Passing from Death unto Life

Berean Baptist on May 28, 2018

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)

The resurrection is an intriguing subject because it falls outside the realm of the physics of nature into the realm of the supernatural sphere of God. Science says that dead is dead. There is no scientist or any doctor who can revive a dead body and this is because humans do not have the power of life. But it is not so with God. God gave life, God can take away life, and God can restore life.

Jesus’ resurrection is proof positive that the dead can live, and they can do so in a body. Jesus’ bodily resurrection is the model for all resurrections both of believers and unbelievers. All dead bodies will arise, but when they arise and where they go when they arise is another matter.

John 5:24 is about a resurrection from death to life but it does not speak of the resurrection of the body. This is the resurrection of the spiritually dead. It matters right now, today, whether you have been called from spiritual death into spiritual life. Your status as a spiritually alive born-again believer in Christ or as a spiritually dead unbeliever determines where your body and soul will reside forever in eternity.

Those who hear the words of Christ and believe that God sent Him as a sacrifice for sins—those who desire to repent of their sins and trust Christ alone for salvation—are those who have passed from death unto life. These have been raised into spiritual life and in the resurrection their bodies will be called up to rejoin the soul and spirit in heaven.

If you have passed from death unto life, praise God! If not, trust Christ today. Repentance and faith in Him ensures that when your body dies, it will also be raised into a perfect, glorified body to live with Christ forever.

 

                                                                                                                Pastor V. Mark Smith

Closed Communion

Berean Baptist on May 21, 2018

In thinking of the Lord’s Supper, I am prompted to regard the great privilege we have of being a part of the Lord’s church. The Supper is one of two ordinances Christ gave the church and both are observed only by those who are born again believers. The first ordinance is baptism which is a response of the believer’s obedience to show publicly he has committed his life to Christ. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change. It occurs before church membership but is closely connected to it as it is the door of admittance into church relationship. As such, it is prerequisite to both membership and participation in the Supper. Most Christians have no problems with this order since it is clearly shown to be apostolic in Acts chapter 2.

However, when it comes to the privilege of taking the Supper, many churches stray from the biblical precedent by allowing unconverted, unbaptized people to partake of the precious symbolic elements of Christ’s body and blood. This is a more modern practice among evangelicals that is one of the most egregious violations of church order that is observed today. Although it is becoming more common, there are still good churches that are careful to avoid this as best they can.

We believe the Bible provides a better solution to the problem and one that is more doctrinally correct. The scriptures teach a more restricted communion than to limit it to baptized believers. The scriptural precedent is to drill down further to restrict the communion to members of the local body. In addition to salvation, baptism, and church membership, the further requirement is for the participant to be a member of the particular New Testament church body that is observing the Supper. Due to space and time, let me only briefly explain why this is true using only one argument.

The argument comes from Paul’s instructions to the Corinthian church regarding church discipline. The apostle enjoined the church that no one should take the Supper unworthily, meaning the church should do its best to ensure there were no open sins and as much as possible no hidden sins that would hinder fellowship with the Lord. In the case of the Corinthian church, there was open sin described in 1 Corinthians 5, a sin bad enough that Paul said even heathen idolaters knew better. Paul commanded the church to withdraw fellowship from the man who sinned until he was brought to repentance. Specifically, the church was commanded not to permit him or others that were guilty of offenses to come to the Supper (1 Cor. 5:11).

The withdrawal of fellowship in church discipline indicates that all who are permitted to partake of the Supper must be under the jurisdiction of the church. If a person is not a member of the church, there is no enforcement mechanism against him for his sin. We cannot withdraw fellowship from someone who is not in the body and neither are we apprised of their particular lifestyle and qualifications as we are those who are regular participants in our fellowship and activities (1 Cor. 5:12-13). The purpose of church discipline is first of all formative rather than punitive to help a person realize the need of repentance.

The practice of restricted communion, also known as closed communion, is not a judgment of the spiritual condition of any person who is not a member of this church. We have many friends that are good Christians from other churches and some who are denominationally different. We do not doubt their salvation. We simply believe in New Testament church order. The Supper is the Lord’s table not ours, so we only invite those in the same intimate fellowship that Christ and the apostles practiced. We have no more right to change the scriptural precedent in the Supper than we do to change the ordinance of baptism.

Our position is not meant to be offensive to anyone and does not make us better than any others. We are all sinners saved by God’s grace. We desire to honor Him in the best ways we know how.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Zion

Berean Baptist on May 14, 2018

Psalm 132

Psalm 132 is most interesting as it relates to the temple built by Solomon and the placing of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. For the previous five hundred years, Israel worshiped at the Tabernacle which at this time was located at Gibeon. When David was anointed king, he vowed to build a house for the Lord God but was prevented because scripture says he was a man of war. Instead, the building of the new magnificent sanctuary that would hold the most holy ark of the covenant was left to David’s son, Solomon.

Solomon’s reign was one of peace as no major wars occurred during his lifetime. At the same time, Israel increased in power and influence throughout the world. Solomon’s days were the most prosperous for Israel leading his reign to be known by successive generations as the Golden Age. In the New Testament, it was Solomon Jesus appealed to for His example of prosperity and notoriety telling the people He was greater than Solomon (Mt. 12:42) and comparing Solomon’s beauty to the loveliest of God’s creation (Mt. 6:29).

In the 13th verse of the psalm, the psalmist speaks of Zion as God’s choice for His holy habitation. Zion is Jerusalem and is synonymous with the city of God. The area was originally the hill on which David built his fortress, but later was expanded to include the temple mount. In the Old Testament when people spoke of going to Zion, they were referring specifically to making the trip to the temple.

Jerusalem is the only place God allowed a temple to be built. In the ancient world, temples for pagan gods were built in various locations such as Paul saw in Athens and Ephesus. However, the one true living God had only one place of worship and one place of sacrifice. In Paul’s time, the ark was long since gone but there was a stone in its place in the Holy of Holies on which the priest put a censor on the Day of Atonement. There were no images allowed and no representation of the ark. Any Israelite that wanted to observe the solemn feast days had only one place to go—he must go to Jerusalem.

Zion’s was further expanded to mean the holy city of the New Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22). This is the brilliant city of light in Revelation 21. It is the home of the bride of Christ, the Lord’s church. The New Jerusalem is a city that comes out of heaven and descends to rest above the new earth, possibly touching it at some point. Although all of heaven belongs to God and His presence fills it all, His special manifestation is in the New Jerusalem whose entirety is His temple. Essentially, God’s people dwell within His temple. We are in Christ so that scripture says Christ Himself is the temple.

The beauty of worship in Solomon’s time was unparalleled by any other period of Israel’s history. It most closely models the worship of heaven. When the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, she was stunned with the magnificence of what she saw. And yet, Jesus, the one who was a lowly carpenter, said He was greater than Solomon. The real beauty of Jesus is not seen on the outside. It is to be inside Christ to be able to understand how glorious He is. You can see His beauty by faith. Trusting Jesus is to have a glimpse of Zion, the holy city of God.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith