We need reminders of his grace. We need reminders of the gospel. Our faith needs to be continually sustained through God’s goodness and grace, because it is constantly under attack. The cry of the Christian is “I believe, help my unbelief!”
It is not for nothing that the early church would come together not just to hear the Word preached every week but to see it illustrated through the Lord’s Supper. The sacraments shapes and form us into the body of Christ, they remind us of the gospel promises, they sustain our faith, they confirm the preached word to us, and they unite us together as one Body in Christ. Not magically but mysteriously through the Holy Spirit. We need Christ, and Christ promises to be truly present among us in the sacrament through faith.
Let’s look at these sacraments today as they are explained in the Belgic Confession Article 33.
The Sacraments
- Why we need the sacraments?
- Who the sacraments point to?
- Who are the sacraments for?
- How many sacraments?
Why we need the sacraments.
We confess that, We believe that our gracious God, mindful of our sensitivity and weakness, has ordained sacraments to seal his promises to us and to be pledges of his good will and grace toward us. Did you catch that. The confession just called you and I insensitive and weak. Pastor Guido who wrote this was an honest pastor. This is not exactly something that we normally like to be called. But as sinful people that is exactly what we are. And as Christians part of the reason, we love the sacraments is because we acknowledge that we are weak and insensitive. That we simply do not always get it. That we have doubts. That we get insecure. That we do struggle. That we do wonder.
Has doubts kicked in? Has sin settled that you barely have the will to fight? Dear child of God, Our Lord knows firsthand the terrible fight that must take place to overcome temptation, and hardship. And he desires for us to see him and know his presence in our life. He is gracious and good, remember?
So, do you want to stand up and be strengthened in the battle again? Do you want to be a more courageous Christian? A more outspoken Christian? A more grounded Christian? Then you must strengthen your Faith!! How do you do that? Look to Christ. Receive Christ. The greater your vision of Christ the greater your faith will be. So, then the question comes down to, where does Christ offer himself to his people. And the answer is through the preaching and the sacraments.
So, rise up O Christian and attend to the preaching and the sacraments. You need it. Prepare your heart to receive Christ beforehand, meditate on his work for you and in you during the preaching and sacraments, and being fed, live out of his life that that has been formed in you. For this is not automatic, it requires faith – a sure knowledge and firm confidence.
You see now why we need the sacraments. Human nature naturally doubts the incredible and wonderful. Just think of Abraham who received a promise that he would have a son at almost 100. You can imagine it would be hard to believe it, right? God knew it would be hard to believe to. For this reason, God did more than give him a promise. He also gave him a sign.
Just so God tells you that you are forgiven, justified, Holy, and adopted as a son and daughter who has been given eternal life in Christ. God tells you that he is going raise you from the dead like he raised his son. When he makes these rich promises, and we see the reality around is, then, if we are honest, doubt can creep in. Therefore, God in Christ has given us the means of grace, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.
Christ has covenanted himself to these means of grace. In them pledges to us that he is for us, and that he will complete his work in us. And he wants to make that doubly clear to you that is why the confessions says, “He has added these (the sacraments) to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what he declares to us in his Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts.” He added the sacraments to the word. This means that the preaching comes first and the sacraments flow from out of the word.
And indeed, this is how God has always worked. He calls his people to believe the promises first, and then adds an outward sign so that we might become sure of those promises. He told Noah that there would never again be a flood, and then offered the rainbow as a guarantee of that promises. He made the promise to Abraham of becoming a great nation before giving the sign of Circumcisions, he promised deliverance out of Egypt before the sign of the Passover meal. The word of God always precedes the outward sign and seal. So, it is with preaching. The word of God comes to us – and the content of that word is Christ! Then the word that is preached is visibly portrayed to before your eyes so that we might be strengthened in our weakness!
These sacraments come directly from Jesus himself. It is as if God is telling, “Ok, so you say you are not sure about this whole thing. Let me give you a picture of it and work through that picture with my Spirit let me also strengthen your faith. “
So why do we need sacraments. Because we need the outward confirmation of the inward reality of who we are. But just because they are picture, does not mean they are just like a painting on the wall, that just encourage you. No, God in Christ is truly present in these sacraments as we see in the next point.
Who the sacraments point to?
“Sacraments are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore,” we read, “the signs are not void and meaningless so that they deceive us. For Jesus Christ is their truth; apart from him they would be nothing.” God works in us through the sacraments by his Holy Spirit. His Presence is very real through faith. Beloved, do you want to be where God works? Attend to preaching and sacraments. The public worship has often been called the Spirits workshop. A worship where he unites sinner to God in Christ through faith.
The Sacraments are signs and seals of something internal and invisible. In other words, you cannot see that you are forgiven, justified, holy and adopted. But these pictures show you that in Christ you are. And they not only show you, but they assure you, and make that truth real in your heart.
In this way, these sacraments point to the same thing that the preaching points to. The preaching is pointless if Christ is not proclaimed, the sacraments are pointless if Christ is not proclaimed. Because forgiveness, justification, holiness, and adoption only every take place in Christ.
Colossians 1:14 says, “in [Christ] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 3: says, “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless.” Ephesians 1:5, “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”
It all happens as we are untied to Christ by faith. It is not just that Christ is proclaimed in the preaching and sacraments, but Christ is actually present in both by faith. He is offered in both. A rejection, or a disparagement of the sacraments is in a sense a turning one’s back on Christ and his sacrifice.
It is in the sacraments that you experience union with Christ. That is why almost every single time the New Testament talks about baptism it speaks about being baptized in Christ (Galatians 3:17, Romans 6:3). It is a sign of our union with him in his death and resurrection. It also a pledge that he is for us, and he has sought us out. Also, when it comes to the Lords supper it is also the sign of union with him, as the bread and water become part of us, so Christ indwells. We will get into a lot more detail about this over the next few sermons but suffice to say that at this point, the content of these sacraments is Christ. Christ is the one who saves us not the sacraments as the Roman Catholics are led to believe. Apart from Christ they would be nothing!
Therefore, since these sacraments are a reminder of our union with Christ, they are only for those who by faith are grafted into Christ. for just like they are nothing apart from Christ, they are also nothing apart from a Spirit-wrought faith.
Who are the sacraments for?
Who are they for? They are for the covenant people. The sacraments are signs (picture) and seals (guarantee) of a past promise of God that has a future fulfillment, which gives total confidence in the present. In the Old Testament we can see therefore many more signs, or we might call them sacraments because there were many promises that had not been fulfilled. In a sense the whole temple and sacrificial system was a sacrament based on past promises with a future fulfillment fiving confidence in the present. But these have all found their fulfillment in Christ. And in Christ the promises of God have been fulfilled, and therefore the signs of those promises have ended. Therefore, when Christ returns, we will no longer need the sacraments, because we will have received all that is promised in them.
These sacraments are therefore for all with whom God has made a covenant and are identifying markers from God to reveal publicly who are his inwardly. Baptism sets you apart from the world – and places you in the covenant community of God. It identifies you covenant child, and as one who is called to be a disciple of Christ. In this way it is an outward identification an inward reality.
The Lords Supper is a public meal prepared by our Savior in the middle of our enemies. In the middle of this world off sin, brokenness, and hardship he invites us to rest in him, to feast on him. Again, it defines the church. This is about proclamation to the world that we are a set apart people, and an invitation to them to believe and join this fellowship of believers identified by the sacraments.
Baptism also sets apart believers and their children from the world. It not only sets them apart, but defines them, and hopefully shapes them for the rest of their life – so that those promises become more of a reality.
Now for the Lords Supper it is particularly for those who can and have done self-examination. Those who have faith.
Not just for the strong in faith but for all! Indeed, it is especially for you who are struggling. Remember they are given because of our weakness and insensitivity. Doubts. If you are in the midst of the battle and feel yourself losing ground, don’t abstain, but take part in the sacraments! If you feel you are losing the unity that you used to have with the saints, then come, and be strengthened in Christ. You won’t find unity any other way then by attending to preaching and sacraments. Think on what Jesus Christ has done for you. Know who you are in Him! God wants you to be sure of that reality, as surely as you take, eat, and taste the bread and wine, and see the water being poured.
These sacraments are meant for you dear brother and sister, the ordinary, struggling, fighting soldier of Jesus Christ. The one who goes through his life and needs reminding what this is all about. Needs the strength to carry on. The sacraments are there to strengthen this faith by faith. For you must have faith in order to be strengthened in it.
How many Sacraments?
We have two, and there is good reason for this. They flow from the command of Christ. He commanded us celebrate the Lord’s supper when he said, “do this in remembrance of me.” And he also commands us to baptize, “Go make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” They also both point to the gospel of Jesus death resurrection and ascension.
This is why we have two because we believe 1) they must be instituted by Jesus himself, 2) there must be a command that we must keep celebrating it, and 3) they must be symbols that reveal the gospel.
There is a difference between reformed churches, and the Roman catholic church or even Anglican and Lutheran churches. We hold to a form of what could be called the regulative principle in worship, that says, in worship we may only do what is directly commanded in Scripture. Other churches on the other hand argue that we may do all that is not strictly forbidden in worship.
Therefore, by the 13th century you had Roman Catholic Theologians arguing for anything between 2 and seventy sacraments, even though we have no command of Christ for them. The Roman Catholic Church in the end decided on seven. But nowhere do we read Christ institute the sacrament of confirmation, confession, extreme unction, marriage, and holy orders. The other five sacraments that the Roman Catholic Church has added. This fact is also acknowledged by Catholic Theologians that these are not directly in scripture, but remember they see the church and word as authoritative together.
It is very clear that two and only two sacraments are instituted by the Lord and celebrated by the church in the New Testament. These two keep coming back again and again in the book of Acts and the early church. They come out in Paul’s letters, and elsewhere. This is not true of any of the others that people claim are sacraments.
Now, one may say, “What about foot washing?” Maybe churches are adding that as a third sacrament, because doesn’t Jesus command us to do it when he says, “You also should wash one another’s feet.” Well, there a few reasons why we do not have foot washing as a sacrament. 1. Jesus goes on and says, “I have set an example so that you should do as I have done.” He does not say, “so that you should do what I have done, but as I have done.” This difference, which also comes out in the Greek, shows us that Jesus is not saying foot washing is a command but an example for his disciples to follow. Furthermore, we do not see this practice in Acts. Anywhere. Or practiced as a sacrament in the early.
Furthermore, It does not come back as a regular practice in the church. The only other time we see it is Timothy where Paul speaks of widows who washed the feet of the Lord’s people. This is not a command to timothy to administer the sacrament, but an example of something that a widow had done throughout her live in her own home, not in public worship. So, then it is not a sacrament given to the church to administer but as an example of what we must all do to one another. Being servants to one another.
Dear church in these two sacraments we have Christ. Let us hold on to them, make use of them every chance we get.
Bavinck says, “If you accept them in faith, they possess the whole Christ, the full treasure of his merits, perfect righteousness and holiness, and unbreakable fellowship with God. You are liberated from all guilt, released from all punishment. Of this you are assured in baptism and are continually strengthen and confirmed in that faith by the Lord’s Supper… by the Word, baptism, and Lords supper you receive the grace they need in life and in death for time and eternity....”
In them you receive the grace you need in life and death for time and eternity. Receive them by faith. Receive Christ.
Amen.