July 31, 2005

 

“If saved by imputed righteousness, we shall greatly value imparted righteousness.”                                                                     C. H. Spurgeon

 

 

·         I am scheduled to preach Wednesday through Friday for Buck Mountain Baptist Church in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, where Bro. Gary Perkins is pastor.

·         We will have our Quarterly Fellowship dinner today. There will be no service here tonight.

·         Conference Offering — If you wish to designate a gift for our conference, please mark your check or offering envelope, “Conference.”

 

God’s Church, His Family on Earth — Don Fortner

(Tune: #52 — Majestic Sweetness — CM)

 

1.        God’s church, His family on earth,

Though by the world unknown,

Are people of a heav’nly birth,

And in our Savior one.

 

2.        Our Father is the God above,

The Sovereign on His throne.

And Christ, our Brother-King, in love,

He claims us as His own!

 

3.        Indwelt by God the Spirit we

Are one in faith and love,

And one with Christ eternally,

Our home — Heaven above!

 

4.        Oh, let us keep the unity,

The blessed bond of peace,

A loving, caring family, —

All sinners saved by grace!

 

HERE’S SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

What kind of church would this church be, if every member were just like me?

In attendance, giving, and prayer, if each followed my example there?

If each were as cheerful or as sour as I am this very hour?

If all were as warm, as kind, as thoughtful, or as selfish and carelessly hurtful?

How long would the doors be open, if my example by all were taken?

 

13

“He Assayed to Join Himself to the Disciples”

Acts 9:26

 

Church membership is the believer’s fellowship and communion with Christ in his body. Many think little of church membership. Many who claim to be believers are not identified with, or committed to any local church. But in the New Testament men and women who followed Christ, by one means or another, applied for and obtained membership in local churches. They publicly identified themselves with and committed themselves to the church of God. Saul, after he was converted, “assayed to join himself to the disciples” at Jerusalem, and was publicly received by them into the church (Acts 9:26-31). Phoebe was recommended to the fellowship of the church at Rome by the apostle Paul (Rom. 16:1).

Church membership is restricted to believers only. A local church is a body of believers, voluntarily united together in the name of Christ for the glory of Christ, the furtherance of the gospel, the salvation of God’s elect and mutual edification. The fellowship of believers in a local church is vital to their spiritual welfare. Our individual spiritual growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is, in many ways, dependent upon our relationship to and fellowship with the body of Christ. Believers need the fellowship of other believers. We all need encouragement from others. We need the strength of our brethren. We need one another. Basically, membership in a local church involves three things.

 

Commitment

 

Church membership is an openly avowed, public commitment to the body of Christ (Phil. 2:1-4). It is like a marriage ceremony. Without inward commitment the ceremony is nothing. But for a woman to move in with a man who will not make a public commitment to her is an act of desperation, or folly, or both. If we are committed to the family of believers to which we belong, we enjoy their company, pray for their spiritual well-being, give to meet the needs of the family, serve the family’s interest, speak well of the family members and promote the family’s honor. Let each one of us see that we live up to our professed commitment.

 

Communion

 

Church membership gives us the privilege of communion and fellowship with the body of Christ. — “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133:1). The fellowship of God’s people in public worship is most delightful and blessed because in the fellowship of God’s saints we find fellowship with Christ (Matt. 18:20). Our Savior still walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks and makes himself known in his churches (Rev. 1:12, 13, 20). Who can estimate the value and privilege of being a member of a local church where Christ is honored by the unity, peace, fellowship, and love of the saints? Our God has given us this great privilege. Let us jealously guard and promote the unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace, and the fellowship of love he has given (Eph. 4:17). Church membership is much more than having your name on a church register. It is commitment to the body of Christ. It is communion with Christ in his body.

 

Care

 

Church membership is care for the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:24-27). God’s people care for and take care of one another. Within the local church family, believers look out for one another’s welfare. They seek opportunities to help, encourage, comfort, and cheer one another. But this kindness, affection, and care extends beyond the local assembly. It reaches out to God’s saints wherever they are found (Heb. 13:1-3).

 

14

Who should observe the Lord's Supper? — 1 Corinthians 11:23-29

 

All true believers are to observe this blessed ordinance regularly. It is the Lord's Table, and the Lord's Table is open to all the Lord's children (Acts 20:1-2). The practice of restricting the Lord's Supper to the members of a single local church, or denomination, or even to those who meet certain requirements legislated by a church, is altogether without foundation in the Word of God. Each believer is to examine himself, and having examined himself, he is to eat the bread and drink the wine. It is not the prerogative of the pastor, elders, deacons, or the church to examine those who receive the Lord's Supper. Not only is the Lord's Table open to all the Lord's children; but all his children are commanded by him to eat the bread and drink the wine (Matt. 26: 26-27). This ordinance is no more optional than the ordinance of baptism.

Many of God's children have been taught to fear coming to the Lord's Table. Many seem to think they show great reverence for the ordinance by not participating in it! This attitude is not really reverence at all, but irreverence, for it is disobedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many refuse to receive the Lord's Supper because they feel unworthy. But our worthiness is not in ourselves, but in Christ. We come to the table not with personal perfection, but with personal faith. By eating the bread and drinking the wine, we show our confidence in the finished work of Christ to make us accepted in God's sight. In all things, our only worthiness to approach and draw near to the holy God is Christ (Heb. 10:19-22; Eph. 1:6; 1 Pet. 2:5). Our worthiness to pray, sing praises to God, give, preach, eat the Lord's Supper, or do anything else towards God is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and the blood of Christ applied to us. Our only acceptance with God is Christ (Col. 2:9-10). Those who are united to Christ by faith are worthy to receive the bread and wine, because they discern the Lord's body. They know their need of a substitute and understand how that Christ accomplished redemption by his incarnation and obedience unto death.

Clearly, there are some people who should not be partakers of this ordinance. Paul gives strong warning to those who might be so brazen as to come presumptuously to the Lord's Table to eat and drink unworthily (1 Cor. 11:27-29). The question is: who is unworthy? Unbelievers are unworthy to eat the Lord's Supper. Their unworthiness lies in the fact that they do not discern the Lord's body; that is to say, they do not know the meaning and value of Christ's incarnation, his righteous obedience to God as our Representative and his sacrificial death as the sinner's Substitute, because they have no faith in him.

However, every true believer may and should come to the Lord's Table. I do not pretend to understand fully Paul's statements about unworthy recipients of the supper in 1 Corinthians 11. But I do know this: the Lord's Table is open to all the Lord's children. The practice of excluding members of other churches from the table has neither precept nor precedent in the New Testament. All God's children in this world are welcome to sit with his saints in any place where they gather to observe the Lord's Supper. Every time we eat the bread and drink the wine we are confronted with our sin, comforted with a sense of blood-bought pardon, and cheered with the hope of Christ's glorious second advent.

Paul makes it perfectly clear that the person receiving the Lord's Supper is responsible to examine himself (1 Cor. 11:28). Each person must examine him or herself. Are you a believer? Do you discern the Lord's body? Do you see the value of Christ's incarnation, life of obedience, and sin-atoning death? Do you rest your soul upon Christ by faith? If you do, this blessed gospel ordinance is for you, but if you refuse to trust the Son of God, you must not presume to take the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper.

15

Grace Bulletin

 

July 31, 2005

 

GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE

2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com

 

Donald S. Fortner, Pastor

 

SCHEDULE OF REGULAR SERVICES

 

Sunday

10:00 A.M. Bible Classes

10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service

6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service

Tuesday

7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service

 

 

Television Broadcasts

 

Danville

Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.

Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.

Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.

 

Web Pages

http://www.donfortner.com

http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm

http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp