Word of Salvation - May 2018

 

B.C.1 – I believe in God

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp

Bible readings: Psalm 14, John 10:22-39

Belgic Confession: Article 1

 

BC stands for Basic Christianity.  What are the fundamentals of the faith?

BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes.

When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith is increasingly under attack.

Those who drew up the BC declared that they were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would “offer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags and their whole bodies to the fire” rather than deny the truth expressed in this confession.

 

Theme: Belief and a confession of the God of the Bible as the Christian (and Reformed) starting point.

 

Introd:  Why do we in the Reformed Churches bother with Creeds and Confessions?

Over and over people have asked us why we have all this ‘doctrine stuff’.

Even some who have grown up within Reformed churches ask that question.
Shouldn’t we focus on more practical issues... things to do with Christian living?
Do away with the confessions!  They are – after all – only human documents.
Aren’t we better off going along with those churches that say:  “No Creed but Christ!”?

Well, that sounds very nice.... but let me make two points:

FIRST Reformed churches are, what we call, CONFESSIONAL churches.
We take the Biblical position that it is important for us to confess what we believe.
And that we are to do that not only as individuals but also as a church community.
So our confessions are a statement of what we together believe and confess.
            What we understand the Word of God to be saying on a number of important issues.
            So, in our Confessions we have our agreed summary of basic Biblical teaching.

SECONDLY – knowledge is central to the Christian faith.
Over and over the Bible highlights that God’s people are people who KNOW.
Paul said to his readers:  “I don’t want you to be ignorant.”
So in our confessions we have an organised summary of what we must KNOW as Christians.
            Here is some of the key knowledge that we have gleaned from the Word of God.
            So if people ask about our beliefs, here it is in summary form.

It would seem to me that all this is important more than ever in our days.
Today in some circles there is an abysmal lack of knowledge among Christians.
Please don’t think I’m having a go at anyone in particular.
But survey after survey shows a decline in knowledge about the content of the Christian faith.
And the problem is that we are the poorer for it.

Convention speaker, Major Ian Thomas, once used a striking illustration to bring that home.
(Please excuse me if the illustration comes across just a little sexist).
            The wife of a couple is busy getting tea ready when husband Bill comes in.
            He says:          “Honey, hold on with the meal, I’m going to be a little late.”
                                    “Can you keep it warm?  It’s an emergency.”
            She says:        “Oh, I’m sorry, what’s wrong?”
            “Well,” he says, “it’s the injection system; I think I’ve got a blockage.”
            “Oh dear,” she says, “I’m sorry.”  And she goes a little pale.

            Now this particular young wife hasn’t got a clue... not the slightest what he’s on about.
            But she says, “That’s okay. I’ll keep the food warm.  Don’t worry... come when you can.”
            They’ve only been married six months.

            About 10 minutes later the telephone rings and Jim asks: “Is Bill home?”
            She says, “He did come in but had to go out again... it’s an emergency.”
            “Oh,” says Bill, “I’m sorry, what’s wrong?”
            “Well,” she says “I’m not sure but he’s got problems with his injection system.”
            “He thinks he’s got a blockage.”

            Has she got it right?  Absolutely.
            Does Jim know what she’s talking about?  Yes, he does?  Does she?  No!
                        She’s using the right language but she really doesn’t have the faintest idea.
                        She’s not even really sure whether Bill’s gone to the workshop or to the hospital.

Many Christians are like that.... they pick up bits and pieces of the Christian language.
Or maybe they were brought up from childhood hearing certain words and expressions.
But they haven’t got the understanding to know what it really means.
There is no underlying foundation of knowledge.

So we have evangelical Christians who talk about being born again... converted... redeemed.
And they apply any of those terms to a certain point in their lives...
            as though they all meant exactly the same thing.... and they don’t.

The O.T. prophets lamented that God’s people were being destroyed because of a lack of knowledge.
And the same is true today in some circles where Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep!
So the church needs to focus again and again on doctrine...  to teach the faith... to instruct in it.
And it is there that our Creeds and Confessions still have a vital role to play today.

A]        THE STARTING POINT IS – GOD.

1.  Obviously the place to begin teaching the knowledge about the Christian faith is: GOD.

That is where the Belgic Confession begins.

It is the most obvious place... because this is the most central thing about religion.
And if we want to confess what we as a church and as Christians believe then there is no better place to start.

We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth
that there is one simple and spiritual being, which we call God...!

There was a young man who was just starting in the ministry and he was meeting with his bishop.
The young man decided it was a good opportunity to ask for some wise words of advice.
So he asked the bishop what he should preach about.
The bishop’s answer was: “Preach about God and preach about 20 minutes!

We mightn’t all agree about the length of the sermon.
But we could hardly disagree that preaching should always have God as its great central theme.
And all preaching and teaching in the Christian Church ought to have this as its aim:
            That men and women might know God.

Nothing is more important than this: to personally know God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
Isn’t this why parents begin already at infancy to read a story Bible with their children?
Isn’t this why Christian families have table devotions in their homes?
Isn’t that why the church bothers with Sunday School and Catechism classes?
This is why we open the Word in our worship services every Sunday.
            All of that so that we might know God... and know Him better and better every day.

When all is said and done... that’s what all our religious activity is all about.
It is to know God.        And when we know God then we have life.
                                    And when we don’t know God then we have no hope either.

2.  It’s interesting that our confession begins with the words: “WE ALL”.

“We all... believe with the heart and confess with the mouth...”

At first glance that sounds like a rather sweeping statement to make.

We might even wonder whether this first article isn’t too vague and general.

The Belgic Confession is a Protestant Confession from the time of the Reformation.
But I would imagine that a Roman Catholic would have no problems with article 1.
I’d go even further and say: a Jew wouldn’t have problems with it either... nor even a Muslim.

As a matter of fact, even your average pagan neighbour next door might say: “I can agree with that!”
“There has to be someone up there!  I too believe there is a God.”
He may well say that even though it makes absolutely no real difference to his life.

That leaves us with only one kind of person who will have problems with this article.
And that’s the fellow described in Psalm 14.
He is the person who stands for the exact opposite to what this article is all about.
The atheist.  The one who says in his heart, “There is no God!”
            The Bible calls him a fool.
            We all...  we all believe in God... except this fool.

Have you ever wondered why the Bible calls a person who claims God does not exist, a fool?

Dr Edwin Orr tells a story of the time when he was a newly appointed army chaplain.
A new recruit came and said to Dr. Orr:
            “I just want you to know padre that I won’t be coming to chapel.
“Oh! And why not?” asked the chaplain.
“Well,” said the young man, “because I’m an atheist.”

Dr Orr did a strange thing... he grabbed the man by the hand and excitedly exclaimed:
            “Let me congratulate you... you must be one of the brightest young men in the army.”
That young recruit’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
No one... no one – least of all a padre – had ever congratulated him for being an atheist.

So he asked:  “Why on earth are you congratulating me?”
“Well,” said Dr. Orr, “you must know everything there is to know about everything.”
That puzzled the young rookie even more... so he asked the chaplain to explain.

Dr. Orr asked him:  Okay, how much do you know of all that there is to know?
Would you say, 90%... or maybe 50%.... or would it be 20%?
Being a modest young man, he said:  Let’s make it 15%.
“Well,” said the chaplain,
            “Is it not possible that God exists in the other 85% of reality
             that you just admitted you know nothing about?”

The point is that to be an atheist you have to know everything.
And only a fool would claim to know everything there is to know about everything.
It is always possible for God to exist in that part of reality which we do not know about.
No one knows enough to be an atheist.

Or as someone else once said:
To prove God does not exist... you’d have to look under every rock in the universe...
And you’d have to look under every rock in the universe at the same time.

This is one reason why the Bible calls the atheist a fool.

The other reason becomes obvious as Psalm 14 progresses.

Our attitude to God’s existence has consequences.

            And someone who says there is no God is going to show that in the way he lives.
            In this Psalm his foolishness is also seen in the corruption of his life-style.

Over against that we say:  We all believe and confess one God...!
And if by saying that we align ourselves with all other religions
            then we are at least taking our stand against the fool of Psalm 14.
We as Christians need to show the increasing number of atheists in our society today
            that ultimately the atheist’s position cannot be defended.
It is foolishness.
And Psalm 14 shows it leads to exactly the kind of depravity that we are seeing in our society.

3.  However let’s look a little closer at the words of this Belgic Confession article.

Because it does become obvious that something more is intended in article 1.
It is not meant to be a statement that people from all religions could put their name to.

Please turn with me to Romans 10.
Because I want to show you that the language of this article is Biblical language.
That the Confession is really only echoing the Word of God when it says:
“We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth...”

That’s language taken from Paul in Romans 10 and verse 9.
Is, what Paul is talking about, something that applies to all the religions of the world?
No!  Paul is thinking specifically about the Lord Jesus Christ.
<<< READ ROMANS 10:9,10 >>>

IOW – even in speaking in a very general way about God the Reformers wanted to be Christ-centred.

They deliberately chose language that in Scripture talks about believing and confessing Jesus.
Because this God we confess can only be known through Jesus His Son.
            When we have seen Jesus we have seen God.
            For as Jesus said on one occasion:  I and the Father are one!

So already this very general article about God is worded in such a way as to point us to Jesus Christ.
Already underlying this article is the Sola Christus theme – the Christ Alone of the Reformation.
Because it is through Jesus alone that we know God and find life.

B]        A MATTER BELIEVING AND CONFESSING.

1.  Let’s explore those words BELIEVING AND CONFESSING a little further.

Notice that the emphasis is on BELIEVING... it’s not on PROVING God’s existence.
We live in a world that demands proof.
In university philosophy classes you learn that there are five so-called proofs for the existence of God.

Let me just give one of them as an example: the argument of design.
It is common knowledge among us that everything has a cause.
            Imagine you were to find a brand new digital watch on the footpath.
            A friend walking with you says: “I wonder where that watch came from.”
            And you say: “The watch just happened all by itself... a chance meeting of molecules.”
            Your friend would question your sanity.
            Someone made that watch and caused it to be there on the footpath.
            In the same way the world did not just happen... it must have had a cause.
            And this cause is God... and God is the uncaused Cause.

When we turn to the Scriptures we find that it makes no attempt to prove that God exists.
He is already there in Genesis 1 before the world is created:  In the beginning... God...!
And He is still there in Revelation 22 after this world as we know it has passed away.

So the Christian church doesn’t rely on all sorts of proofs for the existence of God.
Instead it says:  The fool says in his heart there is no God.
The Christian church simply teaches:  this is what we believe.
We believe there is one only, simple and spiritual being we call God.

Proofs for God may help us... they may confirm to us that our faith makes sense.
But when all is said and done it is a matter of belief... not proof.
            In Hebrews 11:6 we read:  “Anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists...!”
So we say this because the Bible says it.
We say what the Bible says and we say no more than the Bible and no less than the Bible.

If I had the time I could show that all those things in Article 1 are taken directly from Scripture.
He is ETERNAL...       without beginning or end.
INCOMPREHENSIBLE... His ways are ultimately beyond us.
INVISIBLE...               no one can see God.
IMMUTABLE...           the unchanging One.
INFINITE...                  the One who fill all of reality and all of time.
ALMIGHTY...              His power has no limits.
WISE, JUST, GOOD AND THE OVERFLOWING FOUNTAIN OF ALL GOOD.
For all of these things we could find words of Scripture to show that this is the God of the Bible.

2.  It seems to me, though, that there is a more important issue behind this confession.

And that is to ask: Okay, but what does believing this teaching involve?  What difference does it make?
I said before that many people will agree with you that there has to be a God.
Things didn’t just happen... they were created by someone and that Someone is God.
So, some of your workmates will readily admit that God does exist.  Well, big deal!
            Because in the book of James (2:19) there is a strong warning.
            “Even the devils believe... and they shudder”.

At this point of believing, Christians are different from their average pagan neighbours.
Sure, your unbelieving workmate claims to believe in God too.
They agree that there has to be someone up there!
But believing is not just intellectually saying that it makes sense to believe in a god of some sort.
Rather it’s putting one’s trust in an eternal God who is the overflowing fountain of all good.
It’s handing our life over to Him confident that this God gave Himself to us in Jesus Christ.

Tonight you might say to me, as many people do:
I believe in God, I am not an atheist... I am not the fool of Psalm 14.
James would say to you:        Okay, but even the devils do that.
                                                And they’ve got one up on you... at least they tremble.
Jesus said:  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom.

The big question is whether believing this actually makes a difference in your life.
Does it result in a life surrendered to God?  Does it show in obedience to His will?
Only then can you really say: Yes, I believe in God.

3.  Let me conclude by reminding you that in Rom.10 Paul also spoke about confessing with the mouth.

Believe must come first... if there is no belief then you won’t have anything to confess either.
In fact, if you confess without really believing, then you are a Christian in name only.
A hypocrite... who is able to mouth the words – without owning what is being said.

You’ll be like that young wife in Major Ian Thomas’ story:
            You’ll speak the language but be ignorant of the truth behind the words.

But belief and knowing... by itself aren’t any good either...
Belief without confession is like a tree without fruit.
If you believe this truth about God then that truth must show by you confessing the truth.
By testifying to it in your words and in your deeds.

Only in this way is our faith a faith that works.
Believe in the God and Father of Jesus with your heart and confess Him with your the mouth.
When it comes to the doctrine of God there is no better place to start.
Because ultimately it makes the difference between life and death;
            between an eternity of damnation... and an eternity of glory and praise.

Amen