Great question. I would like to focus on this thought by
letting a book that is 450 years old guide us through God’s word. It’s
called the Heidelberg Catechism. It was written in 1563, after much
study and prayer by a preacher and theologian named Zacharias Urinus and
several of his friends in the southern German city of
Heidelberg. A catechism is simply a teaching tool that uses a
question and answer format to share knowledge and truth. A catechism is not the
Holy Bible nor is it a replacement for scripture and should only be used to
help us dive deeper into the Word of God never to draw us further away from
it. That is why what I want to do tonight is to look at the first
question asked by this Catechism and use various scripture to verify
it. The question is this:
Question: What is your only comfort in life and death?
Answer: 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.1
Before we dig into this let me say that the question that
they are asking is not what makes you comfortable like a big lay-z-boy chair or
something like that. A better translation of this (remember it was
originally in German….from the word “trost”) is where is your only
‘trust’. It is no accident that Mr. Urinus and his friends thought
this should be the first of a 129-question catechism. In his own
commentary on the catechism, Urinus says, “The question of comfort (or trust)
is placed, and treated first, because it embodies the design and substance of
the catechism.” He goes on to say later that the design is
to lead believers to sure and solid comfort (trust) in any circumstance we find
ourselves in. The substance of this trust is this,
“that we are ingrafted into Christ by faith, that through him we are reconciled
to, and beloved of God, that thus he may care for and save us
eternally.” I love this because it focuses not on what we must do
but on what has already been done in Christ for his glory and our
good. Grace. The amazing grace fact is that, if we believe
in Jesus, we belong to Christ and in his pierced hands we are sufficiently,
eternally, and fully cared for. We are safe. Safer than
any other place we could be. We are saved and he will see us through
until the end.
One of the great things about catechisms is the fact they
list the scripture from which they draw their answers. So, let’s
dissect this and examine the scripture that led them to this conclusion.
The first part of the answer says, “That I am not
my own”
This comes from 1 Corinthians
6:19-20 which states:
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God
in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
“but belong body and soul, in life and in death” comes
from Romans 14:7-9
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to
himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we
die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the
Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived,
that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
“to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.” This is from 1 Corinthians 3:23
23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
and Titus 2:14
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
The gospel is the answer to this first
question. I am a firm believer that the gospel is not just
Christianity 101 but is to be cherished and wrote on the tablet of every
believer in Jesus Christ heart. We should remind ourselves of it
daily. Remind others who we fellowship with and tell it to those who
may have never heard it. Kevin Deyoung is an author I like and in
his book, The Good News we Almost Forgot, he had this to say of
question 1 from the Heidelberg, “We live in a world where we expect to find
comfort in possessions, pride, power and position. But the Catechism
teaches us that our only true comfort comes from the fact that we don’t even
belong to ourselves.” The catechism does not only teach this…the
Bible does. The gospel is so counter cultural…so opposed to
pride. Some may say, “But I enjoy my stuff.” That’s fine…enjoy
it. But don’t put your trust in it. Some may say, “But
I’ve done much for the church, I read my Bible, I help people
out.” To which I must reply, “Amen! That’s wonderful!” BUT
if you are looking for that to save you….THEN it’s just filthy
rags. Dung. Dross and loss.
Do you know what we bring to the table when it comes to our
salvation?
The need for it.
The sin.
That’s it.
We will not stand at the throne of God and be able to say
anything in our defense except, “I belong to Christ. My savior paid
my debt in full.” But, this is JOY. How
astounding is that? Deserving wrath, I get grace. My
responsibility is to repent (turn from my
sin and turn to Christ in my trust) and believe (that Jesus Christ is exactly who claims to be). Derrick
Thomas another author who wrote one of my favorite books (Romans 8: How The
Gospel Takes Us All the Way Home) said this,
“If
we were depending on our feeble effort and resolve to keep our salvation than
it’s over, the devil wins. But it is NOT because our salvation, from
beginning to end, is God’s work as ‘he who began a good work in us will bring
it to completion.”
What a joyous triumphant verse this
is! Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he
which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ” How glorious! The Greek word for ‘confident’ in this
verse is the strongest use of the verb…in other words it’s like Paul is
saying he’s absolutely, 150%, without a doubt, positive, that Christ WILL
complete the work that he began! How can he be sure? Because HE IS
NOT HIS OWN! Believers belong to Christ!
You see that’s the key. We are sure not because
of doctrine or our action or our effort. We don’t have a relationship with those
things. Our relationship is with Christ. Doctrine is to
get to know HIM more deeply, our actions are to get know HIM and HIS ways more
clearly, our effort is to get to know HIM more intimately. Notice
that the recurring theme is to KNOW HIM MORE. Let this be our
goal, our breath, our prayer, and our cry. On my epitaph I pray that it
will be written, “He sought to know
Christ deeper.” And then in my spirit in heaven let it be so.
Christ is the point, brothers and sisters.
He is the author of our faith. He is the finisher of our
faith
Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved
us.
He is the sustainer of our faith (Philippians 1:6 “he will
complete the work he began) because he is the OBJECT of our faith!
We belong to him. This is our
comfort. This is our trust and so mighty is our master that His
will, will be done!
JI Packer said it this way:
“God’s
love is a function of omnipotence and has at its heart an almighty purpose to
bless that which cannot be thwarted.”
His will, his Word, his hand…cannot be
thwarted. If Christ is for us who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) This
is why we can count it all loss because of the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ
our Lord…because Christ owning us is infinitely better than owning
ourselves. This is JOY! Christ! This is why
Paul could be beaten and stoned to the point where a whole town thinks he is
dead and then goes back inside after he awakens to finish his sermon! This
why martyrs sang as they were being burned! This is why no matter the struggle
we cling to Christ because it didn’t begin with us it began with
HIM. We cling to the rock of ages because he is securely, yet
tenderly caressing us. Every private struggle, prayer, pain, suffering, He is
there perfecting you until the day when he says, “Well done thy good and
faithful servant.” Welcome home. Keep that in mind
and heart…those of you who reminisce on the past often. Remember
that your true ‘glory days’ are yet to come.
This brings us to the final part of the question, “What is
your only comfort in life and DEATH?”
Death. The great equalizer. It comes to kings and paupers, strong and
weak, mice and men, sick and healthy, young and old. Most people live in fear of it, seeking cure after cure, spending
all their money on a mad dash for re-generated youth. But beloved, if you belong to Christ death is not something we
fear. Because our wonderful savior has
overcame this dark shroud as well, by dying on the cross and then raising from
the dead on the third day. It has
been well said, “What death did to Jesus is nothing compared to what Jesus did
to death.” Jesus Christ conquered death
and we are more than conquerors through him that loves us (Romans 8:31). The
Apostle Paul’s struggle was whether or not to go home and be with the Lord or
stay to preach and help the Philippians and other brother and sisters. In Philippians 1:21-25 he said,
21 For to me,
to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the
flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for
you.”
Why? Why
is to live Christ and die gain?
Because, we belong to him and in all we do…in life or death, he is our
comfort…our trust. And praise God for
it. Listen closely, He is not only
there at the first cry of life and at our last death rattled gasp but he is
there beyond. And when that time comes
(and his timing is perfect, like Him) he has a place prepared for you in heaven
for eternity, forever and ever, in his actual tangible presence in glory (John
14:2-3). Let me read to you from the
last chapter of the Holy Bible. Revelation
22: 1-4
22 And he shewed me a pure river of water of
life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree
of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month:
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 And there
shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it;
and his servants shall serve him:
4 And they
shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
5 And there
shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for
the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
If you
belong to Christ, He gave his life for you, his church, therefore; know that he
will come back for you. Death to us who
are saved is bitter/sweet. Sad for
those we leave behind but beautiful for us.
Because we….are…going…home.
Let me touch on another aspect, in understanding all of
this. If God did all of this for you…all of grace, than who
are we not to forgive and patiently love others. Because of what
Christ did for us, we are finally free to love others without expecting
anything from them. With only their interest and God’s glory in mind
not our own recompense or needful desires.
Because our needs and desires are found in Christ and he took the and
drank the cup of wrath we made for ourselves and gave us a sufficient
overflowing cup of mercy that will follow us all the days of our lives and
beyond. (Psalm 23:5-6) So,
who are we not to love everyone? And if you want an example let me tell you
something a man named Sinclair Ferguson said that hit me between the eyes, “Jesus washed Judas’ feet, too.” Our
sovereign rulings Lord, creator of all the heavens and the Earth stooped down,
cleaned, dried, and cared for the same feet that ran to betray
him. Think on that. If this were a Psalm now would be a good place
to say, “Selah.” We are told to bless
those who use us and pray for those who harm us (Luke 6:28). Saying ‘Amen’ to these thing is easy,
now. It’s when we are persecuted, suffering from sickness, hurt by
loved ones, and tempted by Satan that at the forefront of our mind, solidified
in the concrete of scripture, encased in our new heart that we must burn before
us the blazing truth that, “Our only
comfort in life and death is that we belong to Christ our Lord and
savior.” And what a well-placed, sweet trust it
is. Everything we do should be filtered though this truth. So,
strong and secure is the hold our savior has on us that NOTHING can pry us from
his safe, soft, strong, and loving arms.
Romans 8:38-39:
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amazing grace, indeed.
How sweet the sound.
I want to now say that if you don’t know Christ, you have no
comfort. Only sinking sand. You have no reason to sing
Joy to the World because you have no joy. Only temporary moments of
fleeting happiness. If you do not repent and believe in Christ than
all you have ahead of you is the oncoming storm that is judgment and the just,
fully deserved, consequence thereof. But God, in his mercy, sent his
son to be the sacrifice for sin. I compel you and pray for you to
seek the Lord. It is only as we go humbly in repentance and faith before the
suffering instrument of death that is the cross of Christ that we can go boldly
before the glorious, sovereign throne of the almighty God of all creation.
This is how much He loved us, he became a man, lived
the perfect life for us, suffered the wrath that we deserved, died the death
that awaited us, and then stripped out death’s dreaded sting in bodily
resurrection. And not only is he here with us now in all we endure,
but one day…he is coming back to bring us home forever. WE THAT
BELIEVE ARE HIS. “Greater love hath no man, that a man lay down his
life for his friends.” (John 15:13). That is worth
celebration. So, this year, every time you say, “Merry Christmas.”
Let your smile be ear to ear in anticipation for that day…the day we go home to
our loving God and acknowledgment of what he did to get us there.
