Sin and Misery

Friday 12/27/2013 5:38 AM

I was born into a Christian home.  The church I attended was part of the Christian Reformed Church of North America denomination.  Every Sunday we attended a morning and evening worship service and Sunday school after the morning worship service.  During Sunday school the younger children learned Bible stories.  Once you got to middle school age we learned the Heidelberg Catechism, a document originally written in 1563 as a teaching tool and meant to provide unity among believers.  The Heidelberg Catechism was divided into fifty-two parts, called Lord’s Days, and was also used by pastors as a guide for preaching.  It was a way to assure that a pastor covered the full message of the Bible each year.  Each Lord’s Day consisted of questions and answers that were based upon the Bible.  As a catechumen I was required to memorize the questions and answers by rote.  When one came of age and wanted to profess their faith in God before the church, one would meet with the elders and they would ask questions from the Heidelberg Catechism that had to be answered adequately.

Forty-five years later I can still remember some of those questions and answers.

Q & A 1

Q.   What is your only comfort 
in life and in death?

A.    That I am not my own, 
but belong—

       body and soul,
in life and in death—

       to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

       He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. 
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

      Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Q & A 2

Q.   What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

A.    Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are; 
second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery; 
third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.

Today my assigned scripture includes 1 Timothy 1:12-15.  Paul writes, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.  Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.”  Paul was familiar with the content of Q & A 2 of the Heidelberg Catechism even though it had not yet been written.  Paul had led the charge against the early church, consenting to the stoning of Stephen and arresting followers of the Way for prosecution and death.  He even traveled to Damascus to arrest believers before being halted by God on the way there.  Paul knew the depth of his sin, he recognized that the grace of God in Christ Jesus had set him free from that sin, and he lived his life in gratitude before God because of it.

Sometimes I wonder if being raised in a Christian home and attending a Christian church my entire life is a disadvantage.  Paul recognized his need for God’s grace because he knew he was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man.  I have a tendency to minimize the depth of sin in my own life.  When I compare my life to someone like Paul it is tempting to think I am better than he is.  After all, I don’t go around killing people.  I am not violent.  I don’t use drugs.  I don’t beat my wife.  I don’t defraud others, and so on.  If I do not know how great my own sin and misery is it is hard to recognize that I have a need for God’s grace and mercy and I am less likely to live a life of gratitude.  I am more likely to feel entitled to God’s grace because of my stellar character; God owes me some gratitude for being such a great role model for others.

I think I am not alone in this regard.  We in the broader Christian community tend to be judgmental.  We point out the sin in other people’s lives but fail to recognize the sin in our own.  This results in Christians being rightly characterized as hypocritical.  After Paul confesses to being the worst of sinners he continues with these words, “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”  If the Christian community knew how great their sin was we would be more humble and we, too, would display the patience of Christ to those who do not yet believe.