Three Forms Podcast

Continuing to explore the Lord's Supper, we discuss some of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran views, that the Heidelberg is pushing back against, while also holding up the sacramental language and reality that God's Word highlights! Lord’s Day 29 Q & A 78Q. Do the bread and wine become the real body and blood of Christ?A. No.Just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ’s blood and does not itself wash away sins but is simply a divine sign and assurance of these things, so too the holy bread of the Lord’s Supper does not become the actual body of Christ, even though it is called the body of Christ in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments.Q & A 79Q. Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood or the new covenant in his blood, and Paul use the words, a sharing in Christ’s body and blood?A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that just as bread and wine nourish the temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood are the true food and drink of our souls for eternal life.But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit’s work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and made satisfaction for our sins.

Moving into the second sacrament, the Lord's Super, we consider the way the physical elements engage our sense, and are designed to help us remember our Savior's death, and assure us of our salvation. The Holy Supper of Jesus ChristLord’s Day 28Q & A 75Q. How does the holy supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits?A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises:First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross.Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the one who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.Q & A 76 Q. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured-out blood?A. It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and thereby to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ’s blessed body. And so, although he is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one soul.Q & A 77Q. Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with his body and blood as surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this cup?A. In the institution of the Lord’s Supper: “The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is [broken]* for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying,‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”This promise is repeated by Paul in these words: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

Episode 27: Heidelberg Lord's Day 27 We explore the dangers and obligations of baptism, God's claim on us through it, why we baptize our children, considering both believer and infant circumcision, and God's anger when it is neglected. Lord’s Day 27 Q & A 72 Q. Does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins? A. No, only Jesus Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins. Q & A 73 Q. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the water of rebirth and the washing away of sins? A. God has good reason for these words. To begin with, God wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ take away our sins just as water removes dirt from the body.But more important, God wants to assure us, by this divine pledge and sign, that we are as truly washed of our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water physically. Q & A 74 Q. Should infants also be baptized? A. Yes.Infants as well as adults are included in God’s covenant and people, and they, no less than adults, are promised deliverance from sin through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit who produces faith.Therefore, by baptism, the sign of the covenant, they too should be incorporated into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, which was replaced in the New Testament by baptism.

Episode 26: Heidelberg Lord's Day 26 Hitting the half way mark through the Heidelberg, we begin focusing on the sacrament of baptism, considering many of the Scriptures that promise the cleansing of God's people, and its enduring value! Holy BaptismLord’s Day 26Q & A 69Q. How does holy baptism remind and assure you that Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross benefits you personally?A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing and with it promised that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash away my soul’s impurity, that is, all my sins.Q & A 70Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit?A. To be washed with Christ’s blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven our sins because of Christ’s blood poured out for us in his sacrifice on the cross.To be washed with Christ’s Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed and sanctified us to be members of Christ, so that more and more we become dead to sin and live holy and blameless lives.Q & A 71Q. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?A. In the institution of baptism, where he says: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”“The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.”

Episode 25: Heidelberg Lord's Day 25 The Catechism now shifts into a section focusing on the Sacraments, exploring how the Lord uses the "telling and showing" of these elements to focus our hearts on the Christ's one sacrifice on the cross.The Holy Sacraments

Lord’s Day 25

Q & A 65

Q. It is through faith alone that we share in Christ and all his benefits: where then does that faith come from?

A. The Holy Spirit produces it in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments.

Q & A 66

Q. What are sacraments?

A. Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals.They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise.

And this is God’s gospel promise: to grant us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ’s one sacrifice accomplished on the cross.

Q & A 67

Q. Are both the word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?

A. Yes!In the gospel the Holy Spirit teaches us and by the holy sacraments confirms that our entire salvation rests on Christ’s one sacrifice for us on the cross.

Q & A 68

Q. How many sacraments did Christ institute in the New Testament?

A. Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.

Episode 24: Heidelberg Lord's Day 24 In contrast to recent comments from the Pope of Rome, Lord's Day 24 reminds us that we are not mostly good. Instead, like 3 eyed fish and out of spec parts, our goodness fails to earn us any rewards. Lord’s Day 24

Q & A 62

Q. Why can’t our good works be our righteousness before God, or at least a part of our righteousness?

A. Because the righteousness which can pass God’s judgment must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law. But even our best works in this life are imperfect and stained with sin.

Q & A 63

Q. How can our good works be said to merit nothing when God promises to reward them in this life and the next?

A. This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace.

Q & A 64

Q. But doesn’t this teaching make people indifferent and wicked?

A. No.It is impossible for those grafted into Christ through true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude.

Episode 23: Heidelberg Lord's Day 23 We have just explored the Apostle's Creed together, but the next question is, what is the point? How are we made right with God? And does the quality of "our" faith matter or become more effective? Lord’s Day 23Q & A 59 Q. What good does it do you, however, to believe all this?A. In Christ I am righteous before God and heir to life everlasting. Q & A 60 Q. How are you righteous before God?A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments, of never having kept any of them, and of still being inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without any merit of my own, out of sheer grace,God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is accept this gift with a believing heart.Q & A 61 Q. Why do you say that through faith alone you are righteous?A. Not because I please God by the worthiness of my faith. It is because only Christ’s satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me righteous before God, and because I can accept this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than through faith.

Episode 22: Heidelberg Lord's Day 22What is better than Heaven? How can bodies that have returned to the dust, or been scattered in the ocean, be resurrected? Will air travel be no more? These are some of the questions we consider today!

Lord’s Day 22

Q & A 57

Q. How does “the resurrection of the body”comfort you?

A. Not only will my soul be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head, but also my very flesh will be raised by the power of Christ, reunited with my soul, and made like Christ’s glorious body.

Q & A 58

Q. How does the article concerning “life everlasting” comfort you?

A. Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, so after this life I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God forever.

Episode 21: Heidelberg Lord's Day 21Who makes up "a" or "the" holy catholic church? How are the people of God like Minions, or a Scottish children's story? What comfort, encouragement, and responsibility do we share as believers? Lord’s Day 21

Q & A 54

Q. What do you believe concerning “the holy catholic church”?

A. I believe that the Son of God through his Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member.

Q & A 55

Q. What do you understand by“the communion of saints”?

A. First, that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts.

Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and joyfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.

Q & A 56

Q. What do you believe concerning “the forgiveness of sins”?

A. I believe that God, because of Christ’s satisfaction, will no longer remember any of my sins or my sinful nature which I need to struggle against all my life.

Rather, by grace God grants me the righteousness of Christ to free me forever from judgment.

Having explored what the Creed says about Jesus, we now move into the one Q & A on Holy Spirit, exploring both his person hood as well as the hope and comfort he brings God's people. God the Holy Spirit

Lord’s Day 20

Q & A 53

Q. What do you believe concerning “the Holy Spirit”?

A. First, that the Spirit, with the Father and the Son, is eternal God.

Second, that the Spirit is given also to me, so that, through true faith,he makes me share in Christ and all his benefits, comforts me, and will remain with me forever.