The Vision (12.29.17): John 6:44 and Irresistible Grace

Image: Some CRBC kids at a recent Sunday lunch fellowship.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 6:41-51.

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).

In this verse we have one of the great prooftexts for what we call irresistible grace, or effectual calling, that is, the gracious way in which God the Father sovereignly draws men to the Lord Jesus Christ. He draws men like a magnet draws metal.

We use this language in evangelical circles for becoming a Christian. We refer to it as coming to Christ. You come to Christ when you hear the gospel, your heart is changed, you repent of your sin, and confess your faith in him. Jesus says none of that happens apart from the drawing work of the Father.

Jesus does not say, “No man come to me, except he is really sincere…except he really tries as hard as he can…except he weeps buckets of tears… except he does this, that, or the other thing….” No. He only speaks of what the God the Father must do. It is then God-centered, Patri-centric.

The verb here for “to draw” in Greek is elkuo. It is helpful to compare how this verb is used in the rest of John and in the NT. Compare:

John 12:32 where Christ speak of being lifted up and drawing all men to himself.

John 18:10 which speaks of Peter drawing his sword to strike the high priest’s servant when Christ is arrested.

John 21:6, 11 which speak of the disciples drawing a net filled with fish.

Acts 16:19 which speaks of Paul and Silas being drawn before the authorities in Philippi.

Acts 21:30 which speaks of Paul begin drawn by a mob out of the temple.

James 2:6 which speaks of Christians being drawn by the rich before the authorities.

So, the verb is used to describe a force that acts upon an object or person. Just as a sword does not draw itself out of its sheath or a net draw itself into the boat or onto the shore, so a sinner does not draw himself to Christ. God himself must graciously act upon him and draw him to Christ.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12.22.17): I am the bread of life

Image: CRBC Elder Jeff Clark with Thursday Bible Study group at Epworth Manor, Louisa, Virginia, December 14, 2017. Photo credit: Barbara Clark.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 6:28-40.

John 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore gives us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

In light of Christ’s teaching about the “true bread” in John 6:32, the crowd petitions: “Lord, evermore give us this bread” (v. 34).

This would have been a fitting request, if they had understood who Christ is. As it stands, however, it only demonstrates their dullness.

Jesus had spoken about the “true bread” which comes down from heaven and gives life (6:32-33). They reply: Give it to us. They are thinking that he is speaking about some kind of bread to fill the stomach, some magic manna, and not about himself.

Their petition is much like that of the Samaritan woman in John 4. After Jesus had spoken to her about the living water, she said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw” (4:15).

Then we come to Christ’s declaration of a key analogy or comparison, the first of the so-called seven “I am” sayings of John’s Gospel (but cf. already John 6:20), as Jesus declares: “I am the bread of life” (v. 35a). Every Jewish hearer would have noted an echo here of Exodus 3:14, Moses at the burning bush. When Jesus says, “I am”, he is making himself equal with God. Jesus comes not as a social worker, not as a community activist, who tries to fill the stomachs of men. He comes as God himself incarnate.

He has already spoken of himself as the “true bread,” and now he calls himself “the bread of life.” Bread was a staple in the diet of first century men as it remains for most men today. In some ways bread is the most basic, the most primal of all the foods which nourish and strengthen a man. Through this analogy Jesus is saying, I am not peripheral to a man’s existence, but I am essential to a man’s health and well-being. Either he will receive me and flourish or he will reject me, shrivel, and die.

So, Jesus says, “he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (v. 35). Calvin in his commentary notes the expansion of the metaphor here. We do not think of bread satisfying thirst. The point is that Christ is the food that satisfies a man’s soul, that meets his cravings and longings, and that soothes his restless heart.

This is the reality of who Christ is and what he does for those who believe in him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12.15.17): The Saviour of all men (1 Timothy 4:10)

Image: Snow on holly bush, December 2017, North Garden, Virginia

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon in the 1689 confession series.

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe (1 Timothy 4:10).

The final paragraph in chapter five of the 1689 Baptist Confession, “Of Divine Providence,” stresses God’s special care for his church:

Paragraph 7. As the providence of God doth in general reach to all creatures, so after a more special manner it taketh care of His church, and disposes of all things to the good thereof.

The first prooftext listed is 1 Timothy 4:10. This is a verse much disputed by our Arminian friends, who like to see it as a proof for “universal” redemption, as opposed to particular redemption or limited atonement.

I believe, however, that the framers of the confession were very intentional in their use of this prooftext at this point. By citing it here, they were making the point that this verse does not address the doctrine of salvation or redemption but providence.

Look at the context. Paul is writing to encourage the young minister Timothy, urging him to remember that in the midst of difficult labors and the suffering of reproach, he should trust in the living God. He is not addressing here the doctrine of salvation, but that of providence. In this context he refers to the Lord as “the Saviour (Greek: Soter) of all men.”  This term can indeed can be used to refer to the God of the Bible as a Redeemer. It can also, however, be used to refer to God as a Provider. The Romans could refer to their emperors as “saviors,” not meaning that they provided spiritual salvation, but material protection. To call God “the Saviour of all men” here would be parallel to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:45 that God causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on both the just and the unjust.

In his commentary on this verse, John Calvin sees the main point as being that believers lose nothing of God’s providence when they are tried by adversity. He thus takes “Saviour” here as “a general term” denoting “one who defends and preserves.” He concludes that Paul’s meaning here is “that the kindness of God extends to all men.” If God’s goodness and care extends to all men, then, “how much more is it experienced by the godly, who hope in him?”

Matthew Poole, likewise, takes “Saviour” as used here to mean, “The Preserver of all man, the Preserver of man and beast.” He compares this verse to Psalm 33:18-19, where one finds a similar stress on God’s preservation of his people. Poole adds:

This seemeth rather to be the sense of the text, than to understand it of eternal salvation, for so God is not the actual Savour of all; besides that the text seemeth to speak of a work proper to the Father, rather than to the Son.

Poole does indeed raise a major issue with the Arminian interpretation. If “the Saviour of all men” is taken as a reference to general atonement, it lends support to the unsavory notion of universal salvation, a concept clearly counter to the Biblical witness (cf. John 3:36).

So, 1 Timothy 4:10 does not contradict the doctrines of grace. When Scripture is “rightly divided” it must be interpreted as a testimony to God’s special care for his people. If he provides for all men, will he not, all the more, provide for his own dear people?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12..8.17): Understanding the Feeding of the Five Thousand

Image: CRBC young folk help on church leaf raking day (12.1.17)

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 6:1-14.

So the men sat down, in number about five thousand (John 6:10b).

We must beware of false interpretations and applications of this passage. Let me mention two:

First: The social gospel interpretation:

I wonder how many “social gospel” messages have been taken from this text. How many times has Christ’s question in v. 5b “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” been taken merely as a summons to some sort of social responsibility.

Indeed, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves and to do good unto all men (cf. Gal 6:10). There is a place for mercy ministry. But we need also to remember that the same Jesus who fed the five thousand will also say, “For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always” (John 12:9). This same Jesus when tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread, responded, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

Christ cared for the bodies of men, but he cares even more for the souls of men. Above all, he seeks his own glory and honor. I recall reading of an Indian evangelist who wrote of ministering to indigent and dying men and telling them, I have nothing physical to give you, but I can give you something of infinitely greater worth. I can tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ who can save your soul.

Second: The moralizing application:

This type of false interpretation often centers around the lad with the five loaves and the two fishes.

How many have made this account into a stewardship lesson about how if you just give what you able, then God will not only receive it but also bless you? But, surely that it not the point. The focus is not on the boy’s generosity with his loaves and fishes but on the God who multiplied these things and made them abound.

There is nothing humanistic about this narrative. It is not a guideline for our generous behavior. It is about the power and compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Toward a more accurate understanding:

If we cannot interpret this account as an example of the social gospel or as a moralistic proverb, what are we rightly to make of it?

We might meditate on the contrast between the weakness and emptiness of men and the vastness and richness of Christ. It is about how he takes the very meagre, weak, and insignificant talents, resources, and gifts we possess—things of which the best we might say, “what are these among so many?” (John 5:9)—and he uses them to manifest his own glory and to demonstrate his own power.

It is also yet another example of the patience of Christ with his own disciples, who tend to think only in humanistic and man-centered terms and neglect to remember that the one whom we worship made heaven and earth and is sovereign over all things. Let us not neglect to consider the power of Christ. When you are faced with what seems an insurmountable difficulty, an impossible challenge, an unwinnable war, remember the one who is your Master. Calvin says that this account is a confirmation of Christ’s exhortation in Matthew 6:33 to seek first his kingdom and all other things will be added to us.

Indeed, it shows how Christ faithfully provides for and feeds his people. He provides not only our daily bread, but, most importantly, he feeds us spiritually. In this age, he does this through the ordinary means of Word and Sacrament (anticipated here in the teaching of Christ and in his giving the elements of loaves and fishes). And in the age to come we will be in the glory of his presence.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12.1.17): Search the Scriptures

Image: Scene from Ralph's Christmas tree farm, Nelson County, Virginia, November 2017 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 5:31-47.

“Search the scriptures” (John 5:39a).

In John 5:31-47 Jesus presents a fourfold witness to his identity as the Son of God: the witness of John the Baptist (vv. 32-35); the witness of his own works (v. 36); the witness of the Father (vv. 37-38); and, finally, the witness of Scripture (vv. 39-47). Jesus begins his description of this final witness with the statement: “Search the scriptures.” This could be taken as an indicative: “You search the scriptures”, but it might also be taken, as translated here, as an imperative: “Search the scriptures.”

The verb used is eraunao, which means to study, to examine, or to do research into something. In this command we have warrant for all the forms of careful Bible reading and studies pursued by believers, from personal devotional reading, to small group Bible studies, to the production of scholarly commentaries. By this command, Christ mandated that his followers would be a people of the book.

Luke will commend the Bereans in Acts 17:11 as those who “searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so” [though the verb for “search” here is anakrino, the sentiment is the same].

The Protestant Reformers often cited this command to justify their emphasis upon the Scriptures, a principle later known as sola scriptura.

When the Puritan William Whitaker (1547-1595) composed his masterful work A Disputation on Holy Scripture in 1588 he began with Christ’s command here in John 5:39 as justification for his work. He explains Christ’s words:

He bids them go on to “search the Scriptures;” he inflames in every way their zeal for the scriptures, and sharpens their industry. For he exhorts them not only to read, but search and thoroughly examine the scriptures: he would not have them content with a slight perusal, but requires an assiduous, keen, laborious diligence in examining and investigating their meaning, such as those apply who search with anxious toil for treasures buried in the earth (p. 25).

The framers of our 1689 Baptist confession (and the WCF before them) also put great stock in this command and its implications for believers. They saw this command as a warrant for every believer individually reading the word in a translation of the Bible he could understand. It is cited as a prooftext in chapters one, paragraph 8 when it says the believers “have a right unto and an interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded in the fear of God to read and search them, therefore, they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come…”

Why should you believe in Christ?

You are not asked to make a blind leap of faith. You are asked to believe the witnesses to him. Believe John the Baptist. Believe Christ’s works as evidence of who he is. Believe the testimony of God the Father whom we see in Christ. Believe the Scriptures. Search them. Give time to the reading of God’s word, to meditation upon it, to intake of the Word in hearing preaching and teaching, in reading sound expositions and commentaries, in study to show oneself approved a workman who need not be ashamed.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.24.17): They that hear shall live

Image: Thanksgiving meal at the Riddles, North Garden, Virginia. November 23, 2017

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 5:25-30.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live (John 5:25).

Jesus announces, “The hour is coming, and now is.” He is declaring here a present reality. Something new has happened. Something new has arrived. Jesus then describes this present reality: “when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”

This presents one of the greatest and most compelling images for regeneration or conversion in Scripture. It is like passing from death to life (cf. v. 24b).

Compare Jesus’ parable of the Lost (Prodigal) Son, when the Father declares: “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found....” (Luke 15:24).

Compare Paul’s words in Ephesians:

Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

This is not the hospital analogy but the morgue analogy! Its origins are in the teaching of Christ himself. Dead men do not do anything for themselves. You can hold out a million dollars to a corpse all day long, and he’ll never reach out a hand to take it. Offer him the keys to a brand-new sports car or tickets to the big game or the most appetizing meal, and he’ll never reach out a hand to take it. So it is when we offer Christ to spiritually dead men, unless Christ is first pleased to quicken them.

What is the mechanism or catalysis that breaks through the deadness and brings life? It is the voice of Christ: The hour has come “when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.” Jesus will later say, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Here Jesus adds, “They that hear shall live.” This is a description of what we call the effectual or efficient call. There are two types of hearing: hearing with the ears (external hearing) and hearing with the heart (internal hearing). Christ’s disciples are those who hear not only with the ear but with the heart.

One might say that this was much easier for John and Peter and the first disciples. They could hear Christ’s voice directly while he was here on the earth. But how is Christ heard today? Through the reading of his Word and through ordinary preaching and teaching. Paul said, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Have you heard the voice of your Shepherd and has he been pleased to quicken you, to move you to pass over from spiritual death to spiritual life?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.17.17): All men should honor the Son

Image: Berries, North Garden, Virginia, November 2017.

Note: Devotion take from last Sunday's sermon on John 5:15-24.

John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

In vv. 22-23 Jesus turns to the issue of judgment. He notes that the Father has given the task of judgment to the Son (v. 22; cf. John 3:16-17, 35-36).

The Father has so decreed that all men should honor the Son even as they honor him (v. 23a). He adds: “He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent him” (v. 23b).

This is a declaration that Jesus Christ is the dividing line for all humanity. There are only two types of men, not Jew and Gentile, not male or female, not high or low, but those who honor the Son and those who do not honor the Son (cf. Matthew 10:32-33).

Jesus says that the Son of God must receive the same honor as does the Father. One cannot say I believe in God the Father, but I do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. No one comes to the Father but by him (John 14:6). This has been called the scandal of particularity. If you take this scandal away, you are rejecting what Jesus himself taught!

Calvin says on this passage:

[Muslims] and Jews do indeed adorn with beautiful and magnificent titles the God whom they worship; but we ought to remember that the name of God when it is separated from Christ, is nothing but a vain imagination. Whoever then desires to have his worship approved by the true God, let him not turn aside from Christ.

Let us then honor the Son, as we honor the one who sent him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11/10/17): A Secret Movement of Faith

Image: Fall scene, North Garden, Virginia, November 2017

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 5:1-14.

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14).

With v. 14 we have Christ’s second meeting with the “impotent” man whom he healed at the pool of Bethesda. This meeting occurs in the temple. Here is yet another example in John of a process of spiritual transformation. It often takes more than one encounter with Christ for real transformation to occur.

Calvin suggests some “secret movement of faith” in this man’s life. Even after he was physically healed, the man did not know his Physician (cf. v. 13: “And he that was healed wist [knew] not who it was…”). Calvin adds:

Again, in the person of this man it is important for us to observe with what gentleness and condescension the Lord bears with us.

Indeed, the roots of vices are too deep in us to be capable of being torn out in a single day, or in a few days; and the cure of the diseases of the soul is too difficult to be affected by remedies applied for a short time.

We have a snippet of their conversation here in v. 14. Notice three things:

First, Christ declares the man’s full physical healing: “Behold, thou art made whole.”

Second, he demands spiritual renovation: “sin no more.” Compare his words later to the adulteress (John 8:11: “Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.”). Clearly, Jesus’s concern is not merely with the man’s physical restoration. This is where the social gospel crowd goes astray. Jesus would not merely save a man’s body and neglect his soul.

Finally, notice that he also warns the man of God’s wrath, lest he repent: “lest a worse thing come unto thee.”

There are worse things than being physically disabled. There are worse things than suffering with some malady for 38 years, even if it covers all 38 years of one’s existence upon earth. Think of the thing that brings you the most temporal vexation. Remember that there are worse things than that.

The worst thing is to fail to repent one one’s sin and to trust in Christ and to face the just wrath of a holy God. But Christ is patient, and he meets with men more than once to awaken spiritual life in those who would believe.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (11.3.17): Canon and Inspiration

Image: St. Paul Writing His Epistles, by Valentin de Bolougne, c. 1618.

Note: I spoke in a Reformation Conference last weekend at Redeeming Grace Church in Matthews, VA. The topic was the canon of Scripture. Here are some of my notes from the opening conference message, noting the connection between canon and inspiration.

The definition of canon is vitally linked to the doctrine of inspiration. The classic prooftext for the doctrine of inspiration is found in Paul’s second letter to Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:16:  All scripture is given by inspiration of God [theopneustos], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

The books that make up the canon of Christian Scripture are inspired books, God-breathed books. This is the fundamental quality which they possess which distinguishes them from all other uninspired writings, including those that might be spiritually profitable. The Scriptures are autopistos [self-authenticating], because they are God-breathed.

Given this reality, it would be accurate to say that the canon of Scripture was completed and became closed when the last inspired book was written, perhaps the book of Revelation, around AD 90. This was the culmination of a process that had begun some 1500 years before when Moses composed the Pentateuch. It would also be appropriate to say that this canon has existed since its completion, even in times when it has not been properly recognized and acknowledged by God’s people.

It is sometimes said both by skeptics and, interestingly enough, also within some Christian traditions (Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) that the church chose the Scriptures.  We believe it is more biblically faithful to say that the church did not choose the canon, but that it acknowledged or recognized it for what it is in essence: the God-breathed, inscripturated Word. In fact, it is also more historically reliable to take this position as well, given that we must conclude that the recognition or acknowledgement of the canon of Christian Scripture did not come about from the top-down, through conciliar decisions, but from the bottom-up through the organic usage of God’s people.

How is it that God’s people are able to recognize these inspired, canonical books as the Word of God and to distinguish them from uninspired works? It is a spiritual process that defies any simple, naturalistic explanation. First, we acknowledge, again, that the inspired Scriptures are breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God. As Peter puts it, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). Second, believers have been regenerated by this same Holy Spirit who then indwells them (cf. Romans 8:8-11). Thus, Paul can conclude, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9). Positively, he can also affirm that the Spirit of God “beareth witness” with the spirit of the believer (Romans 8:16).

How, then, is it that a believer recognizes the Word of God? The Spirit of God which is in him resonates with the Spirit of God which is in the Scriptures. This is the way Jesus himself describes this phenomenon in John 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Christians recognize in the inspired, canonical Scriptures, the voice of their Shepherd.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision: A Father's Plea for a Dying Son

Image: Modern view of the traditional site of Cana of Galilee.

Note: The devotion below is taken from the conclusion to last week’s sermon on John 4:43-54.

The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die (John 4:49).

Spiritual Applications:

1.    We see in his healing of the nobleman's son the power of Christ to do as he pleases.

He does not have to be physically present, but he can work his power in men’s lives from a distance. This is especially true now in this age, when he is at the Father’s right hand. We can come to him with boldness, knowing his power.

2.    Though Christ can do as he wishes, we should not presume to make his performance of miracles some kind of condition for our belief.

This was the rebuke given to his skeptics in v. 48 when Jesus said to his hearers, “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”

We are not to attempt to try to straightjacket the Lord with some kind of conditional faith. If you do this for me, then I will do that for you. He does not work that way.

3.    Like this nobleman, we should seek the Lord on behalf of the needs of our children and our loved ones.

We should not only intercede in prayer for their physical needs but, more importantly, for their spiritual needs.

What will it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose their souls?

4.    As with the nobleman, the Lord may use difficulties and adverse circumstances, like the grave illness of a child, to draw us to himself and to cry out to him.

Calvin notes that this man was humbled by the dread of losing his son, adding:

We find the same thing in ourselves, for we are astonishingly delicate, impatient, and fretful until subdued by adversities, we are constrained to lay aside our pride and disdain.

5.    We must trust that Christ will do what he has promised even when we do not see immediate evidence of it.

This is the essence of faith, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

We may not see immediate answers to our prayers or petitions for healings that take place in this life, but we must not abandon faith in Christ.

6.    We may recognize evidences of God’s word fulfilled when they are made apparent to us and praise him for them.

Such evidences are not the basis for our faith, but they do make it deeper.

7.    We are to pray that the Lord would work throughout our whole household.

Calvin says of the nobleman after he came to faith:

His whole family joins him, which was an evidence of miracle; nor can it be doubted that he did his utmost to bring others along with him to embrace the Christian religion.

We saw in the Samaritan woman a model of evangelism, of witness and invitation. Here is another kind of evangelism: that within households. What father will not so pity his children that he will not go to Christ daily for them and say, “Sir, come down ere my child die” (v. 49)?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10/19/17): What drives you?

Image: Apple doughnuts from Carter Mountain Orchard, Charlottesville, Virginia

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 4:31-38.

But he said to them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of (John 4:32).

What is it that drove the Lord Jesus in his earthly life? What moved him? What motivated him? It was to do the will of the Father who sent him (cf. John 3:16-17).

This is perhaps best epitomized in his prayer in the garden: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

What fed, what satisfied the Lord Jesus Christ? Doing the will of the Father. We speak of both the active and the passive obedience of Christ. His will was in perfect sync with the Father’s so that he might fill in all the inadequacies of our imperfect adherence to the Father’s will.

Specific insight into Christ’s doing the will of the Father, as applied to this situation, is revealed in John 6:

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The point is that in talking to the Samaritan woman at the well about the living water he had partaken of a more satisfying food: capturing the heart of one of God’s elect!

In light of Christ’s example, consider now what it is that drives you. Is it to do the will of the Father? Is it to be used as part of the means to bring others to Christ whether by preaching (for officers) or by witness and invitation (all God’s people)? Is it the simple satisfaction of living the Christian life? On one hand we need to remember that we are not Christ and can never be like him. On the other hand, we need to recognize that he lived his life as a model for what ours should be. And one day by God’s grace we will be conformed to his image. To what end do you live?

Brethren, we have a food to satisfy us that other men know not of. Let us be driven by this and not by lesser things.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (10.13.17): God is a Spirit

Image: Worship at the Lynchburg Reformed Baptist Mission (10.8.17)

Note: Devotion take from sermon on John 4:24-42 on October 1, 2017.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

The conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well continues in v. 24 as Jesus announces the spirituality of God: God is a Spirit.

This verse is a key prooftext in chapter 2, paragraph 1 of our Second London Baptist confession which affirms that God is “a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions.”

 Contrary to the ancient pagan religions which saw the gods as creaturely beings, and contrary to modern religions, like Mormonism, which claim that God has “a body of flesh and bones” as we do, Jesus says that God is a Spirit.

What about the incarnation, the Word made flesh? Does not the second person of the Godhead, even now, inhabit a resurrection body? Yes, but remember Christ is one person with two natures, fully God and fully man. With respect to his humanity he has a body, but this, in no way, invalidates the truth that God the Father is a Spirit.

Jesus reiterates the point made in v. 23: that God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Worship is spiritual. The focus in worship is not in the physical. There are no “holy places.” God can be worshipped in a church meeting house, or in a storefront, or in a field. We do not need the props of external stimuli to worship God. In fact, such things might well mislead.

Worship is also in truth. That is, it is guided by true belief, true doctrine. The standard for true worship is not sincerity. One can be very sincere about false beliefs. What matters is truth. God is not only honored but also glorified, rightly worshipped, when his people embrace his truth. God is glorified by orthodoxy.

God is a Spirit; let us worship him in spirit and in truth.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle