Grace Baptist Church of Arlington

This coming Lord’s Day, should the Lord tarry, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  One of the most fundamental aspects of the Lord’s Supper is fellowship.  The Lord’s Supper is a display of our fellowship with Christ and our fellowship in Christ with other believers.  As we partake of the bread and the fruit of the vine in faith, we display that we have been united to Christ by trusting in his life, death, and resurrection on our behalf.  But we don’t do that alone.  There are others sitting around us visibly expressing their faith in Christ by their participation in the meal.

Let’s keep this in mind as we prepare to gather this coming Lord’s Day. Let’s be encouraged by what our Savior proclaims to us in the meal, and let’s also be encouraged that there are others around us leaning on his promises.  Our faith is strengthened through this meal as we’re reminded of what Christ has done for us on our behalf, but our faith is also strengthened and encouraged by seeing others boldly and faithfully believe in Christ as they partake of the bread and the cup.

---

“Table Fellowship” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections

This past Tuesday, I unintentionally delivered something of a state of the church address in the middle of the Men’s Bible Study.  We took the entire evening to talk about Acts 9:31 where Luke tells us,

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

We talked about how, by God’s grace, the Lord has been pleased to bless our congregation with peace, along with growth in grace and godliness (or to put it in Luke’s language, “being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit”).  We also talked about how the Lord has been pleased to grow and multiply our congregation over these last two and a half years and not just by adding more children to our number!  Though he certainly has done that, hasn’t he?

I took the time in the Bible study to reflect on (without mentioning any specifics whatsoever) how life together as a church isn’t or hasn’t always been perfect.  We are a congregation of sinners, and so there have been hard times and challenges in the life of the church.  Sadly, sometimes there hasn’t been peace between members.  Sadly, sometimes tearing down rather than building up has taken place.  Sadly, sometimes there has been walking in the fear of the world rather than in the fear of the Lord.  And sadly, sometimes there has been a pressing need for the Holy Spirit to pour out his comfort in greater measure.

I don’t think that we do ourselves any great favors by hiding these realities.  Denying these realities almost seems tantamount to denying our need for God’s grace.  We need God to constantly and graciously be at work in our body.  And in his kindness and goodness and mercy and love, he is.  It was through no accidental act of providence (as if those exist) that our congregation was named Grace Baptist Church of Arlington.  We need God’s grace and God has poured out his grace among us.

We have peace as a body because God has been gracious to us to give us peace with him and each other. We are being built up through the Word and prayer and the ordinances because God graciously works through them.  We walk in the fear of the Lord because God graciously motivates us through his love displayed in the vicarious life, substitutionary atoning death, and vindicating resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.  We enjoy the comfort of the Holy Spirit as we exhibit the fruit of the Spirit by the resurrection power of Christ.

So here is the state of Grace Baptist Church of Arlington: God has been gracious to us, he is being gracious to us, and he will be gracious to us.  Praise God for his past, present, and future grace.

---

“The State of the Church” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections

As many of you may know this coming Sunday we’ll conclude our series in James by considering James 5:19-20.  I’m looking forward to reflecting on Christ’s redemptive work and how we minister to others.  I’m also looking forward to what we’ll be thinking about after we finish our study of the book of James.  I’ll be out for a few weeks due to some travel, but Lord willing, when I return we’ll be working our way through three Minor Prophets (Obadiah, Joel, and Jonah).

For most Christians, the Minor Prophets are obscure books.  Often Christians perceive their message as hard to discern and therefore hard to apply.  My hope is that we’ll see how each of these books points to Christ.    The good news is that Jesus often helps us see the message.  Just take Jonah for example.  While it is about a prophet’s attempt to run away from God and about how he was swallowed up by a great fish, the Lord ultimately had greater purposes.  Jonah’s three days and nights in the belly of the fish pointed to Jesus’ three days in the tomb.  That’s what Jesus said in Matthew 12:40,

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jonah was great, but someone greater than Jonah has come (Matthew 12:42).  Praise God that Jesus has come.  Let’s look forward to seeing how the messages of Obadiah, Joel, and Jonah all pointed to him.

---

“Someone Greater than Jonah” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings

This past Sunday we focused in on a number of exhortations from James 5:7-12.  One of those exhortations was to not grumble against our brothers and sisters in Christ.  There is surely a reason James gave this command – he gave it because the Lord knows that we struggle with it.  I simply want to remind us of one way that we can guard against such grumbling, and if you haven’t started doing this, then perhaps now is a good time to start.

One way of avoiding grumbling against a brother or sister is to positively praise and thank God for them.  Perhaps you’re tempted to make a list of negative things about a brother or sister – to keep a record of wrongs.  Fight that temptation and make a record of all of the evidences of grace that you can think of in that person’s life.  Consider making a practice of this for one month.  Take a calendar and each day write one thing that you’re thankful to God about for your brother or sister and then, at the end of the month, give that calendar to them.  I trust that as you give yourself to thanking God for them, you’ll find fewer and fewer reasons to grumble against them.

---

“Keep a Record” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Reflections

In our discipleship hour this past week, we thought about worship, both public and private.  We thought about how worship is an all-of-life activity and that it is to ascribe the proper worth to God, to magnify his worthiness of praise, and to approach and address God as he is worthy.  We worship God by the Spirit in connection with his Word.

Our primary connection with God’s Word in worship is through reading the Word and praying the Word.  If you haven’t done so already, then I would encourage you to incorporate those practices into your private worship.  Another way to worship God is through song, and here we also want our songs to be connected and derived from God’s Word.  Songs that either explicitly quote Scripture or songs that expound on themes of Scripture are good songs to sing or meditate on in your times of private worship.  One song that I’ve been thinking a little bit about lately is “Fairest Lord Jesus.”  This song picks up several themes of Scripture, while at the same time encouraging our delight in our Savior. Consider these words,

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.

May the Scriptures we read, and the songs we sing lead us to worship the fairest Lord Jesus.

---

“Worship the Fairest Lord Jesus” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections

As we meditated on James 3:13-18 this past Sunday, we thought a lot about humility.  As I look forward to the text that we’ll study, Lord willing, this coming Sunday (James 4:1-12), it is clear that humility is going to be something that we’re considering again.  As I’ve prayerfully read over the text these last couple of days, I’ve been thinking again about Jonathan Edwards’ definition of humility:

“Humility may be defined to be a habit of mind and heart corresponding to our comparative unworthiness and vileness before God, or a sense of our own comparative meanness (by which he means small) in his sight, with the disposition to a behavior answerable thereto” (Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits, p. 130).

As I mentioned this past Sunday, one of the things I appreciate about this definition of humility is that Edwards defines humility as a “habit of mind and heart.”  Humility, Edwards says, is a discipline.  We give ourselves to thinking out of this framework.  It is a discipline of constantly considering in our minds and hearts “our comparative unworthiness and vileness before God.”  As we consider that God is our maker and that we owe our life and breath to him, we realize how powerful he is and how weak we are.  As we consider the fact that God is perfectly righteous and that we are unrighteous and stained by sin in every way, we realize how holy he is and how vile we are.

When we consider our state before God, we see our great need.  When we consider the fact that Jesus is the Savior and we are not, and that we need him to save us from our sins and the punishment due to them, we are appropriately humbled.  The final piece of Edwards’ definition is that this habit of mind and heart will be followed by “behavior answerable thereto,” or behavior that is consistent with this understanding that God is perfectly holy and we are not.

In many ways, humility is seen most clearly in our service to God and others.  So, do you recognize that you are not so important that everyone must serve you?  In contrast to that, do you recognize that God is so important that you must be his servant to others?  Recognizing that Christ humbled himself to serve us in the most eternally significant way should humble us to serve others even in the most temporally insignificant ways.

I pray that God would be pleased to put pride to death in our lives, so that we might truly (humbly) live like our Savior, for humility thrives when pride dies.

---

“Humility Thrives When Pride Dies” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Reflections

Being in the midst of a sermon series in the book of James has had me reading a lot of Proverbs.  As you may know, James is sometimes called the “Proverbs of the New Testament.”  There is some truth in that.  James has much to say that is wise and for that matter he has much to say about wisdom. Also like Proverbs, James’ letter has also provided many ideas and practical suggestions for prayer.  Take for example the passage we’re going to study this coming Sunday, James 3:13-18.

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.  ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.  ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Earlier today I prayed through this passage for my fellow brothers and sisters in our congregation, and here are a few ways I prayed and you can pray:

For wisdom
For understanding
For good conduct
For good works
For meekness
For protection from bitter jealousy
For protection from selfish ambition
For protection from boasting
For protection from being false to the truth
For wisdom that is from above
For protection from that which is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic
For order, and protection against disorder
For holiness, and protection from vile practices
For wisdom from above
For purity
For peace
For gentleness
For humility in being open to reason
For mercy
For good fruits
For impartiality
For sincerity
For a harvest of righteousness
For peace
For making peace

Using Scripture to pray will align our hearts and desires to God’s.

---

“Praying from the Word” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Reflections

Many today think little of the Church (universal and local), but the New Testament and theologians throughout church history have spoken of the Church in some of the most elevated terms.  In Acts 20:28, Luke exhorts pastors to care for the flock entrusted to them because the church has been purchased by God “with his own blood.”  Paul teaches in Ephesians 3:10 that it is through the church that “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”  In 1746, Jonathan Edwards had this to say about the church:

“The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal Son of God might obtain a spouse (i.e. the Church) towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of his nature, and to whom he might, as it were, open and pour forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love, and grace that was in his heart, and that in this way God might be glorified”  [Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), "The Church's Marriage to Her Sons, and to Her God," sermon preached September 19, 1746, at the installment of the Rev. Samuel Buel as pastor of the church and congregation at East Hampton on Long Island. (Works 25.187)].

And in 1830, Anglican minister Charles Bridges wrote the following:

“The Church is the mirror, that reflects the whole effulgence of the Divine character. It is the grand scene, in which the perfections of Jehovah are displayed to the universe. The revelations made to the Church — the successive grand events in her history — and, above all — the manifestation of ‘the glory of God in the Person of Jesus Christ’ — furnish even the heavenly intelligences fresh subjects of adoring contemplation” [Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry, (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1830, 1997), p. 1].

How do you think about the Church?  Is it important in your life?  Essential?  Do you love the Church?  I pray that our love for Christ and for his Church will grow more and more.  He loved the Church, and if we truly love him, we too will love the Church.

---

“Love the Church?” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Reflections, Theology

This coming Friday from 7:00-8:00pm, we will take time to reflect and meditate on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross through a Good Friday service.  In our service, we’ll be walking through three narratives in Matthews’s Gospel which detail part of the events of Jesus’ passion.  We hope to celebrate Christ’s death by coming together, hearing God’s Word read, singing songs that reflect on Christ’s sacrifice, hearing a short sermon on the cross, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  In order to prepare for such a meditation on Christ’s sacrifice, consider some reflections from J.C. Ryle:

We must not be content with a vague belief that Christ’s sufferings on the cross were vicarious.  We are intended to see this truth in every part of His passion.  We may follow Him all through, from the bar of Pilate to the minute of His death, and see Him at every step as our mighty substitute, our representative, our head, our surety, our proxy – the divine friend who under took to stand in our place and, by the priceless merit of his sufferings, to purchase our redemption.

Was He flogged? It was done so that “by His wounds we are healed.”.

Was He condemned, though innocent? It was done so that we might be acquitted, though guilty.

Did He wear a crown of thorns? It was done so that we might wear the crown of glory.

Was He stripped of His clothes? It was done so that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness.

Was He mocked and reviled? It was done so that we might be honored and blessed.

Was He reckoned a criminal, and counted among those who have done wrong? It was done so that we might be reckoned innocent, and declared free from all sin.

Was He declared unable to save Himself? It was done so that he might be able to save others to the uttermost.

Did He die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful death? It was done so that we might live forevermore, and be exalted to the highest glory.

From “The Sufferings of Christ” by J.C. Ryle in Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross: Experiencing The Passion and Power of Easter, edited by Nancy Guthrie, pp. 58-59.

HT: Erik

---

“Good Friday Service” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections, Theology

During the Tuesday men’s small group last night, we studied Acts 4:12-13.  We meant to study more, but we so thoroughly enjoyed thinking about those two verses and their implications for our lives that we did not move beyond them.  Here’s what they say,

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Verse 12 is the conclusion of Peter’s statement/sermon before the Council, and verse 13 is the beginning of the Council’s reaction to Peter and John.  There were many good reflections on these verses by the brothers present, but let me just name three.

First, salvation is found in the person, Jesus Christ.  We are tempted to find salvation in our works or in institutions, but salvation is found in Jesus alone.  When we come to faith, we come to faith in him – believing that he personally saves us by bearing God’s punishment for our sins.

Secondly, Peter and John’s boldness reminded us that we too need to be bold in our evangelism.  We need to speak when God gives us opportunities to speak, and we need to be bold in what we say – that means we need to avoid accommodating the truth in order to make it more palatable to our hearers.  When we’re accommodating, we’re serving ourselves more than we’re serving our hearers and Christ.

Thirdly, we reflected on how we want others to recognize us as having intimately related to Jesus by faith.  While we are not physically with Jesus, the Holy Spirit certainly mediates the presence of the ascended Christ to us by faith.  That is surely part of the reason the Apostles will occasionally refer to the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of Christ” (see Romans 8:9, Galatians 4:6, Philippians 1:19, 1 Peter 1:11).  We want others to see in our gentleness and boldness that Christ is at work within us because of our faith in him.

It is my prayer that this day each of us would place our faith in Christ, speak boldly for him, and more fully embrace him in faith.

---

“Reflections from Small Group” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

Share

Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections, Theology