"To Him be glory forever": Heidelberg Catechism

Showing posts with label Heidelberg Catechism. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

It's Not The End Of The World…

So I'm writing this presuming you've heard of the coronavirus, aka COVID-19. Here is a link to a reference from John's Hopkins with an interesting chart showing the spread of the virus through the world. My wife linked to a different collection of information earlier today. There is all kinds of stuff online about it, with all kinds of suggestions for us to do, ranging from advice to PANIC to NO BIG DEAL. As a family we are going to self-quarantine, meaning that as much as possible we will be staying home for a while. For the most part our family is low-risk for a more serious episode, should it land in our home. Our intent is to both reduce our own exposure and reduce the possibility of us being exposed and then passing the virus along to others.

Personally I'm glad I'm no longer working in health care, because my guess is that infection control awareness and procedures are sky-high right now. That is both right and good, as well as something I don't miss having to deal with anymore. As a pastor, coronavirus does present a few opportunities for reflection.

Without having to wrestle with all the science behind it, and I do have an undergraduate science degree, my basic understanding is that it is a new virus in the world, which will likely affect many people as it passes through the first time. As of the time I write this since January 20th over 121,000 have been reported ill, over 66,000 have recovered, and 4,373 have died. Today the World Health Orgaanization declared a pandemic.

That the onset and spread of this coronavirus in the world is of serious concern is, I believe, beyond question. It has affected many people, some people and families tragically so. And it will likely continue to spread for a while before it abates.

It is not the end of the world…

It is not the end of the world, but if it was, then Christians, of all people should live with a heightened awareness of what, ultimately, is at stake.

I'm a pastor, rooted in the Reformed tradition of Christianity, and I continue to whole-heartedly affirm the teachings of our confessional standards that I gave assent to at my ordination: The Heidelberg Catechism, The Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort.

When I preach on Sunday, no matter what particular biblical text I have open on the pulpit, I try to bring out both the truth of God's law and the mercy of God's grace. The Bible is particularly clear that without receiving God's grace in life, one will die under God's judgment. There is no middle ground between an eternal destiny of indescribable beauty and one of unimaginable horror.

So the outbreak of the coronavirus is an occasion to be reminded of the brevity of human life, even one of a hundred years, when compared with eternity. The window we are all living in now is the only one we have in which to make the decision that shapes our eternity. It is the only one in which to turn in faith to the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of our sin. I'm presuming that most of my regular readers are believers in Jesus. If you are not, please contact me separately and I would be glad to talk more about this with you.

As a Christian the outbreak of the coronavirus is an invitation to live with awareness that I frequently interact with people who are unsaved. In those interactions am I mindful of opportunities to share the good news of Jesus with them? Am I praying over those interactions before they even take place? Am I praying that God would be softening their hearts so that they would be ready to receive his mercy?

You've probably read a bazillion words about the coronavirus by now, and you'll likely read several bazillion more before this all comes to a conclusion. So I'll close with the first question-and-answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, which our congregation used as it's affirmation of faith as we worshipped last Sunday:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Power, Seen and Unseen

When I was a much younger man I spent four years in the US Navy, including nearly 3½ of them serving on board the USS Nimitz. It is said that sailors belong on ships, and that ships belong at sea, and my service was no exception. I was part of three deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and when my enlistment was over I had sailed on the North and South Atlantic Oceans, the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, and perhaps coming within spitting distance of the South Pacific as we went around Singapore.

This all came to mind as I recently spent time along the seashore. In April we were in San Diego, spending three days of our vacation at the beach, and last week we were in New York, spending part of a morning walking along the beach on Long Island.

Whether seen from the beach, as I did recently, or experienced afloat, as in my Navy days, there is no denying that from up close the ocean has a lot of power within it. Ashore, one wave follows another, virtually without end. Afloat, the swells rise and fall. In each case there appears to be no end to the movement, merely variations in height and intensity. How much power is within those waters that remains unseen?

When we look at the world around us and seek evidence of the power of God, we can see it everywhere. Some of it seems lesser, as the power needed to bring forth a single leaf on a tree. In other places it is much greater, such as the power that brings forth a single human life. And looking at a clear sky at night the power of God on display overwhelms our imagination. And while overwhelming our imagination, what we can see is just a small bit of the power that God truly has.

There are times in the Christian life when it can seem like we are being overwhelmed. It might be the circumstances of life at the moment, or perhaps the temptation of a particular sin that seems to stick like oil paint that has soaked into clothing. It seems as if there is absolutely no way of removing the stain. There seems to be no way of overpowering that which is opposing us.

But as Christians we aren't meant to walk through life on our own. We walk with the constant presence of our Savior and Lord, who is always with us by the power of his Spirit. I'll close this with the opening question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, which says it so well:

Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, 1
but belong—

body and soul,
in life and in death— 2

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. 3

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, 4
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. 5
He also watches over me in such a way 6
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven; 7
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. 8

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life 9
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him. 10

Monday, July 6, 2015

Where is your hope?

Over the past few months my wife, Robin, and I have been walking with some people going through very trying times. Some of this has been at a distance and some has been face-to-face. These include:

A granddaughter who died in February, following an accident at home.

A very dear friend who was diagnosed with advanced and essentially untreatable cancer, who passed away in late June.

A relative who was recently diagnosed with advanced and essentially untreatable cancer.

A relative recently diagnosed with a circulatory problem, who declined high-risk surgery, her only treatment option.

Two extended families within our church who each lost family members very unexpectedly last week.

In addition to the care, concern and prayers that we have offered I have preached two funerals, one for our granddaughter, in June, and one for a church family last week.

As I think about these people tonight I find myself coming back to this question: Where do we find hope?

Do we find hope in medical care? Sometimes, but not always. And even at its best, medical care can only delay what one day comes to all of us. Our death.

Do we find hope in our friends and family? Perhaps in them we receive encouragement and support. Very often they may provide very real and much appreciated care for our physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Do we find hope in our own grit and determination? Again, perhaps, but only for a time. Stubbornness, the refusal to yield to a cancer that is inexorably advancing, can only last so long.

Do we find hope in something that lies beyond the reach of this world? Yet again, perhaps, depending on what it is you believe in while you are in this world.

The apostle Paul touched on the idea of hope when he wrote to the church at Thessaloniki. He understood that the hope that some people were holding on to was really no hope at all. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 he wrote,

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep."

In saying "those who are asleep" Paul is talking about believers in Jesus who have died. And Paul makes crystal clear that the only true hope for all Christians, is in Jesus. All who have faith in Him are His own, eternally. And as He rose from death to eternal life, so too will they. This is a sure and certain promise from God.

The opening section of the Heidelberg Catechism states the certainty of God's hold on His children this way:

Question & Answer 1

Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, 1
but belong—

body and soul,
in life and in death— 2

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. 3

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life 9
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him. 10

¹ 1 Cor. 6:19-20
² Rom. 14:7-9
³ 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14
⁴ 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2
⁵ John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11
⁶ John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5
⁷ Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18
⁸ Rom. 8:28
⁹ Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14
¹⁰ Rom. 8:1-17

Where is your hope? It is my prayer that your hope is in Jesus, for it is my belief that He alone is our only hope.

He is our only hope in whatever may lie ahead for us each day in this world. And He is our only certain hope for eternal life.

May you know hope, true and everlasting hope, in Jesus.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Steadfast Love

" Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord."
Psalm 32:10

Recently, when I was reading Psalm 32, the tenth verse seemed to jump out at me. There was something about it that caught my attention. There was something about the words that begged me to look more deeply into what they were saying.

Verse 10 speaks of a contrast, which is something that is found frequently in the Psalms as a whole. It presents "the wicked" on the one hand and "the one who trusts the Lord" on the other. And it might be said that these two kinds of people are in possession of two very different things. "The wicked" have "many sorrows," while "the one who trusts the Lord" has "steadfast love."

Okay, I get that. Wicked…sorrow; those who trust God…steadfast love. Nothing remarkable here. Just move on along to the next verse, please.

But it's not that simple. God has something more profound going on here. There is more than what first meets our eyes.

What the psalm doesn't say is that the wicked have many sorrows, sorrows that they bear without any comfort from God. And it also doesn't say that the "one who trusts the Lord" also has many sorrows in life. No one lives a life that is pain-free. No one lives a life that is absent any heartache or heartbreak.

The difference that the Psalmist points to is that the "one who trusts the Lord" is never alone in their sorrow. Even in sorrow, perhaps particularly during times of sorrow, times of hardship, they find that they are in the steadfast love of God.

When we feel lost in pain, when it seems as if our life is falling completely apart, it is good to remember the promises of God that there is never a time or place when those who love Him are absent or apart from Him.

What does God's steadfast love look like? I think one place where it is summed up well is in Question-and-Answer 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism, which asks, "What is your only comfort in life and in death?" The answer is rich and full of hope for God's people, saying:

"That I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death - to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him."

Thanks be to God that His steadfast love truly surrounds the one who trusts the Lord.

Friday, October 18, 2013

A good man

A good man passed into glory yesterday. Mike was someone I only had the pleasure of knowing for a short time of his long life. For nearly six years we belonged to the same church, a church that he was a founding member of about 54 years ago. The woman in the picture with him is his wife. I don't know how long they were married but I am fairly certain it was more than 60 years.

Over those six years I had the pleasure of having a number of conversations with Mike. I always appreciated that while he was an older member of the church, and someone who had been there since its beginning, he always treated me well, as an equal member, so-to-speak. He was in many ways my elder but he never spoke down to me.

I am particularly fond of his frequent encouragement over the past two years as I sought a position as a pastor. Once, hearing that I had had a second interview with a church, he said "What's taking them so long!" Not a question, but a statement. My search was a slow one but Mike was affirming towards me and believed I would be called to serve God somewhere.

If I talked to those who knew Mike much longer and better than myself I am sure that I could hear many memories that would affirm my opening claim, that Mike was a good man. And I do believe that by earthly standards Mike was a good man. But earthly standards are transient, as are our earthly lives.

Mike was a good man not because of the various, and likely many, good things that he did during his earthly life. Mike was a good man because he put his faith in the only person who was truly good, Jesus Christ.

The Heidelberg Catechism is a statement that explains Christian faith from a Reformed perspective, with each question-and-answer firmly rooted in the Bible. The first one is the most well-known, and it says:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

The Heidelberg Catechism was written 450 years ago. These words provide great comfort for believers in Jesus. There are over 20 scripture references supporting answer number one, and you can read them here.

My friend Mike was not a good man because of what he did during his earthly life, but because of the Good Man who holds him in life, and in death. Today is a rather ordinary day for me and Mike is spending it in eternal glory with his faithful Lord and Savior. And that makes me glad.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Book Review: The Heidelberg Catechism in 52 Sermons by Rev. G.H.Kersten

The Heidelberg Catechism was written in 1653 by two young pastors in what was then the emerging Reformed branch of Protestant Christianity, Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus. They wrote this catechism at the direction of Frederick III, the Elector of Palatine, who wanted a tool to teach those people living under his rule the basics of Christian belief. Ursinus and Olevianus wrote 128 question-and-answers to provide, in a thorough yet manageable manner, the information they believed should be known by all who profess faith in Christ. These question-and-answers were then grouped into 52 parts so that a pastor could preach one of them each week and thereby work through the entire catechism over the course of one year.

Within many Reformed congregations there has been a habit of worshipping twice on Sunday, with the evening service devoted to the teaching of the catechism. This is the framework for which G. H. Kersten has written The Heidelberg Catechism in 52 Sermons (Sioux Center, IA: Netherlands Reformed Book and Publishing, 2^nd ed., 1992).

I have read the Heidelberg Catechism several times and once read Andrew Kuyvenhoven’s excellent study of it, Comfort and Joy. I had never heard of Kersten before coming across this book but now, having read it, I view Kersten’s work perhaps a bit like John Sutter may have felt when he found gold at his mill in California, for Kersten has written a rare treasure for all who want to understand the riches of God poured out in Christ.

Kersten is a methodical preacher and each sermon uses a set structure. There is an introduction, a reading of the catechism question-and-answer, a brief outline of the points of the sermon followed by a fuller discussion of each point, and then closing with a section of application to one’s daily life.

Kersten’s preaching is saturated in scripture. Each answer of the Catechism, as written by its authors, is based in scripture but Kersten goes far beyond those scriptures, using both the Old and New Testaments, to dig deeply into each point that is being taught. He is also both warm and practical in his preaching. He cares deeply for those who are hearing God’s Word explained, and he never loses sight of the fact that not all of his hearers will be believers, so his purpose is always two-fold, being to bring non-Christians to faith and to deepen the faith of those who already know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

At the time he wrote and preached these sermons Kersten’s ministry context was in the Netherlands, just a few years after World War II. As a result of those circumstances he very occasionally touches on issues that were very relevant to his congregation, such as the spread of Communism across parts of Europe, that are not really a concern today for the reader in North America in the 21^st century.

Those rare context-specific thoughts aside, Kersten has produced a real treasure for all who want to understand more deeply the riches of Christian belief to be found in the Reformed tradition. This is a book which will nourish faith again, and again, and again.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Prayer and God's honor

“Prayer is the breath of life for the Christian.” That sentiment is one I heard many times from a man I consider to be role model for me of the Christian life. He considered prayer to be as essential for the Christian as breathing is to every living being. He was a surgeon by vocation, so he understood well the critical need of breathing for the human body. And I had the privilege of praying with him many times, so I caught a glimpse him putting these words into practice. The idea of “prayer as breathing” was not just a collection of words he spoke to others. They were words he lived by each day.

I have been reading an excellent collection of sermons on the Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. G.H. Kersten. As it explores the Lord’s Prayer, Catechism question 117 asks this:

“What is the kind of prayer that pleases God and that he listens to?”

The answer is:

“First, we must pray from the heart to no other than the one true God, revealed to us in his Word, asking for everything God has commanded us to ask for.

Second, we must fully recognize our need and misery, so that we humble ourselves in God's majestic presence.

Third, we must rest on this unshakable foundation: even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. That is what God promised us in his Word.”

In explaining what the Catechism teaches in this answer Kersten writes:

“Praying is, in the first place, a subjecting of ourselves to God’s counsel and government. He controls our lives and He decides what we need. Hence we must pray to the Lord for all that He has commanded us in His Word to ask of Him; doing so in submission to Him and with childlike trust, so that He may fulfill that need insofar as it is subservient to His honor. In dealing with His people He has His honor in view – and true prayer seeks God’s honor and the exaltation of His thrice holy Name; that is, in a manner subservient to our salvation and deliverance."

As I read that paragraph the part that I have highlighted just jumped out at me. As I read, and re-read it several times, I thought about what Kersten is teaching here about prayer. He is teaching that at its heart, true prayer is only incidentally about us, and that the primary purpose of prayer is to honor, or as I like to say, to bring glory to, God.

True prayer does not so much seek for God to grant the desires of our heart, but it seeks to praise God above all things. True prayer is prayer that is driven by a desire to magnify God’s greatness.

From that perspective my prayers often seem woefully short. I am thankful for being reminded through this reading that God’s glory, or Kersten phrased it, God’s honor, should be at the forefront of my approach to God. And I am thankful that whenever I turn to God in humility, He will gladly meet with me.

Notes

Below are the scripture references that underlie each part of the answer to Catechism question 117, as well as a link to Kersten’s book.

First - Ps. 145:18-20; John 4:22-24; Rom. 8:26-27; James 1:5; 1 John 5:14-15

Second - 2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 2:11; 34:18; 62:8; Isa. 66:2; Rev. 4

Third - Dan. 9:17-19; Matt. 7:8; John 14:13-14; 16:23; Rom. 10:13; James 1:6

Kersten, G.H. The Heidelberg Catechism in 52 Sermons (p. 628)

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Jesus’ Death and God’s Glory

One of the themes of my blog has been God’s glory. I make reference to God’s glory in the blog title, both the current one and the original title. And in the ‘About Me’ box on the right-hand side of the blog I note that my intent is to write in a way that points to God and gives Him the glory that He deserves.

I think that this is the focal point for our faith, that as God’s story reaches its climax in Revelation 22 the primary image is not that God’s people are gathered with Him in heaven but that God’s gathered people are glorifying Him in heaven, eternally so.

We often think about Jesus and His work on the cross, and how that work benefits us. His is the work that restores wholeness between God and His people. In it is the forgiveness of sins. It is the work that brings eternal life. To be sure, these are good and wonderful things. But I think that there is a greater purpose in the finished work of Christ.

Today I was reading again from a collection of sermons by G.H. Kersten that explain the teachings of the Heidelberg Catechism. In a sermon titled Christ’s Mediatorial Suffering Kersten discusses Catechism questions 37, 38 and 39, which have to do with the necessity for Christ to suffer and die on the cross, and the assurance of salvation that believers in Christ can know as a result.

Twice in this sermon Kersten touches on the presence of God’s glory in this aspect of Christ’s work. He writes:

“That which He suffered, He subjected Himself to out of eternal love to the glorification of God’s attributes, according to the Father’s good pleasure, and for the salvation of His people.”(195)

Later, writing directly to the matter of assurance of salvation, he adds,

“Oh, people of God, may you earnestly desire to know the great mystery that is to be found in the bearing of God’s wrath by His beloved Son, so that you may be brought back to the fatherly heart of God from which you have withdrawn yourselves in Adam. I would urge you to do so in order that God may be glorified and your soul may find rest and peace.”(205)

I’ve placed the key points about God’s glory in these quotes in bold. One of the things that Kersten is reminding us in his preaching is of the priority of God’s glory in all that God does, including Jesus death.

As Christians we know that Jesus dies for our salvation, but Kersten reminds us that Jesus’ death is the work that removes sin, not so much for our benefit, but to demonstrate the majesty and holiness of God as its primary purpose.

Jesus loves us and acts on our behalf before the Father, but more than that, He loves the Father, perfectly and eternally. In His death, He brings God glory first, with our salvation as a secondary effect.

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36

Monday, May 6, 2013

Patience

Impatient! Suddenly it came to mind that what I was experiencing was impatience. I was out with my youngest daughter, doing some shopping for her mother’s birthday and Mother’s Day. It was our best opportunity of the week to get this task done. We left on our errands right after I came home from work and I hoped to get them done in an hour, when we would arrive back at home for supper.

On my way home from work I had had what I thought was a brilliant idea for a birthday gift, so that was our first stop. The planned gift turned out to be at the store I had guessed might have it but in completing the purchase things began to go. My credit card wouldn’t go through.

So I called the number on the back of the card and waited. And waited. About the time I had decided on “Plan B” someone picked up the phone and we worked out the problem. Bad news and good news. There appeared to be fraudulent activity so they were going to cancel my card, but they would allow our transaction to go through. We made the purchase and activated Plan B anyway, which was a side trip to the credit union to get some cash.

Off to the second stop of our trip, taking more time than was planned for. We had a bit of a roundabout trip due to all the traffic, as people drove home from work. After that stop I called home and told Robin we’d need another half hour. About the time I made that call the traffic got worse. Bumper to bumper through town. We moved over to let a fire engine through and when we got to the corner and made the turn we saw the fire engine a half mile down the road, at the location of our next turn.

Another roundabout path to our next destination, which was when it occurred to me that I was suffering from impatience, large and small. To end the story, we did get the errands done and home for an absolutely delicious dinner. But back to impatience.

It occurred to me that not only was I impatient due to relatively little things, such as getting these errands done and the obstacles that were appearing, but also due to several larger things, things that are really out of my hands and where I’m are waiting on the decisions of other people. And what occurred to me as soon as I realized I was being driven by impatience was the application of a sermon I read last week based on the Heidelberg Catechism. (I’ve written about the Catechism before, here and here.)

In describing God’s providence question-and-answer 28 of the Catechism says this:

Q. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us?
A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God's hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.

In discussing this question-and-answer G.H. Kersten wrote:

“All things happen according to God’s counsel, but it is a comfort for God’s children that the Lord will guide them with His counsel, and afterward receive them to glory. May the Lord comfort you with that thought. Endure the oppression and scorn of the world for a short season. Let men despise, exclude, and trample upon you; soon it will all be ended. Before the throne of God you will sing, more than anything else, of the deepest ways – singing unto Him who led you and redeemed you to praise and glorify Him forever. Amen.”

As I considered the Catechism and Kersten’s thoughts on it I came to the conclusion that what I needed to do was to lay my impatience before God, for I know and trust that all of creation, from the first day to the last, and all of my life, from conception to my last breath, is fully in His hands.

Neither the little things nor the big things that try my patience right now can compare to the eternal security I possess in the love of Christ, a love that holds me now and will never let go. A love that, as Kersten writes, has redeemed me to praise and glorify Him forever.

May you too know the providence of God's love, so that you can let go of your anxiety and impatience and live in His providence and peace, a peace as described by Paul in Philippians 4:7,

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

(Here is a link to a different translation of the Catechism, including the scripture references that underscore each answer.)

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A matter of perspective

I was reading a novel yesterday and in one scene the central character was on an airplane, awaiting take-off. The wait was a bit longer than usual and he was feeling some anxiety about being on a plane, something which could potentially crash. He knew, as most people do, that planes do crash but also that those events are exceedingly rare. And as he thought about the plane, and perhaps a brush with his own mortality, he asked himself this question:

“Could there be a person alive whose life was so full (loved ones so well-loved, affairs so well-ordered) that thoughts of an imminent demise would seem in any way acceptable?”

That struck me as an interesting question, one that in the sense it was asked, and if it was asked to me, my answer would likely be ‘no,’ but when considered a bit differently my answer would be an unqualified ‘yes.’

Today marks four years since our youngest daughter came into our family. No matter how well-organized, or whatever, my life is at any one point, I think it will be another full 20 years before I will feel that I will have done my part to ensure that her feet are planted firmly enough for navigating life in this world. In the sense of tending to the life responsibilities I currently have my “imminent demise,” as the author called it, would be unacceptable.

But when considered from a different perspective, from where I stand as a believer in Jesus, the notion of my “imminent demise” has a different look. And that is because no part of my life, death included, is outside of the knowledge and authority of God. From that place, my death, whenever it happens, is not just acceptable, but dare I say appropriate.

The Bible speaks to us time and again of God’s intimate knowledge of everything in the world. One of the most well-known examples is during the Sermon on the Mount, when in Matthew 6:26 Jesus says,

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

In the first question-and-answer of the Heidelberg Catechism we are reminded of how firmly all who have faith in God, through Christ, are held by Him. It says:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,¹ but belong—body and soul, in life and in death²—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.³
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,⁴ and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.⁵ He also watches over me in such a way⁶ that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;⁷ in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.⁸
Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life⁹ and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.¹⁰
¹ 1 Cor. 6:19-20
² Rom. 14:7-9
³ 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14
⁴ 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2
⁵ John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11
⁶ John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5
⁷ Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18
⁸ Rom. 8:28
⁹ Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14
¹⁰ Rom. 8:1-17

I left the scripture references in so you can look through the Bible to read the sources that were used for this powerful affirmation of security in Christ.

My death won’t happen outside of where I am with Christ. It can’t. It may not happen at the time I think is best but it will be at the time that He has always known as best. My prayer is that in both life and in death I can point others to the glory of Christ Jesus.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Happy Anniversary!

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death - to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Today marks the 450^th anniversary of the publication of the Heidelberg Catechism. If you have never heard of this catechism it is a collection of 128 questions-and-answers that was written as a means to help pastors teach their congregations the basics of Christian belief. The question-and-answer above is the very first, and it sets the tone for all that follows.

The catechism is written in the first person, so that as a person reads and studies it they can understand that the wisdom it contains isn’t something written for other people but it is wisdom that speaks directly to them. It is strongly anchored in the Bible, with each answer having specific biblical references.

Catechisms are teaching tools used by a variety of branches of Christianity. The Heidelberg Catechism is used as a standard, or key statement of belief, by many churches in the Reformed Tradition. Presbyterian churches, which are Reformed in nature but historically rooted in England and Scotland, often use the Long and Short versions of the Westminster Catechism.

I don’t believe that catechisms are outdated tools, written for a past time and place but no longer needed now. The church today, as much as any other time in its history, needs to teach people what it believes and why. This need was discussed in a recent book by Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative, which I reviewed here. Catechisms remain excellent tools for this kind of teaching. A new catechism for our day, the New City Catechism, does this well, combining the teachings of both Heidelberg and Westminster and arranging them into 52 sections, so that a new section can be studied each week.

Wikipedia has a brief article on the Heidelberg Catechism here. Another short piece, written yesterday by a pastor, Kevin De Young, is here. An excellent resource on the Heidelberg Catechism is Comfort and Joy, by Andrew Kuyvenhoven. The whole Catechism, including its scripture references, can be read here and here.

I invite you to re-read the question-and-answer I started this post with, and then to seek over the next few weeks to read the entire Catechism. It is truly filled with God’s Good News, written for you and for me.

Happy Anniversary Heidelberg Catechism! May you continue to be a vibrant source of God’s Good News in Christ Jesus!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Four years ago…

With the Republican convention last week and the Democrats gathered this week there can be no denying that the election season is fully upon us. And frankly I am a bit out-of-touch with whatever the “urgent news of the moment” may be at any particular point in time. A year and a half ago or so my wife and I cancelled our satellite TV, (and given that we have no antenna that means all TV, for all practical purposes), as the amount of money we were spending on it was not justified by the time spent watching and/or listening to it.

In all honesty, there are times we miss it, such as for Packer football and Cubs baseball. But mostly we don’t notice its absence. And right now we feel a particular blessing in not hearing the incessant refrain of “I’m so-and-so and I approved this message.” And also in not hearing news reporters/commentators making much ado over what is most often nothing. Rarely is the issue so urgent, the situation so dire, as the hyperbole makes them out to be.

So I gather most of my news through the local newspaper and a variety of online sources, some of which I frequent and others that I stumble upon. And so it was that I became aware of the “dialogue” between the major political parties around the question, “Are you better off today than four years ago?” Given our 4-year election cycle this really isn’t a new question as much as something posed with regularity, with only variation being in which party is asking and which is answering.

Anyway, with that question on my radar I attempted a somewhat irreverent response on Facebook, posting this statement:

“I finished a master’s degree, became retirement-eligible at work, let my AARP membership expire and started a blog. My wife finished her master’s degree, quit her job, started a very small business, and writes two blogs. We adopted a daughter who has a stay-at-home mom. We cancelled our TV, sold our house and moved into a rental. These are all part of our answer to the question “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” I’m not sure. I do know that I ran the best marathon of the past 5 years last fall, which was nice!”

That comment generated a bit of interest among my Facebook friends but it also sparked me to think a bit more deeply about the question and my answer.

The question is often posed in a material sense, intending to seek to know if you think that your place in life, in socio-economic terms, is improving or regressing. But as I started to think more deeply I was drawn in a different direction. What I started to think more deeply about is my place spiritually, and how it compares now to four years ago.

And the answer is both simple and complex. In one sense my spiritual place is unchanged. In another sense it is much deeper and richer.

I remain a sinner saved from condemnation solely by the free grace of God through the finished work of Christ. That is the simple part, the unchanged part.

The part that is complex, that is deeper, is in my beginning to understand more and more something that can only, at best, be partially known in this world, and that is the character of God.

I have a greater understanding of God’s majesty, His power, His righteousness, His love, His just anger at sin, His holiness, His glory. My list could go on and I could tell more of each of these traits of God. In sum, what I know of them gives me great peace and security.

In my Facebook post I mentioned a number of the changes that have occurred for my wife and I, and our daughter, over the past four years. There have been others, and they haven’t always been easy. Some have happened as we have sought to know and follow God’s will, while others have been while we have tried to sort things out on our own, without Him. In all that has happened in our lives over the past four years one thing I have learned and relied on more and more is the sure knowledge that nothing good or bad changes who God is or His relationship with me. I find great comfort and complete trust in the Biblical wisdom that underlies the words of the first Question-and-Answer of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A: That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

I am still a “work in progress” and will remain so until God calls me home. The last four years have been an amazing journey with God. Certainly not all of it has been easy but through all of it He has been faithful. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next, what more I will learn of Him, and how I may serve Him.

Where has God led you in the last four years? What is He teaching you of who He is? And where is He calling you to?

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

What's the difference?

I finished reading a book the other day and I needed to decide what to read next. There are lots of unread books in our house, most of which are in boxes and likely not being unpacked until we make our final move. Even so, there are quite a few out that I could choose from. But which one, or from which genre?

I decided on an unconventional method to make my decision. I would ask for advice from my friends on Facebook. So I posed the question, “What sayest thou, Facebook friends, fiction or theology?” And I waited for an answer. And waited. After nearly a full day I had a response…from my sister. By that time I had made a decision, but since she did answer the question I will respect her guidance and read the genre she suggested after I finish the book I chose while I was waiting.

Right after I posted the question to Facebook I had a flash of insight. I have friends on Facebook who have a wide variety of views about the things of life. And I think that there a number whose response to the essence of my question, “fiction or theology?” would have an immediate question of their own, “What’s the difference?”

According to Dictionary.com, fiction is: “The class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, especially in prose form.” The same reference says this about theology: “the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God’s attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.”

The definition of ‘fiction’ tells me clearly that it arises from the creative forces of imagination. The definition of ‘theology’ tells me…I’m not sure what it tells me.

It could suggest that theology is essentially one of many forms of academic study. Being the study of God it could have myriad permutations, depending on the orientation of the one doing the study. I have studied theology from a Christian perspective but surely there are theological approaches to Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Jainism, and so on down the line for however many different ways there are for attempting to apprehend an understanding of God.

The second part of the definition of ‘theology’ moves beyond God to a less-clearly defined subject, i.e. ‘divine things.’ This, to my eye, seems more vague than the first part of the definition, and being more vague it would seem to blur the line separating fiction from what is not fictional. And in neither part of the definition does it state that the student should have some basic belief in what they are studying. The study and analysis of theology is held to be an academic pursuit. Something that can be pursued during the day while at work and then set aside when it is time for Monday Night Football.

I would like to suggest a different understanding for theology: “Faith seeking understanding.” (This, not entirely coincidentally, was also the title of the first textbook used as I studied theology at seminary.)

So from my perspective an essential element for studying theology is the presence of faith in Christ. (I don’t want to discourage any of my non-Christian friends…if you have read this far I invite you to jump in and explore the pool. Send me a note if you want a companion for the journey)

Faith…seeking understanding. As people of faith in Christ we explore theology to know our Lord more fully, to love him more completely and to serve him more faithfully. Not always in that order.

How do we get that ‘faith,’ that particular faith in the work of God through the death-and resurrection of Jesus? Question-and-Answer 21 of the Heidelberg Catechism says it this way:

Q: What is true faith?

A: True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in Scripture; it is also a wholehearted trust, which the Holy Spirit creates in me by the gospel, that God has freely granted, not only to others but to me also, forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation. These are gifts of sheer grace, granted solely by Christ's merit.

So at the end of the day I believe there is a difference between theology and fiction. Fiction arises from the creative forces of imagination. It may facilitate understanding of any number of things about ourselves, our world, or nothing at all.

Theology has its basis in faith in Christ. It can be done through reading, through conversation, through prayer. And it is always intentional, leading us in understanding the things of God in the ways I outlined above – to know, to love, and to serve – for the purpose of proclaiming his glory now and forever