Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q34

Q.34. Why do you call him “our Lord”? 

A. Because – not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood – he has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be his very own.

Monday

Lord is a title used to address someone of power and authority.  In the Middle Ages it was used to address barons and some knights.  A lord is someone who has the right to rule over another.  This is a great place to start this week.  Jesus is our Lord because he has every right to rule over the world he created, sustains and preserves.  He is in charge, even the demons recognize it. Read Mark 5:1-13

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q33

Q.33. Why is he called God’s “only Son” when we also are God’s children?

A. Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God.  We, however, are adopted children of God – adopted by grace through Christ.

Monday

While a man can adopt many children in addition to his biological child, the biological child is unique among them all.  This child carries his DNA and is literally like him.  This doesn’t mean the other children are loved less, or not his children, but they are different.  In the same way, Jesus is God’s natural Son.  Hebrews 1 tells us Jesus carries God’s DNA. Read Hebrews 1:1-5.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q32

Q.32. But why are you called a Christian?

A. Because by faith I am a member of Christ and so I share in his anointing.  I am anointed to confess his name, to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

Monday

Last week we learned that Christ means anointed. Therefore, a Christian is an anointed one, or one who is set apart for God’s work and service.  But can any follower of Jesus truly call himself or herself a Christian?  Certainly, the disciples in Antioch used this term.  Read Acts 11:26.  These men and women were assured that they were not just following Jesus, but that they were anointed by God to serve his purposes in the world just as Jesus did.  Be encouraged that this is true of you as well.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q31

Q.31. Why is he called “Christ,” meaning anointed?

A. Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher who perfectly reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God for our deliverance; our only high priest who has set us free by the one sacrifice of his body, and who continually pleads our cause with the Father; and our eternal king who governs us by his Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in the freedom he has won for us.

Monday

A man walks into a room and is crowned the King of a nation.  Another walks into a church and is pronounced a reverend. A third has a star pinned on his chest and becomes a sheriff.  Each of these is an act of ordination.  Ordination is the setting apart of someone for a specific purpose.  In each of these scenarios the public recognizes the authority the person has been granted and the ordinand accepts certain responsibilities in return for the authority and title received. 

God set Jesus apart to be the savior of the world, and in exchange for this responsibility, he received authority to rule.  This doesn’t mean there was a time Jesus had no authority, for he is uncreated and fully divine.  (This is the trouble with language.) Rather, this kind of language serves to illustrate that Jesus is the fulfillment of all our poor attempts to model his authority and responsibility in human acts of ordination.  Read Hebrews 1:8-9.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q30

Q.30. Do those who look for their salvation and security in saints, in themselves, or elsewhere really believe in the only savior Jesus?

A. No.  Although they boast of being his, by their deeds they deny the only savior and deliverer, Jesus.  Either Jesus is not a perfect savior, or those who in true faith accept this savior have in him all they need for their salvation.

Monday

Have you ever been asked to do something only to find out that the person who asked you went ahead and did it himself or herself or asked someone else because they didn’t think you could actually do the project?  This is what question 30 is getting at, either we believe Jesus capable of all he promised, or we don’t and so we look for someone or thing else to aid him.  Our actions display our true beliefs for the entire world to see.  In Galatians, Paul wrote to believers who were trusting in their works to save them.  Read his response in Galatians 5:2-4.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q29

Q.29. Why is the Son of God called “Jesus” meaning “savior”?

A. Because he saves us from our sins.  Salvation cannot be found in anyone else; it is futile to look for any salvation elsewhere.

Monday

How many dogs have you known named “Spot” or cats named “Socks?  We can probably all think of at many, and frequently these animals received their names because of some distinguishing marks on their bodies.  They were the embodiment of their names.  The same is true of Jesus.  Read Matthew 1:21.  When the angel came and named the baby that Mary was to bear, he named him Jesus because he would embody that name.  He would save people from their sins.  Consider all the things that Jesus has saved you from.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q28

Q.28. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?

A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from his love.  All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.

Monday

Everyone experiences difficulties and hardships.  Not long ago an investment of mine went very sour.  I lost money and in the midst of praying and asking God, “Why?”, these words kept coming to my mind: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.” Job spoke them after suffering great loss.  They are sobering words, but they are also comforting.  They allow us to meet difficult times knowing that God is still in control and that God’s plans and purposes for creation are not being violated but upheld.  Read Job 1:1-21 and gain an appreciation for Job’s words in the light of his great difficulty.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q27

Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?


A. Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty - all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand.

Monday
Providence could be simply defined as the protective care of God, or stated another way, God's rule throughout history.  There are some who believe that God is like an architect of a ship.  He designed the ship and saw it through construction, but the day it was finished and set into the sea, he withdrew and had no further interactions with the vessel.  Rather it was handed over to the captain to rule and govern as he saw fit.  But this is not so because God is concerned about his world.  Furthermore, he is so powerful that nothing came to exist without his word, and therefore nothing can continue to exist without his word.  he must preserve his creation, or it will cease to exist.  Read Hebrews 1:3.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q26

Q.26. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”?

A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my god and Father because of Christ his Son. 

I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he send me in this sad world.

He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

Monday

When most of us think of creation, we immediately think of the Genesis story and the first seven days that are recorded.  But there are many Scriptures that speak of God as the creator.  Read Psalm 33:6-9.  In this Psalm, God’s power is extolled as the one who created the world, but not like we create things.  Human beings are more in the assembly process, we take the things we see and arrange them into new configuration so that we can use them.  We are like children sitting down with a tub of Legos® and making a car or a plane or a spaceship.  But God is remarkably different, he didn’t sit down with already existing materials, he created the materials.  He spoke and the elements of our physical and spiritual world came into existence.  Nothing existed and then it all existed, not just in elemental form but in completed array.  There is nothing like it that we can compare in our physical world.  God is wholly different from us and that is why we must worship him.  Read Acts 14:15-18.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q25

Q.25. Since there is but one God, why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Aš Because that is how God has revealed himself in his Word: these three distinct persons are one, true, eternal God.

Monday

This weeks question addresses the doctrine of the Trinity.  The word trinity is a word that means tri-unity or three in one.  It is not a simple concept to explain, but it is one that Christians profess.  We believe that God is one, as the great passage from Deuteronomy 6:4 tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” But we also believe that God has revealed himself in three different persons in the Scriptures.  There is God the Father to whom Jesus prays, there is God the Son, with whom the Father is pleased and there is God the Spirit who is sent to take Christ’s place in the earth after his return to heaven.  Read Matthew 6:9, 4:16-17 and John 16:13-15.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q24

Q.24. How are these articles divided?

A. Into three parts: God the Father and our creation; God the Son and our deliverance; God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Monday

Have you ever tried to memorize a series of facts?  It can be difficult, but if you can arrange them into some sequence that makes sense, and points you to the next item, it is much easier. So it is with the Apostles’ Creed.  It is divided into 3 sections related to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  Furthermore, each section attributes an action to that particular person of God: Creation, salvation and the making of our present lives holy.

This does not mean the others persons of the godhead have nothing to do with the other processes.  They most certainly do, for “God is one.” But like all memory aids, it helps us to understand what God has done, is doing and will continue to do through his one divine nature. 

Read Psalms 33.  Did you notice that the one Lord creates, saves and is our hope for holiness?  The first two are easy to spot; but the last one is expressed in the final verse, “May your unfailing love rest upon us.”  If God’s love is to rest on us, we must be made holy.  Thank the Lord for these three wonderful acts at work in the world.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q23

Q.23. What are these articles?

A. I believe in God, the Father almighty,


creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
     

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
     

and born of the virgin Mary.
     

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
     

was crucified, died, and was buried;
     

he descended to hell.
     

The third day he rose again from the dead.
     

He ascended to heaven
     

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
     

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
     

the holy catholic* church,
     

the communion of saints,
     

the forgiveness of sins,
     

the resurrection of the body,
     

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Monday

Last week we began to talk about creeds.  There are many creeds in our world and many in the Christian churches.  But there are 3 creeds every church believes that set the foundation of the Christian faith.  They are the Apostles’ Creed, which we have learned today, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed.  These three creeds help us to understand what the bible teaches with regard to God, Christ The Holy Spirit and Salvation. 

Creeds are not new.  Throughout the bible we find many people who make proclamations about who God is.  We will explore some of these this week and in the coming weeks we will take a closer look at the Apostles’ Creed. If you haven’t memorized this creed yet, make it your goal to learn it by heart by the week’s end.  Read Psalm 119:66 as a way of seeing what the psalmist believed.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q22

Q.22. What then must a Christian believe?

A. Everything God promises us in the gospel.  That gospel is summarized for us in the articles of our Christian faith – a creed beyond doubt, and confessed throughout the world.

Monday

Last week we explored what faith is.  Now we ask, what must we believe?  Last week we found that faith involves what God has revealed in his Word. This week we find that Everything God promises in his Word is included in our faith.  Why must we believe all that Jesus brought and taught?  Read John 5:39-40.  The answer is contained in these few words: All Scripture points to Jesus and he is the giver of life.  If we don’t believe the words of Scripture, then we are cutting off an important part of its testimony to Jesus Christ.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q21

Q.21. What is true faith?

A. True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in his Word is true; it is also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation.

Monday

This is one of my favorite questions in the catechism.  There are many ideas about faith in our world.  What is it? What is it not?  In this question we see that faith involves the mind but it also involves the heart.  God gives faith; but it is also something we experience.  Faith isn’t just otherworldly; it is real.  It is like a gold miner staking a claim to mark out his interests and intentions.  The claim is truly his and he will mine it.  Such is true faith – truly ours and we are assured of God’s love for us because of it.  Read Hebrews 11:1.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q20

Q.20. Are all saved through Christ just as all were lost through Adam?

A. No. Only those are saved who by true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his blessings.

Monday

This question has caused many debates and disagreements in Christian history.  For that reason some Christians would rather avoid the question all together. But to avoid the question is to ignore the elephant in the room.  Knowing the answer sets one free to share the good news with others so that they too may hear and believe and also be saved. Read Romans 10:9-14.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q19

Q.19. How do you come to know this?

A. The holy gospel tells me.  God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; finally, he fulfilled it through his own dear Son.

Monday

God’s Word is our guide.  The Bible tells us the story of humanity’s creation, fall and redemption.  We come to the Scripture in order to learn about our sin and Christ’s saving work.  Why do we trust the Bible to teach us?  Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17.The Bible is God’s very breath for us.  Breathing is essential to living.  Try holding your breath, eventually you will be forced to open your mouth and take in air.  Why is this?  Because, we were made to breath, to take it into us.  Paul picks us analogy when he calls the Scripture “God-breathed.” It is the very life of God poured out to us.  Let us never forget that we need the Bible and its truth, just like we need air to breathe.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q18

Q.18. And who is this mediator – true God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous?

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God.

Monday

We have already seen that Jesus fulfills the demands for a mediator, but let us look at further scriptures in order to firmly establish this truth in our hearts and minds.  Read Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:21-23.  In this passage we find that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy that God will be with his people and will save them from their sins.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q15-17

Q.15. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?

A. One who is truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

Q.16. Why must he be truly human and truly righteous?

A. God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for its sin; but a sinner could never pay for others.

Q.17. Why must he also be true God?

A. So that, by the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God’s anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

Monday

Last week we learned that a human or any other creature would be unable to save us or cover our sin.  Does that mean there is no hope?  Does it mean that we are doomed to die for our sin, and be punished by God himself?  Yes, if an acceptable offering can’t be made to satisfy God’s sense of justice and his extreme anger at our sin.

Consider this. If you were trapped under a giant rock and couldn’t get out from under it, would you look for someone to help?  Of course, you would.  Would you look to a small child or a weak, sickly person?  No, you would look for someone who was healthy and strong, preferably the strongest person at hand.  The same is true for people who are trapped under the stone of sin, we need a really big person to come along and rescue us, and they need to be in prime condition, not a sinner like ourselves.

We need a perfectly sinless human being, and that is exactly who Jesus Christ is.  Read Hebrews 7:26-28.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q13 and Q14

Q.13. Can we pay this debt ourselves?

Aš Certainly not.  Actually, we increase our guilt every day.

Q.14. Can another creature – any at all – pay this debt for us?

Aš No.  To begin with, God will not punish another creature for what a human is guilty of.  Besides, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal anger against sin and release others from it.

Monday

Have you ever wanted to buy something but you were a few dollars, or even just a few cents short?  Generally, a cashier isn’t going to give you a break if you don’t have enough money to complete the purchase.  You will have to give up that thing you long for until the piggy bank has enough to pay.

This is what the catechism is referring to when it say that we cannot pay the debt we owe to God.  When we show up before God with our best gifts, our greatest acts of religion, he looks at them and says, “There isn’t enough here to cover the offense.  In fact, your bill just grew again because your sin never leaves you.” 

We are hopelessly in debt to God and we can’t get out of the bill.  In the 18^th century, there were companies that hired men to work in the mines.  These men worked hard, but every day they worked and shopped in the company store, their debt to the company increased.  Their wages couldn’t pay their cost of living.  This is an example of increasing our bill before God each day. Read Romans 2:4-5.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q12

Q.12. According to God’s righteous judgment we deserve punishment both in this world and forever after: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God’s favor?

A. God requires that his justice be satisfied.  Therefore the claims of his justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or another.

Monday

Today we start a new section in the Catechism.  The first eleven questions dealt with the misery that humans find themselves in because of their sin.  It is a horrible place, but today we begin looking at how God will deliver his people from such horrible circumstances. 

The Law of God requires that every sin must be punished.  All unlawful acts must be condemned.  In our world, that means that whenever theft occurs, it is caught and stopped.  The action is punished so that the world was a safe place.  The same is true of breaking God’s law.  Whenever it happens, God demands that the action be stopped and punished.  But what punishment is enough for our sin?  Read Romans 6:23 and Leviticus 17:11.