The Vision (12/19/13): We have done our duty

“So, likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants:  we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10).

Note:  The devotion below comes from notes from the introduction and conclusion of last Sunday’s sermon on Luke 17:1-10:

Do you serve Christ because you have to or because you want to?  Is it wrong to do spiritual things simply out of duty?  Does our obedience and service to Christ always flow naturally and spontaneously from our love for him?  Or does it sometimes require disciplined obedience simply to keep our commitment and obligations to Christ?  How many times have you heard that doing things out of duty made faith mechanical and threadbare?  What Jesus teaches may surprise you.

Here is the rather unpleasant truth: Much of living the Christian life is a matter of doing our duty.  It is simply a matter of obeying Christ’s commands.

Why do we love one another?  Because our master told us so.

Why do we not forsake the assembly of ourselves?  Because our master told us so.

Why do wives submit to husbands and husbands love wives?  Because our master told us so.

Why do children obey parent and fathers not exasperate their children?  Because our master told us so. 

And this means among other things:

That we beware of doing anything that would result in a stumbling block being placed in the path of a little one (see Luke 17:1-2).  Because our master told us so.

That we be ready to be overlook inconsequential differences with brethren and to confront more serious matters in private and godly ways that seek repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation rather than retribution or punishment (see Luke 17:3-4).  Even seven times a day.  Because our master told us so.

Can we do so on our own strength?  No.  We must ask the Lord as the apostles did, “Lord, Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12.12.13): Confidence in God's Appointed Means

 

It was one of those “man bites dog” news links on the Drudge Report website that I just couldn’t pass up.  It enticed with something like, “Pastor tames wild horse while preaching sermon.”  The link sent me to this video on youtube.com where, in fact, you can watch Pastor Lawrence Bishop II of Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio actually tame a wild horse within a ring set up in the center of the church’s sanctuary (more likely, “worship center”).  Pastor Bishop (great name) is also apparently a former rodeo professional, and the “sermon” was the seventh and climactic in his “Conquer the Beast” series.

The stunt reminded me of the time a few years back when I attended the Pastors’ Conference at the annual Southern Baptist Convention, held in Greensboro, North Carolina (back when I was still a Southern Baptist).  At that meeting one of the keynote messages was preached by a pastor from Texas who stood at center stage while daredevils jumped over him on motorcycles (I kid you not!).  At the sermon’s close we were encouraged to follow this model in order to draw a crowd and grow our churches.

Is there anything wrong with sermons where wild horses are tamed?  Or where motorcycles scream through hoops of fire over the preacher?  Is this what Paul was talking about when he said, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor 9:22)?

In fact, I would say this is not at all what Paul was talking about.  Rather than demonstrating innovation or zeal for souls, it shows a fundamental lack of confidence in the simplicity of preaching as the God-ordained “converting ordinance” (as the Puritans called it).  It is an attempt to improve on the God-called minister standing forth in the midst of the gathering of the Lord’s people with an open Bible to preach the gospel.  Paul said, “it pleased God by the foolishness of the message preached to save them that believe” and “we preach Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 1:21, 23).

OK, we might not be tempted to put up a horse ring or build a motorcycle ramp, but we may have our own subtle expressions of lack of confidence in divinely ordained means.  Before the wild horses and motorcycles there were other attempts to spice things up and hold the interest of the audience whether Christian puppet shows, ventriloquists, organs, handbell choirs, praise bands, video clips, etc.  These more recent expressions just prove how fleshly craving for entertainment must always push the envelope for the next spiritual “high.”

May the Lord keep us from this temptation and give us confidence in his appointed means for converting sinners and edifying the saints.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12.5.13): Near Death Experiences and the Sufficiency of Scripture

 

 

 

Note:  The devotion below is taken from the introduction and conclusion from last Sunday’s sermon on the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

“And Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Luke 16:29).

Many hold that the most interesting thing about the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus is the details it provides about life after death.  What happens to the wicked and what happens to the righteous immediately after death?

Indeed the question of what happens after death is a popular topic that fuels much speculation in our day.  Examples:

In 2004 Don Piper, a Baptist minister, published a book titled 90 Minutes in Heaven:  A True Story of Life and Death (Revell), which supposedly catalogued his experience of dying and going to heaven after an automobile accident, until another minister prayed for him and his life was restored. 

At the other end of the spectrum, In 2006 there appeared a book by a charismatic layman named Bill Wiese titled 23 minutes in Hell:  One man’s story of what he saw, heard, and felt in that place of torment (Charisma), which records his supposed experience of being transported to hell for 23 minutes late one evening.

Then, in 2010 Todd Burpo a Wesleyan Pastor from Nebraska published a book titled, Heaven is for Real:  A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back (Thomas Nelson), which tells of how his 4 year old son supposedly died during surgery, visited heaven, and then returned to tell the story.

And even more recently, in 2012 a physician named Eben Alexander wrote Proof of Heaven:  A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into the Afterlife (Simon and Schuster), in which he described his experience in a seven day coma in which he claimed to have traveled to “the deepest realms of super-physical existence” and where he met and talked with “the divine source of the universe itself.”

Is there any basis for giving credence to such accounts?  Jesus’ account of the Rich Man and Lazarus addresses and I think answers that question in the negative.

At the end of the passage, we find that the real focus and the most valuable thing to be gained from the Rich Man and Lazarus, however, is not its teaching about the afterlife but what it has to say about the doctrine of Scripture, particularly the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture.

This account does indeed address and inform the Christian view of the afterlife:

It tells us that death is not the end of our existence, but only the beginning.  At death, our souls are either immediately in the presence of God awaiting the final resurrection and permanent assignment to heaven (like Lazarus), or they are in torment awaiting that same final resurrection and permanent assignment to hell (like the Rich Man).  There are no second chances after death. There is no moving from one realm to another.

And:  There is no moving from either place back to the land of the living.  What does this say about all the books mentioned above?   They are anti-scriptural.  They deny our Lord’s own teaching.  Thus, they are false teaching.  Their major flaw is that they teach one should believe in the reality of heaven and hell due to their extra-biblical witness, coming from their alleged personal experience.  But this is precisely where they are wrong-headed.  The reason to believe in heaven and hell (or anything else of spiritual importance) is not because of the experience of a person (minister, child, or physician) but because of the testimony of the Word of God.

Is scripture sufficient for you?  Or do you crave something else, something more?  If you do, your attitude is like that of the rich man.  You have the Scriptures, listen to them!  

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.29.13): Thanksgiving

Emily Dickenson’s poem “Thanksgiving Day” begins with this stanza:

                                         One day is there of the series

                                                       Termed Thanksgiving day,

                                          Celebrated part at table,

                                                       Part in memory.

The Psalms of the Old Testament were both the hymn book and the prayer book of the Old Testament church.  There are various genres or types of psalms in this collection of 150 songs.  There are what scholars call “psalms of remembrance” in which the inspired author provides a celebratory record of God’s past deeds.  Psalm 136 is an example of this with its constant refrain, “for his mercy endureth for ever.”

There are also “psalms of thanksgiving” in which the author recalls a time of struggle or difficulty in which the Lord graciously interceded to provide relief and deliverance.  An example is Psalm 30 which begins, “I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me” (v. 1).  It concludes, “O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.”

There are also “psalms of confidence” in which the inspired writer expresses a quiet confidence in God.  The premier example is Psalm 23 which begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

In this season of Thanksgiving, celebrated “part in memory,” can we do as the psalms teach and remember God’s goodness, give thanks for his deliverance, and express our quiet trust and confidence in him?

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle 

The Vision (11.21.13): Oh that we may kiss the rod!

A couple of weeks ago as I was teaching through the book of Job in my Old Testament class, I  noted that though perhaps Job did not curse God, he did voice no little despair at his severe trials.  In fact, he even despised the day of his birth:  “May the day perish on which I was born” (Job 3:3a).  Job ends, of course, with God speaking out of the whirlwind.  Job and his friend had placed God on trial, but now the tables are turned, as the Lord asks, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?  Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me” (Job 38:3).  The Lord asks Job where he was when he created the world and all its creatures.  The point:  His ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts than our thoughts.  The Lord’s speech ends with him challenging Job:  “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?  He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” (Job 40:2). A chastened Job answers, “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You?  I lay my hand over my mouth” (v. 4).  As I told the class, I think what happens here is that Job becomes a Calvinist.  He humbles himself in the knowledge of the sovereign Godhood of God.

I was listening to an interview on the radio this week with a woman who said, “I was raised Baptist [and not charismatic].  We were taught not to pray that God would take away our troubles but that he would give us the grace to walk through them.”

When Sarah Edwards, wife of colonial theologian Jonathan Edwards, learned that her husband had died in 1758 at age 54 after complications from taking a small pox vaccine, she is reported to have said to her children:  “What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness, that we had him so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart.”

What trials have you undergone or will you undergo in the future?  Will you place God on trial and question his justice, fairness, and goodness?  Or will you kiss the rod and lay your hand on your mouth?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.14.13): Epistles

It is noteworthy that a large portion of the New Testament consists of letters written from apostles and leaders (like Paul, Peter, James, and John) to the early churches. Many of those letters provide updates on ministry, material needs, doctrinal teaching, and prayer concerns.

I thought of that in recent days as I received several letters (emails) from ministers serving abroad.

One note came from Andy and Beth Rice, missionaries in Zambia, whom our church supports through monthly giving:

Dear Pastor Jeff & Christ Reformed Baptist Church,

Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia. God is glorious and worthy of all our adoration and praise. Our desire is to be worshippers who hold Jesus up above ourselves and even above our ministries. We are thankful to be your missionaries in Africa and we desire to glorify God through the opportunities He gives us. God has been good toward us through the grace given us in Jesus Christ, but also in His provision and protection which He has shown to us as we have transitioned to this new ministry.

We are both busy teaching, mentoring, and reaching out to the people of Lusaka. Those we are working the most closely with live in the compounds which are the poorest sections of the city. They face many financial difficulties, but are rich in faith and love. We are thankful for their desire to grow in Christ and learn His Word. In fact, it is a motivation for our own spiritual growth and development.

We want to thank you for the financial support which you are giving toward our mission. Without your support and the prayers of God’s people we would not be here. You have been and continue to be partners with us in this mission of training pastors and their wives in Zambia. Your partnership and friendship is an encouragement to us and we want to thank you for all that you do for us.

Through the power of the Cross, Andy & Beth

Another was a brief letter shared on a Reformed Baptist ministers’ list from a Pastor of a Reformed Baptist Church in the Philippines:

Dear Brethren

The church is doing benevolence work for the churches affected by the devastating storm, Haiyan or Yolanday. We already have a team that left for Leyte and will be sending another soon to survey needs. Please check our website sgbc-cebu.com for updates on specific requirements and how you may help. 

Thank you, Pastor Jose Francis "Nene" Martinez

 

May the Lord continue to work through his faithful servants in places all over the world.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.7.13): Christ Above All

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

In last Sundays’ sermon I offered three observations on Jesus’ words in Luke 15:26:

Notice first the stress upon one who comes but who does not give full allegiance to Jesus.  Already Jesus is anticipating here a warning against false starters or false professors.

Notice second the strong and even harsh language.  Jesus says his follower must “hate [miseo: to despise, to disregard, to be indifferent towards]” the members of his own family.  Notice the order:  father and mother (one’s first family), wife (the one a man leaves his family of origin to cleave unto), children (the precious fruit of the marriage union), brethren and sisters (one’s own flesh and blood siblings), and, finally, he adds:  “yea, and his own life also.”  If one does not do this he cannot be Christ’s disciple.

Now, what exactly is Jesus saying here?  Is he teaching that one must be estranged from his family to be a true Christian?  Some cults have taught such things and even twisted passages like this to justify their behavior.  That cannot be what Jesus is teaching, because other passages of Scripture teach exactly the opposite and Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35):

The fifth commandment teaches us to honor our father and mother (Exod 20:12).

Paul told Christian husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25).  In Titus 2:4 Paul told Titus to teach the older women in his congregation at Crete to teach the younger women to love their husbands and their children.

Paul told fathers not to exasperate their children (Eph 6:4) and Psalm 127 calls children “a heritage from the LORD,” so they are not to be despised.

As for brothers and sisters, Paul taught in 1 Timothy 5:8:  “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

Finally, the Great Commandment teaches that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Implied in this is the fact that we ought to love ourselves (cf. the sixth commandment on the preservation of our own lives).

So, what does this teaching mean?  How do we reconcile these two streams (Jesus’ command to hate family; Jesus’ command to love family)?  The teaching in Luke 14:26 must be taken as hyperbolic to prove a point.  The point is that even the very relationships that are most precious to us, even the dearest bonds within a family, are not to be placed above the bond to Christ.  We must not make an idol even of family.  If we ever have to choose between family and Christ, we are to choose Christ.

Jesus himself provided the example in his relationship to his human family (cf. Luke 18:19-21).

Notice third, what this teaching implies about Jesus’ self-understanding.  Who could possibly demand such allegiance?  For any mere man to do so would be the height of arrogance and blasphemy. Jesus takes upon himself the prerogatives of a jealous God who will have no gods before him.  As the first commandment teaches that there must be no gods before God, Jesus teaches that he must be above all.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.31.13): What makes a "Reformed" Baptist Church distinct from a Calvinistic Evangelical Church?

Note:  On this day that some have dubbed "Reformation Day" (but more call Halloween), I thought it might be helpful to use my weekly Vision article to reflect on what makes our church "Reformed" rather than merely Calvinistic.

In recent years Calvinism has become cool again in many evangelical circles.  Popular evangelical preachers and authors like John Piper and John MacArthur have fueled interest in “the doctrines of grace” or “five point Calvinism.”  Many mainstream evangelical churches now claim to some degree or another to be “Reformed” or to promote “Reformed” theology.  I cannot help but think, however, that there is often no small degree of what might be called false advertising in that claim.  I say this knowing that many of my Reformed Presbyterian friends might well say the same thing about “Reformed” Baptists altogether, since we do not embrace some things that they hold as essential to the Reformed faith, like infant baptism or highly structured connectionalism among churches.  That might be a good topic for a future essay.  For now, however, allow me to suggest five ways in which a “Reformed” Baptist Church will differ from an evangelical church which, for the moment at least, has embraced some measure of a Calvinistic view of salvation.

A Reformed Baptist Church will be:

1.  Confessional:  It will unequivocally affirm the historic Reformed Baptist Confession:  The Second London Baptist Confession of 1689.  This Puritan Baptist Confession is meaty, Biblical, and thorough.  It does not try to split the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism.  It provides clear boundaries for the church’s beliefs and practices.

2.  Covenantal:  It will be covenantal in its theology.  It will not only reject classical, pre-millennial dispensationalism with all its extra-biblical charts and end times speculations, but also so-called “progressive” dispensationalism, as well as recent “New Covenant” attempts to meld dispensationalism with Calvinism (see the recent book Kingdom Through Covenant [Crossway, 2012]).

3.  Cessationist:   A Reformed Baptist Church will not retreat from the interpretation of Scripture given in article one of the Confession which declares that God’s former ways of having revealed himself have now ceased.  It will point its people not toward the seeking of extra-ordinary experiences but to the sufficiency of Scripture and the ordinary means of grace (prayer, meditation, preaching, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper).

4.  Regulative in Worship:  It will be serious in seeking to conduct corporate worship according to the commandments of God and not the preferences of men.

5.  Sabbath-keeping:  It will hold to the abiding validity of the moral law, including the fourth commandment to remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  It will, of course, seek to do so not in a burdensome, legalistic, Pharisaical manner, adding the “doctrines of men” to the “doctrines of God,” but in a joyful, obedient, and faithful manner.

The five descriptions above might well be formed into five questions a person seeking a church might ask of that congregation and its ministry:

1.  Does your church hold to the Second London Baptist Confession?  If not, why not?  Where are you not in agreement with the confession?

2.  Does this church read and preach the Bible through the lens of dispensational theology or covenant theology?

3.  Does this church clearly believe that the extra-ordinary gifts and miracles of the apostolic times have now ceased or does it hold to an “open but cautious” view?  What does this say about their views on the full sufficiency of Scripture?

4.  What regulates or controls decisions made in this church about the worship of God?  Is it driven more by searching for what God requires or searching for what men desire?

5.  Does this church hold that the Lord’s Day is the Christian Sabbath?  Does it believe in the ongoing validity of the fourth commandment and urge obedience to it?  Or, is Sunday merely another day that just happens to be the day on which we meet for worship?

These are but five marks. There are no doubt others.  At first blush there might not appear to be much difference between what a Calvinistic evangelical church holds and preaches and what a Reformed church holds and preaches. The five questions posed above should help with clarifying those differences.  The end result may not be visible for years to come as it is played out in the life and faith of both the individual believers and the corporate churches.  Sadly, most fads come and go.  Without confessional roots the popularity of Calvinism will likely fade with time.  A pragmatic argument will be made that the tent needs to be big enough even to include folk who do not agree.  In time the distinctions will fade and new fads will arise to supplant the old.

May the Lord help us in contradistinction to this trend to hold fast to Biblical Christianity.  That is what we really mean by Reformed faith.  We do not mean a Reformation and Puritan historical society.  We mean a faith that is wholly regulated, shaped, formed, and reformed again by the Holy Scriptures.

I am thankful to be part of a “Reformed” Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.24.13): Thomas Vincent on the Lawful Preservation of One's Life

Note:  Last Sunday afternoon we returned to our occasional series through Spurgeon’s Baptist Catechism, examining the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”  The catechism teaches that this commandment “forbids the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tends thereunto.”  On this point, I borrowed from the Puritan Thomas Vincent who suggested the following lawful means that one should employ to preserve his life and thus keep the sixth commandment:

1.  Defense of ourselves with arms and weapons, against the violence of thieves and cutthroats that seek to murder us.

2.  Defense of ourselves with clothes, and in houses, against the violence of the weather and cold.

3.  The nourishing and refreshing of our bodies in a sober and moderate use of meat, drink, and sleep.

4.  The exercise of bodies with labour and moderate recreations.

5.  The use of physic [medicine] for the removal of sickness and the recovery of health.

6.  “Patience, peacableness, contentment, cheerfulness, and the moderate exhilarating our spirits with God’s gifts … using all good means to get and keep our minds and hearts in a good temper….”  This is a Puritan call to good mental and emotional health.  He cites Proverbs 17:22:  “A merry heart doth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

May the Lord lead us to honor his moral law including the preservation of our own lives as dictated by the sixth commandment.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.17.13): The Lamentation of Jesus

Note:  The devotion below is drawn from last Sunday’sexposition of Luke 13:31-35.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!” (Luke 13:34).

In v. 34 Jesus offers a lamentation over the city of Jerusalem.  Matthew records that Jesus uttered a very similar lamentation just after his final triumphal entry into that holy city (Matthew 23:37-39).  There is no need to doubt that this was a lamentation Jesus made more than once during his ministry.

Jesus laments that Jerusalem, the city of David, which should have gladly received God’s messengers, instead has killed and stoned those sent (apostello) to them.

Jesus then uses a most unusual metaphor: “how often,” he says, “would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings….”  It is interesting on at least three levels:

First, it draws an animal analogy from the lesser to the greater.  As a hen would gather her chicks, so Jesus would have gathered the inhabitants of that great city.

Second, it is a rare maternal image for the work of God.

Third, and most striking, it parallels several passages in the Psalms which describes God as taking Israel under his “wings.”  See especially Psalm 91:2, 4:

 

Psalm 91:2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Do you see how Jesus is applying what was said of the LORD in this Psalm to himself?  He is taking upon himself the prerogatives of God.

Just as unregenerate Israel of old rejected God, so too the unregenerate of Jesus’ day rejected him.  To know Jesus is to know God; to reject Jesus is to reject God.

Notice the stunning last line of v. 34:  “and ye would not!”  The verb here is thelo, meaning to will or to wish or to want.  Oddly enough this verse (and its parallel in Matthew 23) is often cited by Arminians to refute the doctrines of grace.  “See,” they say, “Jesus said he wanted to save them but they would not (or they exercised their free will in rejecting Jesus).”  This kind of argument completely misunderstands the Calvinistic (Biblical) view of man’s will.  Yes, we agree, man had a free will in Adam, but then Adam fell, and we have now inherited a corrupted will.  As the Puritan primer put it, “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.”  Martin Luther’s most famous theological work was titled “The Bondage of the Will.”  Man’s will is a slave to sin.  As Paul puts it in Romans 3:11:  “there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”  What Jesus is describing here, nonetheless, is the compassion of God toward an unregenerate people who are hardened in their sin and rejection of him.  How often would I have sheltered you but you would not (or, you were not willing)!

 

Every time there is a natural disaster or fire or such, it seems there are stories of folk who were warned to leave but who refused, often to their peril and even death.  The rescuers are there, but they turn them away.  That is what unregenerate men do to Christ.  And Jesus laments their rejection of him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.10.13): Meditation on Psalm 49

Note:  Last Sunday afternoon’s message was a meditation on Psalm 49 as a “wisdom psalm.”  Below are some of my notes:

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave:  for he shall receive me.  Selah.” (Psalm 49:15)

The message of Psalm 49 is that death is coming to all men.  It may seem for the short term that the wicked prosper, giving no heed to God and the things of God, but this is not to discourage the saints who are to press on, continuing to live righteous and godly lives, knowing that they have a hope that extends beyond this life, even eternal life with Christ.

Spurgeon summarized Psalm 49 in his “Treasury of David” as follows:  “The poet musician sings, to the accompaniment of his harp, of the despicable character of those who trust in their wealth, and so he consoles the oppressed believer.”

Here are three words of wisdom in Psalm 49:

1.  It is foolish to trust in wealth (vv. 5-9).

There are some things that money cannot purchase.  It cannot purchase salvation.  It cannot be used to redeem one’s own soul or the soul of one you love.  In v. 7 we read:  “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.”  I think of the Rich Man in Luke 16 who had a burden for his lost brothers, yet all his earthly wealth and influence did him no spiritual good in the grave.

2.  Death will one day separate us from every material thing that we possess (vv. 10-12; 16-20).

Notice in v. 11 the mention of those who name their dwelling places after themselves:  “they call their lands after their own names.”  We see much of that in our area.  But one day those signs proudly placed at the entrances of grand farms will crumble and that land will pass to others.

Notice in v. 17 the psalmist’s warning that in death man will carry nothing away:  “For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away.”    Compare:

 Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. 

1 Timothy 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

 Most of those we consider the best known of our day will one day be largely forgotten.  The most athletic and beautiful of our generation will eventually be brought low in death.  “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish” (v. 20).

3.  For the believer, however, there is hope (vv. 14-15).

 The Psalmist pictures death as like a shepherd leading all to the grave (v. 14).  But for the believer there is hope:  “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave:  for he shall receive me.  Selah” (v. 15).  What a word of comfort this might be for the believer when he lies on his death bed.  What a good funeral text this would be for a believer.

It is often debated what the Old Testament teaches about the afterlife.  We might add this verse to the constellation of passages (including Job 19:25-26 and Daniel 12:2-3) which suggest that the Old Testament saints also knew the resurrection hope.  What lies in the shadows in the Old Testament, however, is brought fully into the light in the New Testament as Jesus taught:  “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

 What does it mean to live a wise life?  It means to understand:

(1) that it is foolish to trust in wealth (including to envy those who have what we do not);

(2) that we will one day part from every dear and prized possession;

and (3) that for those who trust in Christ, there is a glorious hope.

 Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.3.13): One Life at a Time

Note:  The devotion below is drawn from last Sunday’s sermon on Luke 13:11-21.

“And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?” (Luke 13:20).

Luke tells us that just after Jesus heals the woman who had been bowed down with a “spirit of infirmity” (v. 11) for eighteen years, he begins to teach, using parables to describe the kingdom of God (vv. 18-21).

He uses two analogies.  First in v. 19 he says that the kingdom is like a mustard seed (sinapis nigra).  This seed is as small as dust in one’s hand.  But Jesus says that in spite of its small and insignificant size it produces a great tree (or bush, which they say could grow to 10-12 feet in height) in whose branches the fowl of the air might come to nest.  Most commentators note that the image of birds nesting in branches is drawn from the Old Testament (cf. Ezekiel 17:22-23; 31:6; Daniel 4:12, 21).

So, the kingdom from small and seemingly insignificant beginnings eventually flourishes into a great instrument of blessing for all the nations.

In v. 20 Jesus draws a second analogy, that of leaven (v. 21).  Leaven is of course that element added to bread that makes the whole to rise.  Leaven often has a negative symbolism in Christ’s teaching.  He urges his disciples to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1:  “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy”).  Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 5:6 that a little leaven of self-glorifying can leaven the whole lump.  Here, however, Jesus uses the figure positively.  He describes a woman who mixes a little leaven into three measures of meal till the whole is leavened.  The point is that a very little can have an impact out of all proportion to its size and seeming lack of significance.

It has sometimes been pointed out that for the leaven to have its influence it must be worked into the whole mass. It cannot do its work from outside, but it must be mixed within.  So, believers cannot escape to the monastery or cloister or compound but must be in the world but not of it.

Do you see how the kingdom works?  It comes in small ways like a mustard seed and like leaven, but it has an influence out of all proportion to its relative small size and significance.  This should spur us on and encourage us not to be discouraged.  Zechariah 4:10:  “For who hath despised the day of small things?”

 What do we learn if we meditate on these parables coming just after the healing of this woman?  God had worked supernaturally in gloriously liberating one woman from spiritual darkness.  What is one person in the vast sea of all humanity?  One bent over woman is as small as a seed, as insignificant to the eye as leaven. But this is how the kingdom is built.  The Christian movement (the kingdom of God) does not grow by the sword, by mass conversions of whole populaces.  It comes through one broken life being mended at a time.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9/26/13): Some Practical Aids to the Musical Aspects of our Worship

Image:  Singing from the Trinity Psalter at the 2012 Keach Conference

A friend who has worshipped with us at CRBC sent me an email a few months back that I have been meaning to share with you.  His note provides some valuable aids that might enhance your participation in and enjoyment of the musical aspects of our worship at CRBC.  Here’s the note:

Since CRBC uses the Trinity Hymnal (Baptist edition) and the Trinity Psalter, I was wondering if you and others at CRBC were aware of some of the related information available online:

There is an online version of the Trinity Hymnal at http://www.opc.org/hymnal.html.

For the original Trinity Hymnal (1961, non-Baptist edition), they have lyrics, MIDI files of the tunes, various indices, and even a "concordance" ("Search the hymnal").

For the revised Trinity Hymnal (1990, non-Baptist edition), they have MIDI files of the tunes and MP3 files of organ accompaniment.

For the Trinity Hymnal (Baptist edition), they have information on Worship with Hymns, a set of 4 audio CDs available for purchase which have the piano accompaniment to 100 hymns.
(We have a set.)

Terry Johnson, compiler of the Trinity Psalter, has the following available online at the Web site of his church -- the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, GA (http://www.ipcsav.org):

A downloadable .ZIP file of MIDI files for all (I think) of the tunes in the Trinity Psalter at his church's Worship Aids for Ministers page at http://www.ipcsav.org/worship-aids-for-ministers/.

Articles such as Learning and Loving the Trinity Psalter and The History of Psalm Singing in the Christian Church at his church's Articles page at http://www.ipcsav.org/resources/articles/.

A description of his book, The Family Worship Book : A Resource Book For Family Devotions at http://www.ipcsav.org/resources/books/book/the-family-worship-book.

His book includes an explanation of the Christian Sabbath, a Family Bible Reading Record, the Catechism for Young Children ("An Introduction to the Shorter Cathechism"), the Westminster Shorter Catechism, 50 Bible Memorization passages, a condensed version of Isaac Watts' A Guide to Prayer, Thomas Manton's Epistle to the Reader of the WCF and Larger & Shorter Catechisms, The Church of Scotland's Directory for Family Worship, and the text (words) to 60 selections from each of the Trinity Hymnal and Trinity Psalter.

I had borrowed a copy of it from the library and thought it might be a good way to introduce someone to the Lord's Day, Family Worship and/or Psalm Singing.

Perhaps some of that information could be of use to someone at CRBC if they wanted to sing some of the selections listed in "The Vision" for an upcoming Lord's Day.

Thanks to this brother for sharing his research with us.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle