We will see Him

From the Heidelberg Catechism - 1563 Question 9 : Does not God, then, do injustice to man by requiring of him in His Law that which he cannot perform? Answer:  Not at all, for God made man capable of performing it;[1] but man, by the instigation of the devil,[2] and his own willful disobedience[3] deprived himself and all his descendants of those divine gifts.[4]   Question 10 : Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished? Answer : By no means,[1] but He is terribly displeased with our original as well as our actual sins, and will punish them in His just judgment in time and eternity,[2] as He has declared: "Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."[3]   Question 11 : Is not God then also merciful? Answer : God is indeed merciful,[1] but also just;[2] therefore His justice requires that sin which ...

From the Heidelberg Catechism - 1563 Question 6 : Did God create man so wicked and perverse? Answer : By no means, but God created man good[1] and after His own image,[2] that is, in righteousness and true holiness,[3] that he might rightly know God his Creator,[4] heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness, to glorify Him and praise Him.[5] Question 7 : From where, then, does this depravity of human nature come? Answer:  From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise,[1] from them our nature became so corrupt[2] that we are all conceived and born in sin.[3] Question 8 : But are we so depraved that we are completely incapable of any good and prone to all evil? Answer:  Yes,[1] unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.[2]   • "The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight ...

Heidelberg Catechism Question 3 : From where do you know your misery? Answer :  From the Law of God.[1] Question 4 : What does the Law of God require of us? Answer :  Christ teaches us that briefly in Matthew 22:37-40: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.[1] This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.[2] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."[3] Question 5 : Can you keep all these things perfectly? Answer :  In no way,[1] for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbour.[2]   • How do you defend yourself against unjustified criticism directed at you?  Do you endlessly play your imaginary defence over and over in your head until you can breath again? • The Gospel actuall...

Heidelberg Catechism Question 2: How many things are necessary for you to know, that you may live and die in the joy of this comfort? Answer 2: Three things:[1] First, how great my sin and miseries are.[2] Second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries.[3] Third, how I may express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.[4] • Christianity is in many ways more realistic than any other faith...   • The Heidelberg Confession, which aims to summarise the Christian faith, categorises it into three parts.  The first of which is to know my own sin. • And this is real.  This is what we are confronted with daily - sin and misery. • But it doesn't start with other people's sin - it starts with my own!  Now just realise the power of this statement as a starting point - it works against religious superiority or arrogance.  In fact, it empowers the believer to relate...

I want to try something different this week.  I want to see how it works to blog through part of the Heidelberg Catechism, a summary of the Christian faith written in 1563 primarily by a 29-year old theology professor called Zacharias Ursinus.  It is going to be slightly longer than usual because the goal of doctrine is not only the study of God but the worship of Him.   Heidelberg Catechism Question 1: What is your only comfort in life and in death?   Answer 1: That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death,[1] am not my own,[2] but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ,[3] who with His precious blood [4] has fully satisfied for all my sins,[5] and delivered me from all the power of the devil;[6] and so preserves me[7] that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head;[8] indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation,[9]...

• In yesterday's Guardian Stuart Jeffries wrote about digital fakery, leading him to question whether anything he sees on his computer is real.   • One of the examples he gives is of a recent ITV documentary about links between the IRA and Gadaffi.  It showed video of IRA soldiers supposedly training... which turned out to be video taken from a video game! • So how do we know if anything is real - not just what we see on our computers but in the papers, in books... in all the "world-view" shaping mediums we use to consume information? • To me the Bible seems to be as reliable as it gets - not only because of the numbers of early manuscriptsof the New Testament we still have but especially because the Bible's message has an inherent consistency you cannot miss as you read it book by book.      Bible  Above all, you must understand that...

• Something of God's character is on display until well into the coming weekend.  • What am I talking about?  It's the unexpected balmy weather in September! • Just see why this is a reminder of who God is from Jesus' own words in Matthew 5.    Bible  Jesus said: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  Matthew 5:43-48   Prayer F...

• Did you see the BBC interview with Alessio Rastani, a so-called independent financial trader and now BBC financial expert?   • He says things like: "Governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world", and "I go to bed every night dreaming of another recession". • His ludicrous statements and obvious self-centeredness raised questions as to how he ended up as a financial expert on the BBC.  Others say his part of the Yes Men, who impersonate businessmen to publicly humiliate them. • It made me think: As a Christian, do I bring Christ's name into disrepute by looking like a cheap imitation, almost an imposter?  Do I bring his name into disrepute as Rastani did for trader? • The short answer is... yes.  I do.  And so did Paul.       Bible  Paul wrote: "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."  1 Corinthians 11:1   Prayer Lor...

• So - what is your purpose?  Why are you here? • The Westminster Confession answered this in 1647 the following way:  "What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever."   • How do you glorify God? One way is by finding refuge in him.  (On Saturday my year old boy quickly crawled back to me after exploring someone else's stuff in the park.  When he found his refuge in me - I was 'glorified'!)     • How do you enjoy him? Just listen to David here below. His joy is knowing that his refuge is not just a dead bomb shelter but a living Father who gives him a purpose and fulfills it no matter what.      Bible  Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most Hig...

• Ron Wayne is the electronics company Apple's forgotten co-founder.  In 1976 he had a 10% share in the company which he sold back to Jobs and Wozniak for £500.  Today that share would have been worth £14 billion.  Do you think he regrets that decision? • But this is not the most painful regret there is.  The regret of a lost or broken relationship can haunt people for much longer. Bible  Someone asked Jesus, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'"But he...

• Most of us will agree that the world needs justice in order to function. • The problem is that we install ourselves as the judge over other people's lives - especially people that claim to be fellow Christians. • A question that takes us to the heart of the problem could be: When a fellow Christian (spouse, friend, housemate) sins against you, do you feel the right to punish him or her, or do you trust that Christ's death on the cross was punishment enough for his or her sin? Bible "...and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." 1 Peter 2:24 Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, as all of us deal with injustice, hurt and sin against us at some point in our lives, help us to trust that you are the ultimate judge and that you took the punishment for those that would trust in you. Amen Regards Kruger

God not only requires his people to live good lives but He also empowers them to do it. Bible  "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 Jon 1:6 • God wants us not to sin.   • We sin because we don't trust that God is for us.  Because we doubt his goodness towards us we rather make our own plans and follow our own desires - trying to be our own saviours instead. • But look at how much he loves us - he provided an eternal atoning sacrafice for us.  If we ever doubt that he is for us, remember that this atoning sacrafice was God himself, Jesus Christ.  He is for you, not against you.        Prayer Lord Jes...

Yesterday we said that we can't use good deeds to get to God and today we learn that without good deeds we won't get God. Bible  "If we claim to have fellowship with [Jesus] and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth." 1 Jon 1:6 • Walking in darkness can also be called 'antinomianism' or being anti-law as God gives it to us in scripture.   • The ways that we could be anti-law varies.  We can think that the way we live doesn't matter and that all we should do is just follow the Spirit's promptings, or just have love as a motive while doing whatever a situation requires, even if it goes against God's revealed will in his word.   • But walking in truth and light and fellowship with Christ means taking God's word seriously - both Old and New Testaments as one coherent code of practice for God's people in every age.   • The Spirit is given ...

• Doing good deeds could be a very clever strategy to avoid Jesus Christ.  Why would you need someone to pay for your sin if you can pay for it yourself... in easy good deeds? • The problem is that this strategy "starves our souls while feeding our pride" (Packer).  Both believers and non-believers are plagued with this inclination to be our own saviours. • Against this murderous lie the Bible calls us back to the grace of Christ.   Bible "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ." Galatians 1:6 Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, we have to admit that we do not want a saviour that gives it all because then we will be indebted to you with everything we have...

Christianity is not always characterised for the freedom it brings.  Bible "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." 1 Timothy 4:4,5 • The Gospel frees believers from the superstition that treat certain things and the pleasure they give as intrinsically evil. • Perhaps we don't realise how this freedom has changed the world, especially in the West.  • We need to realise that it is not the things themselves that could be evil but our idolatrous relationship to those things.  Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, help me to see that you alone are worthy of my worship.  You lost everything and underwent ultimate suffering in order to save me from my own evilness.  I do not want to worship things or the pleasure they bring but help me to hold them all loosely, ...

Another aspect of the freedom that Christ brings is that believers are no longer ruled by sin's domination.  Bible "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6: 17,18 • A believer in Jesus has had his or her heart changed by being made alive to God. • That means that our deepest desire now is not to gratify ourselves but to serve and love God. • "Our attempts at obedience are now joyful and integrated in a way that was never true before."  (J. I. Packer, Concise Theology)  • This new way of living comes from the Spirit who energizes believers to live for God and not against a written law or code (Rom 7:6).  Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you that you've freed me...

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery".  Galatians 5:1 • Christains have been set free from the law as a system of salvation and have access and peace with God through faith in Jesus. • Every form of religion has some sort of law to keep its followers 'righteous' or in the right relationship with their ultimate reality.   • This is a hopeless form of religion: no human performance is ever going to be good enough for God - he looks at the heart first and there we either have the wrong desires or not enough of the good ones.  • It is from this hopeless situation that Christ has set us free.  Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, we know that we do not live lives that are in every aspect morally right or even ethicaly pure. We must confess that we still somehow try to use your law to gain yo...

Have you lost the wonder, amazement, even astonishment at the privilege of being a child of God?  It is this amazement that believers need to carry them through difficult times. After all, we don't deserve any of the good gifts we have even in the midst of severe suffering.  Just listen to John as he admires this 'great love of the Father'.  "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God" 1 John 3:1 Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, it thrills my soul to think that I belong to you.  I must admit that I still don't understand the extent of my privilege but as I grasp only a little bit of it, it causes me to worship and adore you even more.  Thank you so much for adopting me as your own, at great cost to yourself.  Amen   Regards Kruger

In The Guardian of 28 August Larry Elliot wrote "What's more, this lacklustre [economic] recovery has not come cheap. As private demand fell, governments stepped up their spending. They cranked up the electronic printing presses, they bought shares in banks and they allowed budget deficits to balloon, gambling that any damage to the public finances would be temporary.... By effectively nationalising a good chunk of the debts accumulated by the private sector, western governments have now raised concerns about their own solvency." To help anyone in need is going to cost something.  It's costing governments around the world the risk of bankruptcy.   Are you ready to let the brokenness of a friend, family member or a stranger cost you something? It might not be cheap.   In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we read: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might b...

"There are many today, who believe the Bible, yet read it very little." J.C. Ryle It seems that this is not only a problem in our generation but one faced by Ryle's generation in the 1800's. Well, I've recently been encouraged by two examples of people in our church (and generation!) that's managing to read the Bible well. The one couple gets up a little earlier to have a coffee, read and pray together before doing some exercise (I strongly disagree with exercise... at any time of day... but the rest I think is quite good). The other is of people who decided to read the entire Bible at their own pace but to talk through what they discover or learn as they go. There are some great tools to help you do this. My favourite is Prof. Horner's plan while keeping Vaughn Robert's 'God's Big Picture' to hand. Either way, there is no substitute for the real thing - so please don't make the mistake to think that these email devotionals, which i...

It's difficult to become less self-centered in a culture that encourages us to constantly plumb the depths of who we are or need to become.  The advertisers, some of our bosses, friends, partners or spouses wants us to become someone else.  We sense this... and we feel the need to change.   This obsessive self-awareness will kill us in the end... Bible "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."  Mark 8:34 • Knowing God gives us an oppurtunity to get to know someone infinitely more generous, gracious and loving than we could ever imagine. • And that's exactely the problem with being self-obsessed (not that I say you are - but our culture certainly is) - we are being trapped in a maze of mirrors, constantly re-disc...

If you've ever really listened to God by spending time with Him through his word and Spirit you will know what I mean - it's not easy to start.  It doesn't come naturally.  But once you've begun you want to kick yourself for not doing it more often.   Paul new this.  That is why he prayed for the believers to have power to do this.  Just listen to the staggering insights he pray they will have. Don't you want this as well?      Bible  "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."   Ephesians 3:17-19  Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, we also want power to understand how amazing your love is, even to the point...

Bible "Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."  Joh 2:19 • It took 46 years to build the the temple in Jesus' time.  How did he manage to build it in three days?  • Verse 21 answers: "But the temple he had spoken of was his body."   • The temple believers now use to worship in is not a building but faith in Christ that he is the place we go to in order to meet God. • But this doesn't mean church = me, my Bible and Jesus.  No, church is the 'gathering' of those that meet God in Christ through faith.     Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, help is to realise that your church exists even when we are not all together in one place under one roof.  I praise you that I'm part of your scattered church worships you throughout the week.  Help me to look forward to the gatherings of others like me that found their hom...

Like all relationships, even the most temporary ones - it starts with listening to the other person.  God's word is packed full of his words and works where you can get to know God's character and nature.   Many people try to discover who God is by starting at the beginning of the Bible, then having a great argument about evolution and religion until they put the Bible down to look for other, more believable ways of getting to know God.  I'd recommend starting at the other beginning of the Bible - the New Testament.  Perhaps even reading the shortest of the accounts of Jesus' life - Mark's Gospel.  That takes you right to the heart of Christianity. As you read, listen to what God is saying and look at what he is doing.  Ask yourself - who is God if he says this or do that?  Listen also to what God is saying about us, and about you.  We are right there as Jesu...

J.I. Packer gave a good reason why he saw people leave the church in 1973: "[Modern Christians] spawn great thoughts about man and leaves room for only small thoughts of God... Clear sighted persons, seeing this, are tempted to withdraw from churches in something like disgust to pursue a quest for God on their own.   Nor can one wholly blame them, for churchmen who look at God, so to speak, through the wrong end of the telescope, so reducing him to pigmy proportions, cannot hope to end up as more than pigmy Christians, and clear-sighted people naturally want something better than this."  • I'm sure you know people like this.  You might even be one of these 'clear sighted persons' yourself. • A Christian's pursuit must be to know God... more and more.  When a church fails to do this, we are merely performing worthless religion. • Just listen to Col 1:15-20 and allow...

"Personal peace means just to be let alone, not to be troubled by the troubles of other people, whether across the world or across the city - to live one's life with minimal possibilities of being personally disturbed." (Francis Schaeffer, 1976, How should we then live).   • You must agree with me that these words are as true in 2011 in as it was in 1976.  I find this quite a strong force in my own life - the desire 'just to be left alone'. • The Gospel challenges this value quite radically.  When Christ died on the cross he was ultimately personally disturbed as he took more than our troubles, but our sin upon himself. • The peace he earned for us is supposed to spill over into the lives of those around us - and that means we too need to take their troubles upon ourselves.   Bible "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you ...

"Overwhelming pressure are being brought to bear on people with no absolutes, but only have the impoverished values of personal peace and affluence." (Francis Schaeffer, 1976, How should we then live). Our world, as was the case in 1976 when Schaeffer wrote this is facing what seems to be insurmountable problems.  To overcome these challenges we're looking to 'money' or affluence to bring us personal peace.  The cost of this approach, on a global scale is not cheap.  In the words of the Times on Monday "The imbalances in the world economy run wide and deep." But the Gospel gives us other values to live with - challenging personal peace and affluence.   Bible So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his king...

"When freedom destroys order, the yearning for order will destroy freedom" - Eric Hoffer (1902, As quoted by Francis Schaeffer) As a society we long to see that the rioters who wrecked our cities and towns be brought to justice... and quickly.  But we need to be very careful.  This is no time for 'rushed justice' - that can too easily become 'rough justice' - a real possibility in a society without a strong Christian base. No, in order to protect our freedom we need to point our society back to the only truth that can really set us free - Jesus Christ.   Just look at countries where Biblical Christianity provides the consensus - lot's of unusual and wide freedoms (Francis Schaeffer, How should we then live). Bible "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31,32 This truth is not a doctrine, or a stateme...

Broken Society Apparently David Cameron, who built his campaign on the idea of fixing our 'broken society' will today say that "our security fightback must be matched by a social fightback. We must fight back against the attitudes and assumptions that have brought parts of our society to this shocking state." My question is: where do we get our idea of a fixed society?  Against what are we measuring the brokenness of society?  Where do we get this longing for a better society?     Bible All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were b...

Get a life We are all probably getting a little fed-up for the all the naval gazing about the causes of the riots in England.  But what are some of the consequences for the rioters?  District judge Tim Devas told a 26 year old man after he had given him a £60 fine and a criminal record: "Let me give you a piece of worldly advice. "Get a life, sort yourself out. Don't you feel ashamed that you are now counted among the hundreds of yobbos arrested and now considered as scum by the public?" It's amazing how many people offer this same kind of advice to all of us when we hit rock bottom.  "Get a life, sort yourself out."  And then the guilt trip - "don't you feel ashamed...?"  The judge is right - that is worldly advice.  The Gospel shows us a way to "get a life" that is not driven by guilt, but by freedom!   Bible So if you consider me a partner, welcome [Onesimus] a...