Word of Salvation – Vol.51 No.4 – January 2006

 

How to Be Sure You’re Sure!

 

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema on Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 7b, 8

Scripture Reading:  1 Corinthians 8

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have learnt from the first part of Lord’s Day 7 the vital necessity of true faith. That’s what we need to be grafted into Christ and to have all His blessings. If you have true faith, though, then what do you believe? You believe in something – what is it?

You see, every belief has a framework and some content. That must be, otherwise no one would believe it. You can’t believe in nothing!

So, how would you describe your faith? Would it be like some Christians, who would answer, “Oh, I believe in Jesus, of course!” “No Creed but Christ”, they say. They believe that’s all you need to know. Just Jesus.

But ‘Jesus’ is only a name. And where is a name without a face? You can tell me the nicest sounding name there is, but that’s meaningless unless I know who that person is.

Boys and girls, imagine you meet a boy or girl your age. You would like to make friends with them. But all that boy or girl could say to you was their name. So, you couldn’t talk to them about their home, or family, or school, or hobbies, not even about how they got their name! They can only say their name. “That’s silly!” you say. “How could they be my friend like that?”

It’s the same with Jesus. You believe in Jesus. Yes, but what do you believe about him? We must believe something. Otherwise what do we actually believe? Perhaps that’s what some people are really scared of! For to talk about who they know when they talk about Jesus may be to show that they don’t really know Him at all!

Are you scared to say you believe in the Bible? This is the gospel! And the creed which some Christians don’t want to acknowledge is only a summary of this. It’s the same with the other creeds and confessions. They only sum up the Word of God. They’re nothing special in themselves. And if they didn’t point us to a truth in the Bible, then we should throw them out!

So what do you say when you profess your faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed? What do you declare when, with the church of all ages and of all places, you recite this Creed? Dear Christian, you say, “I BELIEVE HIM.”

The words of our first point. I BELIEVE HIM. For there’s no shred of doubt. You’re absolutely certain it’s true. It’s here! I really do believe it!

Do you? Ah, there’s the rub! In the words of John’s Gospel chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

I BELIEVE HIM. Do you? And then you’re not scared of spelling it out. For many Christians don’t like the idea of a framework for their faith. They think that’s somehow unspiritual. They hate the word, ‘theology’.

But they only get to know Jesus at a superficial level, just skin deep, so to speak. And then they just keep on meeting Him skin deep all their lives, and they never really get to know him properly.

Some years ago I suggested to a Catechism class which was made up of some clever students – or so they thought – that theology was actually the Queen of all Sciences. Well, they laughed at me. “Theology a Science? You’ve got it all wrong!”

Well – what is a science? My dictionary gives several meanings, but the major one is this: “A science is a systematic and formulated knowledge.” So, can you think of a more sure thing than God? Is there a more worthwhile subject to study than Him? If He is the King it shouldn’t be any surprise that studying about Him is called the Queen of Sciences!

Maybe you hadn’t thought about it that way. In fact, the Christians who don’t believe we ought to study theology often separate the Lord out of much of their everyday lives this way. That doesn’t stop Him being who He is, though! And it does make theology the very best subject. The Bible should be in every school curriculum!

Now, in our present world studying theology might not seem very useful. Yet what are our fading earthly pleasures compared with eternal benefits? And in a world where knowledge changes so quickly, isn’t it most important to know the things that don’t change, the things which last from this world into the next? The kinds of things that we’re reminded of each time someone dies.

I BELIEVE HIM! The Christian confesses to the ultimate surety of all that the LORD is to him or her. That’s why we answer the question as to what we must believe, by saying most positively the words of Answer 22. A Christian believes, as it says there, “Everything God promises us in the gospel. That gospel is summarised for us in the articles of the Christian faith – a creed beyond doubt, and confessed throughout the world.”

I BELIEVE HIM. And, secondly… I KNOW HIM! This is what we declare when we say the Apostles’ Creed with meaning. For this is no old, cold, historical statement. It’s the very reason why I am who I am right here and now! And, man, don’t I know it! Because I know Him!

Perhaps the following illustration can help. Let’s compare a creed with a roadmap. It helps you in a clear, easy-to-follow way to go to where you need to go. So like a road map shows us how to get to a destination through the physical countryside, so a creed helps us spiritually to make our way through the spiritual terrain. Now road maps need to be constantly re-checked with how the places are. There are new roads put down to help make your way through better. That doesn’t change the geography of the countryside any more than it changes what’s in the Bible. But more and more we should be getting used to where we are and where we’re going.

So what we confess with the Apostles’ Creed taps us into the immense treasure of what God has told us in His Word. That’s why our Catechism will expound this Creed over the next fourteen Lord’s Day’s. And that gives a tried and proven summary of Scripture’s teaching. That makes us able to say, I KNOW HIM.

This is why these twelve articles in the Creed need to be understood before someone is admitted into church membership. For by showing where it comes from in Scripture, and learning that for ourselves, makes us aware of what really counts for faith. And if any one takes away any of this summary, they take away from who God is.

We began by realising that to properly know someone we need to have more than just his or her name. We need to know where they’ve come from, what they’re doing now, and how they hope to go in the future. Which all means we’re relating to them.

A relationship is exactly this process of getting to know and understand each other better. Because you are relating to each other. I BELIEVE HIM… I KNOW HIM…, because thirdly… I SEE HIM.

I SEE HIM. And it’s not a physical seeing. That simply cannot be! This is no optical perception – this is what you see with the inner eye. I mean, you realise the way that God is working. You look at the Bible, and then you consider your own life, and you realise the different ways God has been working in and through you.

Of course, this can only be by God showing Himself through the gift of faith. There’s no other way you and I will ever be able to understand the great mystery of His working as One God in Three Persons.

The Trinity – if there is one issue to cause so many difficulties in the church, and to set up sects and cults against the church, it’s this very thing!

You see, mankind wants so much to put things on his level. He wants to make it manageable. He likes to have a say in things. But who do you see when everything is manageable and explained?

Well, isn’t doing this simply putting a mirror in front of your own face? We make God an extension of ourselves. Which is what every other sect and cult and religion exactly is! But we have just confessed that faith is from God alone – through faith alone. It’s nothing we could ever do. Only God in Jesus Christ could do it!

The teaching that Jesus Christ is God was so hard that the Jews tried to stone Jesus upon the several occasions when He taught it or implied it. He claimed to be equal with God, and they simply couldn’t handle it. He took away any hope they had for salvation in themselves!

I wonder if we have become a little distorted ourselves, though. Yes, we in the Christian community which is so strong about the Trinity. For example, we have in Answer 24 the three parts of the working of the Trinity. And Answer 25 confirms that God has indeed revealed Himself in three distinct persons whilst being One true, eternal God.

So, is it right to judge a sermon on whether or not it was Christ-centred? Think about it. For if the proper way of interpretation has to be Trinitarian, then our insistence that the sermon, or whatever teaching it is, has to be related to Christ alone, must raise serious questions. Then the inscription placed in bronze on an ancient English pulpit, which says, “Sir, we would see Jesus”, may be missing on some of the richness of what it means to know God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I wonder if many Christians haven’t fallen into a similar error with the over-emphasis lately upon the work of the Holy Spirit. To have conferences and meetings only on the Spirit is to go right against how our Lord describes His work in John 14 and 16. To be scriptural we have to see how something is promised by the Father, produced by the Son, and implemented by the Holy Spirit. You have to ask: Do I see Him – all of Him?

1 Corinthians 8 shows what a difference your seeing God will make. There, in verse 4, we realise our ability to stand against other gods because there is only One God. To us that’s as clear as daylight! Despite these “other gods” – and aren’t they so many at the moment? – yet for us there is, in the words of verse 6, “one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we all live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

Is that what we say in our lives? Are there three divine Persons at work in your life? Please, think about it, right now!

Can you say… I BELIEVE HIM… I KNOW HIM… I SEE HIM…?

God hasn’t placed you here for any other reason than to show what He does in all His tri-unity. We have to prove how much He is so involved with us. Because, if He’s not doing that in and through us, then what is He doing with you?

Amen.

PRAYER:

Let’s pray…

Oh LORD, our great and gracious God! What blessing you do provide exactly in the right way, and through every part of your being. You are so busy with us.

Stir us then to seek to want to know you more. And through that openness make us ever to be looking for more help from you. That’s why we’re praying now.

In Jesus’ precious Name,

Amen.