First let us look at content. For Christians this means that our faith has substance. This word means, "that which is contained; the thing or things held." The word content means, "to satisfy the mind; to make quiet; to gratify." The words are related-but we have to put the accent on the right syllable. As we are looking at them in terms of our Christian confession, one is required for the other to exist. The contentment we have (our comfort) must have a content that fills our hearts and minds. Faith needs substance if we are going to have comfort. Carrying a canteen on a long hike might seem comforting, but is of no use if we have not filled it with water.
The first requirement of "true faith" is that it is grounded in "a sure knowledge" of the Gospel. The Bible often speaks of the need for Christians to have "sound doctrine." ("Sound" is really a medical word that means "healthy.") Paul exhorts us to preach the Gospel always, and with great power, because "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
Learning Doctrine.
In our present culture there is an increasing resistance to what has become a nasty word-"doctrine." That word simply means "teachings." It is not uncommon for parents and children to want to forego the study of the creeds of the church, which contain doctrines. Memorizing the Heidelberg Catechism is thought to be no more than just an ancient custom. That attitude is little different from much of today's education. Take the study of mathematics, for example. Students don't want to memorize the tables (in our day it was the dreaded flash cards). They just want to know which buttons to push on the calculator or computer and the answer will magically appear. I'm afraid the church has often yielded to this temptation of dumbing down religion, where "I believe in Jesus" is all we need to know. That which we believe about the person and work of Jesus requires too much learning and it certainly has the potential of being divisive. To be unyielding about the doctrines we hold is seen as arrogance or is even deemed judgmental, instead of being viewed as a steadfast commitment to the teachings of the Bible.
What many people would rather have is what I would call a "least common denominator" religion where words like "Reformed" or "Calvinist" should be avoided, as well as the specific biblical doctrines that these words represent. We are told that we should be seeking common ground in all our beliefs, so that all who use the name "Christian" can be regarded as no different than we in the Reformed Church. Doctrinal differences are seen to be too contentious. Not only does such shallow thinking reveal a lack of content to faith, but an appalling lack of knowledge of church history. There certainly are doctrines that we hold in common with people from all Christian denominations, and for this we are thankful. But, there are also doctrines that differ greatly. Does it matter? Yes, if you are looking at the marks of a true church, it matters (those marks being: The true preaching of the Gospel, the proper administration of the sacraments, and the faithful exercise of Christian discipline, as taught in the Belgic Confession of Faith). It certainly mattered to the Reformers who defended these teachings even at the cost of their lives.
Our young people should be very thankful to God that when they study the confessions of our church, they are gaining the content of the Christian faith. Certainly, they would rather discuss their feelings about moral and social issues, and this will come, but after the doctrinal foundations. Many Christians today are content just to be told what to do or not to do, without wanting to make this decision themselves based on what they know to be biblical content. Such a weakness easily leads to a type of legalism that is based on ignorance. For example, our Heidelberg Catechism teaches that obedience to the law of God is based entirely on what we believe regarding the complete redemption and righteousness in Christ. Therefore, we obey God's law out of thankfulness. Without that content of our faith, we might begin to think that obedience to the law merits righteousness and contributes to our justification instead of being part of our sanctification.
The Danger of Neo-Gnosticism.
I fear that much of modern Christianity has morphed into a form of neo-Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a religion that rested on the Greek dualism between the material and the spiritual. "Gnosis" comes from the Greek word for knowledge. But, the knowledge they referred to was of a mystical nature. It was not based on the Bible, but was a deeper "spiritual" knowledge superior to and independent of true faith. It consisted of accepting a body of teaching as true, being principally intellectual or emotional in character (much like the New Age movement of today). They concluded that all material things were inferior or evil, and all spiritual things were alone good. It is not surprising that they denied the humanity of Christ (cf. 1 Jn. 4:1-3), for then He would have been evil. They likewise became antinomian (against obedience to the law) because only the spiritual-their knowledge-was important.
Without getting afield into the history and all the tenants of Gnosticism, we can conclude that this was a religion that was content with a content based merely on the superior thoughts and emotions of man. It had no real substance apart from what man deemed to be right. The Apostle John took on the Gnostics head-on in his epistles. His emphasis on the knowledge that Christians have ("we know ...") is based on what God has objectively revealed to us in His Word. On the question of what we can know, we read in 1 Jn. 2:3-5,
"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." (emphasis mine)
Once again, as John ends his first letter, he drives home the point that what we know comes from Jesus and gives us an understanding and contentment.
"We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." (1 Jn. 5:19-21, emphasis mine)
Content is necessary for contentment. It is Jesus who teaches us through the Word, giving us content, or understanding, in our faith.
Contentment for a Christian must have the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen-true faith (Heb. 11:1). We might have the misconceived notion that we can be content to just be guided by our own feelings or ideas of what it means to be a Christian. But such faith is hollow and gives a hollow comfort. Question 21 of the Heidelberg tells us that true faith consists first of knowledge and then a trust in the promises of the Gospel. Both are the gifts of God's Holy Spirit. True faith has content in that it contains the teachings revealed by our Lord.
We sometimes wonder how people like Paul could be content in every circumstance after all the suffering he endured. From his prison cell, this is how he explains it: "For I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" (Phil. 4:11). In Christ he could "do all things." He learned this not just from past experience, but from the doctrines of the Word of God.
The Content That Brings Contentment.
Where the rubber meets the road is when we have to build up and then express the content of our faith. This is what the examination for the rite of Confirmation involves. To make a profession of our faith, we are going to confess the things God has revealed to us in His Word. It is not a time to expound merely on how we feel about what it means to be a Christian. We actually need to have some knowledge of what God requires us to believe. There is a verse that appears on the official seal of the Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States. That verse directs us to "doctrine," or the content, that faith must have. It reads, "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son" (2 Jn. 1:9).
If we are going to have the content of a healthy doctrine, we are going to have to learn it. This requires study. We need to understand what we have learned. We begin with the entire Bible in order to know the history and facts of our redemption. Then we learn to systematize these teachings, and for that we have the creeds of the church. When our young people study the questions of the Heidelberg Catechism and put them to memory, they are giving their faith some real content. When young people are examined for confirmation or profession of their faith, they cannot speak about their "only comfort of body and soul, in life and in death" (Q1) unless their faith contains the teachings of this comfort from the Holy Scriptures. Unless we understand the covenant of grace, the sovereignty of God, and the perfect grace of God in our salvation, what comfort or contentment can we have? If we were canning peaches, and went through all the steps of sterilizing and sealing the jar, but had nothing in it, it would not prove very satisfying in the end.
When a child is asked what it means to be a Christian, I have heard the answer, "It means that you have asked Jesus into your heart." While that sounds sufficient, it is woefully and theologically insufficient. How much better if we could define our Christianity in terms stated in the Catechism, Question 32! The details of the office of a believer (prophet, priest, and king) have to be learned or we will not even see it as an office and calling. If our confession is simply, "I believe in Jesus," that does not reveal what we believe the Bible teaches about the person or the work of Jesus, much less how His benefits came to us. A profession of faith requires content.
Filling the Vessels.
Often parents and children chafe at having to learn "all that stuff." It does take some hard work, over the course of time, to fill the vessels. It takes pastors and parents who see the long-term benefit in giving some solid content to children's faith. What greater gift could you give them? It is pretty obvious that if we allow ourselves and our children to be content to define the Christian faith by their feelings (i.e. if such contentment becomes the only content), it will be a faith likely to change or be abandoned given the changes and pressures of life (see 1 Tim. 6:6, 8; 20-21).
In the RCUS, we require that the catechism questions be memorized and recited by catechumens. This 200-year-plus practice has a lasting merit. Using the illustration of learning math, we would have a very difficult time in life if we never memorized the addition or subtraction tables. Some things you just have to put to memory so they can be employed in life. I've noticed that children are pretty good at memorizing when it comes to TV commercials or the songs on their iPods. How much more important should our recall be when it comes to the teachings of the Bible!
Adding to the content of our faith is a lifelong task. We do this by regularly reading our Bibles and by being edified by the preaching and teaching of the Word. We should never feel content to have learned all we need. We should learn all we can so we can use it for our life and teach it to the next generation (see Ps. 78:1-8). This is our covenant responsibility to our children (Deut. 6:4-9). Where there is a failure to do this, we see the sad results in individuals and in whole denominations drifting away from orthodoxy. The World Council of Churches once made the statement that "doctrine divides; service unites." With that basis, we have seen the church drift from the faith while engaging in a multitude of service projects. Gradually, some people have become content to have a faith that has little or even false content. Doctrine does divide-it sets us apart by the content of our faith. But, doctrine also unites Christians, so with one voice they can praise the Lord, and as one body they can serve the Lord in truth.
Just to have substance to our instruction does not guarantee that we will not depart from the faith one day. We see people make a profession of faith and later depart from it. That content must become the substance of our heart by the grace and power of God. Our faith must be held onto as a precious thing-"Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 1:13; cf. 1 Cor. 15:1; 1 Thess. 5:21; Rev. 3:11). To do this, we need the grace of God. As children are learning the doctrines of the faith, they and their parents need to pray that God will apply these teachings to their hearts. Our faith contains a doctrine called the "perseverance of the saints," which tells us that God will preserve His people in faith so they will persevere until the end. He will only preserve faith that has the content of His Truth. Those whom God preserves will persevere.
If your faith has real, true content, your heart will be content, and God will be glorified.
