Grafton Free Presbyterian Church

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Visitors Very Welcome

The Grafton Free Presbyterian Church is a congregation within the bounds of the Asia Pacific Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. We are evangelical and reformed according to Scripture in doctrine, worship and practice.

• We believe that the Bible is the inspired, infallible and inerrant Word of God;
• We believe in presbyterian church government; and
• We believe that the Westminster Confession of Faith accurately summarises the principal doctrines of God's Word.

A Brief Meditation for the Month

October 2024

As the early Christian movement was spreading in the first century, when the apostles and their associates carried the message of the gospel into the cities of Asia and further into Europe, the servants of the risen, glorified Christ were totally reliant upon the accompanying person and power of the Holy Spirit to open hearts to receive their message. This was acknowledged by Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, in his first letter to the Corinthians, when he referred to his ministry and that of his companion Apollos. Paul wrote: “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6–7. The apostle went on to write in verse 9, “We are labourers together with God.” This blessed combination, referred to in Mark 16:20—God and men functioning in harmony that was so manifestly fruitful—set the standard for all future gospel work. This harmony, however, exists when men wait on God and their wills are brought into conformity to the divine will. Because the spirit of Christ indwells his servants, their attitude is like unto his, “not my will, but thine be done.” The will of God was the reigning influence upon Paul. He was an apostle according to the will of God, 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1, but he was also guided in his missionary endeavours by the sovereign will of God, Acts 18:21; Romans 1:10; 15:32; 1 Corinthians 4:19; 16:7. Like Paul, the instruments God used to spread the gospel were men whose wills were surrendered to God, and this enabled them, as it was necessary, to endure all forms of hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Paul’s testimony was, “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” 2 Timothy 2:10. When harmony prevailed at the council at Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15, the Church, desiring to further the apostolic work among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, sent Barnabas and Paul, accompanied by others, whom they described as “Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Acts 15:25–26. The reason for such devotion to duty is encapsulated in the words of Paul to the Corinthians when he recalled their sufferings that seemed at times to be beyond human ability to endure: “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9.

Like those faithful ambassadors of Christ, Martin Luther discovered the value of living for God and eternity. He is reputed to have testified: “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” Regrettably, many Christians today, rather than deny themselves and take up the cross to follow Christ, do not value eternal realities but, like Lot, set their sights on the well-watered plains of this world. They become so entangled with unnecessary things in this world that they lose out spiritually. Material-mindedness has replaced genuine spiritual-mindedness. What a contrast is the case of someone like Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China, who once stated: “If I had a thousand lives, China should have them. No! Not China, but Christ. Can we do too much for him?” Oh, that it would please God to revive such a self-denying, self-sacrificing spirit throughout the Church of Christ in our generation. Where can we find this kind of biblical Christianity today? Can Christians do too much for Christ, who has done so much for them? Perhaps we ought to be ashamed of just how little we endeavour to do for him.

G. G. Hutton.

[See articles from previous months.]

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