Your body is not your own, but has been bought with a price. This is good news! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 109 (We'll finish out QA 108 tomorrow) 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. Summary We understand that a thing's purpose determines how it gets used. A fine flower vase with lots intricate details can certainly hold water, but it's not meant to be used like an ordinary bucket. In other words, just because something can be used a certain way, it doesn't mean that it ought to be used in that way. Such is the case with your body. The tired old argument that people ought to be able to do as they please with their bodies is nothing new; Paul begins this passage with sayings from Romans culture that make the same claim we hear so often today, that the only people who have a right to determine what I do physically are Me, Myself and I. Paul then drops a stunning claim - a claim that people know is true but which often gets suppressed down deep so as not to ruin the party: your body is not your own. You did not make your body; you did not breathe life into it; and you are not the one who has determined your body's ultimate purpose, and therefore you don't have the right to define its acceptable uses. Paul's makes his point obvious: "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord (v13)." Therefore, your body is not to be used sexually outside of God's prescribed norms, which we'll review tomorrow. Paul adds emphasis to his point. Not only must you not do sexually immoral things, but you must flee from all forms of sexual immorality. The primary purpose of your body determines how it must be used, the purpose which rises above all of your own ideas, opinions and beliefs, is that your body "is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God." Dig Deeper Our focus reading the Bible this year has been the comfort and peace possible by knowing that "you are not your own, but belong to your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ." These words have brought immense solace and reassurance to countless Christians for hundreds of years now. If you don't have this memorized already, you should. But this claim is not just true on Sundays, or when you really need to be reminded in a difficult time that God is in control, rather this fundamental fact is always in effect and is completely comprehensive in its nature: you are not your own but belong to Christ body and soul, in life and in death. In other words, your body belongs to Christ in all ways and in all times. This famous opening line of the Heidelberg Catechism is not just a cheesy, sentimental statement to hang on your wall. It helps define and clarify your purpose in life. You belong to Christ in every way possible. And since purpose determines usage, it gives you a solid rationale for living according to a Biblically faithful sexual ethic. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who knew you before creation and chose you to be His own, knit your body together in your mother's womb, and who has set you apart to be a temple for His Holy Spirit; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask God for the fortitude to live according to His sexual design for your body in a world that constantly tries to tear you away from it; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Peter 3

Revenge is best served by our holy & righteous Father. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 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. Summary One of our most fundamental inclinations as Americans is the concept of fairness, that people ought to get exactly what they deserve. It's this deeply embedded motivation that the Bible calls you to push back against. Rather than repaying a person by giving him what he's got coming, you must "not take revenge." The catechism reminds us here that that an ugly concept like murder is not limited to the overt actions related to physically taking a person's life, but extends to seemingly benign actions such as belittling and insulting people. Sometimes it might feel good to blow off a little steam by verbally assaulting a person who's been giving you grief so that things don't escalate into a full blown physical confrontation, but you can see that the catechism is simply echoing Paul's advice to, "as far as it depends upon you, to live at peace with everyone, and do not take revenge." This peace that you're called to is much more than just an outward politeness in which you don't say the quiet part out loud, even as you seethe and simmer on the inside. No, the Bible calls you to a pervasive, permeating peace that radiates from the inside out; a peace that keeps not just your mouth and hands in check, but your thoughts, looks and gestures as well. This passage ends with the famous line: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This passage often gets externalized, as if the best way to overcome bad guys is to shower them in good deeds. That may occasionally be the case, but I don't think that's what Paul means here. He wasn't referring to the evil reigning all around you, but the evil that seeks to plant its flag inside of you - your sinful nature (Sarx), who gains ground with every revenge filled thought and attitude you allow to fester. Overcome Sarx by flooding him out as you fill your mind with whatever is noble, right, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). Dig Deeper The concept of revenge is a theme deeply woven into the fabric of scripture. In fact, the Bible draws to a close with Jesus promising to do the very thing that Paul here prohibits you from doing: Jesus will return with His settlement, meaning that He will repay everyone with exactly what they deserve, either good or bad. Base the peace that you've been commanded to have by "leaving room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord." AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father who has promised to reward good and repay evil; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the strength to let go of your sinful instinct to desire revenge and instead reflect the goodness and forgiveness Jesus has shown you; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 John 3

If even secular Uncle Sam can trust God, how much more can you? Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 101 Q. But may we swear an oath in God’s name if we do it reverently? A. Yes, when the government demands it, or when necessity requires it, in order to maintain and promote truth and trustworthiness for God’s glory and our neighbor’s good. Such oaths are approved in God’s Word and were rightly used by Old and New Testament believers. Summary Our passage today comes in a context in which God's magnificent grace has been on display. God had brought His people, seventy in all, into Egypt four centuries earlier, and they had grown into a large nation. He overthrew their slave masters, and all the people had to do was watch the miracles unfold. He gave them His law, and then extended them mercy when they immediately broke it in one of the most heinous ways possible. God's grace came freely to them as it has to you, but though you've obtained it no cost, there are obligations you must fulfill as a recipient of this grace: Fear the Lord your God; Walk in obedience to Him; Love Him; Serve Him with all of your heart and soul; Observe the Lord's commands and decrees. Notice why Moses says you must keep these obligations: The heavens, earth and everything in them belong to the Lord (v14); The Lord set His affections on you and loves you (v15); He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords (v17); He defends the defenseless among us (v18); All of those things, AND: The Lord's commands and decrees have been given for your own good (v13) Dig Deeper We come to this passage today in the context of understanding when it's proper to swear an oath in the Lord's name. Granted, of all of the worries, challenges, and problems you have on your plate right now, knowing when it's ok to put your hand on the Bible and swear "So help me, God" probably isn't high on your priority list. But take a moment to just take in the fact that even our highly secularized government and society recognize the power of God's name and ask people to officially obligate themselves accordingly by swearing an oath in God's name. If Uncle Sam can trust God in this way, how much more can you? AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the God of gods and Lord of lords; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for His massive displays of grace, both in the Bible and in your own life, and pray that whether under oath or not, you will live up to His expectations; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Timothy 1

Ten commandments?? How about 10x10x10? Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 93 Q. How are these commandments divided? A. Into two tables. The first has four commandments, teaching us what our relation to God should be. The second has six commandments, teaching us what we owe our neighbor. Summary He started off so well. This rich young man asked Jesus the question that should be everyone's top priority: "what good thing must I do to be saved?" All of us - every person born since Adam - instinctively knows there's a relationship between salvation and doing good things. But this young man is smarter than most, for he can see that not everything that seems to be good actually is. He wants to focus his efforts on what really counts. Jesus didn't need to think about the question for too long. Although it's a profoundly important question to ask, it's not at all hard to answer: if you want salvation, perfectly follow the commands of the One who is good. Here's where things started to go off the rails for the young man. He asked Jesus, "Which ones?" It's moments like this that we really see the patience of our Savior. He would have been totally justified to burst out laughing at the glaring stupidity of the question, or even to have the young man instantly smote with fire from heaven for daring to suggest that some of God's commands are more important than others. But Jesus doesn't do what the rest of us would have done if we were in His position. Jesus continues to engage the man in conversation. Keep the second table of the law, Jesus tells the man. In other words, love your neighbor as yourself. At this, a smile likely came upon the young man's face. After all, he had certainly never murdered, committed adultery, stolen or lied. Or so he thought as he confidently reported this to Jesus, at the same time wondering if there was a detail or two Jesus could suggest he ought to add to the list, just to be really sure. Somehow the man missed the fact that Jesus had said nothing about the first table of the law: those first four commandments that teach us what our relationship ought to be with the One who said, "Be holy, because I am holy." Jesus goes on to tell the man that perfection requires much more than following ten commandments. After all, nowhere does the Bible command a person to give away all that he has. True godliness includes all of the implications of both tables of the law, whether they've been written down or not. Both this rich young man and the disciples are absolutely crushed by Jesus' answer. Who could possibly meet this exponential criteria for salvation? Dig Deeper We understand God's law to have three purposes: It shows us how sinful we are; It provides a general guide for how society should behave; It shows the saved how to live gratefully. The Heidelberg Catechism properly focuses on the third use of the law: gratitude. But don't forget that you will never really be truly grateful unless you first understand your guilt. This is why we read some portion of God's law in our worship services, so that we are regularly convicted by it; so that each week we're forced to ask with the disciples, "who then can be saved?" So when we hear Jesus answer, "with man, [salvation] is impossible, but with God all things are possible," we can look at these two tables of the law as a guide for grateful living in response to God's grace freeing us from our exponential guilt. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the One who is good; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for His law, that we've met its conditions in Christ, and pray that we';; use His law as a guide for grateful living. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 16

God's Word can be described many ways, but 'boring' isn't one of them. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 92 simply reproduces the Biblical text of the ten commandments Summary We're going to focus on the beginning and ending of our passage today, since we'll be learning lots about the commandments in the middle in the weeks to come. Notice how the passage begins: And God spoke We could turn multiple places in the Bible for a demonstration of God's awesome power at work in nature. Indeed, the Israelites had just witnessed it firsthand for themselves, having walked between two towering walls of ocean as the crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. But as amazing as God's command of nature is, the best demonstration of His power can be found when He speaks. Remember the opening words of the Bible, which record God creating all that is out of nothing by simply repeating the phrase "and God said..." Jesus Himself is called the Word, and His ministry begins with God's voice booming from heaven that Jesus is His son, whom He loves. The book of Romans begins with an announcement that the gospel - the proclamation of the good news of salvation - is "the power of God..." Imagine being there, hearing these words come out of the fire (Dt. 10:4), accompanied by thunder and lightning (v18). It would quickly become clear that the ten commandments are so much more than a historic document to hang in a courtroom or to doze off to as you hear them recited for the umpteenth time in church. These words, just like the gospel, are the power of God, and necessary for you to know well and follow as you live in Christ. Dig Deeper The Israelites didn't miss God's demonstration of verbal power: They "trembled with fear" and "stayed at a distance," convinced that if God were to utter another word to them they would instantly die. They knew they were not worthy to come face to face with God, so they sent a representative up them mountain in their place. As we begin our nearly three month study of these commandments, we're beginning with a much different attitude than these Israelites had. We're coming to them as people who have peace with God because we've been justified through faith in Jesus Christ. We come to them in gratitude because in Christ, we've fully met the conditions of God's law. As Moses reminds us, these commandments are given "so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning (v20)." AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: The Lord our God, who brought you out of slavery to sin; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for giving us the tools and instructions to live as the holy people He's declared us to be in Christ. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 15

The fruit you bear isn't meant to impress others, but to assure yourself you're not a wolf. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 86 Q. We have been delivered from our misery by God’s grace alone through Christ and not because we have earned it: why then must we still do good? A. To be sure, Christ has redeemed us by his blood. But we do good because Christ by his Spirit is also renewing us to be like himself, so that in all our living we may show that we are thankful to God for all he has done for us, and so that he may be praised through us. And we do good so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and so that by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ. Summary Scripture attests to God speaking through the prophets. The words given to these prophets were not their own but the words of God. A prophet is not the source of the words, but a vessel through which God speaks to humanity. The warning Jesus shares in Matthew 7:15 is to be aware of false prophets. These false prophets are those who falsely claim to speak on behalf of God. And like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the danger can lie in their ability to blend in. That although their words are falsehoods, they might sound close enough to the truth to go undetected. Knowing of these wolves hiding amongst the people of God, plotting to lead them astray, Jesus gives a means to test those who claim to come as prophets. We are to judge them by their fruits. What is the outcome of those claiming to be prophets? If they are leading others away from God, then this attests to the falsehood of their message. Dig Deeper The presence or absence of spiritual fruit does more than make us aware of the wolves in our midst. Just as you can recognize those sent of God by the fruit of their labor, the spiritual fruit in your own life can attest to your faith in Christ. While you are not able to see the presence or absence of faith in others any more than you can see gravity or the wind; like these other examples you are able to see the effects of their presence. Spiritual fruit is the outcome which points to the presence or absence of a genuine faith in Christ. Healthy trees bear good fruit while a diseased tree will produce bad fruit. The outcome of good or bad spiritual fruit is based upon the source feeding into the fruit. If your faith is rooted in Christ, this will manifest itself with good spiritual fruit. However, if your faith is placed elsewhere, this will be shown in the presence of bad fruit. Though you may have times where you doubt your faith, the presence of good spiritual fruit in your life can give you assurance that your faith is sincere. Be on the lookout for God working in your life because you can trust the sign of faith that is the good fruit produced by God’s work through you. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who expects good fruit from His creation; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God that you're created in His image, and pray that your life will produce fruit that corresponds to His image; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - 1 Corinthians 7

The way you worship matters, says Jesus. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 80 Q. How does the Lord’s Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass? A. The Lord’s Supper declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ which he himself finished on the cross once for all. It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with his very body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where he wants us to worship him. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshiped. Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry. Summary One of the most painful consequences of sin is that the one thing that ought to unite all people - worshipping the God who made us - is arguably the thing that creates the most division and angst. Not only do massive divisions exist between the three great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Islam & Christianity), but the Christian Church itself is rent asunder with all sorts of different ideas and practices on how God ought to be worshipped. Division occurs when different expressions in how people worship begin to affect what they worship. The resulting battles shatter communities and even families, causing pain and bitterness that last generations. Our society's current live and let live attitude wants Jesus to come down and declare that all forms of worship, as long as its sincere and heartfelt, are acceptable to God and therefore all criticisms of divergent worship practices ought to cease. That's exactly what the woman at the well was hoping to hear Jesus say. But Jesus doesn't take her bait. One of the Bible's primary themes is that there are right ways and wrong ways to worship. Jesus doesn't pull His punches, telling the Samaritan woman that her countrymen have been worshipping incorrectly and even ignorantly. Certainly Jesus has lots of criticism for Jewish worship practices elsewhere in the gospels, but at least on the question of where true worship must take place, the Jews were getting it right. What a picture of God's grace, that out of all the people Jesus could have discussed true and proper worship with, it wasn't a learned scholar or a popular prophet, but rather it was this sinful, broken woman, and so she becomes one of the first people to truly worship God as He has ordained: in Spirit and truth. Dig Deeper The question of where to worship would soon become moot when Jesus would send His Church out to the nations before triumphantly ascending back to the right hand of the Father. But notice that the primary requirement for acceptable worship remains constant throughout the entire Bible: to properly know God (v22). The Lord's Supper is one of the primary ways you gain this knowledge that's so critical to fulfilling the purpose you were created for: to worship God. The Lord's Supper declares to you that you've been completely forgiven through Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and that you've been grafted into Him so that you can worship Him in Spirit and truth even while He is in heaven and you are on earth. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God our Father is spirit; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will continue to know God more and more, and thank Him for what He teaches you as you come to His table; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 19

God responds you your questions with the gentle reminder to just "be still and know that I am God (Psalm

God knows you remember what you see, so He sets out visible reminders for His people. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 79 Q. Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood? (Paul uses the words, a participation in Christ’s body and blood.) A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood truly nourish 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 paid for our sins. Summary God's people crossing the Jordan river is one of the most important stories in the Bible, representing the culmination of God saving His covenant people and returning them back to the promised land. The previous generation of Israelites had seen God part the Red Sea so they could escape Egypt on dry land, and now their sons and daughters crossed the Jordan River at flood stage on dry ground. As amazing as those miracles were, God knows how fickle people's memories are. Within days of crossing the Red Sea, Israel was once again doubting God's power to save them, having forgotten what they had seen with their own eyes. So God orders Joshua to pick up some souvenirs on the way. Twelve men, one representing each tribe, were to carry a large stone from the middle of the Jordan and then set them up where the Israelites spent their first night back at home. God wanted them to have a physical reminder of what He'd done for them. God not only commanded them to set a monument to remember, but He commands them what and why to remember. This isn't just for you, He instructed them, but it's a tool by which you must instruct your children by reminding them of how God saves His people. After all, there's always one consistent reason that God does what He does and provides what He provides: So that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God (v24). Dig Deeper Just about every communion table in every Protestant sanctuary has the same words of Jesus carved into it: This Do In Remembrance of Me. God knows that you need a physical reminder of what He's done for your salvation. He's invited you to His Table for an ongoing, tangible reminder that Christ did something much more powerful than splitting the sea or heaping up a flooding river: that His body was broken, and His blood poured out so that you could have complete remission of all of your sins. Make sure that you heed the next invitation so that you can be reminded and the next generation can know the hand of the Lord is powerful and always fear the Lord our God. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who saves His covenant people and meets them in their weakness; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for the reminder of His grace communion represents and that you'll eagerly anticipate the next meal; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 17

Jesus doesn't give many orders, so when He does, pay attention! Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 75 Q. How does the Lord’s Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts? A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command he gave this promise: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to 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. Summary It's easy to look at Jesus as a victim as He goes to the cross, but as we read of His final days we see that He remained fully in control throughout His life. In preparing to celebrate the final Passover - not just for Him, but for all since He would Himself become the final Passover Lamb - Jesus gives the disciples specific instructions, even anticipating exactly what the owner of the house would be doing when the disciples arrived. Once gathered, Jesus tells His disciples that He's eagerly desired to eat this meal with them (v15). Does that describe your attitude in coming to the Lord's Table? If not, why not? It's at this point the story pivots from being the Last Supper - that is, the last Passover celebration - to the Lord's Supper, in which those who partake the physical elements of bread and wine participate in the body and blood of Jesus. Jesus makes this abundantly clear by declaring the cup to be representative of a new covenant in His blood. Participation in this sacred meal is not optional for Christ's followers. His command is simple and straightforward: Do this. It would have been enough for Christ to simply command, but He also explains the reason for the command. This meal serves as a reminder, not just of all that Christ did, but all that He said and continues to say as His Word is proclaimed. Dig Deeper There are very few hard and fast commands Christians must adhere to. Certainly there are gobs of ethical imperatives that flow out of God's Word that guide what we do, and more particularly what we are not to do. There are very few must do's obligating Christians to perform certain religious tasks. So it should catch your attention when Jesus orders you to do this. Often the sanctuaries in Reformed churches, though beautiful, are by design rather plain. This is because our primary focus is on reading and listening to God's Word, since this is the primary way He communicates Himself to us. Even the most beautiful art is a mere distraction from the glory that bursts forth from the proclamation of the Word. But your Creator knows you. He's very aware that you have five senses, and so He's given you this meal in which all of your senses are reminded of who Jesus is and what He did for you. You see the bread broken and the wine poured out. You touch the bread and taste the wine, and you feel the presence of Christian brothers and sisters gathered around you. Participating in communion is not an optional 'extra' that you can take or leave. Your Savior has commanded you to do this. Like Him, eagerly anticipate this meal. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is coming with His Kingdom; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will eagerly desire the next time your church gathers around the Lord's table, and that you will heed Christ's command to do this in remembrance of Him. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Luke 9