Tag: faith

The Triune God: The Ultimate Christmas Gift

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Theology1 Comment

Christmas is here! And all that comes with it: lights, decorations, gatherings, and…gifts. What does that last word do for you- gifts? Does it create excitement, perhaps over the gift you might receive or give? Or does it create a sense of burden over the gifts you need to purchase? Whichever it may be, how would you feel if I told you that our practice of gift-giving could (and should) deepen our appreciation of the Triune God?

Why do we give gifts at Christmas, anyways? We may say, “because God has given us the gift of salvation.” And while that may be true, the gift God has given us is much more than that. The ultimate Christmas gift is a Trinitarian gift. It’s a gift prepared, given, and protected by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a gift that redeems the world and restores all that mankind lost in the Garden of Eden, chiefly, an intimate relationship with the Triune God.

When God gives us the gift of salvation, He gives us Himself and the ability to know Him. That’s what we lost in Eden. Everything else is merely a symptom of that broken relationship. So God prepares, purchases, and extends this gift to us. But He does so through each member of the Trinity giving themselves so that we may know God in all of His fullness. Let me explain.

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Why Disciple-Making Must Begin with the Gospel

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn DiscipleshipLeave a comment

Today we launched a new discipleship group on my back porch at 6:45am. In our first meeting together, we carefully explained and studied the core message of the gospel. We began with God and His character, considered man’s need because of his sin, Christ’s righteous life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection, and the need for responding in repentance and faith. We discussed our individual experiences hearing, believing, and living the gospel. Though it may seem basic, starting any disciple-making effort must start with the gospel. Here’s why:

1. The gospel is the entry-point into life with God.

A disciple is someone who is following Jesus. Someone who is walking with God. The gospel is the message that brings us to God. The content of the gospel- Christ’s life, death, and resurrection- is the power of God to save (Romans 1:16). By believing it, we become sons and daughters of God, and begin a new life with God. We must start disciple-making with the gospel because it is quite literally the starting point of our lives with God.

2. The gospel is the foundation of walking with God.

Not only is the gospel the starting point of life with God, it is also the foundation of the believer’s future walk with God. We never outgrow our need for the gospel. Every day we are sinners in need of God’s grace. Every day we are recipients of God’s grace in Christ. Every day God sees us, not in our sin, but in the perfect righteousness of the Son.

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How God Builds, Sustains, and Strengthens His Church (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Imago Dei Class2 Comments

Church life is messy. There are no perfect churches because they are no perfect people. The church at Corinth demonstrated the possibility of imperfection better than any other church in the New Testament. Their disarrayed congregation fell prey to the cult of personality (1:10-17), sexual immorality (5:1-13; 6:12-20), confusion about marriage (7:1-40), misuse of Christian liberty (8:1-11:1), dishonorable practices surrounding the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34), unhealthy practices concerning spiritual gifts (chs 12-14), and incorrect views on the resurrection (ch. 15).[1] A mess indeed.

Nevertheless, they remained God’s church. And the beginning of Paul’s letter to them tells us just how God builds, strengthens, and sustains His church, despite the mess they may create. He helps us clean up our mess by re-directing our attention to His work and to the ways that He builds, strengthens, and sustains His people.

1. God calls leaders to shepherd His people (1 Cor. 1:1).

1Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes (1:1)

God does not desire for His church to function as an anarchic democracy. He raises up leaders to shepherd His people. Paul identifies Himself as one of these leaders in the opening verse of the chapter-as an “apostle” who was “called” to His assignment according to “God’s will.” It is the same with all church leaders- God appoints shepherds to lead His flock. “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,[2] to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). The church should pray for, support, and follow the leadership of her shepherds, as they follow the Chief Shepherd.

2. God saves sinners and sanctifies saints (1:2-3).

2To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2-3).

God’s church is the place where sinners become sanctified saints. It is where the gospel is preached, where sin is repented of, and where Christ is believed (i.e. “called upon”). Those in Christ are sanctified- a word that is in the perfect tense in Greek, emphasizing the resultant state. In other words, members of Christ’s church have been made holy in Christ, and are currently holy in Him. As such, the Scriptures call us saints.

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Grace for the Humble- 1 Peter 5:5-11

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

Once again, I have been tasked with teaching on a passage and topic that I have neither mastered nor have begun to gain proficiency in: humility. Some of you may have just breathed a sigh of relief. You’re already pretty humble- so you think- and so you’re poised for a nice pat on the back! But once you think you have humility, you’ve lost it. So I am here to help you regain it. For others, you may have groaned, because you struggle with pride, and now find yourself blessed to sit through a sermon on humility.

Most are somewhere in between, wondering what in the world I am about to say, but here’s what I can promise you: we all have something to learn today. Not because of what I say but because of what God says. We all have the opportunity to sit before God’s Word and to hear Him speak to us about a virtue that is absolutely necessary for His people.

So what is humility? It is an attitude of mind that realizes that we have no reason to be distinct, special, or important in God’s eyes. It is the recognition that without God, we are nothing. Even in comparison to others, in the grand scheme of things, we are all the same- creatures that are completely dependent upon God for life, breath, andevery good thing.

1 Peter 5:5 commands us to put on humility, “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’.” After exhorting the elders in verses 1-4, Peter encourages the entire church, “all of you,” to clothe themselves with humility. Why? Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Thus we see the necessity of our subject this morning. God opposes those without it. The word oppose conveys the imagery of being set in battle array. God opposes the proud as if He is a battling army. Thus we are commanded to clothe ourselves with humility, a rare verb that refers to a slave putting on an apron before serving, as Jesus did before washing the disciples’ feet.

So, what do you want this morning? Do you want God to oppose you? To set His face and His power against you? Or do you want God to be gracious towards you? What determines whether we receive God’s opposition or His grace in our lives? Humility.

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Partiality & The Gospel

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous1 Comment

We are currently preaching through the book of James on Sunday mornings at our church. Our text for this past week was James 2:1-13, where James encourages his readers to avoid the sin of partiality. The chapter begins with the following admonition,

My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

James 2:1

This passage contains one of my favorite aspects of the Bible: God often calls us to simply imitate who He is and what He has done for us in the gospel. It makes sense, considering His call to “be holy as I am holy” (Lev. 19:2). Everything that He asks us to do compels us to be more like Him. And we become more like Him by imitating, as far as we are able, who He is and what He has done for us. Let me explain.

We are told throughout the scriptures that God does not show partiality (Rom. 2:11; Deut. 10:17; Job 34:19; Acts 10:33). He does not show favoritism. He treats everyone equally, regardless of nationality, physical appearance, talents, position, family, etc. Thus, if we want to imitate God and be holy as He is holy, we should refrain from showing partiality. But what does that look like?

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A Merciful God Who Doesn’t Clear the Guilty

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous4 Comments

Throughout the Bible, there is a seeming paradox: God is holy and just, but He is also loving and forgiving. God declares these things to be true about Himself in Exodus 34. He tells Moses that He is a “merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love” (Exodus 34:6). But He also says that He will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7). We are left with the question: how can God be gracious, loving, and merciful, while also being a just, holy, fair judge of the guilty?

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The Center and Core of the Whole Bible

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

I’ve been reading through Ned Stonehouse’s biography of J. Gresham Machen, the conservative New Testament professor at Princeton Seminary who stood against the liberal theology that was making inroads in the Presbyterian Church of America in the 1920s and 1930s.

Throughout the Book, Stonehouse highlights key sections from Machen’s works. In one of them, titled What is Faith?, Stonehouse recounts where Machen clearly sets forth what he believes to be the “center and core” of the whole Bible: the grace of God. And I couldn’t agree more. He writes,

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Trust God, Not Yourself

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Devotionals, MiscellaneousLeave a comment

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.” –Proverbs 3:5-6

These often-quoted verses are very encouraging. However, there is a risk of them becoming too familiar that we fail to see the point and power in them. Continue reading “Trust God, Not Yourself” →

An Example of Praying Without Ceasing- Sir Thomas Browne

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

thomasbrowne

Despite a time where England was passing through a period of national convulsion and political excitement, men and women of God found comfort and strength through prayer. One beloved English physician, named Sir Thomas Browne, is one of these men. He wrote in his journal,”I have resolved to pray more and pray always, to pray in all places where quietness invites, in the house, on the highway and on the street; and to know no street or passage in this city that may not witness that I have not forgotten God.”

Do we witness that we have not forgotten God in all places?

Browne adds, “I purpose to take occasion of praying upon the sight of any church which I may pass, that God may be worshiped there in spirit, and that souls may be saved there; to pray daily for my sick patients and for the patients of other physicians; at my entrance into any home to say, “May the peace of God abide here;” after hearing a sermon, to pray for a blessing on God’s truth, and upon the messenger; upon the sight of a beautiful person to bless God for His creatures, to pray for the beauty of such an one’s soul, that God may enrich her with inward graces, and that the outward and inward may correspond; upon the sight of a deformed person, to pray God to give them wholeness of soul, and by and but to give them the beauty of the resurrection.”

May adding constant daily patterns of prayer give us comfort and strength through our hard times?

Seeing the Goodness of Our God

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

Topaz-Waters-beautiful-nature-21888528-1217-812

The more closely we study ourselves, the more beneficent our Creator becomes. Look at the highest of God’s earthly creatures-man. We have plenty of reasons to say with the Psalmist, “I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that I know full well” (Psalm 139:14). Everything about the structure of our bodies attest to the goodness of our Maker. How suited are our hands to perform work! How good of the Lord to appoint sleep to refresh our wearied bodies! How benevolent His provision to give to the eyes lids and brows for their protection! We could continue indefinitely!*

The goodness of God is also seen in the variety of natural pleasures that He has provided for his creatures. God could have decided to satisfy our hunger without allowing us to really enjoy the taste of it- yet how good is He that he gave us such flavors as those in meat, vegetables, and fruits! He has not only given us senses, but also things that will gratify our senses, and this too reveals His goodness. The earth could have been fertile as it is without its surface being so delightfully multicolored. Our physical lives could have been sustained without beautiful flowers to please our eyes with their colors, and our nostrils with their sweet perfumes. We might have walked outside without hearing the music of birds. Why then, is all of this loveliness so freely diffused over the face of nature? Because the tender mercies of the Lord “are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9).*

When others behave badly to us, it should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord, because He is good; and when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only the more reverently bless Him that He is good. We must never tolerate an instant’s unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questioned, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same (C.H. Spurgeon).

Gratitude and thankfulness is the return justly required from us, the objects of His goodness. Yet we often do not give it to God because His goodness is so constant and so abundant. It is lightly esteemed because it is exercised toward us in the common course of events. It is not felt because we daily experience it!* We must labor to not allow this to be so!

Praise the Lord for His Goodness!!

*My translation from A.W. Pink’s “Old” English language (Attributes of God, Ch. 11, The Goodness of God)