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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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In our discipleship hour this past Sunday, we dove into a thrilling discussion on God’s gracious work in the salvation of sinners.  I’ve been in the midst of doing some reading for school and I came across this helpful excerpt on the subject from J. Gresham Machen’s classic work, Christianity & Liberalism.

“The beginning of the Christian life is an act of God. It is an act of God and not an act of man.  That does not mean, however, that in the beginning of the Christian life God deals with us as with sticks or stones, unable to understand what is being done. On the contrary He deals with us as with persons; salvation has a place in the conscious life of man; God uses in our salvation a conscious act of the human soul – an act which though it is itself the work of God’s Spirit, is at the same time an act of man. That act of man which God produces and employs in salvation is faith” [J. Gresham Machen, Christianity & Liberalism, (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1923), p.141].

Praise God for the work of his Spirit, for faith, which is as Paul says in Ephesians 2:8, is a gift of God!

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“Faith: A Gift of God” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Grace Happenings, 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

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

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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.

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

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Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections, Theology

Lord willing, this Sunday we’ll be studying Psalm 4 in our morning service.  As I’ve meditated on Psalm 4 over the course of the week, I’ve been encouraged by verse 3, “But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.”  I’ve been especially comforted by the truth that he has set apart the godly for himself, for his treasured possession and care.  That is a great comfort that deserves further reflection.  I’d encourage you to take some time today or tomorrow and reflect on what it means to belong to the Lord.  For now, consider what John Stott says about this truth:

Christian exultation in God begins with the shamefaced recognition that we have no claim on him at all, continues with wondering worship that while we were still sinners and enemies Christ died for us, and ends with the humble confidence that he will complete the work he has begun. So to exult in God is to rejoice not in our privileges but in his mercies, not in our possession of him but in his of us [John Stott, The Message of Romans (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1994), p.147-48].

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“For Himself” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections

During the Discipleship Hour this past Sunday, we continued to think through what it means to be content.  We considered what it meant to be content in abundance and content in want.  This naturally led Paul to commend and thank the church in Philippi for their partnership in the gospel.  No other church partnered with him when he left Macedonia, but the church in Philippi did.

The church in Philippi was quite an amazing church.  In his second recorded letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote of the generosity of the churches in Macedonia,

“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).

They were poor, wrestling through a severe test of affliction, and yet they gave generously.  They gave like their Savior – sacrificially.  They gave for the same reason their Savior gave – for the good of others.  Join me in praying that our congregation would be marked by such giving, not only in financial giving, but also in the many other opportunities that are before us.  Let’s pray that God would make our church like the amazing church in Philippi that Paul held so dear.

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“A Wealth of Generosity” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections

Are you content?  During the last two classes of our discipleship hour we have focused on contentment as we came upon Philippians 4:11 in our study through that book: “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”

We started by defining “content.”  I like a definition from a very old book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.  “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition” (p.19).  Where does this contentment come from?  It is both a result of God’s work in our heart and something we need to work at.  We discussed that tension when we were looking at Philippians 2:12b-13, too, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

We discussed in some detail the means of grace and working hard at studying, memorizing, meditating on, and analyzing scripture.  We talked about “setting our minds on things that are above” (Col. 3:1-2), and thinking about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8).  As Martin-Lloyd Jones wrote, “God is most likely to bless the indirect approach [of study] rather than the direct [only asking Him directly].  It is exactly the same in this manner of power and ability to live the Christian life” (Spiritual Depression, p. 298-299).  The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, said something similar, “contentment,” he said, “is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated” (“Contentment,” 3/25/1860).

John MacArthur, in his commentary on Philippians, noted five principles of contentment.  If you struggle with contentment, then you may want to hone in on scripture that addresses these principles:

1) Trust God’s providence and grace (Rom. 8:28),
2) Be satisfied with little (1 Tim. 6:8),
3) Remember your joy is separate from your circumstances (Rom. 8:18),
4) Rely on God for divine power (Phil. 4:6-7), and,
5) On a practical note, help others (Phil. 2:4).

We ended our by last class noting just how important it is for us to learn to live “in abundance” as the wealthy (and if you live in America you are probably wealthy when grading on a world-wide scale).  Spurgeon warned those who lived in abundance as follows:

“When men have too much of God’s mercies—strange that we should have to say this, and yet it is a great fact—when men have much of God’s providential mercies, it often happens that they have but little of God’s grace, and little gratitude for the bounties they have received. They are full, and they forget God; satisfied with earth, they are content to do without heaven. Rest assured, my dear hearers, it is harder to know how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry. To know how to be hungry is a sharp lesson, but to know how to be full is the harder lesson after all. So desperate is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God! As soon as ever we have a double stock of manna, and begin to hoard it, it breeds worms and becomes a stench in the nostrils of God. Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach you how to be full.” (“Contentment,” 3/25/1860).

May we all trust in Christ and cultivate contentment this week.

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Are You Content? is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by ddmorgan

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Under Blog, Grace Happenings, Reflections