Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 43

112. Q. WHAT IS GOD’S WILL FOR YOU IN THE NINTH COMMANDMENT?

     A. God’s will is that I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one’s words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone without a hearing or without a just cause. Rather, in court and everywhere else, I should avoid lying and deceit of every kind; these are devices the devil himself uses, and they would call down on me God’s intense anger. I should love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. And I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor’s good name.

The timing on today’s Q and A was helpful for me.  Just this week, I received a jury summons.  As I read through the letter, I quickly began to formulate a conviction in my mind about the suspect that I have yet to meet.  The Heidelberg takes issue with that based on the 9^th commandment.  We are not to “join in condemning anyone without a hearing or without a just cause.”  If that doesn’t make me feel convicted enough, the Catechism exhorts me to avoid twisting other’s words, gossip, and slander.  These are “devices the devil uses,” and regrettably are sins for which I am guilty of committing.

Even still, the HC does not just leave us with a list of don’ts.  Yes it tells us to put-off these sins of deceit that bring about God’s anger, but we are to put on “love for the truth.”  I have pointed to this “put-off/put-on principle” in previous posts.  It is all over the place in Scripture.  We are not left unclothed.  We are to put-off the old flesh, and put-on the new.

Make sure to point this out to your children when instructing them to avoid certain sin tendencies.  Train them and discipline to put-off the things of this world, but remind them that they are to put on Christ.  For apart from Him, we can do nothing.  If you are not in Christ, there is no new wardrobe to put on.  Praise God that he did not leave us unclothed, but rather provided us with a new wardrobe, the righteousness of Christ. 

A Call to Purity

So a few weeks ago we looked at the section in the Heidelberg (Lord’s Day 41) that dealt with the seventh commandment.  I appreciate how Q & A 109 reminds us that the seventh commandment forbids much more than just the actual act of adultery;

109. Q. DOES GOD, IN THIS COMMANDMENT, FORBID ONLY SUCH SCANDALOUS SINS AS ADULTERY?

     A. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy.  That is why He forbids everything which incites unchastity, whether it be actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires.

In Paul’s instruction on Holy living in Ephesians 5, he says;

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints (v. 3). 

The word translated as sexual immorality is from a greek term that refers to all sexual sins.  So as christian parents, one of our goals is to come alongside our children, helping them in this battle against lust, pornography, and all impurity.  One way that you help them in this area is by protecting them.  This article will seek to point to a few ways that you can pursue this goal.

Before I do though, I want to mention that this is subordinate to the overall goal of training our children up to know, love, fear and serve the One True God.   Dan Phillips writes in his commentary on Proverbs, “Establishing a relationship with God is primary (God’s Wisdom in Proverbs, 247).”  As parents, our child training must always aim at the right goal.

Therefore, with that as our chief goal for our children, our homes must be filled with gospel instruction.  As parents, we must clearly model the gospel by our actions. 

But in this training and protection regarding the issue of purity, I want to suggest two things; keep it God-centered, and avoid additional temptation.

God-Centered Training

Guard against moralism by continually reminding your children of how important this is to God.  God cares about what we do with our bodies.  We are called to offer them up as living sacrifices unto God (Rom. 12:1).  1 Cor. 6:15-20 reminds us that our bodies belong to God.

Avoid additional temptation

What I mean by this is that as parents we are responsible to protect our children.  While they can learn from their mistakes, the book of Proverbs often reminds us that the best school of learning is from listening to wise instruction rather than from foolish mistakes (Proverbs 5:7-8).  So be involved in this battle with your kids.   Help them avoid foolish mistakes.

Set-up some sort of internet and television accountability.  This can be done in part by some sort of accountability software for your computers, and parental controls on your televisions.  But it should also involve you physically monitoring and regulating these areas. 

I just read about a study that was done by pediatricians that observed one third of three year olds have a television, and one third of teenagers have a computer with internet in their own bedrooms.  These doctors were legitimately concerned about the dangers this might bring about in their physical lives, but we as Christian parents must surely recognize that these statistics speak to a variety of dangers spiritually.

We are tempting our children to sin if we call them to holiness and then provide them with all sorts of unmonitored access to ungodliness.  “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.  So glorify God in your body (1 Cor. 6:20).

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 42

110. Q. WHAT DOES GOD FORBID IN THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT?

     A. He forbids not only outright theft and robbery, punishable by law.  But in God’s sight theft also includes cheating and swindling our neighbor by schemes made to appear legitimate, such as; inaccurate measurements of weight, size, or volume; fraudulent merchandising; counterfeit money; excessive interest; or any other means forbidden by God.  In addition He forbids all greed and pointless squandering of His gifts.

111. Q. WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF YOU IN THIS COMMANDMENT?

     A. That I do whatever I can for my neighbor’s good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me, and that I work faithfully so that I may share with those in need.

In working through the section on the Ten Commandments in the Heidelberg Catechism, we have noticed that in God’s eyes, it is not enough to abstain from murder and adultery, but we are to guard our hearts against hatred and lust.  As with the first 7 commands, we see in the 8^th Commandment that God’s holy standard demands more here than avoiding “outright theft and robbery.”   He forbids greed and requires generosity.

Interestingly enough, I have read surveys that identify the 8^th commandment as the easiest command to obey.  Perhaps individuals that make such claims fail to see how far reaching this commandment goes.  One area of theft that I find many involved in is online piracy of music.

I have referred to an article by Bob Kauflin before on this issue because I think he makes some helpful comments.  Click here for the entire article, or read the portions below;

It’s a new world. Music making, distribution, and listening has changed radically in the past twenty years and will continue to evolve. Twenty years ago, who would have imagined carrying around ten thousand songs in a device that fits in the palm of your hand, being able to share music across the world with people you’ve never met, and producing high quality music at home in your bedroom? The digital revolution is far from over and we’ll have to find ways to adjust.
 Copyright laws still exist. Basically, the Copyright Office says :

Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution. Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney’s fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights.

 The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) site makes exceptions for personal copies:

Owning a CD means you own one copy of the music, and the U.S. record industry believes you should be able to make whatever personal use you choose. For example, you may make a compilation recording (on tape or on a CD) to use in the car or while exercising. But it’s a very different matter – and clearly neither legal nor fair – to make a copy of that CD or even one song available on the Internet for others to take.

 A 2004 Barna report revealed that only about 1 in 10 Christian teenagers thinks that music piracy is morally wrong.

 Christians have a higher standard than “everyone’s doing it.”Romans 13:1, Deut. 5:19, and Eph. 4:28 come to mind. While file sharing, copying CD’s for friends, and downloading music illegally is easy and attractive, it’s still wrong, despite our rationalizations – “Music companies make too much money anyway. No one will notice. I’m poor. The bands I listen to are rich. I’m helping my friends out. It’s not really wrong, etc.” The fact is, there are an increasing number of options exist for downloading music legally and cheaply, including I-tunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Yahoo, and other sites. But even if free music downloads weren’t available, we’re still called to support the laws that exist until they change. Which is probably only a matter of time…

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 41

108. Q. WHAT IS GOD’S WILL FOR YOU IN THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT?

     A. God condemns all unchastity. We should therefore thoroughly detest it and, married or single, live decent and chaste lives.

109. Q. DOES GOD, IN THIS COMMANDMENT, FORBID ONLY SUCH SCANDALOUS SINS AS ADULTERY?

     A. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy. That is why He forbids everything which incites unchastity, whether it be actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires.

With the demands of the week, I was unable to put together much of a commentary on this Lord’s Day reading.  That is unfortunate in that as parents, we need to protect our children in this area.  Through T.V., the internet and a variety of other outlets, sexual immorality is too easily available.

Because this is such an important issue, I plan to post a few thoughts in the coming weeks on how we as parents can protect ourselves and our children in the area of sexual immorality.

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 40

105. Q. WHAT IS GOD’S WILL FOR YOU IN THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT?

     A. I am not to belittle, insult, hate, or kill my neighbor-not by my thoughts, my words, my look or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds-and I am not to be party to this in others; rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge.  I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either. Prevention of murder is also why government is armed with the sword.

106. Q. DOES THIS COMMANDMENT REFER ONLY TO KILLING?

     A. By forbidding murder God teaches us that He hates the root of murder: envy, anger, vindictiveness. In God’s sight all such are murder.

107. Q. IS IT ENOUGH THEN THAT WE DO NOT KILL OUR NEIGHBOR IN ANY SUCH WAY?

     A. No. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger God tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies.

Moral lessons disconnected from the character of God are dangerous.  That is why we must be so careful to never allow commands, rules and instructions to be taught independently of God’s character.  The order of the 10 commandments helps us in this regard.  The 6^th commandment tells us so simply, “You shall not murder.”  Why?  We are not to murder because the One True God, who alone is to receive our worship, commands such obedience.

My guess is that it is unlikely that anyone who reads this blogpost has ever murdered anyone.   Yet, as we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, we know we are all guilty of violating the 6^th commandment because of our struggle with anger (Matt. 5:21-22).

The HC in my opinion very helpfully explains what obedience to the 6^th commandment means for the believer in questions 105 and 106.  But I appreciate so much what is said in 107.  The answer points to a principle that we find throughout Scripture:  put-off/put-on.  It is not enough that we stop doing certain things.  That is only half of what we are instructed to do.  In putting off the old, we put on the new (see Eph. 4 and Col. 3).   In applying the 6^th commandment, we are reminded not only to put off anger, but also to put on love.  “To be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies.”