New Book Coming: Why I Preach From the Received Text

This book is coming soon! 25 Reformed ministers (Baptist, Presbyterian, and Independent; from the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia) address why they preach from the Received Text.

You can find more info on the book, including endorsements, the list of contributors, and essay titles here.

JTR

Oden on Pastoral Care and Modern Psychotherapy

 

Image; Thomas C. Oden (1931-2016)

Posted this thread to my twitter today, @Riddle1689:

In Thomas C. Oden's A Change of Heart memoir he notes how his "conversion" from Protestant liberalism to traditional Christianity led him to rethink pastoral care and "psychotherapeutic fads" (see pp.150-153).

In 1971 Oden gave the Finch Lectures at Fuller looking at empirical outcome studies of the effectiveness of psychotherapy. This later became the book After Therapy What? (1974).

After reviewing over 300 empirical outcome studies, he found "that the average psychotherapy cure rate was not better than the spontaneous remission rate."

"The average outcomes of all types of therapy approaches turned out to be the same rate of recovery as that which occurred merely through the passage of time, approximately 63 percent."

"Indeed those studies found that symptoms would disappear spontaneously about two thirds of the time without any therapeutic intervention."

"That finding was coupled with the alarming specter of 'client deterioration,' which showed that 10 percent of the patients found their conditions worsening under the care of professional psychotherapists."

"Those empirical facts took me aback. I had spent two decades trusting the assumed effectiveness of psychotherapies, but now I had actual rigorous empirical evidence of their average ineffectiveness."

These discoveries led Oden to move from study of modern psychotherapy to classic pastoral works like Gregory the Great's Book of Pastoral Rule (AD 590).

JTR

Broad Oak Piety: Why the Woman Taken in Adultery is Scripture

 

I enjoyed having this conversation with Ryan and Joey on the Broad Oak Piety podcast this week.

JTR

Sermon: Give ye them to eat (Matthew 14:13-21)

Morning sermon at CRBC, Louisa, Virginia on May 8, 2022.

JTR

The Vision (5.13.22): Give ye them to eat

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 14:13-21.

But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat (Matthew 14:16).

We can focus on three figures in the feeding of the five thousand:

First: It tells us about the person and work of Christ.

It makes us stand in awe at the power and authority of Christ. Who has power over nature to be able to multiple loaves and fishes? Who can do such things but God himself? Christ did these things. Jesus is Lord.

Second: It tells us about the apostles (and beyond them the church today):

What does he say to the apostles?: “give ye them to eat.”

The risen Christ will tell Peter when he recommissions him: “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15); “Feed my sheep” (v. 16); “Feed my sheep” (v. 17).

At the end of this Gospel the risen Christ will say to these apostles in the Great Commission: “Go and teach all nations….” (Matthew 28:19-20).

The commission given to the apostles continues in the church, built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles with Christ being the chief cornerstone: “Give ye them to eat.”

There is significance here in the fact that the disciples had so little, humanly speaking, to offer. Spurgeon: “It is good for us to know how very poor we are, and how far from being able to meet the wants of the people around us.” Truly, our very little goes a long way in Christ’s hands.

This is a reminder that we have but one thing to give the world and that is Christ.

Third: It tells us about the multitude who were fed by Christ:

As Christians we can relate to the apostles, but more foundationally we can relate to the hungry, sick, and bewildered multitude.

We are reminded that Christ did not look upon us with indifference or disdain, but he looked upon us with compassion. He saw us as sheep without a shepherd.

He healed us and he fed us.  V. 20 describes the experience of all those who find faith in Christ: “And they did all eat, and were filled.” Christ is the only one who can fill and satisfy our hungry souls.

The deepest needs of men, our deepest needs, will not be satisfied when the church offers politics, or yoga classes, or financial counseling, but when we offer the only thing that matters and the only thing that satisfies: Christ himself.

So, when Christ says, “give ye them to eat,” let us give them Christ.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

WM 237: Interview: Ron Rumburg, Reflections on Life, Pastoral Ministry, & Books

 

JTR

The Vision (5.6.22): The Witness of John the Baptist

 

Image: Rhododendron buds beginning to blossom, May 2022, North Garden, Virginia

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 14:1-12.

“And [Herod] sent, and beheaded John in the prison” (Matthew 14:10).

What do we learn from the account of the martyrdom of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12)? Here are at last four lessons:

First: We must be willing to stand and bear witness for Christ—even at the cost of our lives. John provides us an example of this.

We must be willing to speak the truth, even if we stand alone, even if the truth is not popular with men. Yes, even if it costs us our lives. We must not slavishly try to tell men what their itching ears desire to hear (cf.  2 Tim 4:2-4). We must be witnesses for Christ.

Second: We must avoid the negative example of Herod and his house. We should not make rash vows. We should not use manipulation to control others. We should be guided by godly principles, and not expediency.

Third: We can learn from the disciples of John who went to Christ in their distress. See v. 12: “And his disciples… went and told Jesus.” Spurgeon: “When we are in great trouble, we shall be wise to do our best, and at the same time tell the Lord Jesus all about it, that he may direct us further as to what we are to do.”

Fourth: John was a great man, but Christ is greater. Both came as prophets, and neither were not honored but were instead put to death. John was beheaded; Christ will go to the cross. But John’s body remained in the state of death. His disciples placed his body in a tomb. But when the disciples of Jesus came to the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.

I saw someone post a twitter poll last week which began, “If Jesus were alive today….” The problem with that line: He is alive today! And he is still bearing witness through his people to the reality of his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and glorious second coming. All praise be to him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Sermon: The Martydom of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12)

We don't normally post sermons to the youtube channel, but we did this week.

JTR

WM 236: Review: Everhard on being a "Critical Text Guy"

 

You can find the video under review here. 

Everhard's earlier video on modern vs. received text.

My review of the THGNT.

JTR

TBS Text & Translation Conference: September 15, 2022

 Looking forward to attending the Trinitarian Bible Society's one-day Text & Translation Conference on Sept 15 at Tyndale House, London and then the TBS AGM at Met Tab on Sept 17, 2022.

Spurgeon on the Martyrdom of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12)

 

Image: Spurgeon marker, now in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London.

I preached yesterday on the martyrdom of John the Baptist in Matthew 14:1-12. Lots of gems in Spurgeon’s Matthew commentary on this passage. Here are a few I shared on twitter @Riddle1689:

Spurgeon on Herod hearing of Jesus’s fame: “The peasant heard of Jesus before the prince” (Matt, 118).

Spurgeon on Herod thinking Jesus was John redivivus: “Great superstition often underlies a surface of avowed unbelief” (Matt, 188-189).

Spurgeon on John’s confrontation with Herod: “John did not mince matters, or leave the question alone. What was a king to him, if that king trampled on the law of God?” (Matt, 189).

Spurgeon on Herodias: “She was a very Jezebel in her pride and cruelty; and Herod was a puppet in her hands” (Matt, 189).

Spurgeon on Herodias’s daughter: “In these days mothers too often encourage their daughters in dress which is scarcely decent, and introduce them to dances which are not commendable for purity. No good can come of this; it may please the Herods, but it displeases God” (Matt, 190).

Spurgeon on Herod’s rash vow: “Rash promises, and even oaths, are no excuse for doing wrong. The promise was itself null and void, because no man has a right to promise to do wrong” (Matt, 191).

Spurgeon on John’s death: “…the man of God left his prison for Paradise by one sudden stroke of the sword… he received his crown in heaven though he lost his head on earth” (192).

Spurgeon on Herod ordering John’s death: “Men may sin by proxy, but they will be guilty in person” (192).

Spurgeon on Herodias and her daughter: “What a mother and daughter! Two bad women can do a world of mischief” (Matt, 192).

Spurgeon on John’s disciples going to tell Jesus: “When we are in great trouble, we shall be wise to do our best, and at the same time tell the Lord Jesus all about it, that he may direct us further as to what we are to do” (Matt, 192).

JTR