Catechetical Preaching

by | Dec 5, 2013 | Catechesis, Preaching, Westminster Shorter Catechism

I am just in the process of finishing a catechetical sermon series, preaching through the topics of the Shorter Catechism. Since I have sometimes been asked how I do this, I figured I should put the whole outline right here!

If you want to hear or read any of these sermons, go over to our sermon page…

  1. SC 1                        Is 60/Ps 45/Rev 21               What Are You Doing Here?                October 7, 2012
  2. SC 2-3                     Jer 31/Ps 40/Heb 10            How Do You Know What to Believe and Do? Oct 14, 2012
  3. SC 4-6                     Dt 6/Ps 2/1 Cor 8                Why Does the Trinity Matter?              November 4, 2012
  4. SC 7-8                     Lam 3/Ps 148/Eph 1           What Are the Decrees of God?            November 11, 2012
  5. SC 9-11                   Gen 1/Ps 104/John 1          How Does God Govern the World?  November 18, 2012
  6. SC 12                      Gen 2/Ps 8/Col 1                 The Covenant of Life                            November 25, 2012
  7. SC 13-15                 Gen 3/Ps 127/1 Jn 3/Lk 1  What Is Sin?                                          December 2, 2012
  8. SC 16-19                 Gen 6/Ps 24/Rom 5/Lk 1   Why Am I Condemned in Adam?      Dec 9, 2012
  9. SC 20                      Jer 31/Ps 131/Heb 8/Lk 1   Covenant and Election                         December 16, 2012
  10. SC 21-22                 Is 7/Ps 80/Heb 2/Lk 1        Why Was He Born of a Virgin?           Dec 23, 2012
  11. SC 23-24                 Is 61/Ps 45/Luke 4               How Is Christ Our Prophet?               December 30, 2012
  12. SC 25                      Gen 14/Ps 110/Heb 7          How Is Christ Our Priest?                    January 6, 2013
  13. SC 26                      Jer 22-23/Ps 72/Lk 17          How Is Christ Our King?                    January 13, 2013
  14. SC 27-28                 Is 53/Ps 113/Phil 2              Humiliation and Exaltation                 January 20, 2013
  15. SC 29-30                 Ezek 36/Ps 19/Rom 6         Union with Christ                                 February 3, 2013
  16. SC 31                      Ezek 37/Ps 84/Jn 3              The Call                                                  February 10, 2013
  17. SC 32-33                 Lev 16/Ps 32/Rom 3            Justified in Christ                                  February 17, 2013
  18. SC 34                      Ex 3-4/Ps 2/Gal 3-4             Adopted in Christ                                 February 24, 2013
  19. SC 35                      Jer 17/Ps 1/1 Cor 10            Sanctified in Christ                                March 3, 2013
  20. SC 36                      2K 19/Ps 102/Rom 5          The Benefits of Christ in This Life      March 17, 2013
  21. SC 37                      Dt 30/Ps 118/1 Th 15          The Benefits of Christ at Death           March 24, 2013
  22. SC 38                      Is 25/Ps 16/1 Cor 15            The Benefits of Christ: Resurrection    March 31, 2013
  23. SC 39-40                 Amos 1, Ps 119, Rom 1-2    The Moral Law                                      April 7, 2013
  24. SC 41-42                 Dt 6, Ps 110, Mt 22               The Summary of the Law                     April 14, 2013
  25. SC 43-44                 Dt 11, Ps 105, Heb 3             Grace before Law: the Preface               April 28, 2013
  26. SC 45-48                 Ez 8, Ps 44, 1 Cor 10             The Lure and Cure of Idolatry             May 5, 2013
  27. SC 49-52                 Dt 4, Ps 96, Col 1                  The Image and the Word                     May 19, 2013
  28. SC 53-56                 Dt 14, Ps 106, 2Cor 6            God’s Holy Name                                 May 26, 2013
  29. SC 57-59                 Ex 31, Ps 84, Heb 4               God’s Holy Day                                    June 2, 2013
  30. SC 60-62                 Neh 13, Ps 92, Mt 12             Our Holy Rest                                       June 9, 2013
  31. SC 63-66                 Prov 1, Ps 128, Eph 5-6        Honor Your Father and Mother          June 16, 2013
  32. SC 67-69                 Gen 4, Ps 10, Lk 11               You Shall Not Kill                                July 7, 2013
  33. SC 70-72                 Prov 5, Ps 45, Matt 5             You Shall Not Commit Adultery        July 14, 2013
  34. SC 73-75                 Dt 23-24, Ps 15, Eph 4         You Shall Not Steal                               July 21, 2013
  35. SC 76-78                 Prov 6, Ps 64, 3 John            You Shall Not Bear False Witness       August 25, 2013
  36. SC 79-81                 1 K 21, Ps 119:33-40, Lk 15 You Shall Not Covet                             September 1, 2013
  37. SC 82-84                 Gen 6, Ps 14, 2 Pet 2-3          What Does Sin Deserve?                      September 8, 2013
  38. SC 85                      Dt 29-30, Ps 40, Acts 2          The Way of Salvation                            September 15, 2013
  39. SC 86                      Numbers 21, Ps 78, Phil 3    What Is Faith?                                       September 22, 2013
  40. SC 87                      Hos 13-14, Ps 51, 1 Jn 1       What Is Repentance?                             September 29, 2013
  41. SC 88-90                 Ez 20, Ps 81, Rom 10           How Does God Use Preaching to Save You? Oct 6, 2013
  42. SC 91-93                 Ex 24, Ps 27, 1 Co 10            How Does God Use the Sacraments to Save You? Oct 13
  43. SC 94                      Gen 6 Ps 42 1 Pet 3               How Does God Use Baptism to Save You?      Oct 27, 2013
  44. SC 95                      Jon 2, Ps 29, Col 3              Why Baptize Babies?                             November 3, 2013
  45. SC 96-97                 Prov 9 Ps 104 Mk 14             How Does God Use the Lord’s Supper to Save You? Nov 10
  46. SC 98-99                 2 Chr 6, Ps 116, Mt 6             How Does God Use Prayer to Save You?           Nov 17, 2013
  47. SC 100                    Ex 4 Ps 103, Jn 1                   The Lord’s Prayer: Our Father              November 24, 2013
  48. SC 101                    Is 6, Ps 99, Lk 1                     Hallowed Be Thy Name                       December 1, 2013
  49. SC 102-103             2 Sam 7, Ps 72, Lk 1              Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done           Dec 8, 2013
  50. SC 104                    Is 55, Ps 138, Lk 1                 Give Us Our Daily Bread                      December 15, 2013
  51. SC 105-106             Is 9, Ps 130, Lk 1                   Forgive Us Our Debts                          December 22, 2013
  52. SC 107                    1 Chr 29, Ps 73, Lk 2             Thine Is the Kingdom                         December 29, 2013

 

Unintentional Sins?

by | Oct 17, 2013 | Numbers, Westminster Shorter Catechism

The men’s discipleship study had an interesting conversation this week (prompted by the Didache — a second century pastoral manual) on the topic of “unintentional sins.”

In 1 Corinthians 10:13 Paul says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Properly understood, this states that you will never face a situation where you have to sin. When you are tempted, God promises that he will always provide a way of escape.

Paul is dealing with the question of temptation. It is true — you will never face a temptation where you are “powerless” to do the right thing. Those who are in Christ now share in his Holy Spirit, and so we can never say, “I couldn’t help it — the temptation was too strong!”

But that does not mean that there is no such thing as “unintentional sin.”

Think about our catechism’s definition of sin:
“Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.”

The example I used with the men was the case of the stolen book. Sometimes, when you buy a used book, the “used” book was actually stolen from a library. You may have purchased the book innocently enough — but if you have purchased stolen property, then you are unjustly possessing the book of another.

It’s easy enough to remedy this if you know the truth — but if you never realize that it was stolen, then you may remain in possession of the stolen book, and thus you have perpetuated the injustice. You are (unwittingly) out of conformity with the law of God.

Of course, there are lots of situations like this. We frequently find ourselves (unwittingly) participating in injustice. If you are a stockholder in a company/organization that practices injustice, then you are investing in (and making money from) their injustice. If you work for a company/organization that practices injustice, then even if you are striving to conduct yourself justly, you are still participating in the corruption.

This shouldn’t surprise us. After all, if we believe what Genesis 6 says about us — that the inclinations of our hearts are only evil continually — that corruption has reached every part of us — we should not be surprised that there are “unintentional sins” where we are not even aware of what we have done wrong.

In other words, our problem is not just that we sin against God. Our problem is also that all creation and all human institutions have become corrupt. Corruption has spread to everyone and everything.

This is a problem that the Old Testament rituals were designed to correct. The sin and guilt offerings were designed to deal with “unintentional sins” — and then once a year on the Day of Atonement the “scapegoat” (Lev 16) was designed to deal with all these unintentional sins. Hebrews 9:7 says that the high priest went into the Holy of Holies “once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.”

And Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus deals with this problem more effectively: “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (9:14)

Notice that our problem is not just “guilt” due to our conscious sins. Our problem is also that we have become impure/blemished — we have become corrupt. And the blood of Jesus deals both with the guilt of our sin, and with the corruption of our nature.

Incidentally (pointing forward to our sermon in two weeks), this is why Peter speaks of baptism “for the forgiveness of sins” and the “gift of the Holy Spirit.” In Christ our legal problem is solved (we are forgiven for our sins) and our corruption problem is solved (we are washed/cleansed from our uncleanness).

Numbers 15 (which we will reach in early December) says more about unintentional sins — so stay tuned…

The Sabbath as Creation Ordinance

by | Jun 2, 2013 | Pastoral Notes, Sabbath, Westminster Shorter Catechism

Dear Congregation,
This Sunday we turn to the Fourth Commandment. Since the catechism spends six questions on the  Fourth Commandment, we will spend two weeks working through the biblical teaching on the Sabbath.

This Sunday we will focus on two basic principles:
1) the Sabbath as a creation ordinance — the Sabbath is not merely part of the Mosaic law, but goes all the way back to creation;
2) the Sabbath as a redemption ordinance — and therefore it plays a somewhat different role in the Mosaic economy than it does today in Christ

I grew up in a Baptist church that didn’t pay much attention to the fourth commandment. When I was a senior in high school I worked Sunday afternoon at a local grocery store and never thought twice about it.

It was only during my sophomore year in college that I first encountered a church that took the sabbath principle seriously. At first, I thought it was nuts. Sunday afternoons had always been dominated by football and studying. Taking a whole day for rest and worship would put a serious dent in my academic performance. But I saw the weight of the biblical argument for it: if God blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it, then that means that the sabbath was made for man — not man for the sabbath — and so the sabbath was a good thing (in theory).

When I started observing the sabbath the fall of my junior year of college, I discovered that the practical benefits were tremendous. Knowing that this day was set aside for worship, rest, and fellowship with God’s people meant that I could focus on the delights of this day — rather than worry about what was going to happen on Monday! I suppose some people can become legalistic about sabbath-observance, but I have noticed that when you spend the Lord’s Day doing the things that you should be doing, there is very little time left for wishing that you could do the things that you shouldn’t be doing! (and over time, even the desire to do those things starts to go away as you rejoice that God has given you a day that is set apart from the other six).

Obviously there are lots of good questions about where you draw the line. And there is need for good casuistry in thinking through those questions (I realize that “casuistry” has a bad name these days, but it simply refers to dealing with “cases of conscience” in those grey areas where good Christians may disagree about how to handle a situation). But our catechism provides a good starting point for helping us think through what duty God requires of us in the fourth commandment.

Q. 57. Which is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Q. 58. What is required in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as he has appointed in his word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy sabbath to himself.

Q. 59. Which day of the seven has God appointed to be the weekly sabbath?
A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.
Why Truth Matters 
While not dealing with the fourth commandment directly, Carl Trueman offers some helpful reminders of the dangers of “going with the flow” of our culture in his article, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.”

With an increasing number of youth activities now taking place on Sundays, Trueman’s article may suggest that Christians may need to take a different path.

 

Augustine on the Hermeneutical Priority of Love

by | Apr 14, 2013 | Hermeneutics, Pastoral Notes, Patristics, Westminster Shorter Catechism

“Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought.” (Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 1.36.40)

If your interpretation of scripture does not result in love of God and love of neighbor, then you have not understood scripture correctly. Augustine is arguing that love is our primary hermeneutic. That may sound odd at first — but when you consider what Jesus says in Matthew 22:34-40, you are forced to agree with Augustine!

This Sunday we will be looking at the relationship between the moral law and the Ten Commandments.

Last Sunday we saw from Romans 1-2 how Paul tells us that the moral law includes two things:
1) everyone knows who God is — and that they are supposed to worship him;
2) everyone knows what God requires — and that disobedience deserves death.

Not surprisingly, Jesus says that the two great commandments of the law covers the same ground:
1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus says, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The Law includes the whole of the first five books of Moses. The Prophets include all the historical books. So when Jesus says that the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands, he is saying that the whole Old Testament can only be rightly interpreted by seeing what it means to love God and neighbor. If your reading of scripture does not bring you to love God and neighbor, then you need to keep reading until you get there!

Machen on “Christianity a Life…produced…by telling a Story”

by | Apr 7, 2013 | Pastoral Notes, Westminster Shorter Catechism

This week we will begin the second part of our catechetical sermon series. In part one (questions 1-38), we focused on “what man is to believe concerning God”; now in part two (questions 39-107), we will focus on “what duty God requires of man.”

We start with the law. This week we’ll think about the moral law — what does God require of everyone?

Then we’ll turn next week to Jesus’ summary of the law — “Love the Lord your God with all your heart… and love your neighbor as yourself” — and we’ll talk about how that relates to the Ten Commandments. Why does Paul sometimes speak so highly of the law and yet also insist that we are not under law?

Then we’ll go through the Ten Commandments and look at how they apply to the Christian life.

The last part of the catechism then works through the Way of Salvation: faith and repentance, together with the word, the sacraments, and prayer.

It’s worth pointing out that the Christian life is firmly grounded in the story that was told in part 1 of the catechism. I like J. Gresham Machen’s way of putting it in Christianity and Liberalism. The modernists wanted to say that “Christianity is a life, not a doctrine.” Machen replied:

“From the beginning, Christianity was certainly a way of life; the salvation that it offered was a salvation from sin, and salvation from sin appeared not merely in a blessed hope but also in an immediate moral change. The early Christians, to the astonishment of their neighbors, lived a strange new kind of life — a life of honesty, of purity and of unselfishness. And from the Christian community all other types of life were excluded in the strictest way. From the beginning Christianity was certainly a life.
But how was the life produced? It might conceivably have been produced by exhortation. That method had often been tried in the ancient world; in the Hellenistic age there were many wandering preachers who told men how they ought to live. But such exhortation proved to be powerless. Although the ideals of the Cynic and Stoic preachers were high, these preachers never succeeded in transforming society. The strange thing about Christianity was that it adopted an entirely different method. It transformed the lives of men not by appealing to the human will, but by telling a story; not by exhortation, but by the narration of an event. It is no wonder that such a method seemed strange. Could anything be more impractical than the attempt to influence conduct by rehearsing events concerning the death of a religious teacher? That is what Paul called ‘the foolishness of the message.’ It seemed foolish to the ancient world, and it seems foolish to liberal preachers to-day. But the strange thing is that it works. The effects of it appear even in this world. Where the most eloquent exhortation fails, the simple story of an event succeeds; the lives of men are transformed by a piece of news.” (pages 47-48)

Why Catechize?

by | Apr 15, 2012 | Catechesis, Pastoral Notes, Westminster Shorter Catechism

At 10:00 a.m. every Sunday morning we have a our weekly singing practice and catechism quiz. This week I would like to suggest some reasons why you should participate.

I should start by providing some background: around eight years ago, the elders decided to have a weekly catechism quiz, working through the Shorter Catechism together. We decided that if we were going to have the children memorize the catechism, then we should do it together with them. Since then we have worked through the Shorter Catechism four times (next fall we will start on our fifth time around!). In this last cycle, we have added a really helpful practice of memorizing a couple of scripture verses each week that show where the scriptures teach the doctrines of the catechism.

I would especially like to address fathers and mothers in the congregation (though others may take note as well). If you are like me, then you did not grow up with the catechism. I was a latecomer to Reformed theology and only started memorizing the catechism eight years ago with my children. Since I didn’t grow up with the catechism, I didn’t think of it as something that was very important — but there are a number of observations that I have noticed over the years:

  1. The catechism provides a vocabulary that overflows into other conversations as well. I cannot count the number of times that we have talked about “the estate of sin and misery”! When dealing with sin, the catechism’s exposition of the Ten Commandments encourages both the memorization of the Ten Commandments, and the application of the commandments in daily life. Likewise, I frequently use the language of the catechism now in talking with my children about repentance and faith. And because they have worked through it many times, they are beginning to understand what it means.
  2. Parents often wonder, “if they don’t understand the words, what’s the point?” Well, they probably don’t understand the words “hallowed,” “debtors,” “substance,” or “apostolic” — but we still teach them the Lord’s Prayer and the Nicene Creed. And over time, as we continue praying, confessing, and reciting, we learn more and more about them. If you wait until they understand the vocabulary before you use it, some other vocabulary will have already taken root in their hearts. Language plays a powerful role in shaping the way we think.
  3. Catechism memorization works best when it is connected with regular family worship. We have also included it in the children’s home-school work, but when Daddy is also working with the kids on their catechism, it makes a big difference. And when you show up for the catechism quiz on Sunday morning, you send a major signal to your children (and for those without children — you send perhaps an even louder signal!) that this is important.
  4. The discipline required to keep the practice going in our home for eight years has been useful in other areas of life as well. Family worship, catechism memorization, elder visits — all these things are part of an “older” way of doing things that our culture has rejected — a way of living that embodies the principles of the scriptures and seeks to exhibit them publicly in the life of the church.


And particularly as fathers we are often so busy with our careers — with “providing” for our families — that when we have time for our children, we just want to “have fun” with them. But what do we communicate to our children that way? That “fun” is the meaning of life? If we are to teach our children the great works of God — if we are to lead them in loving God with all our heart, all our soul, and and all our strength — then leading them in the study of the scriptures is our first priority. And the catechism provides a really useful summary of the biblical teaching on “what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.”