REACHLIFE CATECHSIM STUDY

Catechism Study - Question #1

Question:
What is the purpose of man?

Answer:
The purpose of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Scripture:
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
-1 Cor. 10:31

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
-Rev. 4:11

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And on earth there is nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail. but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
-Ps. 73:25-26

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”
-Phil. 4:4

Summary:
Many people go through asking “Why am I here?” But the bible tells us why. The thing is, we cant answer that question by looking at ourselves (which most of the world does) but instead looking to God and His Word. If you want to know how something is supposed to work and its purpose, we know that we would ask the creator of that thing. The same goes with us, we need to seek after God (through His Word) to know who we are and what we were designed for.

Before the fall, we were perfectly God-centered beings. But after the fall of Adam, we became man-centered and have struggled to know our purpose ever since. Instead of being satisfied with God (and Him alone), we became satisfied with ourselves (and other things in this world). Instead of seeking to enjoy God, we seek to enjoy ourselves and the things in our life.

By saying that we are to glorify God, we are not saying we are to make God “glorious”. God is already glorious just by the fact of who He is. We cant add anything to the worth of God. Instead we need to see glorifying God as “reflecting” God’s glory rather than adding to it.

For example, the world doesn’t make God glorious, it reflects His glory (Ps. 19:1). Same with us, we don’t make God glorious, we reflect it to others (which means it glorifies God!). Think of it like this, something created can not make it’s creator more glorious, it can only display the glory that the creator already has, and it does this by reflecting that glory through itself.

So what is the best way we can glorify God? Well, what is the best way we glorify things? How do we show others that we love our iPods, music, video games, etc? We show others how much we love those things by our enjoyment of them. Same goes with God. We show that God is glorious to us, in many ways, but ultimately by our enjoyment of Him. Now, that’s not the only way we can glorify God, but if we truly enjoy God for who He is, we will glorify him in other areas of our life as well.

Problem is, people don’t want to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Instead we are happy to enjoy and glorify things, money, the world, and even ourselves! We settle for such lower standards and enjoyments than the best thing in the world - God. And therefore we have sinned before Him and are held accountable for those sins. Thank God we have a savior in Jesus Christ!

In this life, we will never fully glorify God, or enjoy him fully as He deserves. That will only come after we are with God in heaven. But as we seek after God each day, we will continue to grow and glorify Him in our lives as we show his glory to others by sharing our faith, encouraging each other, preaching and teaching to others, etc.

So, every day seek God in all areas of your life. Reflect his glory to others. Show your enjoyment of Him to the world over the things that the world enjoys. By doing this, we point towards why we were truly created - to glorify God and enjoy HIM forever!

Study Questions:
1. What do we mean by “glorify”?

2. Why is it wrong to glorify things rather than God?

3. How is God glorified in our lives?

4. Can we add to the glory of God? Why or why not?

5. Why can’t we fully glorify God now?

6. Can an unbeliever glorify God? Why or why not?

7. Give some examples of how we can glorify God in our lives? What are ways He is not glorified? What is the main difference?

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Catechism Study - Question #2

Question:
What has God given us to show us how we can glorify and enjoy him?

Answer:
God has given us His Word (the Scriptures) which are made up of both the Old and New Testaments.

Scripture:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
-2 Tim. 3:16

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
-Ps. 19:1

“For His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
- Rom. 1:20

Summary:
You ever realize that some of the smartest people in the world, do not believe there’s a God? There are many people that are so smart in some of the most difficult things to understand, but they don’t believe that God created the heavens and the earth. Instead they believe it was all just one big accident!

Why is that? Well, the reason is that God did not make man to know everything from his own doing or from himself. Because only God knows everything, only God can give a true knowledge of anything in the world. Ever since Adam and Eve, that knowledge from God has come in two ways - natural revelation and special revelation.

Natural Revelation
Natural revelation is that which we can know just from seeing God’s creation. When we look at the world, we know something about God because of His creation. This revelation from God in nature is enough to leave us without an excuse of knowing there is a God and therefore we are accountable to God for that truth. But it doesn’t just give us knowledge, it also shows us that God is worthy of our praise and worship because of His creation.

Special Revelation
There is also a second way God reveals truth to us. The second way is through what is called - special revelation. Think back to the Garden of Eden. Even then Adam needed to hear God’s Word spoken to him. Although he saw nature, he still had to see it through the “light of God’s Word.” It was not enough to see that the fruit in the garden was “good”, he had to see it through the truth of “God’s Word” which he did not. God’s Word told him “Do not eat”, but Adam disobeyed that Word and therefore fell into sin.

So through God’s creation we can have a certain amount of knowledge of Him. But God also has given us His Word (the Bible) in order for us to truly know Him. When we talk about the Bible, there are three things we must believe about it.

It is True
The first is that it is true (infallible). Because the Word of God is from God, and God cannot lie (Num. 23:19), His Word also cannot lie. Many people try to say they are errors in the bible, but they only do so because they do not want to be held accountable to it, not because they have proven that it has errors.

It is Clear
The second characteristic is that the Bible is clear. Even kids can understand it (Eph. 6:1-3). That doesn’t mean there aren’t things that are hard to understand. It just means you don’t have to have a PhD to know what God requires from you. You can understand it as well.

It is Sufficient
Finally, the Bible is sufficient, meaning it is the final authority on all things. That doesn’t mean we don’t use other means to gain knowledge. There are certain things that Bible doesn’t tell us. But we must always place that outside knowledge in the light of God’s Word and never above it.

Nothing is equal to or above the authority of God’s Word. Always seek to prove all truth through the lens of the Bible.

Study Questions:
1. What are the two sources of “truth”?

2. What are three characteristics of the Bible we must remember?

3. What does it mean to call the Bible infallible?

4. What does it mean to call the bible clear?

5. How is the Bible the final authority on all things? Does that mean we should never use anything but the Bible to learn about God? Why or Why not?

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Catechism Study - Question #3

Question:
What is God?

Answer:
God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Scripture:
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”     
-John 4:24

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”
-Ex. 3:14

“Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.”
-Ps. 147:5

“For I the LORD do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”
-Mal. 3:6

Summary:
God is unlike any being in the world. He has certain attributes (or characteristics) that make him different from anything or anyone else in existence.

First thing we must know is that God is a Spirit. As Jesus said “God is spirit…”(John 4:24). By Spirit, the most important thing to remember is that God does not have any material substance. God does not have a body. God is invisible. They only way that we can “see” God is indirectly. We can see Him through his reflection in creation.

But what else is God beside that. There are many more attributes that the Bible tells us beside just being a Spirit. There are two types of attribute that God has. The first are those which belong to God alone. We call these incommunicable attributes. The second are those that God has given man as well. We call those communicable attributes.

Incommunicable Attributes
There are certain attributes that belong to God and to God alone. He does not “share” these characteristics with man at all. For example, God is infinite. He has always existed. Man is finite, meaning that there was a time when man did not exist. Another example would be that God is unchangeable. He cannot change anything about Himself because He is already perfect. But man on the other hand is not unchangeable. Man can and does change over time. We get older and our appearance looks different than it did a few years ago. This is not so with God.

Communicable Attributes
But there are also characteristics that God has that man has as well. Some of these are that God has wisdom and man has wisdom. Another is that God has power and man has power as well. The thing that we must remember here when we look at characteristics that we “share” with God, is that there is still a difference between God and his image (man). Think of it as looking into a mirror. When you look into a mirror, are those eyes that you see in the mirror your eyes? Or are those eyes you see “the image” of your eyes?

Of course, those eyes you see are just an image. Same with the attributes we share with God. Me may have wisdom, but it is just a tiny reflection of the wisdom of God. Where our wisdom can change (for example, it can increase), God’s wisdom cannot change because He already knows everything there is to know. We cant confuse the fact that God is God alone, and we are just an image bearer of Him here on earth.

Worship Him
Learning these characteristics of God should lead us to worship Him. When we see something that overwhelms us (like the Grand Canyon), we are amazed by it. How much more should we be amazed at the God that created the Grand Canyon. Think on these characteristics of God and had them lead you to “see” Him in such a way that you desire to know Him more.

Study Questions:
1. What do we mean by the word “Spirit”?

2. What does the terms, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable mean?

3. What is a “incommunicable attribute”? What are some examples?

4. What is a “communicable attribute”? What are some examples?

5. How would you explain to someone that although we “share” some similar characteristics of God, they are not exactly the same? How are they different?

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