Does the faith we possess, or claim to have, bear the fruit it should? Well, there is one way to find out. When we hear the word “obedience” does it fill us with terror or love?
This week’s catechism lesson is a bit of a transition from what has taken up our time in previous recitations of the WSC. Having heard much about how we are saved the writers of the catechism are now giving witness to saved Christians about what is expected of them in their holy state. In some ways everything that follows is about the process of sanctification and the way in which Believers are to act in light of what the Lord Jesus has done for them in not only sanctifying them by His blood, but in justification and adoption as well. The big question is how are we being made ready to attain the glorification which awaits God’s covenant children at the last judgment. It needs repeated that this “duty” that we will discuss is not a co-operative work to accomplish our finished redemption. On the contrary this is the use of the completed work of Christ in our lives as we are conformed by the Spirit to be more and more like Him. As we walk through these opening questions one of the things we will need to consider is how then should we act as receivers of the free grace and gift granted by our Heavenly Father and the application of it by the Holy Spirit in the renewing of our soul and body into new creatures in Christ?
Does the faith we possess, or claim to have, bear the fruit it should?
Well, there is one way to find out.
When we hear the word “obedience” does it fill us with terror or love? Before we get too far into answering that let’s look at the Q/A:
Q. 39. What is the duty which God requires of man?
A. The duty which God requires of man, is obedience to his revealed will.
Q. 40. What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
A. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law.
One of our favorite Bible verses that is quoted all the time comes from Micah 6:8:
There the prophet says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
So what He wants from His people is to recognize that because God is good, they are to do good: which is, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly. Each of those describe in summary what the catechism says above. Everything that the Lord says or does is right. So if God says, “Don’t Steal” then you don’t steal. Like most things in the Bible this ain’t rocket science.
