Keep these words

Sermon planned for Lent 1; Sunday, February 26th, 2012

Text: Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 20-21;

I’ve been looking forward to giving this sermon for two weeks now. It was then that the worship committee and myself made the decision to use Lent as an opportunity to get back to the basics of the Christian faith – a kind of Catechism series for Sunday morning worship. But before we go any further, I invite you to join me in prayer:
Loving Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our time together this morning, we have offered you our praise, giving thanks for your goodness towards us this past week. We confess not only our faith and trust in you, but also our constant need of your mercy and grace. In your Word, we hear your call to us – that we should make disciples of all nations, teaching them your Will and baptizing them into your name. Hearing this, we confess that we too need continued conversion. And so we ask that you open our hearts and minds, clear our vision, and speak to us this morning; that we would hear Your call once again. Amen.

Last week we heard the story of Elijah and Elisha, and we studied the importance of mentorship for us as disciples. We learned that we need to pass on the torch of faith and discipleship. We gave thanks for the folks that handed on to us the baton of faith, and we considered who God put into our life in order for us to mentor and prod towards Jesus.

As we head into Lent, we’re going to start-off our ‘back to the basics’ series with some background study. This whole series is designed to dovetail with the Catechism class that I’m teaching upstairs at 9:30 on Sunday mornings. And so, if you have any questions about the stuff we’re talking about in the next few weeks, feel free to raise your hand – and I’ll try to address your question as I go, during the service – or you can come to the morning class to discuss it there.

This morning we’re going to do some background work. We’re going to look at two questions, at first on a simple level and then more in depth. The two questions are: What is Catechism? And why do we have Catechism? In the coming weeks we’re going to be examining the content of our faith – but I thought it was worth it, for us this morning, to just go over the background and the reasons for these types of classes – for Catechism.

So, first of all, what is it? What is Catechism? This is an important question. The word Catechism comes from the Greek Κατηχισμός. This is a combination of the word ‘kata’, which means “down”, and the verb ‘echow’, which means “to have or hold with the mind”. So literally, Catechism just means to have or hold something down in the mind. You could say that it means to write it down in your mind. In other words, Catechism simply means to learn. It means education. So, for all you teachers – you are in the business of Catechism – you are doing education. Christian catechism just means education with a specific subject matter.

The second question is: why do we have Catechism? Well, this question becomes easier to answer once we know the real meaning and purpose of catechism. Why should we teach people about the faith? That’s a no-brainer. There’s two parts to this question. It’s easy to know why we should teach people about the Christian faith. The passage from Deuteronomy makes it clear that God commands His people to teach the faith; to communicate the content of God’s revelation, of God’s Word, to anyone who will hear us. In the Great Commission, Jesus himself commands his disciples to go and make disciples by teaching them His commands and baptizing them into His name. The second part of this ‘why’ question is: why should we have a special catechism class, especially a class that prepares students for baptism?

Like I’ve said in the past, Catechism is for anyone – whether or not you’ve been baptized. If you’d like a refresher course on the basics of what we believe – this class is for you. If you want to discuss some of the questions you have about Christianity – this class if for you. If you want to know what’s the Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective on Christian discipleship – this class is for you… but this class is for you, in a special way, if you’re discerning whether or not baptism is the next step for you in your faith journey.

This last reason is perhaps the classical reason associated with Catechism. It is instruction in preparation for baptism. That’s what that word will mean to most of you when you hear it. Some of you will think about that small booklet of questions and answers that you had to go through, or perhaps even memorize, as your preparation for baptism. For others, like myself, Catechism was a time of conversation and discussion with the pastor. My class took place at 8am on Saturday mornings, with Pastor Albert Durksen.

This practice of Catechism dates back to the early church. Throughout church history, the dynamics of this preparatory class changed. Sometimes it was two years long. Other times it was finished with just a handful of questions. These durations and intensities often changed when the church’s context changed.

But the process of Catechism was already well underway by the time the New Testament was being written. Some of the first examples of this kind of process can be found in the book of Acts. But even before Acts was written, the writings of the Apostle Paul hint at some of the summaries of faith that were present in the earliest Christian communities.

Every once in a while, in the middle of one of his letters, Paul will start using some very dense theological language about Jesus, God, the resurrection, etc… Many scholars agree that these pieces are most likely summaries of faith that were commonly known, or even perhaps memorized, by Christians as part of a Catechism-like process. Let’s see some examples of what I mean:

(Rom 1:3-5 NRS) the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name

(Phi 2:5-11 NRS) Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In passages like these we see Paul summarizing key gospel themes – beliefs about Jesus, about God’s justice, and about Christ’s death and resurrection, and its meaning. What’s important for us to note here is that this was a common practice in the church – to summarize the themes of faith in a short concise way. Most folks at that time were illiterate, and that was true throughout much of Christian history. During the Reformation and the Renaissance that slowly changed. But before that, it was important for illiterate folks to have easy ways of learning the basic themes of the Christian faith. Much of the Old Testament was memorized, but the early Church didn’t have a New Testament… because it wasn’t written yet, and so we find, in Paul’s writing, some of these short summaries of faith that were most likely memorized or sung as a hymn – pieces of dense confessional material.

In the book of Acts, we see these summaries of faith as well, mostly in the form of sermons for new converts, to interested folks, and to the Jewish and Roman authorities. For example:

(Act 2:22-24,31-36 NRS) 22 "You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know-- this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power… David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, 'He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.' This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool."' Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."

So we see several themes summarized in Peter’s sermon: the nature of Jesus’ death, the resurrection, and the reason for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Another example:

(Act 10:34-48 NRS) Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ-- he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Again, here we see several key themes summarized by the apostle Peter: the theme of Jesus’ anointing by the Holy Spirit, the invitation to the Gentiles, Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, his death, his resurrection, and his fulfillment of prophecy. I’ve only highlighted two of Paul’s summaries and two of Peter’s in the book of Acts. There are many more examples like this, where you get the gospel of Jesus in a very condensed format. These are summaries of the faith. The purpose, in many of these situations in Acts, was to have people face the evangelical question – will you repent? Will you confess Jesus as Lord? Will you be baptized?

This process of summarizing the Christian gospel has continued on from those early days in Jerusalem even until now. Every generation of Christians has found it important to give a clear and concise description of its faith. Christians are tasked with confronting the questions and concerns of their generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is part of the role of Catechsim – to answer this generations’ questions with the Word of God.

Even before the final form of the New Testament emerged, Christian leaders and teachers were writing their own summaries of Paul’s writings and of the gospels. By far the most popular and widely used summary of the gospel, from the first two hundred years after Jesus’ life, is a summary called the Apostle’s Creed. Let’s read it together (it’s number 712 in the blue hymnal).

You’ll notice the asterix there that refers to the word catholic. The word catholic comes from the Greek ‘kata holos’, which means “according to the whole”. To believe in the holy catholic church just means that you know that the church is more than just the local congregation; that we believe the church is not just the GBMC, but rather the church is the body of Christ that spans across the entire world and throughout time – we believe in a holistic Church – holistic, ‘kata holos’ – according to the whole.

This Apostle’s Creed is the most ancient summary of the Christian gospel written after the time of the New Testament. The word ‘creed’ just means a statement of belief; ‘creed’ comes from the Latin ‘credo’, which just means “I believe”. The Apostles Creed is just one example of several of how the early Church went about teaching the good news about Jesus from one generation to the next. Even though they didn’t copy Peter or Paul’s summary’s word for word, they were doing the same thing that Peter and Paul were doing – they were giving an account of their faith in the face of the questions and problems of their time.

Now some of you might be asking yourself, why use a confessional statement? Why use a creed? Why not just use the whole bible as our creed? In an important sense you are absolutely right. The bible is the true witness to God’s revelation. The problem comes when we look at the practical needs of teaching the gospel to people. Sometimes you may only have a minute, maybe even less, to communicate the gospel. Sometimes you’ll only have a few days, perhaps a few weeks or a few months. It’s in these times that a summary of the gospel can help you to explain the good news in a short time. Another reason is that if someone came up to you and wanted to know about the Christian faith – and then if you started reading in Genesis up to Revelation… you’d probably lose your audience pretty quick… if not by Leviticus… then at least in Isaiah – try to read that in one sitting.

And so, we join countless folks before us in setting aside some time to go over a summary of the Christian faith. This includes biblical study – but we don’t read the entire bible through. It includes discussions on discipleship, but it doesn’t go over every possible ethical scenario you will face in life. We summarize. Each generation of Christians, Mennonites included, summarized the Christian faith so that they could teach newcomers in a clear and helpful way. These summaries are often time sensitive. Most of them don’t have the enduring quality of summaries like the Apostle’s Creed. Instead, they are a summary of the shared beliefs of Christians in that period of time; and the language they use, and the issues they focus on, tend to reflect the pressing concerns of that generation.

The little question and answer book that some of you studied, was a summary of faith written by Anabaptists in the 1700’s in the city of Elbing in Prussia. It was updated several times and given more contemporary translations. When our church drew up its constitution, it referred to the Souderton Confession of 1971 as a summary of faith document. In 1995, the Mennonite churches that we are covenanted with adopted a summary of faith entitled The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. Prior to the question and answer booklet from the 1700’s, there were at least fourteen previous confessions of faith that Anabaptists and Mennonites put together. Sometimes it was in response to a request from a government official, asking us to give them an account of our faith – perhaps for tax purposes or something like that. At other times, a summary document was made in order to build unity among churches over a broader area.

When we, here in Gretna, pursue the task of Catechism, we are joining a long line of Christians who have endeavored to share the faith with a new generation, confronting its questions, responding to its challenges. These efforts began, on the day of Pentecost, with the apostle Peter, standing up in front of a crowd, in Jerusalem, explaining what was happening to these people who were speaking in tongues – don’t worry… they’re not drunk… it’s far too early in the morning for that! It’s the Holy Spirit!... and so the journey of Catechism began. This Lent, we enter into this important work of exploring the questions of faith in their most basic forms. Who is God? What does it mean to proclaim Jesus as Lord? Who was Jesus? And what is this power among us - this Holy Spirit? Why do we submit to the scriptures? What is the nature and purpose of the Church? What is hell and heaven? What can I do to be saved? When will God finish his redemption of the fallen Creation? What is redemption?

So join me, whether that’s on Sunday mornings prior to the service, for an interactive discussion in Catechism class, or during worship as we study the content of Christian doctrine. Join me, this Lent, in putting some of those other important matters to the side, just for a while, and going back to the basics. Join me in this Catechism journey… and perhaps the basics will give our generation a fresh joy in believing and following Jesus Christ our Lord. May all glory and honor be to Him who has called us to this joyful task. Amen.