truth of the Bible. We've always said, go to the Bible. Believe what you read in your Bible. We've always often quoted John 17, verse 17, Thy Word is Truth. So here we have it in this book. Here is the truth, and the Church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. And the members are encouraged, then, to prove all things and to know their Bible. We are encouraged to know their Bible. I don't think any other Church encourages its members more than we have and do to know your Bible.

Now, a goal of knowing our Bible and knowing the truth that the Church teaches and shows firmly as established in the Bible, a basic goal of all of this is, don't you think it would be very nice if we all understand and say the very same thing? Well, if you come to church here and one person says, well, I believe this, another person says, well, no, my idea is this. If we all have different ideas about things, that does not lead toward unity in the Church. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 now. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10. Here's a congregation. They were Greek people in the city of Corinth that were not together in their doctrines and their beliefs. Did you know that some people there, hold your finger right here in chapter 1, but go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. If you had attended a service in Corinth at this time that Paul was writing this letter, you may have heard somebody who would be talking about the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 12. If Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If you had visited Corinth when Paul was writing, you could have come to service as one Sabbath and gone over to a corner and heard somebody say, I don't believe there is any resurrection. It just did not make sense to the Greek mind. The Greeks thought logically. They could not, through logic, reason out the resurrection of the dead. So you could have heard some people over in the corner talking about this. I don't believe there is any resurrection of the dead. That doesn't make a bit of sense to me. You could have heard that. You could have heard other things. This church had a lot of things that needed straightening out. The Apostle Paul wrote, and he ultimately did that. Let's go back to chapter 1 now. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10. Here is what we, though, want in the church, and we should strive toward.

1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10. I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing if we all speak the same thing? And that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Well, you know, that is a goal we have in the Church of God, that we all do speak the same thing, and that we are perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. One way that we can do that is to prove to ourselves these 20 fundamental beliefs. And what I'd like to do at this point is to just take a quick look at our fundamental beliefs and then say a few things at the end. I'm going to read from our booklet the fundamental belief. We have an extended description and write up for each of these fundamental beliefs. But these are fundamental beliefs that I believe we all hold. And I'm not giving this because I feel that we disagree with them, but just to show that it's very important that we do all have common understanding on these fundamental beliefs. One reason I'm giving this is that in 1995, many of the members of the Church, guess what? For Sukk the Sabbath, holy days, cleaning and unclean meats, tithing, I had members in the congregation that I pastored up in the 90th percentile somewhere that accepted those changes. And only a small handful really clung to the biblical teaching. So we must not be afraid today, and our speakers must not be afraid today, to go over these basic things so that hopefully that would not ever happen again. Where people would not be so grounded. I wish I had given more sermons on the Sabbath and holy days before that time, before 1995. So they would have been so grounded they could not have been let astray. So you must never be afraid to go over fundamental doctrines and teachings of the Bible. Okay, let's go over each one of these. I don't have long to spend on each one, but I do want to read just a little bit of each one. Alright, the first one is God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We believe in one God the Father, eternally existing, who is a spirit, a personal being of supreme intelligence. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word, and who has eternally existed. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Divine Son of the living God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born in human flesh of the Virgin Mary. We believe in the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God and of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternal. As we go through the sermon, I'm going to hold up some of the booklets that will further expound on this. Who is God? God is not a trinity, as our doctrine indicates. There are just two beings, God the Father and Jesus Christ, who are right now spirit beings led by and actually composed of spirit. We also have a booklet explaining the trinity. Is God a trinity? These would certainly expound and explain much more about fundamental belief number one. Let's go to fundamental belief number two. We believe that Scripture is entitled the Word of God, the Bible. We believe that Scripture, both Old and New Testament, is God's revelation and is complete expressed will to humanity. It is inspired in thought and word, infallible in the original writings, the supreme and final authority in faith and in life, in the foundation of all truth. We have a good booklet on this one too that further expounds on the Bible being the Word of God.

You know, we base what we believe then on the Bible. This booklet is entitled, Is the Bible True? So I hope you have these booklets, and I hold them up hoping that our young people, you'll have a hard copy of them. Get you a hard copy that you can mark. Put some notes in the margin even. Let's go to the third fundamental belief, Satan the Devil. We believe that Satan is a spirit being who is the adversary of God and the children of God. He's been given dominion over the world for a specific time. He's deceived humanity into rejecting God and His law. We also have a good booklet that further expounds a lot about Satan, how there came to be a devil. Is there really a devil? And so that booklet also would be a good one to have. It'd be good for all members, all of our young people, to have your own personal copies of these booklets that further explain fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God, which are fundamental doctrines found in the Bible. The fourth fundamental belief is humanity. We believe that humanity was created in the image of God with the potential to become children of God, partakers of the divine nature. Human beings lived by the breath of life are mortal, subject to corruption and decay without eternal life, except as the gift of God under God's terms and conditions as expressed in the Bible. I'm not even reading all of the fundamental belief because of our time factor, but this would also be a very good thing to study into if you need to further. Our booklet, Why Were You Born, explains more about humanity and the great purpose that God has in mind for each and every one of us, each and every human being. Fundamental belief number five, God's law and sin. We believe that sin is the transgression of the law. The law is spiritual, perfect, holy, just, and good. The Ten Commandments are the ten points of God's law of love. We believe that this fundamental spiritual law reveals the only way to true life and the only possible way to happiness, peace, and joy. We have a couple of booklets that expound more about the law of God. The Ten Commandments take each of the Ten Commandments and expound on that commandment. That would be a very good one to have. And then a very thick booklet that also we have is, The New Covenant Does It Abolish God's Law? So both of these would expound more on fundamental belief number five, God's law and sin. Fundamental belief number six, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. By the way, several of these fundamental beliefs focus on the Passover. This is talking about the Passover here. It would be a very good one to study this time of the year. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We believe God so loved the world of helpless sinners that He gave His only begotten Son, who lived without sin in the human flesh. That Son died as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

And it goes on to explain more about that His life is because He is the Creator, is of more value than the sum total of all human life. And that His death is sufficient to pay the penalty of every human being's sins. It would be good to certainly read more about fundamental belief number six this time of the year. We also have a booklet. This is a rather thick one. I think on up to word, it's over a hundred pages, Jesus Christ, the real story. And this will give a lot of information that would explain further about Christ and also about His sacrifice, which we think about, especially this time of the year. So the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, number six. Number seven, three days and three nights. We believe that the Father raised Jesus from the dead after His body lay three days and three nights in the grave, thus making immortality possible for mortal man. And so three days and three nights. We don't have a booklet that further explains this one, so you can read and study it in our fundamental beliefs booklet. We have a good write-up that explains more about it. Fundamental belief number eight, repentance and faith. We believe that all who truly repent of their sins in full surrender and willing obedience to God and who by faith accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior have their sins forgiven by an act of divine grace. Such individuals are justified, pardoned from the penalty of sin and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which abides within them.

So repentance and faith would be very good. Our booklet, Transforming Your Life, would be a good one to read then that expounds more about repentance and faith. All right, let's go to number nine. Water baptism and the laying on of hands. We believe in the ordnance of water baptism by immersion after repentance. Through the laying on of hands with prayer, the believer receives the Holy Spirit and becomes a part of the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. So water baptism and the laying on of hands. We have a booklet now. The title is All You Need to Know About Water Baptism. It used to be the Road to Eternal Life. This is the same material, but the booklet title is now All You Need to Know About Water Baptism. I'm glad that we have the new title. We need one, a booklet that has baptism in it. We did not have one before, so I think that was a good change the church made. Okay, the tenth fundamental belief, the Sabbath day. And I'm going to have to go through these very, very quickly. We believe in the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath of the Lord our God. And if you need, with light, you could do more study on this. Sunset to sunset, God's Sabbath rest. It shows that the Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday, and it ends at sunset on Saturday.

So we believe in that as a part of our fundamental beliefs. We go to fundamental belief number 11, the Passover. We believe in observing the New Testament Passover on the night of the 14th of Abib, the anniversary of the death of our Savior. Notice that we had one earlier on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now we have one of the Passovers. So two of them focus on, two of our fundamental beliefs, focus directly on the Passover and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You could get more information about this one from our booklet here. Well, no, let me hold this one up. You can get more information on God's Holy Day plan on the Passover and on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Fundamental belief number 12, the Festivals of God. We believe in the Commandment, Commanded Observance of the seven annual festivals given to ancient Israel, kept by Jesus Christ and the apostles of the New Testament Church, and to be observed by all mankind during the Millennial reign of Christ. So our booklet, God's Holy Day Plan, has a chapter devoted to each one of the Festivals of God.

All right. And I like to read the chapter devoted to each one as we go through the year. It's really a good refresher, good fundamental basic knowledge. Okay, let's go to the next one, fundamental belief number 13, God's Food Laws. We believe that those meats that are designated unclaimed by God in Leviticus 11 and did run in 14 are not to be eaten. Again, we have a booklet on that as well.

What does the Bible teach about clean and unclaimed meats? So certainly the Bible teaching is very clear on that. But in 1995, people that had not eaten unclaimed meats for years went right back to eating unclaimed meats. Just like some went right back to keeping Christmas, some went right back to Sunday worship. One man in the church I was pastoring said, Well, now that means I can go to church with my relatives that went to a certain denomination on Sunday. So now he felt like he could do that.

So people who were not well grounded in these fundamental beliefs lost it very quickly. I think you probably can remember some yourself. Fundamental belief number 14, military service and war. I gave sermons recently on this one, that Christians are forbidden by the commandments of God from taking human life directly or indirectly. And that bearing arms is contrary to this fundamental belief. So a Christian cannot take out a gun and kill himself even in self-defense.

That is not something that a person can do. Jesus Christ would never have done it, or never did it. And he will not do it in us today either. We don't have a booklet on this one, but you can read the write-up in our fundamental beliefs booklet. Alright, the next one is promises to Abraham. Number 15, we believe in God's enduring righteousness, fulfilling all the promises made to faithful Abraham. Well, those promises we know are both national as well as spiritual in nature.

Thoroughly explained in our write-up here in our fundamental beliefs booklet. Also, the United States and Britain in Bible prophecy would bring out this information as well. The promises to Abraham. I think we all have a pretty good footing on that. Number 16, God's purpose for mankind. We believe God's purpose for mankind is to prepare those whom he calls to possess God's kingdom and become kings and priests reigning with Christ.

We believe that the reason for mankind's existence is literally to be born as spirit beings and to the family of God. Again, why were you born? The booklet we mentioned earlier would be the booklet that goes further into that. Number 17, the Church. We believe that the Church is that body of believers who have received and are being led by the Holy Spirit. The true Church of God is a spiritual organism. His name is the Church of God. Mission is preaching the Gospel and also edifying and nurturing the children of God.

So, the Church. You can read more about that if you need more than what is in our fundamental beliefs booklet. You can get our booklet, The Church Jesus Bill. It gives information on the Church. Number 18. Fundamental belief number 18, tithing. We believe in tithing as a way of honoring God with our substance and as a means of serving Him in the preaching of the Gospel, the care of the Church, attending the festivals, and helping the needy.

So, all about tithing, including the festival tithe and the helping of the needy, what we've called the third tithe that comes up two years out of seven. Some of that is being fulfilled by our welfare system. That is also explained. But we have a booklet, What Does the Bible Teach About Tithing?

Get more information about tithing in that booklet. Okay, the next fundamental belief, number 19, the resurrections and eternal judgment. We believe that the only hope of eternal life for mortal humans lies in the resurrection through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And so then it explains the resurrection at the return of Christ, the resurrection after the thousand years, and the final resurrection for those who reject God's offer of salvation, what we call the third resurrection. So it explains the three resurrections, and we have a good booklet on that one as well, What Happens After Death?

explains the three resurrections described in the Bible. And then the final fundamental belief. Let me say that I'm sure that we could probably come up with some other doctrines and teachings that might be considered fundamental, but these are 20 basic fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God that are certainly well documented in the Bible. If we all believe in these 20 fundamental beliefs, we're going to have a unity among ourselves, which I think that we do, that we're all on the same page and we're all speaking the same thing.

Number 20, the last fundamental belief in our booklet, Jesus Christ's Return and Coming Rain. We believe Christ then will reign on earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He'll sit upon the throne of David, one thousand year reign. And our booklet here, The Gospel of the Kingdom, will certainly explain more about this fundamental belief.

Okay, so these are the fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God. They were formed in 1995 at the formation of United Church of God. And it's important, I believe, that we all be solid. Unfortunately, in 1995, some people did go back to Sunday worship. Some went back to Christmas and Easter. Some came up with their own doctrines. People somehow felt more free to come up with their own personal doctrines. Some believed the Passover was on the 15th and not the 14th.

And try to change their mind. I remember trying to do that with one, and it did not work. It was on the 15th. Some came up with their own version of the sacred calendar. Suddenly, they became custodians of the calendar. How on earth did the world get along without them before they came on the scene, as far as the calendar, and went to observe Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and other festivals? Some came up with their own version of prophecy here and there, other strange beliefs and ideas.

And I give this sermon today because I think it is dangerous for us to do that. I believe Christ is the head of the church. I think he has guided the church. If there is something wrong, he will guide the church to see that. Actually, there have been a few things done through the years, like Pentecost was kept on a Monday until it was changed to a Sunday.

And I know that some people left the church because of that. They could not believe that the church, Mr. Armstrong, could have been wrong. There are a few changes which have been made, but it is not going to be made at the member level.

It is not going to be made at the local church pastor level. Christ is going to talk to the leadership of the church, and he is going to guide them. It is dangerous to come up with our own ideas. And I warn us that we would not do that. If we don't fully understand a fundamental belief, or any part of a fundamental belief, then study, research, pray, discuss it with me. Do not assume that you are right and that the church is wrong. We are warned, lean not to your own understanding.

Do not be wise in your own eyes. So I don't think Christ is putting doctrine in the church through me, the local pastor. I think if there is anything that needs to be changed in any way, that he will guide those at the top human leadership level. In the Old Testament, when there was a question, guess what they did? There were some people that were unclean by reason of touching a dead body in Numbers 9. They missed the Passover.

They brought this situation to Moses. Moses didn't say, well, here's my opinion. Here's what I think we should do. He said, no, let's see what the Lord reveals that we should do. God revealed what should be done. They would keep a second Passover on the 14th day of the second month. There will be a date set for the second Passover. You can read it in Numbers 9. So Moses did not assume he looked to God, and God showed what should be done. If you want to, you can read later on that in Deuteronomy 17, when controversial matters came up, they were to go to the priest, they were to go to the top human leadership level, and find out what should be done when there was a controversy of any type.

So the same thing is true in the church. When there came to be the church had it wrong in the early years of the New Testament church on circumcision, and they needed or they did not fully understand what should be done. Gentiles began to come into the church that were uncircumcised. This became a controversy in the church. Something had to be done. So they went to Jerusalem, and the elders and the apostles came together to consider what should be done.

They made a decision led by the Holy Spirit. You know, not everybody in the New Testament era agreed with that decision. There were Jews who went around believing, no, the Scriptures on circumcision in the Old Testament are clear.

It is required to be circumcised to be in the church. Not everybody agreed with the decision made there in Acts chapter 15. It does say the church at any other though rejoiced and accepted it. So we then in the United Church of God have 20 fundamental beliefs that I believe are biblical. They are solid. They have stood the test of time.

If there's any fundamental belief that we need to understand better, then do study on it. Discuss it with me if you would like. Fundamental beliefs would make a good personal study. And recommend hard copies of our booklet and also booklets that further expound and explain. Our speakers need to know and to be able to explain our fundamental beliefs. Parents can teach their children also and explain the fundamental beliefs to them. It would be very nice to just go over fundamental things about Passover and the festivals of God this time of the year. Young teenagers and young adults, we ask you to prove these fundamental beliefs. Have your own personal copy of the 20 fundamental beliefs and study and mark and look up the scriptures in the Bible.

If you have any questions, ask your parents. Also, come to me. I'll be glad to discuss it with you as well. Well, we've quickly gone through the 20 fundamental beliefs of United Church of God. And I hope it's been beneficial. All members, I believe, need to know and to understand them. That way we will have doctrinal unity.

We will have the same mind and the same judgment. And we'll all be speaking the same thing.