Today, we start another short series. For the next four weeks or so we’ll be
looking at the first question and answer to the Heidelberg Catechism. That
first question asks, ‘What is your only comfort in life and death?’ I chose
to do this because this is such a powerful statement of the Gospel. There is
much ‘comfort’ here for us and I hope that Spirit blesses you with the
ability to see more of that comfort as we work our way through this.
Let me start by making clear what the authors of this question meant by
‘comfort’. They weren’t talking about kicking back and taking it easy. They
understood that this life is hard. In it we battle with sin and the evil
one. And, at times, it gets to the point of hand-to-hand combat. There is
much that we don’t understand. We can only see the next step, and sometimes
not even that. And along the way, we experience some really hard things.
Now, that’s not the whole story but it is a bigger part of the story than
most American Christians expect or are willing to admit. But as that becomes
clearer, the question of enduring to the end becomes more pressing. How can
you face the hard things of this life, the battles and trials, and make it
to the end? That is what this question is talking about. That is the
‘comfort’ that it is trying to explain. That is the comfort of the Gospel.
Today, I’ll be looking at the first part of the answer. ‘That I am not my
own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my
faithful Savior Jesus Christ.’ It is this idea of belonging to Jesus that I
want to open up for you. And our text does that. The language of ‘belonging
to’ comes out of the language of a covenant relationship. Our text recounts
the establishment of a covenant between God and His Church. God has revealed
Himself as Israel’s Savior. He rescued Israel from Egypt, the house of
slavery. He brought them out ‘on eagles’ wings’. We have here a great
picture of Jesus and His Gospel, as He, our Savior, has brought us out of
our house of slavery. Our text, then, describes Jesus’ offer to His Church.
‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you
shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is
mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
Let’s look at what Jesus offers. Let’s look at this idea of being His
‘treasured possession’. Let me tell you about a possession or two of mine
that I consider treasured. I own this grandfather clock. Linda’s uncle made
the wooden cabinet. Not from some kit. From scratch. It is something that,
to me, has significant value. The craftsmanship is outstanding. It really is
a beautiful piece. And I enjoy its chimes. It is an heirloom worthy of the
name. For so many of the years that I have had it, I considered it the only
thing of real value that I owned. Recently, however, I added something else
to that list of things of value: my piano. It is by no means the most
beautiful piano nor does it have the best sound of any piano. But it is
special to me. It is special because of the pleasure that it gives me. I don
’t play well, but I play well enough for me to enjoy. I now have two
treasured possessions. So, I oil the clock’s works and dust the cabinet from
time to time. I reset the weights each week and adjust the regulator so that
it will keep the time. I polish my piano and get it tuned every six months.
And while it’s okay for the grandkids to play on it, I wouldn’t want them to
bang on it. Now, the point isn’t the inherent worth of these two possessions
of mine. The point is the emotional attachment that I have toward them.
These are two things that are treasured by me.
Do you see what your Savior is saying in our text to you, His Church? ‘You
are treasured by Me.’ Is this because you have some great inherent worth?
Not at all. Your sin destroyed that. No, you are treasured by Him because He
has an emotional attachment to you. And He has proven that. He has rescued
you from the house of slavery. Remember the cross. And why did He do this?
Because you are treasured.
Let’s look at this other phrase, ‘holy nation’. If you were to go downstairs
to where my Sunday school class meets you’d see a list of words on the
whiteboard. As we encounter an important word in our journey through
Genesis, I’ll right it down. So, you’ll see ‘dominion’, ‘ish/ishah’, ‘ex
nihilo’ and other words. [You can ask the kids in the class what those words
are about.] You’ll also see ‘holy’ except, unlike the other words, this one
has a little ‘2’ next to it. That’s to remind the kids that there are two
aspects to this word. The one is the idea of ‘pure’, without sin. But the
other aspect has to do with being separate, different, distinct from the
rest, as in ‘remember to keep the Sabbath holy’. Our text says that you are
holy. What this means is that Jesus plays favorites. You, His Church, are in
a special category. As Lord over all, He cares for and provides for all the
people on this globe. But you are different. You are His favorite. Let me
quote our Confession here. ‘As the providence of God does, in general, reach
to all creatures; so, after a most special manner, it takes care of His
Church, and disposes all things to the good thereof.’ In normal English that
means that Jesus has separated His Church from all the rest of humanity. His
Church is in a special category so that He cares for it in a special way. It
is holy to Him.
The words of our text are directed to the Church. But bear in mind that what
is said to the group also applies to the individuals of that group. Jesus
speaks these words to His Church – and to everyone who is a member of that
Church. These words apply to you, individually. You are a treasured
possession. You are holy to Him. And the Catechism answer brings this out.
It doesn’t read, ‘we belong’, even though that is true. Rather, it reads, ‘I
belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ’. These are words of comfort that
are necessary as we live in this sinful world. These are words to come back
to time and again. These words are yours to relish.
But we are not finished with our text. It has more to teach us about this
covenant relationship, this belonging to Jesus. So we read, ‘Now therefore,
if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my
treasured possession among all peoples …’ There is a requirement here. Jesus
requires us to keep this covenant. But understand what this means. This is
not a matter of keeping some list of rules. What does the text say? It talks
about obeying His voice. This is much more personal. We do not have a
relationship with a Book. We have a relationship with a Person, who uses the
Book to guide us. Would you be a treasured possession, someone special to
Christ? Then keep the covenant by obeying the voice of your Savior.
As soon as I say this, of course, you remember how impossible this is. You
remember your sin. You remember how you don’t keep this covenant, how you
don’t obey the voice of your Savior. I don’t know who wrote the five
questions for membership in our Book of Church Order, but I must say that
question three is right on and so helpful. Listen. ‘Do you now resolve and
promise, in humble reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will
endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?’ The question
understands that you need grace if you are going to live as a faithful
follower of Christ, if you are going to keep covenant with Him, if you are
going to be able to obey His voice. Every day you are reminded of your
inability to do this. Every day you see more evidence of your sin. But Jesus
knows all about this. So, when you hear Jesus call you to obey to His voice,
don’t think that He expects you to do that on your own. By His Spirit, He
gives grace to sinners. And notice what you promised when you became a
member here. You didn’t promise to live as becomes a follower of Christ. You
promised to endeavor to do that. You promised to work at it, to strive for
that goal. The question understands that you will falter and stumble and
sin. All of that is also assumed in our text. Jesus calls you to obey His
voice, to keep covenant with Him, but ‘He knows our frame; He remembers that
we are dust’. [Psalm 103] He knows that we will fail. And so, along with the
call to covenant keeping there is the promise of forgiveness to all who
repent and believe the Gospel.
Do you see what this means? You are a treasured possession of Jesus. But not
because you obey so well. You don’t. You are treasured by Jesus because He
decided to treasure you. You are holy, in a different category from the rest
of the world, just because He decided to put you in that category. Your
attempts at obedience do not establish this relationship and they do not
maintain it. They are simply your responses of love. And Jesus accepts that
as obeying His voice. And the result? His covenant love to you continues.
You continue to belong to your faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
The words of the Catechism are comforting words. And you should repeat them
to yourselves often. Let them percolate in your soul. I belong to my
faithful Savior Jesus Christ. I am His treasured possession. I am special to
Him. These are words of comfort because they are words of the Gospel.
Believe them and enjoy them.
