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Rabbi Paul wrote this to Messiah’s people in Corinth: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Today is Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Repentance, the special Sabbath between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. It’s a day for self-examination and repentance. Repentance means turning away from what is wrong and turning to God and His truths and His ways. What a good day to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith.

Let’s examine ourselves in two areas: faith and practice.

Faith: do we believe what we should believe?

Practice: are our actions consistent with our beliefs?

Let’s start by examining ourselves in the area of what we should believe.

There is something called “the faith.” Examine yourselves to see whether you are in “the faith.” The faith consists of the true teachings which are to be believed.

Messiah’s Community has agreed since the 300s that the following beliefs are true teachings and the Lord’s people should believe them. It’s called the Apostles’ Creed. Creed means something which is believed. The Church believes this is what the Apostles believed and therefore what we should believe.

It starts with belief in the Father. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Now for the Son: I believe in Messiah Yeshua, His only Son and our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried; He descended to the dead; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. This is a good summary of the gospel.

Now for the Holy Spirit: I believe in the Holy Spirit.

This is Trinitarian belief. One God, three distinct persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Now the creed moves on to Messiah’s Community: I believe in the holy catholic church. That does not mean the Roman Catholic church. It means we are to believe that all believers are part of Messiah’s Community.

I believe in the communion of the saints. That means there is a spiritual union of the members of Messiah’s Community, including those living and those dead. All of us are united to each other.

Now the creed moves on to other teachings: I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Is there anything in the Apostles’ Creed you do not believe? If there is, you need to change your mind and embrace the true beliefs.

In addition to believing everything in the Apostles’ Creed, we need to believe that the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is divinely inspired and true.

In addition, we need to believe what the Word of the living God says about the important moral issues of our day: that homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, pedophilia and pornography are perversions which go against God’s purpose for sexuality.

We need to believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong.

We need to believe that children developing in the womb are not to be killed; that being pro-choice – choosing to kill a child in the womb is evil.

If we don’t believe these things, we need to repent of our false beliefs and believe these things.

Even if we believe all the right things, we can still be far from God. We can still go to Hell. Ya’akov, James, the brother of the Lord, wrote this: You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. The demons believe the truth about God but shudder because their actions don’t match their belief. They shudder because they believe the right things but continue to rebel against God and know they are damned to Hell.

How about us? Do our actions match our beliefs?

We believe in God. Do we desire to know God, to be close to God, to commune with God? My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. Is that us?

We believe God has done, is doing and will do so much for us. He created us. When we sinned, He sent the Messiah to redeem us. He loves us, forgives us, provides for us, sustains us, lives in us, chose us to be His glorious and eternal sons and daughters who will live forever and share in an amazing, eternal inheritance. Do our beliefs produce praise and thanksgiving? Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.

We believe that God is our Creator and our Redeemer. We believe that He bought us with a very high price – the life and death of His Son. Therefore we are not our own. Therefore everything we are and everything we have belongs to Him, and we are to honor Him with our bodies, our lives, our service, and with the firstfruits of our time, talents and treasures? Are we?

We believe in Yeshua – that He is the Son of God, the risen Messiah, the coming King, and our Lord and Savior. We believe that we are to be like Him and live like He lived. Do our beliefs cause us to think about Him and His teachings frequently? Adopt His values and priorities? Continue His ministry of world evangelism? Become more and more like Him?

We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe He lives in us. Are our actions consistent with our beliefs? Are we full of the Spirit? Is the Spirit empowering us for right living? Are we living to please the Spirit, or are we living to please our old nature and grieving the Spirit?

We believe God hears and answers good prayers. Yeshua told a parable about the widow and the unjust judge to teach us to always pray and not give up. Does our belief that God hears and answers good prayers cause us to talk to Him frequently? To pray without ceasing?

We believe God can talk to us. The Son of God said: My sheep know my voice. Does what we believe cause us to try to hear God talking to us in various ways: through the Word of God, through wise advice, through circumstances, through God’s still, small voice?

We believe that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. We believe the law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them the Lord’s servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. We believe the Word of God is amazingly beneficial. Do we frequently interact with the Word of God? Is our delight in the law of the Lord? Do we meditate on his law day and night?

We believe that God has ordained Messiah’s Community and that God lives in Messiah’s Community. We believe that God lives in us, and that we are united to God and united to our brothers and sisters. We believe that we are to love our brothers and sisters in Messiah’s Community, and serve one another humbly in love and carry each other’s burdens and speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.

Do our actions match our beliefs? Are we active members in Messiah’s Community who are getting to know our brothers and sisters and helping them and encouraging them?

We believe God is holy and wants us to be holy as He is holy. Are our actions consistent with our belief? Are we fighting to overcome sin, striving to resist the things that tempt us? Trying to be holy? Or are we tolerating sin in our lives? Ignoring it? Turning a blind eye to it? Trying to justify it? Everyone else is doing it. It’s not that bad.

We believe that friendship with the world means being opposed to God; and that anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. The world is the evil system in which we live. It’s controlled by Satan, the god of this world. The world’s values are the love of self, money, wealth, power, fame, popularity. God’s values are love, humility, truth, faithfulness, salvation, courage to go against the majority. Whose values do we share? God’s or the world’s? Are we a friend of God or a friend of the world?

We believe the gospel, which includes the bad news that the world is alienated from God, dead in trespasses and sins, lost, perishing. We believe there is only one way of salvation. We believe that wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

We believe we are sinners and can’t save ourselves and are in the greatest need of a Savior.

We believe the gospel, which includes the good news – that God has sent the Savior we need, Yeshua. We believe that He existed before He entered this world; that He entered this world through the incarnation. We believe all the things Yeshua said and did that are recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We believe His teachings. We believe He did the miracles He did. We believe He lived a perfect life; was rejected, suffered and was crucified. We believe in His resurrection and His ascension and the giving of His Spirit. We believed that those who believe these truths and become loyal to Yeshua are forgiven and will live forever.

We believe the gospel is the power of God for salvation. We believe that we are Messiah’s ambassadors who have been commanded to proclaim the good news to the world.

Are our actions consistent with our faith? Are we trying to proclaim the good news to the world around us?

We believe in Heaven. We believe in the World To Come. We believe God will make a new universe, a new heavens and a new Earth and a new Jerusalem. We believe we will forever live in the New Jerusalem as the holy and glorious sons and daughters of the Lord.

Are our actions consistent with our beliefs? Do we have a heavenly perspective? Are we living for Heaven? Are we storing our treasures in Heaven or on Earth? Are we living as if we were the holy children of Heaven?

Let’s pray: Father, thank You for this special Sabbath, the Sabbath of Repentance. Help us turn to You the way we should, and turn fully to the true beliefs and practice faithful practices, and turn away from any false beliefs and any hypocritical practices that are inconsistent with what we should believe.