stylos
Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth." Image (left side): Decorative urn with title for the book of Acts in Codex Alexandrinus.
Friday, March 15, 2024
The Vision (3.15.24): The Spiritual Advantage of Knowing God's Providence
Note: Devotion is taken from last Sunday's afternoon sermon on Lord's Day 10 Heidelberg Catechism:
And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience,
experience, and experience, hope (Romans 5:3-4).
It is interesting that there are
various apologetic ministries that are dedicated to upholding the doctrine of
God as Creator. One thinks of ministries like Answers in Genesis.
I couldn’t think of any ministry
offhand, however, that is specifically dedicated to the doctrine of God’s
Providence. Maybe we need to found one that could be called “Answers in
Providence.”
On Lord’s Day 10 in the
Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 28 asks, What advantage is it to us to know that
God has created, and by His providence doth still uphold all things?
The answer given to the question
illustrates why this catechism has been called a “book of comfort”:
Answer: That we may be patient
in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may
hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father,
that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His
hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.
This is very practical counsel. What
is to be the Christian’s disposition or attitude in times of adversity (in the
midst of frowning providences)? Patience.
And what is to be the Christian’s
disposition or attitude in times of prosperity (in the midst of smiling
providences)? Thankfulness. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything
give thanks.”
Maybe rather than asking, “How
are you doing?”, Christians need to start asking one another, “Are you in a
season of patience or in a season of thankfulness?”
One of the prooftexts provided
for this teaching in the catechism is Romans 5:3-5. In Romans 5:3a, Paul says, “we
glory in tribulations also.” He then proceeds in Romans 5:3b-4 to describe what
we might call a “golden chain” of sanctification: tribulation produces patience;
patience produces experience; and experience produces hope. Paul concludes, “And
hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
May the Lord teach us in all the
providential circumstances of life to respond with patience and thankfulness.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff
Riddle
Friday, March 08, 2024
The Vision (3.8.24): They went out from us, but they were not of us
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 2:18-23.
They went out
from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt
have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that
they were not all of us (1 John 2:19a).
The church
addressed by the apostle in 1 John had likely suffered serious conflict over
Christology, with some denying that Christ has come “in the flesh,” that is, denying
his true humanity (see 4:1-3; cf. 1:1).
John goes so far
as to call such persons “antichrists” (1 John 2:18; cf. 4:3).
As a result, this
church had suffered schism, as these false teachers and others, perhaps even innocent
ones (“they were not all of us”), were caught up in the fray and departed.
There are
several things to learn here:
First, not all
conflicts in the church are bad. Often churches have conflict for bad reasons,
like inter-personal conflicts or the color of the carpet. But sometimes there
is good reason to have conflict, if it means opposing false teaching.
Second, it is
not always bad for persons to leave a church, if they hold views that oppose
the teaching of Christ and are not willing to repent and learn the way that is
right and Biblical.
We do not
believe in peace at all costs. Obedience to Christ is paramount. Just as surgery,
though painful, is sometimes needed to remove what brings harm to the body, it
must be done. If the pain of surgery is avoided the end result might be something
far worse, even death itself.
There is yet a
third lesson. In this case, the “orthodox” camp apparently held the majority
and prevailed. The antichrists departed. But it does not always happen that
way. Sometimes it is the orthodox who must depart as the majority wrongly sides
with error.
John addressed a
situation like this in 3 John 9-10 where he makes mention of an antichrist
teacher named Diotrophes who cast out faithful brothers from a church.
Luther and
Calvin and thousands of other “Protest-ants” had to come out of the Medieval
Roman church during the time of the Reformation.
I recently read
a book written by a man named D. A. Thompson who in the early twentieth century
had to come out from the Church of England due to compromise in that body.
We do not desire
to be schismatic and fractious in spirit. But we must hold fast to Christ above
all. We want no schism with Christ!
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
Wednesday, March 06, 2024
Monday, March 04, 2024
Saturday, March 02, 2024
The Vision (3.1.24): All that is in the world
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 2:12-17.
For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:16).
The
apostle exhorts his hearers, “Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world” (1 John 2:15a). By “the world [Greek: kosmos]” he does not
mean the created order, or the people within it, but the fallen world as it
sets itself up against Christ and his kingdom.
John
proceeds to describe three things “that are in the world” in particular that
are especially devious in deflecting and turning one’s attention away from
Christ and his kingdom and toward the god of this world.
First,
the lust of the flesh. This refers to fleshly cravings. God has given us lawful
desires, but Satan causes those lawful desires to overflow their proper
boundaries. Even as believers we have those remaining corruptions within us,
and the lust of the flesh entices us. So Paul counseled in 1 Corinthians 6:18,
“Flee immorality.”
Second,
the lust of the eyes. This can take many forms including avarice, greed, and
materialism. The barn-builder in Christ’s parable in Luke 12 was consumed with
this lust and wanted to build for himself bigger barns to hold his possessions,
but the very night he gained his desire, the Lord said to him, “Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee” (v. 20).
Third,
the pride of life. This has been described as “Boasting in one’s acts and
resources”” (RH KJV Study Bible). Do we point more to ourselves and our
supposed accomplishments or do we point toward Christ? Peter admonished,
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt
you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).
These
things are not of the Father, but of the world, John says (v. 16b).
The
last word in v. 17 is that the world “passeth away” along with its inordinate
desires or lusts, but the will of God abideth forever. To which do we want to
hitch or join our lives? That which is here today and gone tomorrow, or that
which will never pass away?
Grace
and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Friday, February 23, 2024
The Vision (2.23.24): A New Commandment
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 2:7-11.
Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth (1 John 2:8).
In 1 John 2 the apostle tells his readers that he writes “no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment” (v. 7). Nevertheless, he then proceeds to call it “a new commandment" in v. 8.
What is this old, new commandment? The reference here is
likely to the new commandment which Christ gave his disciples in the upper room
in John 13:34-35, that they love one another as Christ loved them.
John was reminding his Christian readers of the special love
and regard Christians are to have for one another, based on Christ's example. Christ,
as the New Lawgiver, gives them this new commandment.
Friends, we are also being exhorted today to take up this new
commandment. He has set an example for us. We should serve one another as
Christ has served us.
It starts in the home in the way Christians husbands and
wives treat one another, and it expands to the way Christian parents interact
with all their children, but especially their believing children. How wonderful
it is when our children are also our brothers and sisters in Christ.
It extends into our church in the ways in which we listen to,
honor, and care for one another within the household of faith.
It extends to the way we treat Christian brethren in our
sister congregations here in Virginia and around the world.
It will govern the language we use and the tone of our
discourse on social media.
Do our actions reveal that we walk in the light or that we
are walking in darkness?
What do you do if anyone, but especially a Christian brother,
rubs you the wrong way? Can you plod? Can you continue to abide or remain in
Christ? As John said, “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light…” (1
John 2:10).
We have an old, new commandment to love one another as Christ
has loved us. And we have assurance of our faith if we obey his commandments (1
John 2:5; cf. John 14:15; 15:14).