Word of Salvation – Vol.52 No.32 – August 2007

 

The Pictures Which Tell One Word!

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Lord’s Day 25

Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-2:3

 

Church of our Lord Jesus…

In Lord’s Day 25 we come to an aspect of our faith which has historically been the source of much difficulty between believers. What Christians understand the sacraments to mean varies so much, even today!

Mind you, all Christians would agree that the sacraments bear some relation to faith. The trouble is – what is their relation to faith?

Before we go into the differences, most would agree that sacraments are part of the saving work of Christ. We confess this by having these Questions & Answers in the ‘Saved’ section of the Catechism, the second section in which we confess “…how I am set free from all my sins and misery.”

In other words, the teaching on the sacraments appears in the section of the Catechism which has earlier explained that we need faith, what faith is, what makes up faith – that’s why the Apostles Creed was exposited – and what we get out of faith. Now we look at where faith comes from. Here the Catechism points us fairly and squarely to the work of the Holy Spirit.

In answering the question about where faith comes from, Lord’s Day 25 begins with the words: “The Holy Spirit produces it in our hearts…”. The Third Person of the Triune Godhead is the Author, Source, and Origin of our faith in God. As John 3:6 tells us, the Holy Spirit gives the rebirth – that regeneration – which is needed for faith. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes us able to confess that “Jesus is Lord”; it’s the Holy Spirit who makes it possible for us to understand spiritual things.

At this point, some, like the Roman Catholics, would say that the sacraments produce this faith. Through the priests administering the sacraments people can be saved, they say. And without the sacraments, they say, you cannot be saved. You need their mystical magic wand.

As we lay down an outline for what the Bible teaches, however, this is not what comes first. And Answer 65 here summarises Scripture.

For, quite contrary to what they say… THERE IS SOMETHING BEFORE A SACRAMENT CAN BE. This is the first point to our sermon.

It is helpful, at this point, to understand the background of the period just before the Reformation. The Bible then was a closed book. Even if you could read, and few could, only the priests were able to have a copy.

But under their teaching, it didn’t matter. For if you received the sacraments of the church it pretty well saved you anyway! To teach people any more than that could only confuse their simple superstition!

Congregation, that situation was tragic! It was a deception of such epic proportions that many church leaders, even today, will have a lot to answer to the Lord for.

Why? Well, if they properly proclaimed the Word they would have known that THERE IS SOMETHING BEFORE A SACRAMENT CAN BE.

Martin Luther discovered this knowledge while preaching through Paul’s letter to the Romans. This was the letter which said in Romans 10:17, “faith comes from hearing the message,” and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Consider our reading from the first letter of the apostle Peter. After telling of Christ’s sacrifice and how through that sacrifice we believe, the apostle states, in 1 Peter 1:25, “And this is the word that was preached to you.”

The Old Testament has a dramatic picture of this very thing where the prophet Ezekiel, in chapter 37, is led in a vision to see a valley of dry bones. He’s asked whether he can make those bones live. “O Sovereign LORD,” Ezekiel replies in verse 3, “you alone know.” There’s no way the prophet can do it. Then the LORD tells him, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!'”

It’s through preaching that new life comes to dead people. It’s the Spirit working through the Gospel that makes people live again.

Dear friends, that’s why everything in the public worship of God comes from the Word – whether it’s the reason for the praise, confession, supplication or offering; or it’s the sermon itself, where the Word is preached. No drama, dance, testimonies, performances, or puppet show is the same. But if we actually begin to put the sacrament first and begin to see it as meaningful on its own, then we’ve forgotten… THERE IS SOMETHING BEFORE A SACRAMENT CAN BE.

If we put the sacrament first, then we want to see before we hear; we return again to the period before the Reformation. And the effect is the same too; believers are kept ignorant, and their lives become very dark and dismal.

First – the Word. The Word must always have priority. It happened there at creation; it happens too for our salvation. FOR THEN THE BELIEVER CAN SEE. Our second point.

Here we come to the opening words of Answer 66, “Sacraments are holy signs and seals for us to see.” For the sacraments are still very special, although we don’t give them the power to be able to save people.

Nor can we go to the extreme reaction of Zwingli, in his early reforming days, when the sacraments were dismissed altogether because only the Word itself mattered. That thinking was called “memorialism”, because the Lord’s Supper became only a remembrance of what Jesus had done, and it was said that it had no strengthening or assurance whatsoever. Contrary to Zwingli’s view, Answer 65 summarises the Reformed view in saying that the Holy Spirit Himself confirms faith in us through our use of the holy sacraments.

Dear Christian, there’s a common phrase, which says, “seeing is believing”. In the case of the sacraments, we affirm that statement, but we turn it on its head. It’s through believing that we come to see; so seeing is now part of believing.

We see things everyday, we taste and handle things all the time too. How are the sacraments different?

Well, notice, brothers and sisters, both in Answers 65 & 66, the sacraments are called “holy”. “Holy” means they’ve been set aside for special use in the service of the Lord. The Bible is clear about their abiding value in the life of Christ’s Body, the Church.

“Sacraments are holy signs and seals for us to see… ” With the words “signs” the meaning is obvious. A sign pictures or symbolises something; it’s a visible representation of something we can’t see.

Boys and girls, think of the road sign warning of a hidden intersection or a winding road you can’t see. When you see the sign, you straightaway understand, and you haven’t even seen that intersection or winding road!

The word “seals” isn’t so familiar today. A seal meant that something was guaranteed. If you have a seal on a diploma or degree, it proves it is real and genuine. No one else but that particular seal-holder can emboss that kind of impression.

Just like the water in baptism, and the bread and wine with the Lord’s Supper, all testify that the benefits promised are true and dependable. Without actually sighting the thing itself there cannot be greater proof than signs and seals. And if we ask about the authority involved in placing the signs or embossing the seals, who could be more trustworthy and reliable than God Himself?

These two sacraments aren’t human inventions. They are not like the other five sacraments that the Roman church has added to them. God expressly commanded and ordained these two.

Earlier we said that our public worship needs to be from or based upon the Word of God, and this is equally true for the sacraments. In fact, so much do they confirm the preaching of God’s Word that John Calvin at one stage wanted the Lord’s Supper celebrated each week. Later he came back on this thought, as the implications for supervision and keeping it special dawned more on him. But we should be able to understand why he originally wanted to celebrate the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s Day.

Think of an aeroplane flight you have planned and paid to go on. It’s a trip around the world. Each time you make a stop you need to have the next flight confirmed. So you ring up, the details are checked, and it’s all go!

You were on that flight’s register details all along if the booking has gone as planned. But now you’ve been assured; you even know which seat you’ll be on! FOR THEN THE BELIEVER CAN SEE… IT IS CHRIST’S SACRIFICE WHICH IS THE KEY! Our third point.

As Answer 66 goes on to say, the sacraments, “were instituted by God so that by our use of them He might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and put His seal on that promise. And this is God’s gospel promise: to forgive our sins and give us eternal life by grace alone because of Christ’s one sacrifice finished on the cross.”

If the sacraments don’t work to point us to the cross, they aren’t confirming the Word. This is that proclamation of the Lord’s death the apostle Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 11:26, which we do whenever we eat the bread and drink the wine.

If our focus with the sacraments is on tradition or superstition, we’ll get no comfort. Oh, we may have the warm feeling of something familiar, but only the cold cry on the cross satisfies. We may well feel our lives are altogether but we’ve forgotten the life which was torn apart.

If the sacraments don’t humble us, if they don’t remind us that we were the ones who sinned but were forgiven, they’re taking us away from faith. Then, using those words from 1 Peter, we are not living our lives as strangers here in reverent fear. We begin to depend on what we can do to make us right with God. And if we were to ever imagine that a sacrament could make us right with God, then we would have utterly misunderstood! It’s exactly what a sacrament is not meant to do! Then you don’t see!

Dear friend, as you look on a baptism, as you participate in the Lord’s Supper, think about Christ’s death which both sacraments remember. As 1 Peter 1:18-19, says, “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life… but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

And don’t let that be just a memory, let it drive you spiritually on your knees. IT IS CHRIST’S SACRIFICE WHICH IS THE KEY!

We don’t only hear it, but all our created senses smell, touch and taste it as well. The sermon becomes seen. The sermon which today tells us, in the words of 1 Peter 2:1-3, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Amen.

PRAYER:

Let’s pray…

O Living Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, how gracious you are that by these sacraments all our senses meet with your saving work on the cross. By the simple signs and seals we are strengthened within. In the sacrament which we have when we come into faith and the sacrament which shows our continuing on in the faith, you come to us by your Holy Spirit, and for that we thank you and praise you.

And so it is in your precious Name we pray.

Amen.