Word of Salvation – Vol. 51 No.12 – March 2006
The Perfect Parent!
A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema
on Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10
Scripture Reading: Romans 8:28-39
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What was on the news this past week? A bomb-blast in one place, a murder in the next suburb, another major train crash somewhere else? What else?
Nothing has changed in man’s basic nature. The news won’t be any different next year. The Middle East will still be a hotbed of unrest, and so will dozens of other places around the globe; there’ll be other deranged killers on the loose; just as many storms and other natural disasters will tear communities to shreds.
In terms of the general state of relationships in our society, there’s not much to look forward to either.
As Christians, however, those who are God’s chosen people, we have to see things differently. Didn’t we just read about that from Scripture and our Confession? Doesn’t that put a completely different perspective on this world we live in?
It certainly does. Far from the world of maddening crowds and chaotic cities, we’re taken into the hand of our Heavenly Father.
This good news is not something you’ll see on the TV. This will be no sudden radio news flash! But those hands are definitely there! That’s what Answer 27 is all about. It confirms that everything happens according to a pattern. It is a pattern because it’s been planned by the almighty and ever-present power of God. It’s a pattern which many of us call God’s providence.
Here then is our first point about this: WHAT THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IS.
The first thing to say is that providence is completely God’s thing, and it is a thing God does especially for us, His people! God’s providence is a care for us which was planned out long before any of us arrived on the scene!
Originally ‘providence’ came from the Latin word meaning, “to see before”. It speaks of a working out, preparing and caring for man and animal from way before we ever existed! And it is a care that extends even down to the minor details of our existence.
It is what we acknowledge so often in the part of the Lord’s Prayer, which says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” For we recognise that it is God who gives those two pieces of toast in the morning, the cup of coffee, the clothes on our back, and the homes we live in.
Paul and Barnabas tried to explain this to a rather excited crowd in Lystra, who thought that they were gods, and who wanted to worship them because of the miracle they did. They shouted out to those people in Acts 14:15-17, “Men, why are you doing this? We, too, are only men, human just like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from those worthless idols to the living God, who made heaven and earth and seas and everything in them. In the past he let nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their season; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
All along God had been witnessing to Himself in the little, everyday things. The very things we just take for granted and so miss seeing. And yet the more we see them for what they are, the better we’ll understand the so-called “bigger things” from the Lord, too!
Take, for example, how this was shown in the time of the New Testament. To have any kind of physical disability, or disease, was, as it is also now, a type of a curse. In those days, in the world around, the curse was understood to be the result of religious failure. Nowadays sickness is regarded as a curse because of the modern world’s search for the so-called ‘perfect body’.
Jesus spoke against this. Let’s listen carefully to why He did so. In one of these instances, recorded in John 9, Jesus disciples’ asked Him whether or not it was the blind man himself, or his parents, who had sinned that he should be blind. Jesus’ reply just turned it all around: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
We could also recall the words of Joseph in Genesis 50:20. At the end of his father’s life, he told his brothers who had been so cruel to him, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Both these references show that the Father God is working out these things for His children. That’s a tremendous comfort. It’s in His hands! Our Heavenly Father has us in His hands – He’s caring for us as His own special children.
It shows us just how personal this Heidelberg Catechism is. Here in Answer 27 we’re reminded of the guiding, controlling and maintaining hand of the most special and unique Father. And we must see just how exceptional is our relationship with the first person of the Trinity.
You, brother, sister, young person – you live in a special relationship with the Heavenly Father. The closest example we could have to that would be to multiply many times over the best of an earthly parent-child relationship. But even that would be so far short of what our relationship with the Heavenly Father is. No matter how great you think your Mum is!
It’s this personal relationship with the Father-God which many people who call themselves Christians just don’t have! They say they believe in God, but their everyday lives are godless. They don’t see God as the Person who put that food on the plate they’re eating from, or the drink in the cup they’re sipping, and certainly not in any of the other many things they’re blessed to enjoy. They say, instead, that God only put this world into place – and we, we run it now!
So, naturally, if they think like that, there’s no intimacy in their walk with the Lord. In fact, you’ll find they don’t have a walk with the Lord!
Boys and girls, do you know where those people are? Could you guess where you’d find them? Well, they’re in your street; they’re in the shopping centre; they’re in your school; almost anywhere where there are people to meet! You see, they say they believe in God, as many Kiwis (or Aussies) say they do, yet they don’t see Him working in their lives. “Oh, I believe in God alright,” they say, “but you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian!”
In the same way we could say that you don’t need to eat to be a human being. But if you don’t eat, you’ll soon starve to death! And so these people show they’re spiritually dead!
I think most of us would have heard about this type of belief – which really is a belief after all, but a false belief! But there’s another type of wrong belief about God’s Fatherhood, which I think is more dangerous. You may have seen it reflected in many advertisements on shop windows, in magazines, or even placed in your own letter box.
“There’s much good in Christianity,” this view says, “but to reach your full spiritual potential you need to tap into the Godhead itself.” You have to become divine, or, more frequently, you have to realise that you are already divine! What they’re saying is that God isn’t really a unique individual. To such people, God or the idea of something ‘out there’ represents a force, something you can access by the right spiritual exercises. No need to guess who’s offering the exercises and the kind of price range they come with!
Historically we recognise this as the old trap of the Eastern religions – nowadays they call it the ‘new age’, although it’s really nothing new at all! It strikes right at the very heart of the fatherhood of God. For how can a father be a father without children?
God is personal. He’s not something out there like some electricity grid just waiting for your socket to make the connection. It’s because He has planned to come down to us, and He’s made us His, that we say those amazing words, “Our Father…”.
Congregation, that’s what the providence of God tells us. God has planned to love us a long time ago – and He planned to love us personally, as only a father could.
Now, we see, in the second place what that means for us: WHAT THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD MEANS.
So we move from Heidelberg Catechism Answer 27 to Answer 28. And the first thing we come across in Answer 28 is this: “We can be patient when things go against us…”. We certainly need that. I mean, how often doesn’t it seem everything is working against us? Perhaps it’s sometimes a real struggle to get to the church service on time. The children weren’t getting ready, the traffic lights were all the wrong colour, you’re running late, and still you’ve left your Bibles at home! Not your offering, too?
But think about it – aren’t these such little things? We could easily change them with a bit better organisation. After all, there are others who did get here on time!
To be patient when things go against us means a lot more than this. For example, perhaps you have been someone who has been suffering in a particularly intense way lately. There may be even one of those who cannot be here today, and perhaps you are listening to a recording of this sermon.
For physical or mental reasons these brethren aren’t able to be with us. They can tell you about things going against them! They can tell you about the sorrow over the loss of a loved one; the tiredness and frustration as doctors have been unable to help with their sickness; or that constant gloomy depression which hangs over them like a huge black cloud.
Like me, you may suddenly appreciate your reasonably good health. And yet, you could be facing something just as bad later this year. What do you do then? The Catechism tells us that God’s Word talks about patience in that situation. It is saying, together with Job in chapter 1 verse 21, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
It’s not easy! We live in a world that is just as sinful as ever. But don’t forget God’s Fatherly hand! He will guide you through! And if He has guided you through – if things have gone well for you, then don’t forget God’s Fatherly hand either. For doesn’t it seem that when the times are good, people have no use for God anymore? The churches are emptier, the offering bags not as full as they once were. Yet if a war suddenly descends upon us, or some other disaster, then those same churches will be full!
When churches fill during times of disaster, don’t think that suddenly many more people have come to a personal, living relationship with the Heavenly Father. It’s actually the times when things are going well which shows best where you’re going spiritually.
One example of this is the time when Jesus healed ten men of leprosy. Do you remember that story, boys and girls? And do you remember if there was any difference between those ten?
There was, wasn’t there? Nine were Jews and one was a Samaritan. They were all healed of that terrible leprosy. Their whole status in society changed – they could start their lives all over again! Those Jews, rich in their covenantal heritage, and now clean according to the Law of Moses, they wouldn’t forget to say thanks, would they?
Ah, you know that’s not right. Only one came back – and he was the Samaritan! The very one who had least reason to thank a Jew for anything, apart from this healing!
Congregation, let’s not fall into the same trap as those Jews! The future may bring you added wealth. Perhaps it’s just a little more – a wage increase, or the like. Maybe you suddenly begin to earn lots more – business is going really well! Are you willing to return part of that to the One who first gave it to you?
You may have some more time on your hands. Are you going to use what you can of that time in the Lord’s service? And there’ll be other ways to also show your thankfulness to the Lord.
As believers we can look toward the future with great confidence. How many unbelievers can you say that for? They touch wood, wear a rabbit’s foot, buy their silly lotto tickets, and don’t dare go under a ladder! What a burden of superstition – or, at least, the fear of their own end or frailty.
But we can grab hold of whatever happens, because absolutely nothing will separate us from the love of our faithful God and Father. As Paul says it so beautifully in Romans 5:3-5: “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Congregation, this is the same Spirit who, as Galatians 4:6 shows, cries, “Abba, Father,” through us! The same Spirit of whom it is said in Ephesians 1:13, He “…is a deposit [in us] guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”
The Holy Spirit gives us a confidence far beyond anything or anyone in this world could ever offer. You can’t buy it at any price – and yet it’s a free gift to those who believe.
So, as you tackle the future, will you do so in your own strength? Or do you know so clearly how weak you are and yet how strong He is – the One whose will moves everything? In fact, you know that He so much holds up everything that you would fall to pieces without Him!
It’s this Father-God whose Son came into our time because of His loving plan. It’s the same Son who’ll come back soon enough to wrap it all up because of that same plan. That’s the day Jesus hands it all back to His Father.
Is He your Father, too?
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father, we praise and thank you that in our small insignificant time you have chosen us to be your children for all time.
It was your own dearly loved Son who came to make our adoption into your family very real.
Through Jesus’ Name we can come to you any time – good or bad – and in any condition – healthy or sick – and in any situation – rich or poor – and know that you will hear us, and help us for His sake.
In his Name we pray for any particular needs among us now.
But most of all, in his Name we do simply come to you, humbled by your thought for us, the thought beyond all thought, the thought before any of our thoughts – your providence.
Amen.