This past Lord’s Day we came to the first of the three primary divisions of the Heidelberg Catechism: man’s misery, man’s deliverance, and man’s response. These three divisions are often referred to more memorably as guilt, grace, and gratitude.
Let me state at the outset that I am thankful for the catechism’s direct approach to my sinfulness. I am glad for truth which addresses my sinfulness and points me towards my need for grace. Too often Christianity is identified with the practice of morality – or a way to improve upon my own virtue or ethics. I have even had to confront this from others as they investigate why I am a Christian. It is often assumed that I practice my faith as a way to seek some higher moral standard. This could not be farther from the truth.
I am not a Christian because I am a moral person. I am a Christian precisely because I am NOT a moral person. In fact, I am a sinful, selfish, lying, manipulating, greedy, lustful, prideful, arrogant, cowardly failure. I am a Christian because I need to be rescued. I am a Christian because I need a rescuer. In the word’s of John Newton, “I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior.”
I am thankful that the Heidelberg Catechism does not skirt around the exact problem that needs to be addressed. I am thankful that the Catechism directly confronts my sin, guilt, and misery. Even as Christ summarizes the Law of God in Matthew 22 – what has become a warm devotional passage – I am reminded that I can not live up to all this perfectly, in fact, “I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.”
In his book The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a Sixteenth Century Catechism, Kevin DeYoung writes:
The guilt section is by far the shortest with only three Lord’s Days and nine Questions and Answers. The authors of the Catechism wanted Heidelberg to be an instrument of comfort, not condemnation.
But they also realized that true, lasting consolation can only come to those who know of their need to be consoled. The first thing we need in order to experience the comfort of the gospel is to be made uncomfortable with our sin. The comfort of the gospel is to be made uncomfortable with our sin. The comfort of the gospel doesn’t skirt around the issue of sin, or ignore it like positive thinking preachers and self-help gurus. It looks sin square in the eye, acknowledges is, and deals with it. While many people will tell us to stop focusing on sin and to lighten up because we aren’t “bad” people, the Catechism tells us just the opposite. In order to have comfort, we must first see our sin induced misery.
Reverting back to Question and Answer number two, we are reminded that it is necessary to know how great our sin and misery are in order to live and die in the comfort and joy offered through the gospel. Knowing this, we can clearly see that to confront our sin and misery and to point us to our need for rescue is indeed an act of grace in itself. One we need to thank God for.
