REFORMATION 500 WEEK 48 JOHN CALVIN’S LEGACY

Reformation 500 WEEK 48    jOHN Calvin’s Legacy

“Calvin’s greatest achievement in the final years of his life was the establishment of the Geneva Academy, the first Protestant university anywhere. Calvin realized the need for an educated ministry. From his study of the Scriptures he also realized that God’s glory involves more than merely saving souls. This world is God’s world. The way men deal with each other is of concern to God. Therefore, government workers, doctors, lawyers, and all others needed a training that recognized and honored God” (Kuiper, Church in History, 199).

“Calvin’s view that God reigns everywhere and over all things led him to develop the biblical idea that man can serve God in every area of life – church, civil government, education, art, music, business, law, journalism. There was no need to be a priest, a monk, or a nun to get closer to God. God is glorified in everyday work and family life” (DeMar, Reformation, 207).

                From “its beginning in 1559 the Geneva Academy enjoyed the highest reputation. Soon nine hundred boys were enrolled, coming from all over Europe. It wasn’t long before the king of France sent an official warning to Geneva complaining of all the preachers coming from this headquarters of Protestantism…. Calvin gained followers everywhere. His influence extended even into Italy, Hungary, Poland and western Germany…. Through him the light of the Gospel radiated from the little city of Geneva into every corner of Europe. Calvin was the only international Reformer.

                “That Calvin could do so enormous a work is all the more amazing because he was frail of body, and much of the time suffered exceedingly from a complication of painful diseases. But his will triumphed over all difficulties and obstacles, God working with him. Worn out with his difficult and extensive labors, Calvin died May 27, 1564. His coat of arms was a hand holding a flaming heart. His motto was: … ‘My heart for Your cause I offer to You, Lord, promptly and sincerely’.” (Kuiper, 199-200).

“The earliest and most influential settlers of the United States – the Puritans of England, the Presbyterians of Scotland and Ireland, the Huguenots of France, the Reformed from Holland and the Palatinate [in Germany] – were Calvinists, and brought with them the Bible and the Reformed Confessions of Faith. Calvinism was the ruling theology of New England during the whole Colonial Period” (Schaff, 8:vi).

“The resistance of the Second Continental Congress to British tyranny in 1776 and the establishment of republican principles in the Constitution of the United States of America in 1787 owe much to the political thought of John Calvin” (Mark Larson, Calvin’s Doctrine of the State, 99).

“It is undeniable that he had a large influence on the American founding fathers, who had absorbed much more Calvinism, particularly in their views of the nature of man and the need for limited government, than some realize” (David Hall, The Legacy of John Calvin, 40). George Bancroft, the American historian, who himself was not a Calvinist, “credited the ‘free institutions of America’ as being derived ‘chiefly from Calvinism through the medium of Puritanism, … concluding: ‘He that will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty” (Ibid. 12).  .

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 John Calvin's Legacy

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Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts. 

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 47: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA 122

Reformation 500 WEEK 47: Heidelberg Catechism QA 122

Question 122: What is the first petition? “Hallowed be Your name;” that is, grant us, first, rightly to know You, and to sanctify, magnify, and praise You in all Your works, in which Your power, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth shine forth; and further, that we so order our whole life, our thoughts, words, and deeds, that Your name may not be blasphemed, but honored and praised on our account.

“Hallowed by thy name, is placed first in order, because it comprehends the end and design of all the rest, inasmuch as the glory of God should be the end of all our affairs, actions, and prayers [1 Cor. 10:31]” (Ursinus, 629).

God’s primary name is Jehovah or Yahweh – the equivalent of I AM – translated LORD in our English Bibles. “I am the LORD, that is My name” (Isaiah 42:8). “The LORD is His name” (Ex. 15:3). God’s name is a revelation of who He is: “You shall worship no other god, for the LORD whose name is Jealous, is a Jealous God” (Ex. 34:14). “In Scripture, God calls Himself by various descriptive names and titles such as ‘Lord,’ ‘God,’ ‘Almighty,’ ‘Father,’ ‘Son,’ ‘Jesus,’ ‘Christ,’ ‘Holy Spirit,’ and many more…. Thus, God’s name stands for Himself and all that He does as He reveals Himself in His Word and in His works [Psalm 19]” (Jones, Study Helps, 311). To hallow God’s name is the opposite of taking His name in vain.

The word hallow is the same word as sanctify. To sanctify means either to make someone holy that is not holy, or to treat someone holy who is already holy. God “is holiness itself” (Ursinus, 630). Therefore, to sanctify God is to know and praise Him as He truly is: “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). “We must know and think concerning His essence, will, works, omnipotence, goodness, wisdom, and all His other attributes, what He commands us in His Word to know and think respecting them [John 17:3]” (Ursinus, 630). Therefore, we must diligently study God’s Word, and pray for the Spirit’s enlightenment, so that we might praise and magnify all God’s attributes, as the biblical writers teach us in many places. “Great and marvelous are Your works, LORD God Almighty” (Rev. 15:3). “Praise the LORD, O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good” (Ps. 106:1) “His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice” (Deut. 32:4). “You, LORD, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You” (Ps. 86:5); “bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (Ps. 100:4-5).

Our whole life, thoughts, words, and deeds, must praise and honor God. As God’s adopted children, His image is being restored in us. “Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children” (Eph. 5:1). “Be holy for I AM holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). “Just as it is shame and disgrace to an earthly father to have a bad, unruly child, so God is dishonored if we who are called by His name and enjoy His manifold blessings fail to speak and live as godly children” (Martin Luther). God told adulterous King David: “by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme [ridicule]” His name (2 Sam. 12:14; cf. Rom. 2:24; 1 Tim. 5:14; Titus 3:5).

“But we cannot by ourselves sanctify the name of God. Therefore, we must pray to God to grant to us the strength by which we may hallow the name of God; yea, that He Himself would hallow His holy name in us [1 Pet. 3:15]” (Ursinus, 632).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 116-119

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 45

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts. 

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 46 DE BRES AND THE BELGIC CONFESSION

Reformation 500 WEEK 46  De Bres and the Belgic Confession

     In 1521, Emperor Charles V, who regretted that he had not burned Luther at Worms, issued from Worms an edict to suppress heresy in the Lowlands, now known as Belgium. In 1522, Guido de Bres (pronounced GEE-doe de Bray) was born in a Belgium city called Mons. That year in Antwerp a “monastery was burned to the ground because some of its monks had listened to the Protestant heresy” (Van Halsema, Glorious Heretic, 102). “To Belgium belongs the honor of having furnished the first martyrs of evangelical Protestantism in Henry Voes and John Esch, two Augustinian monks, who were burned at the stake in Brussels, July 1, 1523, … and who were celebrated by Luther in a stirring hymn” (Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, 1:503).

     Guido “was fourteen when the great Bible translator, William Tyndale of England, was strangled and burned to death near Antwerp.” Guido “was converted sometime before he became twenty-five,” and in 1548 he fled “to England where the boy king Edward VI had come to the throne” (Van Halsema, 104). There he benefited greatly from his contacts with other Protestant refugees (like Martin Bucer). But as soon as bloody Mary came to the throne, Guido decided to return to Belgium.

     In October, 1555, Charles V (emperor of Germany, Spain, and the Lowlands, master of all the then known parts of Asia, Africa, and the New World) decided to become a monk. He was succeeded by his son Philip of Spain (whose third wife was bloody Mary). “It was his consuming passion to kill every person not faithful to the Church of Rome” (Van Halsema, 95). Guido fled to Geneva, Switzerland, where for the next several years “he learned from the preaching of John Calvin and the teaching of Theodore Beza…Guido became an expert in Hebrew and Greek,” and “learned to show mercy to people who were hurting” (William Boekestein, Faithfulness under Fire).

     After three years of study, Guido boarded a river boat on the Rhine and arrived in a Belgian town called Doornik, where he became the pastor of the secret Protestant Church called The Church of the Palm. “He was thirty-seven years old, and in many ways his life of hiding and fleeing had been a lonely one.” He spoke of his love to a young woman named “Catherine Ramon and told her he could offer her only a life of uncertainty. It was enough, she answered, to love each other and to know their lives were in God’s good hands.” Sometime in 1559 they were married; the next year they had a son and “named him Israel” (Van Halsema, 107-108).

     While Guido was hiding, he wrote his Confession of Faith (patterned after the French Gallican Confession of 1559 written by Calvin). In the copies of the Confession printed in 1561 the first pages contained an open letter to King Philip, asking him to stop fighting against the church (Guido secretly tossed his Confession with its introductory letter over the walls of the king’s castle). Guido said that he and his friends “were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, although 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 of God’s Word.’ … Though the confession failed to stem the tide of persecution, it was instrumental in helping thousands understand the Reformed faith. Guido de Bres was eventually captured and he sealed his confession with martyr’s blood in 1567” (RCUS Three Forms of Unity, 52).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 DeBres and the Belgic Confession

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 45

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts. 

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 45: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA 116-119

Reformation 500 WEEK 45: Heidelberg Catechism QA 116-119

Question 116: Why is prayer necessary for Christians? Because it is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us, and because God will give His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who earnestly and without ceasing ask them of Him, and render thanks unto Him for them.

     The Christian life is a life of thankfulness. Prayer is the chief or main part of showing ourselves thankful for our salvation. God saved us first of all that we might thank and praise Him for His glorious grace. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ …having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:3, 5-6). You are “His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. Psalm 103:1-2; 116:12-17). “No one has faith who is not thankful for it; for all those who possess true faith taste the grace of God, and those who have tasted the grace of God show themselves thankful to God for it, and desire it more and more” (Ursinus, 620).

     The second reason why prayer is necessary is because it is God’s appointed way for us to receive all those things that are necessary both for soul and body. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15). “For everyone who asks receives” (Luke 11:10). Our Father in heaven already knows what we need (Matt. 6:8) but still He requires us to ask Him, because He wants us to realize what our real needs are; and that He is the only who can meet our needs. “We do not obtain the blessings which are necessary for us, except we ask them at the hands of God; for He has promised them to none but such as ask. Prayer is, therefore, just as necessary for us as it is necessary for a beggar to ask alms” (Ursinus, 620). 

     But don’t the wicked receive many gifts from God, who nevertheless do not ask or desire them? “The wicked do indeed received many gifts [Matt. 5:45]; but not such as are principle nor peculiar to the elect, as faith, repentance, conversion, remission of sins and regeneration. And still further, the gifts they do receive do not contribute to their salvation, but to their destruction” (Ursinus, 620).

        Our greatest need as Christians is for a continual supply of God’s grace and Holy Spirit, so that we might live an obedient and thankful life. Jesus says to all believers: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Since we believers already have the Holy Spirit, to ask our Father to give us the Holy Spirit is to ask for an increase of the Spirit’s grace and gifts, primarily the gift of sanctification, which is precisely what produces in us the faith and desire to call upon Jesus as LORD (1 Cor. 12:3). “God effects in us a desire for the Holy Spirit and gives Him to us in the very same moment…. We might also make a distinction between the beginning and increase of the Spirit within us, inasmuch as we do not desire the latter before we have the former. No one desires the Holy Spirit, except he in whom the Spirit dwells” (Ursinus, 621). For the Christian, prayer is a way of life: giving thanks, praying for help, and giving thanks for the help received: “pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God” (1 Thess. 5:18; cf. Eph. 5:20; Phil. 4:6-7).

Question 117: What belongs to such prayer which is acceptable to God and which He will hear? First, that with our whole heart we call only upon the one true God, who has revealed Himself to us in His Word, for all that He has commanded us to ask of Him; second, that we thoroughly know our need and misery, so as to humble ourselves in the presence of His divine majesty; third, that we be firmly assured that notwithstanding our unworthiness He will, for the sake of Christ our Lord, certainly hear our prayer, as He has promised us in His Word.

     Three things are necessary for our prayers to be acceptable to God. First, we must sincerely ask the true God what He commands us to ask. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit [sincerely] and truth [according to Scripture]” (John 4:24). “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). “God does not desire us to direct vague and wandering petitions to Him, being uncertain what we should pray for. A king would consider himself derided and mocked if anyone were to kneel before him, without knowing what to ask as his hands” (Ursinus, 620). Second, we must ask with humility, which is to realize how unworthy we are to receive the help we so desperately need. “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown me” (Gen. 32:10); “we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You” (2 Chron. 20:12). Third, we must ask with assurance that God will hear our prayer for Jesus’ sake. Jesus said, “whatever you ask [according to His will] in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14; cf. Mark 11:24; Heb. 11:6).

Question 118: What has God commanded us to ask of Him? All things necessary for soul and body, which Christ our Lord comprised in the prayer which He Himself taught us.

     When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), Jesus taught them what we call the Lord’s Prayer (recorded in Luke 11:2-4 and Matthew 6:9-13). Jesus did not say, “Pray these exact words and no other.” He said, “In this manner, pray” (Matt. 6:9); that is, pray like this. The Lord’s Prayer “contains, in the most condense form, all things which are to be sought as necessary for soul and body. It is in like manner a rule or pattern with which all our prayers ought to conform and agree…. Hence Augustine declares that all the prayers of the saints which we have in the Scriptures are contained in the Lord’s Prayer. Augustine also adds, that we are at liberty to express the same things in other words when we pray” (Ursinus, 625-626).

Question 119: What is the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

     The remainder of the Catechism will explain the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer.

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 116-119

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 45

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts. 

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 43 KNOX REFORMS SCOTLAND

Reformation 500 WEEK 43    KNOX REFORMS SCOTLAND

After bloody Mary came to the English throne, John Knox fled for his life; and “ended up as co-pastor of the English refugee congregation in Calvin’s Geneva,” which he said was “the happiest period of his life” (Needham, 2000 years, 3:407). In 1558 he wrote his first revolutionary book, in which he argued that “female rule…contradicted both the law of nature and God’s revealed law in Scripture, and female rulers must be deposed. The treatise was aimed chiefly against Mary Tudor [bloody Mary];” but “soon after the book’s publication, Mary Tudor died and was succeeded by a female Protestant sovereign, Elizabeth [who helped to make England a Protestant country again]. Knox’s book alienated Elizabeth badly,” and “also outraged most Protestants,” including Calvin who “had its sale in Geneva banned” (Ibid. 408). On the whole, Calvin and Knox were on the same page. Knox judged Geneva to be “the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles.”

In 1559, Knox returned to Scotland, “determined to do for his country what Calvin had done for the city of Geneva” (Nichols, Reformation, 97). “In May, after he preached a fiery sermon that making images of Jesus, God, and saints and praying to them is against the Bible, his listeners became so energized that they started to destroy all the pictures and statues in the church. The same thing happened in other cities. Soon there was an actual war, and Mary Guise [who was ruling Scotland for her sixteen-year-old daughter Mary Stuart who was also Queen of France] had to ask France to send more troops to help her. Seeing they could easily be outnumbered, the Protestant lords asked England to come to their rescue…. Finally, in March 1560, the English army came to the rescue and defeated the French in battle” (Simonetta Carr, John Knox, 37, 40). In June Mary of Guise died. On August 17, “the Scottish Parliament decreed a change of religion. Protestantism instead of Catholicism was made the religion of the country. A Calvinistic confession of faith, largely the work of John Knox, was adopted. The pope’s authority and all jurisdiction was abolished and the celebration of the mass was forbidden” (Kuiper, Church in History, 217). In January 1561, Parliament approved Knox’s Book of Discipline, which introduced Presbyterian church government modeled after Calvin’s system in Geneva, where each congregation is governed by elders (presbyters), elected from its own membership. “For the conduct of public worship Knox prepared a Book of Common Order. To a great extent this order of worship was based on the form for public worship used by the church of English refugees in Geneva. That in turn was based on the form designed by Calvin. This form of worship consisted in prayer, reading of Scripture, the sermon, congregational singing, and the taking up of an offering” (Kuiper, 218-219).

Mary Stuart, Scotland’s lawful queen, arrived in August 1561. Her attempt to obtain freedom to practice her catholic faith was vigorously opposed at every step by Knox, who “affirmed in a sermon that one mass was more dreadful than an invasion of Scotland” (Needham, 3:420). Knox was summoned into Mary’s presence four times, and each time “got the better of the queen,” even once “reducing her to hysterical tears by his forthright no-nonsense commitment to a Protestant Scotland in which the idolatry of the mass could have no place” (Ibid. 421). 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 Knox Reforms Scotland

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 43

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts. 

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 36 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

Reformation 500 WEEK 36    England and Scotland

     When Luther died in 1546, Calvin was busy reforming Geneva, and answering the official Roman Catholic counter reformation in progress since 1545 at the Council of Trent (northern Italy). This Council lasted until 1563 (a year before Calvin’s death).

     Meanwhile the reformation was spreading in England and Scotland. “Patrick Hamilton, a student of Martin Luther who was the first to bring Reformed preaching to Scotland, was burned at the stake for his faith in 1529” (DeMar, Reformation to Colonization, 229). Later, some young men from Scotland, after visiting Luther’s university at Wittenberg, returned to their native country to spread Luther’s doctrines. “The transition from Lutheranism to Calvinism took place under George Wishart” (Kuiper, Church in History, 216). A priest by the name of John Knox served as Wishart’s bodyguard. But “Wishart wouldn't let Knox come with him to his trial and execution” (reformationhistory.org). Wishart was hanged and burnt at the stake in 1546.

     “Wishart’s other followers, retaliated by murdering Cardinal Beaton, Scotland’s supreme Catholic official. For nearly a year those espousing Reformed principles made some headway in Scotland from their base at the castle at St. Andrews. With the help of French forces, Catholics regained the upper hand, taking the castle and sending its Protestant inhabitants, John Knox among them, to the galley ships as prisoners” (Nichols, Reformation, 96). For nineteen months, Knox “toiled as a galley-slave. Day after day he had to ply the oars in the hot, smelly hold of a French ship,” constantly “pestered with suggestions that he should pray to the image of Mary” (Kuiper, 216). After his release in 1549, “Knox went to England where he preached and eventually became chaplain to Edward VI” (DeMar, 230).

     Also in 1549, Calvin’s wife, Idelette, died. “Calvin was devastated. Writing to his friend and fellow Reformer Pierre Viret, he declared his grief: ‘I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life.’ To Farel he stated, ‘I do what I can to keep myself from being overwhelmed by grief’.” (Nichols, 119).

     When King Henry VIII died in 1547, his nine-year old and sickly son Edward VI (by his third wife Jane Seymour) came to the throne. At his coronation, Archbishop “Cranmer referred to him as the second Josiah, as a king who would restore England to the true faith” (DeMar, 226). Calvin dedicated several of his commentaries to Edward and wrote several letters to him. “Under Edward’s leadership, a number of important changes took place: religious services were conducted in English, the Catholic Mass was abolished [images were also removed], clergy were permitted to marry, and English Bibles were freely printed” (DeMar, 226). Distinguished Protestant refugees, Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr, Jan Laski, and John Knox were also helping with reform efforts. Bucer worked with Cranmer to improve the Book of Common Prayer (a service book still used today for use in worship). John Knox helped Cranmer formulate the Church of England’s official creed, the Forty-Two Articles.

     “The Reformation in England seemed to have complete victory within its grasp.” But “Edward [only 16] died of tuberculosis in 1553” (Kuiper, 227). The “young king died, praying, ‘My Lord and God, save this realm from popery, and maintain it in true religion” (DeMar, 226). His Catholic sister Mary succeeded him to the throne. 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 England and Scotland

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 36

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts. 

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 32: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA’S 86-87

Reformation 500 WEEK 32: Heidelberg Catechism QA’s 86-87

Question 86: Since, then, we are redeemed from our misery by grace through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we do good works? Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Spirit after His own image, that with our whole life we show ourselves thankful to God for His blessing, and that He be glorified through us; then also, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by the fruits thereof; and by our godly walk win also others to Christ.

     Having now considered the greatness of our sin and misery (Q&A 3-11), and how we believers have been redeemed from our sin and misery (Q&A 12-85), we will now learn how we are to show ourselves thankful for our redemption (Q&A 86-129).

     We have already learned from Q&A 64 that “it is impossible that those who are implanted into Christ by true faith, should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness.”

Good works are the fruit of redemption (Matt. 7:18; Mark 4:20; Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:14).  

There are five reasons why we must do good works: (1) to show that Christ, having redeemed us (from the eternal penalty of sin) by His blood, is also sanctifying and renewing us by His Holy Spirit (Col. 3:9-10) so that we become more like Him, “who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). “He who says he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6); (2) that with our whole life we show ourselves thankful to God for our redemption. “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1); (3) that God may be glorified through us. “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me” (Psalm 50:23). “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15); “you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20; cf. Rom. 12:1); (4) that we may be assured of our faith, as we see the fruits of faith in our hearts and lives (Matt. 7:17; Gal. 5:6, 21-22; 2 Pet. 1:10). The first fruit of true faith is a confession of sins to God for forgiveness (1 John 1:9; Luke 18:13); (5) that by our godly walk we may bring others to Christ. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16; cf. 1 Peter 3:1; Prov. 11:30).

Question 87: Can they, then, not be saved who do not turn to God from their unthankful, unrepentent life?  By no means, for, as Scripture says, no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, covetous man, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like shall inherit the kingdom of God [1 Cor. 6:9-10].

     Because the unbeliever lives an unthankful and unrepentant life (Rom. 1:21), they do not do good works at all (Gen. 6:5; Rom. 3:12). Unlike the believer, they do not ask God to forgive their sins and to help them do good works. They are deceived if they think grace means it is not necessary to forsake their sins and obey God out of thankfulness. “Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified.” (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 86-87

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 32

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 32 JOHN CALVIN RETURNS TO GENEVA

Reformation 500 WEEK 32    John calvin Returns to Geneva

On September 13, 1541, Calvin returned to Geneva. “The following Sunday Calvin went up into the pulpit at Geneva, and simply began again to expound holy Scripture at the place where he had left off when he had been banished [does anyone know exactly where he had left off?]” (Cadier, The Man God Mastered, 107).

“Upon his return to Geneva, Calvin drew up a Church Order, a set of rules for the governing of the church…. It was based on the teaching of Scripture that Christ has ordained four offices in the Church: pastors, teachers or professors, elders, and deacons. The cornerstone of Calvin’s form of church government is the office of elder. Elders are chosen from among the members of the church. Together with the minister or pastor they form the consistory. The elders’ office is to watch over the purity of doctrine and life of the members of the church, of each other, and of the minister. To the consistory Calvin assigned the right of discipline of the members of the church to the point of excommunication…. For Calvin, the freedom of the Church was concentrated in the Church’s right of excommunication without outside interference.

“Upon one occasion, certain citizens of Geneva whom the consistory had excommunicated came into the church armed. Their plan was to force admission to the communion table. They threatened Calvin’s life if he should refuse to administer the sacrament to them. Protectingly, Calvin stretched out his hands over the bread and wine, and declared that they would be able to take of it only over his dead body. By sheer moral courage and strength, he made them desist from their attempt to gain admittance by force to the communion table.

“Bitter opposition often arose against the strict discipline of the Church over the moral life of the members. More than once it looked as if Calvin would be expelled a second time from Geneva. What in the end saved the day for Calvin was the influx into Geneva of refugees from other countries and the case of Servetus [which we will visit later]” (Kuiper, 197-198).

While Calvin was trying to make Geneva into a Christian city, back in Germany Martin Luther was dying. “Luther and Calvin never met, but they did exchange letters. In one letter [Jan. 21, 1545] Calvin wrote, ‘Would that I could fly to you, that I might even for a few hours enjoy the happiness of your society … but seeing that it is not granted to us on earth, I hope that shortly it will come to pass in the kingdom of God’.” (Nichols, Reformation, 78).

“Catholics and Protestants awaited news of Luther’s death – the Catholics hoped for a terrible death (to prove that he was wrong) and the Protestants a triumphant one (to prove that he was right) [a crowd of people surrounded his death bed and tried to comfort him, as he kept repeating the words, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son’] …. Martin Luther died in the early morning hours of February 18, 1546, only a few steps from the house in Eisleben where he was born sixty-two years earlier.” He “was buried in front of the pulpit in the Castle Church of Wittenberg … an appropriate place. The pulpit was the place of his life’s work.  He was a preacher of the Word of God. And faithful to the end” (Legacy of Luther, 73-74). Among his most famous words were, “I did nothing; the Word did everything.”

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 John Calvin Returns to Geneva

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 32

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 31: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM QA’S 83-85

Reformation 500 WEEK 31: Heidelberg Catechism QA’s 83-85

Question 83: What is the Office of the Keys? The Preaching of the Holy Gospel and Christian discipline; by these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers.

                After Jesus said He would build His church upon the rock (the foundation) of the truth Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” He told Peter how He would build His church, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19). Jesus did not give the keys to Peter only, for what He said to Peter He said to all His disciples: “whatsoever ye [you plural] shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever ye loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18 KJV). Jesus gave the keys to the whole church, which then elects pastors and elders to use the keys the way He commands in His Word (1 Tim. 3:1-7).

The authority of the keys is described in terms of binding and loosing, which terms were used by the Jewish elders for the authority to interpret and apply God’s law to particular cases, declaring what is permitted and not permitted, who would be admitted into membership and who would not. To bind is to shut or forbid. To loose is to open or permit. The keys of the kingdom are the authority “to make known the will of God by the preaching of the gospel, and church discipline,” “by which the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers” (Ursinus, 441).

Question 84: How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the Holy Gospel? In this way: that, according to the command of Christ, it is proclaimed and openly witnessed to believers, one and all, that as often as they accept with true faith the promise of the Gospel, all their sins are really forgiven them of God for the sake of Christ’s merits; and on the contrary, to all unbelievers and hypocrites, that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation abide on them so long as they are not converted. According to this testimony of the Gospel, God will judge men both in this life and in that which is to come.

The first key is the official preaching of God’s Word by a man properly called and ordained by the church (Luke 11:52). Preachers are ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20), who have the authority of Christ to preach what He preached, to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is open to believers and shut against unbelievers. Believers are forgiven; unbelievers are not forgiven. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36); “unless you are converted…you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). When a minister faithfully declares the message of Christ, Christ uses His own message to save His elect people. Through His Word He opens the door to His kingdom! Peter reported that God “had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). While Lydia listened to Paul preach the gospel, “the Lord opened her heart” (Acts 16:14). Through His Word He grants assurance to every believer: “be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you” (Matt. 9:2; cf.1 John 1:9).

“Whenever the gospel of Christ is officially proclaimed by a minister of Jesus Christ, a ‘losing’ and a ‘binding’ take place: there is an opening and a shutting of the door of salvation. All who hear must be clearly informed as to which side of the door they are standing on. True preaching of the Word must clearly show both the marks of the godly, regenerated, forgiven soul and the marks of the hypocrite who still loves sin and is under condemnation” (Norman Jones, Study Helps). As ministers, we “are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and the other the aroma of life leading to life” (2 Cor. 2:15-16).

Question 85: How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by Christian discipline? In this way: that, according to the command of Christ, if any under the Christian name show themselves unsound either in doctrine or in life, and after several brotherly admonitions do not turn from their errors or evil ways, they are complained of to the Church or to its proper officers; and, if they neglect to hear them also, are by them denied the holy sacraments and thereby excluded from the Christian communion, and by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ; and if they promise and show real amendment, they are again received as members of Christ and His Church.

The second key is official church discipline. “And surely if no country or city can exist without discipline, laws and punishments, then certainly the church, which is the house of the living God also needs some form of government and discipline” (Ursinus, 442). Christ has given His Church the authority to discipline church members who openly live in sin and are unwilling to repent and abandon their sins (1 Cor. 5). Paul told the church at Corinth, “Put away from yourselves [excommunicate] the evil person” (1 Cor. 5:13). The church “shuts and binds by Christian discipline, when it excommunicates wicked and obstinate offenders, … and it opens and looses, when it again receives [back into membership] the same persons, if they repent” (Ursinus, 441).

The procedure to follow in the case of a private offense is given in Matthew 18:15-18: “if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector [as a last resort the unrepentant church member is excommunicated and treated like any other unbeliever who needs the gospel]. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven [the authority of heaven stands behind faithful church discipline].” The church’s officers “cannot cast any out of the kingdom of God, but they can and ought to declare the rejection of those whom God declares in His Word that He has rejected [so long as they do not repent]” (Ursinus, 461).

The purpose of discipline is not to lord it over souls (Mark 10:42; 1 Pet. 5:3), but so “that the offender, being thus put to shame [2 Thess. 3:14], may repent [1 Cor. 5:5; Acts 8:18-23], and that such things as bring reproach upon the cause of Christ, may be carefully guarded against [Titus 2:8]” (Ursinus, 442). If sin is not disciplined, then like leaven it will spread and corrupt the whole church (1 Cor. 5:6). 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 83-85

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 31

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 27: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 72-74

Reformation 500 WEEK 27: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 72-74

Question 72: Is, then, the outward washing with water itself the washing away of sins?  No, for only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin.

     Abraham did not receive a circumcised heart (a forgiven and regenerated heart) through circumcision. He was saved before he was circumcised. Circumcision was added to symbolize and certify what Abraham already had (Rom. 4:11). Likewise, baptism symbolizes and certifies what believers already have (Acts 10:48). Salvation from sin is through faith in Christ alone, apart from works, including the work of baptism. The repentant thief on the cross went to heaven without being baptized.

     There are two or three verses in the NT that appear to say that baptism is necessary for salvation. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). But notice that it does not say “he who is not baptized will be condemned,” but only “he who does not believe will be condemned.” It is the lack of belief not the lack of baptism that results in condemnation. Baptism is mentioned right after belief simply because it is the first fruit of faith. It is the first work commanded by Christ for all new believers. He who truly believes in Jesus will obey His command to be baptized. The person who refuses to be baptized shows he does not have true faith. Similarly, when Peter said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized…for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), he mentions baptism right after repentance because it is the first fruit of repentance – which is inseparable from faith: “repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). When Ananias told Paul, “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16), Paul was already converted (his sins were already washed away) before he was baptized – before he even met Ananias (see Acts 9:1-16). Therefore, his baptism was divine assurance of his spiritual cleansing, especially as he called upon the Lord to cleanse him from sin (1 John 1:9).

Question 73: Why then does the Holy Spirit call Baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins? God speaks thus with great cause, namely, not only to teach us thereby that just as the filthiness of the body is taken away by water, so our sins are taken away by the blood and Spirit of Christ; but much more, that by this divine pledge and token He may assure us that we are as really washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.

     Sometimes a symbol (like baptism) is called by the name of what it symbolizes. For example, circumcision, which is the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham, is sometimes called the covenant itself (“the covenant of circumcision,” Acts 7:8), even though it is only a symbol of the covenant. This highlights the close connection between the symbol and what it symbolizes. Baptism is called “the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5) because it symbolically assures us believers of our regeneration: just as certainly as our bodies are washed with water, we can be just as certain that we are forgiven by Christ’s blood and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

Question 74: Are infants also to be baptized? Yes, for since they, as well as their parents, belong to the covenant and people of God [Gen. 17:7], and through the blood of Christ both redemption from sin and the Holy Spirit, who works faith, are promised to them no less than to their parents [Isa. 59:21; Acts 2:39], they are also by Baptism, as a sign of the covenant, to be engrafted into the Christian Church, and distinguished from the children of unbelievers [1 Cor. 7:14], as was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, in place of which in the New Testament Baptism is appointed.

     God’s covenant of salvation with believing Abraham included his descendants. “I will be a God to you and to your descendants after you” (Gen. 17:7); which is why God commanded Abraham to give the sign of this covenant to his descendants. God did not promise to save all of Abraham’s descendants; only that His elect would be among his descendants in every generation, and that from the seed of believers “He intends to raise up a seed for Himself” (Vos, “Doctrine of the Covenant”). It was this covenant promise that distinguished the seed of believers as a “holy seed” (Ezra 9:2). “God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deut. 30:6). “My covenant I will establish with Isaac” (Gen. 17:20-21); “for in Isaac your seed shall be called [effectually!]” (Gen. 21:12). “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved” (Isa. 10:22); “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants, says the Lord, from this time and forevermore” (Isa. 59:21). In some cases, the hearts of God’s elect are regenerated in the womb, so they grow up loving the Lord. “From my mother’s womb, You have been my God” (Psalm 22:10). John the Baptist was “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). Cf. Ps. 25:12-13.

     God’s covenant of salvation with believers and their seed has not been abolished in the NT; only the sign has changed from circumcision to baptism; and part of the newness of the new covenant is that females can receive the sign of salvation. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter told the Jews to repent and be baptized, because the promise of salvation “is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call [effectually!]” (Acts 2:39). The children of believers are still a “holy” seed (1 Cor. 7:14) – still distinguished by the same promise that distinguished them in the OT (Deut. 30:6). Paul told Timothy, “I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (2 Tim. 1:5). If the Baptists are right, that infants of believers should no longer receive the sign of God’s covenant of salvation, then this major change should be clearly indicted in the NT. But instead of change we see the same pattern. For example, when Lydia (an adult convert, like Abraham) believed, then “she and her household were baptized” (Acts 16:15; cf. v.33) – just like Abraham had believed and then he and his household were circumcised! The Bible assumes a household usually includes children: “an elder must be one who rules his own household well, having his children in submission with all reverence” (1 Tim. 3:4)! There is no stipulation in the NT that only confessing believers are to be baptized. There is no example in the NT of a child from a Christian home who was baptized after confessing faith in Christ! Is not the Baptist view, an argument from silence?

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 72-74

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 27

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.