The Vision (12/27/12): Love Your Enemies

We are entering the New Year at CRBC by continuing to work our way through Luke’s account of The Sermon in the Plain (Luke 6:17).  Last Sunday we meditated on Jesus’ command to love our enemies (Luke 6:27-36).  Here are some notes from the exposition of Luke 6:27-28:

Luke 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, 28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

How are Christians to love their enemies? Jesus offers three practical commands:

First:  Do good to them which hate you (v. 27b).

Here Jesus urges the returning of bad actions with good deeds.  Note the extreme force of the language.  Jesus is not saying, “Do good to those who do good to you,” or “Do good to those who like you,” or even “Do good to those who mildly dislike you and do you no good,” but “Do good to those who hate (miseo) you and [the implication is] who do bad things to you.”   This is strong language.  Most of us have a hard enough time doing good to those who love us and who seek our good, much less to those who hate us and who act against us.

Second:  Bless (eulogeo) them that curse you (v. 28a).

Here Jesus urges the returning of bad words with good words.  In Biblical times there was much more a sense of the power of words.  To give someone a blessing was to convey spiritual and even material riches upon that person.  Consider Isaac’s blessing of Jacob.  Likewise, to offer someone a curse was a powerful detriment.  See Balaam’s effort to curse Israel.  It conveyed spiritual and material deprivation upon the person who was cursed.  Wrap your mind now around what Jesus is telling his disciples.  When men use their words to curse you, you are to respond by speaking words of blessing to them.

Third:  Pray for them which despitefully use you (v. 28b).

Here we move from actions (v. 27b), to words (v. 28a), to intercession (v. 28b).  The response of Christians to those who intercede with others to do them harm is to be that they are to intercede for them with the Father.   Have you ever discovered that someone who dislikes you has gone to someone else (a family member, a co-worker, a church member) for the purpose of speaking ill of you, spreading unfounded gossip, or maliciously attacking you?  Jesus is saying that when you hear someone has been interceding against you (despitefully using you) your response should be to fall on your knees and to intercede with the Father for the good of that person.  Pray for them.

I am not saying that this is easy to do.  Jesus never promised that following him would be easy, but he did promise that it would be the most rewarding thing we might ever do.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12/20/12): A Look Back on 2012 at CRBC

This is the time of the year when many look back to reflect on the year past.  Here are just a few highlights from 2012 at CRBC:

February

·        We moved to our new location at the Covenant Lower School on February 5.

·        We hosted a weekend Creation and Faith Conference with Dr. Andy McIntosh on February 11-12.

March

 

·        CRBC Ladies enjoyed an outing to Richmond on March 10.

July

·        We hosted our third annual Puritan Vacation Bible School for children (2012 topic:  The Life of Moses), July 23-25.

August

 

·        We celebrated the ordinance of baptism at the Rivanna River on August 19.

September

 

·        The eleventh annual Keach Conference  was hosted at CRBC September 29-30.

We look forward to seeing how the Lord will work within our body in 2013!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12/13/12): Lord also of the sabbath

Here are some notes to the concluding applications from last Sunday’s sermon from Luke 6:1-11:

 

What do we glean from the two Sabbaths in Luke 6:1-11?

 

1.       Jesus did not teach the abrogation of or doing away with the moral law of God, including the Sabbath.

 

Notice that Jesus did not in any way shape or form do away with the Sabbath.   In v. 6, in particular, even after his confrontation with judgmental Pharisees, observe how Jesus is back in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  This tells us that there are still Ten Commandments in the moral law of God.  God has ordained that in his universe one day in seven in to be given over to rest in him and worship of him.  It has been this way since the creation.  Human beings function best when one day in seven is given over to the God and the things of God.  The Sabbath is designed to give glory to God and blessing to man.  We ignore this aspect of God’s law to our peril.

 

There’s a bluegrass song by Ricky Skaggs called “A Simple Life” where the chorus says, “A simple life is the life for me, a man and a wife and a family, and the Lord up above he knows I’m trying to live a simple life in a difficult time.”  One of the verses says, “I work six days and I rest for one, ‘cause the old rat race ain’t never been won.” That song gets it right.

 

2.       Jesus taught the centrality of Biblical obedience to the law of God, including the fourth commandment.

 

The problem with the Pharisees was that in their zeal to keep the law they went beyond what was written and introduced extra-biblical, man-made rules. The danger is that we can do the same.  There is a warning against that in this passage.

 

3.       Jesus taught the positive rather than the negative aspects of obedience to God’s law, including the keeping of the sabbath (see especially v. 9).

 

Perhaps the best evaluative question to ask is not, “What must I avoid that is wrong?” but “What may I do that is right and pleasing to God?”

 

With regard to the Sabbath, we can hardly improve on the wisdom of the Puritan fathers who in the catechism ask, “How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?” and answer:

 

The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

 

Notice, by the way, that the two exceptions:  necessity and mercy derive from our passage.  To eat is a necessity and so it is lawful to eat on the Sabbath and to do anything else that is necessary for life and well being.  To help another human being or creature as an act of mercy is likewise lawful on the Sabbath.

 

4.       Jesus declared himself to be equal with God.

 

We see this in the declaration of v. 5:  “And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”  Who created the world including the Sabbath as a creation ordinance?  The God of the Bible.  So what is Jesus saying when he declares that he is Lord also of the Sabbath?  He is declaring himself to be equal in essence, power, and glory with the Father.   He is the one who made men’s hands, and he is the one who can restore them when they are twisted and withered (vv. 6-10).  He is the one who made men’s hearts and men’s lives, and he can restore them when they are twisted and withered.

 

There are only two responses to that.  Either we believe and obey or we react with an irrational fury, a madness that drives us even further from him (v. 11).  How will you respond?

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11/29/12): Two Pictures of Man's State Apart from Christ

In last Sunday’s sermon from Luke 5:12-26, one of the closing applications was a call to consider the leper and the paralytic as figures for men in their unregenerate state.  Here are some notes:

The physical state of these two men creates a figurative picture of man’s spiritual state apart from Christ.

Consider initially the man “full of leprosy.”  Sin clings to the unregenerate man in the way that the leprosy clung to this man in our passage.  It radically touches our whole being.

Sin has at least a threefold impact:

First, physically, it leads to uncleanness and eventually to death (Romans 6:23).  No matter how men try to escape this reality or to cover it up, the truth is always there.

Second, socially, our sin puts us outside the camp of God’s people.  One may be a tare hid among the wheat but one day he will be uprooted and cast in the fire.

Third, religiously, our sin alienates us from our God.  We cannot worship or serve him.  We are not even worthy to stand in his presence but deserve only to be cut off.

Notice then the submission and humility with which this man approaches Christ.  He does not come with presumption or haughtiness or spiritual pride.  He knows that he cannot get rid of this awful disease by himself.  He knows that he is completely at the mercy of Jesus, so he begs him, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean” (v. 12)  And he hears the merciful answer of Christ, “I will:  be thou clean” (v. 13).

 

If this first man (the leper) is a figure of man apart from Christ, what of the second (the paralytic)?  He is perhaps an even more compelling figure.  He is a paralytic, unable even to move.  He cannot come to Christ; he must be carried to Christ!  What he was physically, we are spiritually apart from Christ.  What a picture of our spiritual inability before the Lord.  What a picture of our complete and total dependence upon him!

The depth of man’s need accentuates the greatness of Christ’s mercy.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11/15/12): Churchmanship

Note:  We had an abbreviated “Sunday School” session after lunch at CRBC last Sunday on the topic of churchmanship, which I defined as, “The spiritual discipline of conscientious and consistent participation in the life of the local church that brings glory to God and blessing to man.”  I noted that we cannot really obey Jesus’ New Commandment to love the brethren (John 13:34-35) unless we do so as active and involved participants in a local, visible church.  I listed several marks of churchmanship, but the first was “consistent participation.”  Below are some notes on this topic, drawn from some discipleship material I have written:

 

First, it is important that every believer be a solid and faithful participant in a local church. Sometimes a parent who does not have a lot of time to spend with his children will say that he wants to spend “quality time” with them. But every parent knows that children need not just “quality” time but a large “quantity” of time. Families need to spend lots of time together in order to really know each other. Shared experiences strengthen their bonds.  This is also true for a church family.

 

To be a real member of the body, the member must be seriously connected to the body. This requires that every member spends a lot of time with the other members of the body. What would you think of a man who tells his wife, “Honey, I love you and you’re the most important thing in my life,” but he rarely comes home to spend time with his wife? We would say that his actions do not match up with his words. Jesus said that the church is his body. If the believer says he loves Jesus, he will naturally love his church and want to spend time in fellowship with his church family. Jesus said, “a tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). If there is no fruit, is the tree alive?

 

A key scripture to keep in mind is Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” The meetings of the local church are crucial. This means meetings for worship, Bible study, fellowship, prayer, ministry, etc. This does not mean that I should visit a different local church each week, but that I should be committed to meeting together with one local body, where I can grow to know and serve people, as they grow to know and serve me. I need to be present in my church to hear the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. I need to be present to support the church’s leaders. I need to be present to support my fellow members. I need to be present to reach out to non-believers who come into the church. My participation is my primary ministry in the church. When any member is absent, the strength of the church is diminished.

 

This means that when I make personal plans for the way I spend my time, I should intentionally shape my schedule to give priority to the meetings of the church. I should not allow sports, recreation, business, or even family to interfere with my commitment to Jesus and his body. There are, of course, times when one is not able to attend the meetings of his church. Occasional illnesses, trips out of town, vacations, and other types of necessary commitments are certainly to be excused. When one is out of town and not able to attend the local assembly to which he belongs, he has the valuable opportunity to worship and share fellowship with a like-minded church in the area he is visiting.  There are also times when a person cannot regularly attend church meetings for a prolonged period of time due to age or chronic illness. In times like these, it is the church members who are responsible for taking the fellowship to their home-bound members. If one is in good health and has no obvious obstacles to attendance, however, he should make every effort to be present among the saints.  For believers this is a glad duty, not a drudgery or inconvenience.  Those who regularly absent themselves from the gatherings of the church without justifiable reason usually are giving signs of spiritual problems.  As Peter commanded, let us “love the brotherhood,” (1 Peter 2:17).

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11/8/12): A Testimony

Image:  Johnny Farese

 

 

A testimony:  “This experience has taught me that God's promises are good, heaven is better, but Christ is best of all."

I am not sure how many of you have heard the name “Johnny Farese.”  Johnny Farese is a member of a Reformed Baptist church in Florida, well known in RB circles for his longtime operation of a website that features the most complete directory of Reformed Baptist churches in the USA and beyond (CRBC appears on this list and we have had several visitors who have found us here).  He also sends out a regular email list with prayer concerns, devotions, news, and updates that is widely read.  I have never met Mr. Farese in person but have only known him through his web activity. Farese’s industry, usefulness, and influence are made all the more remarkable given that he has suffered his entire life with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) disease which has left him bedfast and largely immobile.  On the front page of his website is this quotation:

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do."

If you have not read Johnny Farese’s testimony, I would commend it to you.  It is titled, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”

 

This summer Farese sent out an email to his list saying that due to health problems he was suspending its operation.  Then, about a week ago, he sent out this update. I share it so that you can be encouraged by his testimony, pray for this brother, and ponder your own understanding of your present circumstances and usefulness in the kingdom:

Dear brethren,

Grace, merry and peace be yours through Jesus our Lord.

Oh how I have missed you all. Thank you so much for all your prayers and emails.

The past three months have been the most difficult of my life. In late August I was having severe chest pains and difficulty breathing.  Paramedics were called in to determine if I was suffering a heart attack. I refused to go to the hospital, so hospice was called in the next day.  They were able to bring the pain down considerably with meds, but the difficult breathing persists to this day. I have to lay flat on my back in order to breath and to manage my discomfort. My speech ability has become extremely compromised and I often have to have my mouth and lungs suctioned throughout the day. I have had to battle much discouragement and depression. My greatest struggle is feeling like a burden to my family.

Many nights I drenched my bed in tears crying out to God that I can't take one more day of this and asking Him to take me Home. But God in His sovereign wisdom according to His will for me in Christ Jesus is not done perfecting me for the Day of Glory. The scriptures say that we are to give thanks to God for all things, even for trials. They don't say we are to feel thankful. Though I don't always feel thankful I do give thanks to God for my trials with all sincerity. This experience has taught me that God's promises are good, heaven is better, but Christ is best of all.

 
Please continue to pray for me and my family as we adjust to all the changes in our daily routine.

It took me over five hours to type this email one character at a time using a sip and puff device along with some special software. Therefore I won't be able to answer your emails or resume the RB Online Directory and the Email Service. However, I would like to receive your church prayer emails so I can pray for you all.

With love in Christ,
Johnny

JTR

The Vision (11/1/12): Transferable and non-transferable lessons from Christ's temptation

Here are some notes from the conclusion of last Sunday’s sermon from Luke 4:1-15:

 

It seems there are some lessons here that are transferable (that relate to the pilgrimage of all believers as we follow the pattern of Christ) and some that are nontransferable (that uniquely apply to understanding Christ alone).

 

First, the transferable:

 

The devil is a real and formidable adversary.  In 1 Peter 5:8, the apostle Peter admonishes us:  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”  If he tried to attack our Lord, he will try to attack us.  If a predator in the wild goes after a mature prey, will he not also attack the weak and immature?

 

He likes to come up against us by sowing doubt as to the sure and precious promises of God’s Word.  So, he asks, “Is the Bible really reliable?”  “Is Jesus really the son of God?”  Does it really matter how I live my life?”  He will even try to twist the Scriptures to justify his perversions.

 

He comes against the believer with a fury, particularly when he sees that he is losing his prey.  He likes to attack us when we are weak and vulnerable.  This might be when we are physically or emotionally or spiritually worn down.

 

He brings a variety of temptations against us just as he did against Christ.  He will tempt us to make our physical desires to become our god.  He will tempt us to seek do good through merely temporal or worldly means. He will tempt us to make our religion rotate around our own self-preservation as the ultimate good.

 

We learn from Christ how we are to respond to temptation.  Our most valuable weapon is the Word of God.  We are to have it at the ready to use as a weapon against Satan.  This means not merely the citation of verses in and of itself but the concept and principles are to be so imbedded within us that we know how to divide truth from error.  This means we must be motivated to read, memorize, meditate upon, and hear the Word of God.

 

Second, the non-transferable:

 

Here we see Jesus growing into his full maturity as a man and that includes knocking down the objections of the devil to his calling to be the Suffering Messiah.

 

Here is illustrated what Hebrews 4:15 declares, that he “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

 

He did not do as Satan suggested, try to set up a worldly kingdom.  Instead he chose the path given him by God the Father.  He would strike at man’s root problem, his sin problem, by dying on the cross for sinners and setting up an invisible kingdom.

 

He did not shrink from the suffering of the cross, but he embraced it.  And by his stripes we are healed.  Here we see Christ passing through the school of trial and we are the beneficiaries. 

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10/25/12): Why does Luke record the genealogy of Jesus?

Image:  We made use of our new pulpit and communion table last Lord's Day at CRBC.

 

Which was the son of Enosh, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God (Luke 3:38).

Note:  Here are some of my notes from the closing reflections in last Sunday’s sermon on The Roots of the Messiah (Luke 3:23-38).  I look forward to continuing our journey through Luke’s Gospel this coming Sunday.

Why does Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, record the genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:23-38)?  There are at least two important spiritual points that are being made:  (1) the universal scope of God’s mission; and (2) the sovereign plan of God.

 

The universal scope of God’s mission

 

Again, nothing in Scripture is accidental or coincidental.  I think there is significance first in where Luke traces the line of Jesus.  He goes back to Adam (Luke 3:38).  Matthew traces his roots back to Father Abraham (Matthew 1:1).  But Luke goes all the way back to the  Garden.

One of the key things this does is bring emphasis to the universal scope of the gospel.  It is not universalism (all men will be saved), but it does have a universal scope (all sorts of men will be saved).  In Athens, Paul will preach to the pagans and say that the God of the Bible “hath made of one blood all nations of men” adding “That they should seek the Lord” (Acts 17:26-27).  In tracing the line of Jesus back to Adam (and then, even to God himself), Luke is reminding us that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek., bond nor free, male nor female (see Galatians 3:28).  What does the angel tell the shepherds on the night of Christ’s birth?  “Fear not:  for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10).  There is a wideness in God’s mercy that is evident at the very beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry!

The Sovereign Plan of God

 

We are called also in this text to wonder at the wisdom of the sovereign plan of God and his power to carry it out.  In generation after generation, God was at work, setting up the intricate set of connections that would lead to the arrival of his Messiah.  It could have been broken at any one of the 70 plus points along the way, but God did not let that happen.  His plans cannot be shaken and his purposes cannot be thwarted.  If that was true of the sending of his Son as Redeemer it will also be true of the sending of his Son as Judge.  It is also true of all the promises he makes to his disciples.  When we do not understand with certainty all that happens around us, we can still trust the Architect of history to do all things well.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10/18/12): Why was Jesus baptized?

Note:  Here are some of my notes from the closing reflection in last Sunday’s sermon from Luke 3:15-22 on The Baptism of Jesus.

 

There are several important things that we are taught in Luke’s account of the baptism of Jesus.

 

1. Doctrinally:  Jesus’ baptism provides for us a visual picture of the triune God.

 

The modalist has a hard time with this account, for here in one moment is God the Son being baptized, God the Spirit descending as a dove, and God the Father speaking to his Son.

 

2.      Practically:  Jesus provides us an example of obedience in baptism.

 

As Jesus was submitted to John’s baptism, so we should be submitted to Christian baptism.  We should follow Christ’s example in following the proper mode (full immersion) and in the proper subject (one who has reached such a level of maturity that he can of his own volition be submitted to the ordinance).

 

Most importantly, as Jesus had a time in his life when he embraced his destiny, his calling, so we are to take a clear and incontrovertible stand for the Lord in our baptism.

 

3.   Soteriologically (regarding the doctrine of salvation):  The baptism of Jesus anticipates his saving death on the cross.

 

Let’s return to the question we started with:  If John preached “a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3) why did Jesus submit to baptism?  The liberal would say that Jesus was just a man like everyone else.  Even one of the late, heretical Gnostic writings (The Preaching of Paul, see its citation by Godet, p. 125) has Jesus confessing sin to John before his baptism.  But the canonical Scriptures rightly teach that Jesus was without sin (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15).

 

In Matthew’s account of the baptism, he notes that those who came to the Jordan to be baptized by John were “confessing their sin” (Matthew 3:6).  We can see the publicans and soldier doing just that.  But what sin could Jesus confess?  Matthew alone of the Gospels records that when Jesus came, John forbade him saying, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” (Matt 3:14).  But Jesus says “Suffer it to be so for now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness” (v. 15).

 

Luke does not record this.  But I think it would not be wrong for us to imagine that when Jesus was asked to confess his sins before being baptized, he confessed not his own sin (for he had none), but he confessed the sins of all those for whom he would one day die upon the cross.  Can you see him there in a moment of time confessing your every sinful deed?  By submitting to baptism, Jesus was submitting to the destiny ordained for him in the eternal counsels of God, to give his life as a ransom for many.  Later, in Luke 12:50 Jesus will say, “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am straightened till it be accomplished.”  He is speaking of his baptism of suffering upon the cross.  In his baptism Jesus the Son is submitting to the will of the Father.  This is what elicits the manifestation of the dove-like Spirit (it was a dove sent by Noah after the wrath of the flood) and the declaration of the Father’s good pleasure in the beloved and eternal Son.

 

Last Thursday I was speaking to a man from Nepal outside the Pavilion where the Dalai Lama was making an appearance.  This man told me he had once met the Dalai Lama and he had asked him, “Why, if you really believed in reincarnation, would you have bodyguards?  Why fear death if you know you will be reincarnated?”  I said to the man, “Yes.  That is so different from Jesus.  He did not try to run from the cross.  He did not try to hide from those who wanted to crucify him.  He did not try to defend himself.  He stood alone even while all deserted him.  He had a job to do.  And he did not run from it.  He embraced it!”

 

That is what we see anticipated in the baptism of our Lord. 

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle