An Open and Shut Case

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism, LD 31

Scripture Readings:

Matthew 16:13-20; 18:15-20

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we consider the Keys of the Kingdom. Like all other keys they are used for a specific purpose.

What do you do with a key? You open something! Something which had been closed before is now open. Whether that be our house, or shed, or car, or many other valuable things. If you want to keep those things safe you need to lock up. And in our present time, with the crime rate the way it is, we need to lock up very securely! So keys are more important than ever before. In fact, how have you felt when you lost your keys? Doesn't that muck things up?

Are You Coming?

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism, LD 30b (Q & A 81-82)

Scripture Reading:

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the period before Christmas the managers of some firms give a party for their employees and their families. It's a way of showing appreciation for the work the employees have done for the company that year. Now try to imagine a situation where the manager cannot attend. Before he's called away, he gives instructions to his deputy and assistants that only those who are presently employed by the company are allowed to come. All others are left out. So anyone, for instance, who worked for a while but then left, as well as those who were fired, can't come.

Then, when the party is on, all the present employees and their families come, plus some others. Among those others are a few curious, or greedy, trying to get in. And there are also those who've left their jobs, or who were fired because they weren't working properly.

When Seeing Isn't Believing Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Days 29-30a

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:1-18

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ...

When we considered Lord's Day 28, we saw clearly the spiritual meaning of the Lord's Supper. There we were reminded that the value of this sacrament is not in what is physical. Rather, it's what the physical represents that's important. That's why we speak of this as a sign and seal of the Word.

Throughout the history of the church, however, Christians have had difficulty seeing this. Many have misunderstood and been seriously led astray in taking the physical to be the same as the spiritual.

We can look back at the various examples of this, and wonder why. We can think to ourselves, and even say out loud such things as, "How silly that Roman Catholics believe that it's the actual body of Christ they're eating!" Or even, "Who do those Lutherans think they're trying to kid by saying that once the bread and wine has entered into their bodies that it then becomes Christ's body and blood?"

Whose Supper Is It? Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 28 Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ...

We have before us the subject of the Lord's Supper. And as we consider Lord's Day 28 we see lots of material brought together into small questions and answers. The teaching can confuse us.

So, as we start, let's get down to basics. And let me do this by asking you: "What is the Lord's Supper to you?" Think about that for a moment. What is the meaning of this so-called "holy communion"?

What comes to your mind? Do you think of it as a special time when we remember what our Lord Jesus has done for us? Very true!

Or perhaps you thought: "At the Lord's Table I declare, as a Christian, who I am and where I stand with God!" Also very true! In fact, these two reasons for celebrating the Lord's Supper we share with many different Christians.

But further, how is it that we see the Lord's Supper benefiting us in a very real, spiritual way? How is it that we move beyond a meal of remembering, past that act of profession, to a spiritual building up of our faith?

The Father's Voice Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 27c

Scripture Readings: Exodus 4:18-31; Colossians 2:6-15

Congregation of Jesus Christ...

The Answer to Question 74 of the Catechism is very clear! "Yes! Of course we baptise our babies! In fact, we have to!"

This is a most emphatic command. For our Father God is most definite as to how our children are also together with us in the household of faith.

Not that we have always understood this so well. But, as our Catechism faithfully sums up Scripture, we hear, first of all, the order, YOU MUST DO THIS.

You must do this

The LORD God commands the response of baptism - also with infants - because of His great love shown in His dearly loved Son. Baptism points to, and confirms the work of Jesus.

The Apostle Peter's reply to those desperately needing God's forgiveness in Acts 2:38 still rings out today. "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven."

Washed Clean! Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 26-27b

Scripture Reading: Romans 6:1-14

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ...

We consider this evening the first of the two sacraments found in the New Testament, the sacrament of 'baptism'.

Do you remember when baptism was instituted? Baptism appears early in the New Testament through John the Baptist, but only after Christ's work of reconciliation did He made it a mandate for His Church. First He had to put away our sins. Through His suffering and death our wrong was put behind God. This was how He took away what stood between God and man. So the way was opened, through Christ, for men to come back to God.

The Pictures Which Tell

One Word!

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Lord's Day 25

Scripture Reading:

1 Peter 1:17-2:3

Church of our Lord Jesus...

In Lord's Day 25 we come to an aspect of our faith which has historically been the source of much difficulty between believers. What Christians understand the sacraments to mean varies so much, even today!

Mind you, all Christians would agree that the sacraments bear some relation to faith. The trouble is - what is their relation to faith?

Before we go into the differences, most would agree that sacraments are part of the saving work of Christ. We confess this by having these Questions & Answers in the 'Saved' section of the Catechism, the second section in which we confess "...how I am set free from all my sins and misery."

Don't Get It Wrong!

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 24

Scripture Reading:

Luke 18:9-14

Congregation...

At first glance, doesn't it seem that Lord's Day 24 repeats the previous Lord's Day? Lord's Day 23 says clearly that we're made right with God by faith alone. And don't we know that to accept this gift of God we only need a believing heart? So why then does Lord's Day 24 continue to mention that it is by God's grace alone that we are who we are?

To understand why, we need to picture the situation in which the Catechism was written. In 1563, in the middle of Germany, there was one particular religious force which the authors of the Catechism were opposing. That opposition was the Roman Catholic Church. And a most powerful force it was! The people had for hundreds of years been controlled by its thinking.

Right with God?

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 23

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 22:1-14 Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the end of Lords' Day 22 of the Heidelberg Catechism, we have come to the end of the exposition of the Apostles' Creed. Through some sixteen Lord's Days, themselves divided up into thirty-six Questions & Answers, the Catechism explains this summary of what the Bible teaches us about the triune God.

But having that, and after many Sundays of declaring that Creed, of what benefit is it to you? Question 59 challenges us very bluntly: "What good does it do to you, however, to believe all this?"

We've Only Just Begun!

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 22

Scripture Reading:

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Brothers and sisters, boys and girls...

Now here's a real mystery. In a religion filled with mysteries here's one to top them all! The Bible's teaching on the resurrection of the body seems so mind-boggling and faith-demanding! Even the language and phrases Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 15 are hard to understand.

Paul knows it is a difficult doctrine, and yet it is absolutely fundamental. The fact that Paul spends so much time on the resurrection of the body in a letter that is full of other doctrines shows how crucial this truth is. It's not simple, but it must be absolutely basic. Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection.

It is no coincidence that churches throughout the ages have often first slipped on their way to liberalism through getting the resurrection wrong. It is hard. But it must be clear.