We have all been asked 'would you like the good or bad news first?'
In our morning services we have been going through the Heidelberg Catechism. Written in 1563 it was viewed as the most personal and generously ecumenical of the reformed confessions of faith.
The first eleven questions focus on the bad news of Christainity - that we have all sinned and face an insoluble and serious problme in the form of a Holy God's wrath. Typical of the questions is Q10 -
Q. Does God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
A. Certainly not.God is terribly angry
with the sin we are born withas well as the sins we personally commit.
As a just judge,God will punish them both now and in eternity,1having declared:
“Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”
It is difficult hearing so much bad news - perhaps we woudl not choose willngly to get the bad news first. Yet there is great wisdom is the catechism's focus on the bad before the good.
Without being clear what the problem is that Jesus comes to solve, we find it too easy to have false expectations of not just God, but Church and all spiritual endeavors. Getting clear on the nature of the bad news is not intended to make us endlessly sad - rather it is so that we can enjoy the genuinely joyful and satisfying good news summarised in Q18:
Q. Then who is this mediator—true God and at the same time a true and righteous human?
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
who was given to usto completely deliver usand make us right with God.
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