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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Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections

Sometimes I fear that you (my dear congregation) get J.C. Ryle overload, if that were possible.  I quote him often and in virtually every forum possible (sermons, blog, newsletter, etc.), but that is because I try to read him a lot.  Why do I read him a lot?  I read him a lot because time and time again I am challenged, instructed, rebuked, and encouraged to love Christ more deeply and follow him more faithfully.  Part of the reason that I enjoy reading him so much is that it is often his pattern to awaken his readers to consider great truth from God’s Word (which brings about great conviction), and then point them to our great Savior in whom we can find rest.  For example, I was freshly instructed in that way by his little tract entitled, “Thoughts on Immortality.”

A good bit of the tract focuses on time and eternity, and Ryle really wants his readers to reflect on how they’re using their time on earth.  That can be seen in the four main points he makes in the tract:

1. We live in a world where all things are temporary and passing away.
2. We are all going towards a world where everything is eternal.
3. Our state in the unseen world of eternity depends entirely on what we are in time.
4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the great Friend to whom we must to look for help, both for time and eternity.

Did you notice the development of Ryle’s thought in his four main points?  In the first three points he calls his readers to consider the serious realities and implications of time and eternity, and then in his last point he takes his readers to Christ (which is what we need!).  Here is just a brief excerpt from that last section (#4):

“The purpose for which the eternal Son of God came into the world can never be declared too fully, or proclaimed too loudly. He came to give us hope and peace while we live among the ‘things seen, which are temporary,’ and glory and blessedness when we go into the ‘things unseen, which are eternal.’ He came to ‘bring life and immortality to light,’ and to ‘deliver those who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage” (2 Tim. 1:10; Heb.2:15). He saw our lost and bankrupt condition, and had compassion on us. And now, blessed be His name, a mortal man may pass through things temporal with comfort, and look forward to things eternal without fear. These mighty privileges our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us at the cost of His own precious blood. He became our Substitute, and bore our sins in His own body on the cross, and then rose again for our justification. He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we poor sinful creatures might have pardon and justification while we live, and glory and blessedness when we die (1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21).”

We have a wonderful and merciful Savior, don’t we?  If you haven’t read much or any of J.C. Ryle’s work before, then you might want to consider beginning with this little tract (Thoughts on Immortality).  Don’t let the name scare you.  Ryle will take you right to the Redeemer in whom you can find rest.

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“Yes, Another J.C. Ryle Post” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Reflections

A few weeks ago I learned that I shouldn’t worship concrete.  Now perhaps you’re thinking, “Wait, aren’t you a pastor?  You should have known that already, right?”  Well, yes, of course I should have.

One Saturday morning, not too long ago, the concrete truck pulled up to our home to pour our new sidewalk.  We previously had some luxurious gravel (sarcasm alert), but decided to downgrade to a simple concrete sidewalk.  The guys got right to work on the new sidewalk.  Shortly thereafter, we as a family departed for a local fall festival.

After a couple of hours of fun, we arrived home in the early afternoon, excited to see the new sidewalk, but as we were pulling into the driveway we noticed that it wasn’t perfectly smooth as the contractor had promised.  Instead, we saw some large footprints in the wet concrete.  I was aghast and my wife and kids clearly and quickly picked up on it.  I immediately went into detective mode trying to figure out how “the crime” had been committed.  I felt wronged, as though something had been unlawfully taken from me, and I wanted it restored and justice done.

Apparently someone was canvassing our neighborhood providing us and others with information and materials on the upcoming elections.  I am in no way opposed to this practice, except of course when it involves stepping on wet concrete, particularly my wet concrete.  It wasn’t until early Sunday morning, when I was preparing to preach, that I came to the realization I shouldn’t worship concrete.  I had responded to the unfortunate situation incredibly poorly, and what’s worse is that my kids began express their disappointment as well.

For several days following the incident, nearly every time we went out to get in the car, I heard my son solemnly say something like, “I am very sad about the sidewalk, Dad.”  I appreciated his sympathy, it was very sweet, but I know that it came as a result of my sinful reaction.  I’m sure he would have had a very different reaction if I had a very different reaction.

The sidewalk can be fixed, and it eventually was fixed.  The good news is that my heart is slowly being fixed too.  There are more things in this life I need to discover that I shouldn’t worship, and though these are often rude awakenings, I can see the Lord’s work in them.  Time and time again God takes my worship off of created things and redirects it to himself, the Creator.  That is exactly how it should be, and though it may be momentarily painful, I pray that it will increasingly be so.

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“Don’t Worship Concrete” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Reflections

This past Monday was the 494^th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg.  His first theses declared that the whole of the Christian life ought to be one of repentance, but so often we find it difficult to turn from our sin.  Instead of looking to Christ, we turn inward and look upon ourselves and our sin.  Christian, take to heart these words from J.C. Ryle,

“Are you living in any kind of sin? Are you following the course of this world, and neglecting your soul? Hear! I beseech you, what I say to you this day: ‘Behold the cross of Christ. See there how Jesus loved you! See there what Jesus suffered to prepare for you a way of salvation! Yes: careless men and women, for you that blood was shed! For you those hands and feet were pierced with nails! For you that body hung in agony on the cross!’ You are they whom Jesus loved, and for whom He died! Surely that love ought to melt you. Surely the thought of the cross should draw you to repentance. Oh, that it might be so this very day!”  (J.C. Ryle, Old Paths, p. 260)

As we turn away from our sin, let us not forget to look to Christ.

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“Look to Christ” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Reflections

I’ve often pushed an agenda of meditating on God’s grace to us in Christ.  I’m not sure that we can do that enough, so I’m going to push that agenda again.  Take 10 minutes this week, maybe even today, and reflect on God’s grace to you.  Marvel at God’s grace and pray that he would give you more of it for your good and his glory.

In Volume 2 of his Reformed Dogmatics, Herman Bavinck wrote,

“Ascribed to God, grace is the voluntary, unrestrained, and unmerited favor that he shows to sinners and that, instead of the verdict of death, brings them righteousness, and life.” [Bavinck, Herman, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 2: God and Creation, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008). P.214].

What does it mean that God voluntarily extends grace to us?  He does it of his own free will.  Just consider what Paul says in Romans 5:15,

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

What does it mean for God to extend his grace to us in an unrestrained manner?  He does not hold any of it back.  No good thing will he withhold from his children.  We read in Romans 8:32,

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

What does it mean that God to extend his unmerited favor to us? No good, merit, or righteousness in us causes him to bestow his heavenly favor upon us, and yet he does.  So we read in Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Dear Christian, rejoice in God’s voluntary, unrestrained, and unmerited favor toward you in Christ.  In other words, rejoice in God’s grace.

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“Voluntary, Unrestrained, and Unmerited” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Reflections

There is a reason that the Scriptures call the Christian life a race (1 Cor. 9:24 and 2 Tim. 4:7).  Races require preparation and endurance, but more than that they require a knowledge of the prize.  In the Bible that which motivates us to run the race is that which we already possess and will yet possess in complete fullness.  As Thomas Schreiner and Ardel Caneday wrote,

“By faith we run the distance that lies between the now and the not yet. By faith we now lay hold of God’s word of promise, namely, the gospel, and reach beyond what can now be seen, in order that after we have done all that delights God, we will receive what his gospel promises us” (Thomas Schreiner & Ardel Caneday, The Race Set Before Us
[Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001], 96).

The Christian life is a hard race.  It is often a long race.  It is always an exhausting race, but it is a race worth running.  Christian, you may feel tired and weary at the end of each day (and I think that is to be expected), but always remember that you are receiving and will one day soon, fully and finally receive what his gospel promises – perfect and immediate (unmediated) communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

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“What We Will Receive” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Reflections

Christians often take great comfort and joy in God’s words of love to them in Scripture, and rightly so.  What child of God is not comforted by Paul’s reminder, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)?  Or what adopted son or daughter is not enamored with the Savior who says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15)?

There are so many more words of love that God has spoken to his people in his Scriptures, but have you considered the love of God in the mere act of speaking to his people?  God has spoken words of love, and he spoke those words of love because there was an already existing love that prompted him to speak.  More than that, isn’t it loving of God to give us his words in a way in which we can understand them and receive them with joy?  Doesn’t this reveal to us that he wants us to know something of his love, and in return give voice to our love for him?

Have you done that today?  Have you given voice to your love for God?  Remember, what he has said to his children, “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).  What will you say to him?

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“What Will You Say to Him?” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Reflections, Theology, Uncategorized

As I was praying for my children, during my quiet time earlier in the week, I reflected on how valuable moments with my children are and how sadly, in my pride, I don’t value them enough.  Moments are those brief spans of time in which relationships are built.  You see, I often take a task oriented perspective on life, and while God has certainly called me to be task-oriented toward many things, there is one thing that he hasn’t called me to be task oriented towards – people.  When I begin viewing my interactions with my children, my spouse, my fellow church members, or any other human being for that matter as a transaction of information exchange for the purpose of accomplishing my next task, then I think that I have certainly taken steps away from pursuing Christ-likeness.  At the end of the day, drawing out data from others for the purposes of accomplishing my next task makes life all about me, and that is prideful.

Now, I suspect that I am not alone in this struggle.  Living in the DC area, we breathe the air of this “must get done.”  We live in a culture of tasks to be accomplished and deadlines to be met.  Emails and texts and tweets are typically information-exchange ports, and not typically relationship building exercises.  I don’t experience this struggle every moment of my life, and I suspect the same is true for you, but perhaps given our environment we’re more susceptible to giving in to the temptation to treat people as computer servers that contain the information we need more than we treat them as those made in the image of God.  To be fair, there are times we need information from people, but I don’t think that is to be our primary orientation towards others and yet far too often it is.

So, how do we fight against this temptation to depersonalize persons and reclaim those brief spans of time in which relationship are built?  I think that the answer begins (and ends) with Jesus.  Jesus came not simply to accomplish a task, though he certainly did accomplish a task given to him by the Father, but to call people to personally know him in faith.  If we want to grow in our relationships with others, then we must grow in our relationship with Christ, for he is the one who will truly teach us what it means to love others and to relate to them as he has always intended us to.

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“Task or Relationship Oriented?” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law

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Under Blog, Reflections

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.

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

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Under Blog, Church, Reflections