What We Believe - Living Life Reformed Church

God: We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

The Bible: We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

The Human Condition: We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.

Jesus Christ: We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

The Work of Christ: We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

The Holy Spirit: We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

The Church: We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

Christ’s Return: We believe in the personal, bodily, and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission.

Response and Eternal Destiny: We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.

Other Matters of Faith— “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, charity. In all things, Jesus Christ.”

Biblical Perspective on Salvation

Salvation is God’s free gift to us and through His grace alone we must accept it personally. We are incapable of saving ourselves. We can never make up for our sin by good works because we are saved only by God’s grace. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin’s consequences. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance we are saved. At the moment of salvation, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his or her life by grace through faith. Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security. The evidence of saving faith will be seen in the fruits of repentance of works produced through God’s work in a believer’s life.

Biblical Interpretation

We believe how we interpret the Bible (hermeneutics) is very important. Therefore, we depend on the Holy Spirit to teach us as we pray in dependence to interpret the Bible. We believe the historical-grammatical-redemptive approach to studying the Bible will lead us to understanding. In other words, we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture; we interpret Scripture in its original context; we interpret Scripture in light of the grammar (meaning of words, grammatical structures, literary genre, verb tenses, etc.,) and we interpret Scripture through the redemptive work of God in Jesus Christ. We reject cultural interpretations of Scripture in which we are tempted to change what Scripture says to make it acceptable to the culture. Lastly, we reject placing our experience above Scripture, but we allow Scripture to interpret our experiences.

Sacraments Explained

Two sacraments were instituted by Jesus: Communion and Baptism. Sacraments are divine gifts given to us by Jesus Christ as a representation of His grace in which material elements like water, bread, and the fruit of the vine are used to communicate a spiritual reality. Neither baptism nor communion make or keep one a Christian. That is, we do not become a Christian by being baptized, nor do we remain a Christian by “taking communion” periodically.

Communion: Communion, also referred to as the Lord’s Supper, points to the reality of our relationship to our Savior and dependence upon Him. It is a reminder and symbol of what Christ has done for us. It is a statement of faith (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). The bread signifies the body of Christ given for our salvation. The fruit of the vine signifies His shed blood for our complete forgiveness.

Baptism: In Baptism the water symbolizes the cleansing from sin that each person needs through trusting in Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. According to Matthew 28:19 we are to baptize people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the act of baptism does not save a person, but that baptism ultimately means identification with Christ and His Church. We believe that baptism is reserved for believers who have professed repentance and faith in Christ. Persons who affiliate with the Church and are not baptized are encouraged to take this step at the earliest opportunity. The Church believes submersion of confessing believers to be the preferred form of baptism, as demonstrated in Scripture. (Acts 2:41, 47; Romans 6:3-4)

Love Expressed

Love is the mark of the Christian. There are three things that will remain: faith, hope, and love and the greatest is love. The two most important things for us to pursue in life is loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength; and second is to love our neighbor as our self. Aspects of how love is lived out, as we love our neighbor, reflect both truth and grace as we lovingly confront our neighbor in regard to beliefs contrary to God’s Word. We are called to love by speaking the truth in a spirit of humility. As a culture embraces thoughts and actions not reflective of His design, we are called to represent God’s Kingdom. Areas like:

Sanctity of Life: We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image (Genesis 1 & 2). Human life is to be valued and protected in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every stage or condition from conception to natural death (Psalm 139). We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life.

Marriage, Divorce/Remarriage, Gender, Sexuality: We believe that marriage has only one meaning: the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in a single, exclusive, life-long union that is generative in nature, as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Corinthians 6:18, 7:2-5. Hebrews 13:4). God established marriage as a covenantal relationship between not just husband and wife, but spouses and God (Mal. 2:14-16). This entails not just mutual respect and love, but also service and sexual fidelity (Eph. 5:25-33; Heb. 13:4).

God’s view of divorce is evident: “I hate divorce” (Mal. 2:16). Divorce was not made by God, but man. It was permitted by Moses with reluctance. Jesus told the Pharisees, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning, it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery” (Matt. 19:8-9). Though divorce is permissible in the cases of infidelity and abandonment of a non-believing spouse (1 Cor. 7:15-17), we must remember that permissible does not mean desirable (1 Cor.7:10-11; Eph. 4:32).

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God and as such, one’s biological sex is not to be rejected (Genesis 1:26-27).

We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is contrary to Biblical teaching (Matthew 15:18-20, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who seek His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ as we repent of any expression of sexuality outside of God’s design. The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ is the power of God to change anyone (Acts 3:19-21, Romans 1:16-17, 10:9-10, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity (Mark 12:28-31, Luke 6:31) Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture. We will be welcoming to those who struggle to overcome sin, including sexual sin, but not affirming of sin. All of us need the grace of God.

Complementarian Leadership: We believe, based on our understanding of Biblical teaching, that men and woman were created in God’s image, equal before God as persons and distinct in manhood and womanhood. Men and women were made to complement each other and not compete with each or be interchangeable in how they live out God’s creative design. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, however the fall, as sin entered the world, began to distort God’s created design. We believe that male headship and servant leadership in the family and church is God’s design, but that God gives to men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men. Therefore, we do no not ordain or allow women to the office of Pastor and Elder, which is based on our understanding of the biblical text (Gen. 3; 1 Cor. 11:3-16; 14:33b-36; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-19; 1 Tim. 2:11-15; 1 Pet. 3:1-7).

Peacemaking, Reconciliation and Discipline: God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:1-17). The Scriptures are very clear about the importance of peacemaking and reconciliation being the goal when there is conflict between God and us when we choose to sin, as well as when there is conflict between ourselves and others. So, we must give ourselves to being ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) and following Scripture in how we bring discipline to others for the purpose of reconciliation (Matthew 18:15-20, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Galatians 6:1-2, Revelation 2 & 3).

We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of Living Life Church, as the local Body of Christ, and to provide a Biblical role model to Living Life Church, members and the community, it is imperative that persons employed by or are in leadership or who represent Living Life Church, in any capacity agree and abide by these four statements of Love Expressed (Matthew 5:16, Philippians 2:14-16, 1 Thessalonians 5:22)