Note: Devotion take from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 3:1-6.
Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God (1 John
3:1a).
John begins with an exclamation,
“Behold,” that holds Biblical overtones. “Behold” is what men say in the Bible
when they meet angels and encounter wonders. John utters this word as he thinks
about his own salvation and that of others, with wonder and awe.
Notice three things stressed
here: (1) The Actor, (2) the Action, and (3) the Recipients of
the Action.
The Actor is God the Father. A
former Muslim now a Christian pastor in London, Ibrahim Ag Mohamed, notes that
in Islam “you can know Allah’s law and will, but never his person or his
character or his heart. He is a ruler not a friend” (God’s Love for Muslims,
21). Allah has slaves, but not sons.
For Christians, however, God is
our heavenly Father. Christ taught his disciples to pray, “Our Father which art
in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Paul wrote to believers in Rome reminding them that
they had been adopted by God the Father and so might address him in most
intimate terms, “For ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).
The
Action is the bestowal of God’s love (agape), divine affection, upon sinful men. One of the best
known verses in the Bible declares, “For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The apostle John makes a similar point in 1
John 4:16, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is
love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
The
Recipients are “us” (believers).
John here places himself alongside all the ordinary and nameless individuals to
whom he writes. The bestowal of God’s saving love is not aimless and
directionless. It is not like an airplane that soars overhead and drops
leaflets indiscriminately on all who are below. It is more like a letter that
is purposely directed to a particular recipient, whose name is written down as
the one addressed by the Father. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul says God, “hath chosen
us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world.”
When we
become believers through spiritual adoption our status is changed. God’s love
is bestowed upon us. We are given “power to become Sons of God” through belief
in Christ’s name (John 1:12-13). We become part of the family of God. We become
children of God, and we become citizens of the heavenly kingdom. This change in
status was not given to us by any merit in us, and it will never be revoked.
Like, John,
we too can thus stand in awe, uttering, “Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called Sons of God.”
Grace and
peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
About this book:
The author is D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
(1899-1981). He was a Welshman, a physician by training who was called into the
ministry as a young man in 1927. From 1938 to 1968 he served as pastor of
Westminster Chapel in London where he had a very influential ministry and drew
large crowds to hear his expositional preaching series. Many of those sermons
were published in various series. The Banner of Truth publishing ministry also
began with the church at that time.
One of Lloyd-Jones’ most memorable
sermon series was an exposition of the book of Ephesians (now published in 8 volumes
by Banner of Truth). This booklet is taken from five sermons in that series
taken from Lloyd-Jones exposition of Paul’s “household code” instructions regarding
the relationship between children and parents (Ephesians 6:1-4) (in volume 6 of
the series).
After a brief publisher’s introduction,
there are five short and highly readable chapters in the book, one from each
sermon.
This format would easily lend itself
to a five-part book study series.
The five chapters:
First: Submissive Children (3-20);
Second: Unbelieving Parents (21-34);
Third: Discipline and the Modern
Mind (35-52);
Fourth: Balanced Discipline
(53-68);
Fifth: Godly Upbringing (69-85).
This booklet is not a pragmatic
approach to parenting. It is not “parenting in a box.” It is not filled with “five
ways to teach potty-training,” or “three ways to make your kids eat healthy” kinds
of advice. On the other hand, it does, especially in the last couple of chapters provide some very practical exhortations about parenting and, most importantly,
it lays a Scriptural and doctrinal basis for Christian parenting.
If you work through the book, you
might find the first three chapters a bit slow, but if you are patient, you will
be especially rewarded in the last two chapters.
A description of each chapter
and a bit more about the last two:
The first chapter
(Submissive Children) focuses on Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord.” It
talks about the contemporary problems of disobedient children (Things haven’t
changed that much since Lloyd-Jones wrote, and perhaps they’ve become even worse!). One
of the key points is, “It is unnatural for children not to obey their parents”
(11). He emphasizes that the child-parent relationship is to reflect the Christian’s
relationship to God Himself (14).
The second chapter
(Unbelieving Parents) addresses an interesting subject, namely, how are
believing children to treat unbelieving parents. Lloyd-Jones writes, “The obedience
required of the children must be yielded to every kind of parent” (22). In our
study this chapter led to some good discussion among the adults, including some
who came from non-Christian homes, as to what our duties are to our own
parents.
The third chapter (Discipline
and the Modern Mind), as the title indicates, addresses the discipline of children.
Lloyd-Jones draws a contrast between a “Victorian” approach that sometimes
lacked flexibility and charity and a “modern” approach which often tends toward
an overly permissive attitude. He suggests the modern secular view fails,
because it lacks a Christian understanding of atonement, redemption, and regeneration.
The fourth chapter
(Balanced Discipline) follows up on the third chapter, based on Ephesians 6:4a,
“fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.” It offers a series of seven practical
(yet open) principles related to discipline:
First, “we are incapable of
exercising true discipline unless we are able to exercise self-control” (56).
Second, in discipline a parent “must
never be capricious” (57). We are not to be moody, unpredictable, changeable,
and uncertain.
Third, “parents must never be
unreasonable or unwilling to hear the child’s case” (58).
Fourth, “the parent must never be
selfish” (59).
Sixth, “Discipline must never be
too severe” (61).
Seventh, “We must never fail to
recognize growth and development in the child” (62).
This chapter is a quote factory.
He summarizes his argument: “Discipline
must always be exercised in love” (65).
“The child’s good is to be your
controlling motive” (66).
“So you must look even at your
own children primarily as souls, and not as you look at an animal that you
happen to possess, or certain goods that you possess” (66).
“What if God dealt with us as we
often do with our children!... There is nothing more amazing to me than the
patience of God, and His longsuffering toward us” (67).
The fifth chapter (Godly Upbringing)
focuses on Ephesians 6:4b: “but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord.” Lloyd-Jones states, “When the child comes we must say to ourselves,
we are the guardians and custodians of the soul” (70). Nurture refers to
general care and admonition, especially, to our speech.
Four principles are presented:
First, nurture and admonition
must be done in the home and by the parents. This duty cannot be handed over to
the school. Some of the discussion here is directed to the “boarding school”
system in the UK, but can be applied in any context. His main point is that the
benefits of a good academic education should never outweigh the importance of
parental spiritual nurture.
He even says, “We should be
considering to what extent the system of boarding children away from home is
responsible for the breakdown of morals in this country” (76). One wonders how
this teaching was originally received. We might compare it today to a contemporary
call for Christian families to leave public (government) schooling. He warns against
the teaching of evolution and higher criticism of the Bible, adding, “The whole
emphasis is anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-true Christianity, anti-miraculous, and
anti-supernatural. Who is going to counter these trends?” (77).
Second, “Never be entirely negative
and repressive” (79). Beware “a false Puritanism” (79).
Third, don’t make “little prigs
and hypocrites” of your children (79).
Fourth, “we must never force a child
to make a decision” (80).
More worthwhile quotes here:
“Christian parents must always remember
that they are handling a life, a personality, a soul” (80).
“Do not bring pressure to bear on
your children” (81).
“So our teaching must never be
too direct, or too emotional” (81).
“Above all, there should be an
atmosphere of love” (81).
Use “general conversation” in the
home “conducted in Christian terms” (82).
The “Christian point of view must
be brought into the whole of life” (82).
When questions are asked, parents
“must not brush the child aside” (83).
“Then you can guide their reading”
(84).
“What else? Be careful always,
whenever you have a meal, to return thanks to God for it, and to ask his
blessing upon it” (84).
“In other words to sum it all up:
what we have to do is to make Christianity attractive…. We should create within
them the desire to be like us” (84).
Conclusion:
So, in closing I commend this
book to you for personal reading or for group study in your church. I think you
will find it profitable whatever your station in life.
I think you will be blessed if
you take up this book and read.
-JTR
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 2:24-29.
But
ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things (1 John 2:20).
But
the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not
that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
him (1 John 2:27).
In
the epistle of I John the apostle writes to a church that is battling false
teachers (antichrists) (2:18) and has experienced schism (2:19).
One
of his words of assurance is to remind them that they have the anointing of the
Holy Spirit. The term in Greek is chrisma. It appears only three times
in the NT and all three are in 1 John 2 (vv. 20, 27). It is translated as “unction”
in 2:20 and as “anointing” in 2:27.
The
best way to understand this term is as a reference to the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. In his public ministry Christ promised the disciples he would send
“the Comforter,” “the Spirit of truth” to them who would “dwell with you, and
shall be in you” (John 14:16-17; cf. John 14:26; 16:13). Paul also writes to
believers about the “Spirit of God” which dwells in them (see Romans 8:9, 11).
In v. 20 Christ said that with the unction of the
Holy Spirit believers will “know all things.” This is especially related to
discernment. With the Spirit’s help they will be able to know the antichrists and
not to follow them. John reinforces this in 2:27, “the same anointing teacheth
you of all things.”
John also says something in 1 John 2:27 that
might be easily misconstrued. He states, “and ye need not that any man teach
you.” Was Christ calling for some kind of radical egalitarian community where
there would be no human teachers? Or where, perhaps, everyone was a teacher? To
understand John’s meaning we must appeal to “all the counsel of God” (Acts
20:27), as articulated in the Reformation principle of Scripture interpreting
Scripture.
What does the NT convey about teachers in the
church? Christ gives “pastors and teachers” to the church, “for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body” (see
Ephesians 4:11-12). Paul noted that local church bishops are to be “apt to teach”
(1 Timothy 3:2). He stated that not everyone should be a master (teacher)
(Hebrews 3:1). He also said that the one who is taught should support “him that
teacheth in all good things” (Galatians 6:6).
1 John 2:27 cannot be cherry picked to say that
there is no role for teachers in the church.
John’s point, however, is to say that believers
have a Teacher whose expertise and skill and power and influence will
necessarily take precedence over every human teacher, and that is the indwelling
Holy Spirit of God. Since the believer has this anointing, he will be guided
into discernment. He does not, for example, rely on the magisterium of the Roman
Church or the magisterium of the secular academy, but upon the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not some “extra-ordinary” gift
for only some believers. It is an “ordinary” gift given to all believers. We are
thankful for the Holy Spirit which dwells in each follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ and teaches him all things needed for life and godliness.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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
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
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
