Month: June 2011

Interestingness

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Interestingness2 Comments

Here are some videos and articles I enjoyed this week. Take a look at them and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy!

Blog Basics and Perseverance

Have you ever wondered what it takes to start and continue a blog,then you need to read Tim Challies latest post. You can check it out by clicking here.

The Scandal of the Gospel

Albert Mohler wrote an article about his exchange with Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today regarding Rep. Weiner. Here is an exert from the  article:

“The exchange on Twitter is another sign of how politically incorrect biblical Christianity is becoming in our times. Christians do understand that non-Christians disagree with the Gospel. We also understand that other religions claim “routes to restoring righteousness.” But biblical Christians cannot accept that these “routes” lead to redemption, and the only righteousness that saves — the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer, who is justified by faith in Christ alone.”

You can read the entire article by clicking here.

Church Membership: Why does it matter?

Have you ever wondered why church membership matters? Why join a local church? Why participate in worship services? Jonathan Leeman will answer your questions in this article. You can check it out by clicking here.

Piper, Keller, and Carson Talk About Their Future Transitions

Piper Talks with Carson, Keller About Succession Plans at Bethlehem from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Preaching Christ in the Old Testament Resources

If you have not seen the resources from The Gospel Coalition for preaching Christ in the Old Testament, then you need to check them out. You can do so by clicking here.

Christian Meditation: What is it and what does it involve?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical7 Comments

About a month ago, I had the opportunity to talk with one of my good friends about our time with the Lord. During our discussion we attempted to answer the question: What does it mean to commune with the Lord? As we came to an answer, we opened the door to a second question dealing with meditation in the Christian life.

After thinking and reading about Christian Meditation for the last month, I finally am at a place where I want to share my thoughts, but first lets answer our original question – What does it mean to commune with the Lord? – before moving on to an in-depth look at Christian Meditation.

Communing with the Lord occurs:

(1) When we spend time reading His Word

(2) When we spend time in prayer

(3) When we spend time meditating on God’s Word

It is on this last point that I would like to focus because I am afraid we do not understand what it means to meditate on Scripture, nor do we understand the benefits and purpose. As a result, I would like to provide you with a definition of Christian meditation, its scriptural warrant, a guide to meditation, and the advantages of meditating on God’s Word.

Chewing the Cud

Chewing the cud is a process that takes time and effort. In order for a cow to digest his meal, he must chew on it for an extended period. Swallow it, allow for digestion to occur, then bring it back up and chew on it some more. This process is repeated until it is able to be fully digested.

I believe we should take this same approach with Scripture. Like chewing the cud, meditation takes time and effort. It is a focused time where we chew on a small part of Scripture for an extended period to come to a place where we understand God’s Word more deeply with the purpose of obedience, repentance, sanctification, and increased heavenly affections.

Scripture

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

What Does It Mean To Meditate on God’s Word?

Meditation, in a Christian sense, can be defined as “an holy exercise of the mind, whereby we bring the truths of God to remembrance, and do seriously ponder upon them, and apply them to ourselves” (Thomas Watson Heaven Taken By Storm, 42).

Watson’s definition can be broken down into three parts:

(1) Remember God’s truths

(2) Think deeply upon God’s truths

(3) Apply God’s truths to our lives

How to Practice Meditation

Meditation is not the process of clearing your mind, so the universe can come in. It does not involve chants, postures, or New Age music. Meditation is active, and it has content, namely, God’s Word. In order to meditate properly, you need to:

First, separate yourself physically from the World. Meditating on Scripture at Starbucks is not going to work. You need to free yourself of all distractions and get alone somewhere.

Second, read Scripture, or repeat a verse you have recently memorized so your mind is saturated with God’s Word.

Third, gather your thoughts and remember the truths about God you just read. The purpose is to begin to think deeply about God’s Word. A singular focus on Scripture is what we should be after.

Fourth, examine your life to discover how the truths about God, sin, humanity, and salvation apply.

Fifth, pray and ask God to help you apply the truths of Scripture to your life through the work of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit working in your life, you have no hope of knowing where you need to change.

Finally, change must occur. Meditation “is not just about seeing where [you] lack or what [you] need to change;” it must include actual change in your lives (Neimeyer, 172).

The outcome should be a recognition of your sin, a willingness to repent, a deeper understanding of God’s provisions and holiness, along with increased affections for your Savior.

Meditation Allows One to Progress in the Christian Life By

(1) Motivating one to repent from sin

As the sin in your life becomes more vivid, and your understanding of the gospel becomes more ingrained, you will be motivated to repent of your sin.

(2) Causing one to grow in holiness

As you repent of your sins, you will grow in holiness becoming more like your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

(3) Improving one’s relationship with others

By thinking on Christ’s love for you, your love for others will grow.

Meditation Enhances

(1) Your Prayer Life

(2) Your Personal Reading of the Word

(3) Your Hearing The Word Preached

Conclusion

Given all the benefits of Meditation – a deeper understanding of God’s Word, a clearer realization of your sin, a more vivid picture of the Gospel, increased repentance, a greater love for others, a deeper prayer life, and increased affections for your Lord and Savior – we should be spending the effort to meditate on God’s Word more regularly.

Resource

This post was developed from an article in the Puritan Reformed Journal from January 2010 Vol 2, Num 1. Written by Jennifer C. Neimeyer and is Entitled: Thomas Watson: The Necessity of Meditation found on pages 166-181.

What Does it Mean to be Godly?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical4 Comments

I have been reading Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture this week. Watson defines godliness by saying,

Godliness is the sacred impression and workmanship of God in man, whereby from being carnal he is made spiritual.

He goes on to say,

When godliness is wrought in a person, he does not receive a new soul, but he has ‘another spirit’ (Num. 14:24). The faculties are not new, but the qualities are; the strings are the same, but the tune is corrected.

Watson then gives seven propositions concerning godliness:

(1) Godliness is a real thing

It is not a fantasy, but a fact. A Christian is no enthusiast, one whose religion is all made up of fancy.

(2) Godliness is an intrinsic thing

It lies chiefly in the heart. The moralist’s religion is all in the leaf; it consists only in externals, but godliness is a holy sap which is rooted in the soul.

(3) Godliness is a supernatural thing

By nature we inherit nothing but evil, but godliness is the wisdom from above. It is given by the Spirit because a man has no more power to change himself than to create himself.

(4) Godliness is an extensive thing

He who is godly is good all over. Godliness is a sacred leaven that spreads itself into the whole soul.

(5) Godliness is an intense thing

It does not lie in dead formality and indifference, but is vigorous and flaming. He whose devotion is inflamed is godly and his heart boils over in holy affections.

(6) Godliness is a glorious thing

As the jewel to the ring, so is piety to the soul, bespangling it in God’s eyes.

(7) Godliness is a permanent thing

A blush of godliness is not enough to distinguish a Christian, but godliness must be the temper and complexion of the soul. Godliness is a fixed thing.

Resource

Today’s post was adapted from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture, pp. 12-14. You can pick up a copy by clicking here.

Interestingness

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn InterestingnessLeave a comment

Grab a cup of your favorite coffee and settle in at your computer. It is time for another installment of Interestingness. This week I want to share a few articles and videos I have found particularly interesting over the last week. I hope you enjoy them.

Water Droplets as Art

positioning systems I – falling objects from pe lang on Vimeo.

Preview of iOS5 for iPhone

Here are two articles from Engadget highlighting the new operating system for iPhone and iPad, which will be released this Fall. You can read the articles by clicking here and here.

Preview of OS X Lion

The guys over at Engadget also provided an article highlighting the details of Apple’s new operating system for their line of Macs, OS X Lion. You can read all about it by clicking here.

Piper, Carson, and Keller Talking about Sustaining the Marriage Covenant

Piper, Carson, and Keller on Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Review on Whosoever Will

The guys over at The Gospel Coalition put out a review on Whosoever Will: A Theological Critique of Five Point Calvinism. You can read the full review by clicking here.

A Brave New World – A Look At Social Media

In this video Ed Stetzer takes a look at how social media is shaping us as a culture. You can view it by clicking the link below.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ligonier-static-media/swf/player/player.swf?5bbcf5bd98c7ac67f770

What to Look for in a Church

Have you ever wondered what you should look for in a church? Well, 9 Marks have provided a resource page to answer your questions. On their site, they answer such questions as: According to Scripture, why should every Christian join a church?; What should I look for in a church?; How can I make the most of the preaching I hear every week? As well as several others. Check out this excellent resource by clicking here.

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

X-Ray Questions: What makes you tick?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, X-Ray QuestionsLeave a comment

This week we continue our X-Ray Questions series, as we look at what makes you tick. You can read the other posts in this series by clicking here.

X-Ray Question:

(9) What makes you tick? What sun does your planet revolve around? 

Where do you find your garden of delight? What lights up your world? What fountain of life, hope, and delight do you drink from? What food sustains your life? What really matters to you? What castle do you build in the clouds? What pipe dreams tantalize or terrify you? What do you organize your life around? Many gripping metaphors can express the question, “What are you really living for?”

To be ruled, say, by deep thirsts for intimacy, achievement, respect, health, or wealth does not define these as legitimate, unproblematic desires. They function perversely, placing ourselves at the center of the universe. We are meant to long supremely for the Lord himself, for the Giver, not his gifts. The absence of blessing – rejection, vanity, reviling, illness, poverty – often is the crucible in which we learn to love God for who He is. In our idolatry, we make gifts out to be supreme good, and make the Giver into the errand boy of our desires.

Understand

This weeks question is designed to help you answer the question: what are you really living for? The answer to that question will reveal our deepest most hidden idols. When we desire, as our end, things such as intimacy, achievement, respect, health, or wealth, we are seeking to place these things at the center of the universe instead of God. As creatures created by the one true God, we are meant to long for God Himself, not for the things that He can give us. When we long for the things He can give us, and seek to please Him only so He will give us what we want, we have turned the all powerful Creator of the universe, the One we should be worshipping, into our errand boy.

Repent

First, we should repent by realizing our desires can get in the way of our relationship with God.

Second, instead of desiring the things God can give us, we should desire God for who He is. He is the one that regenerated us, and provides us with everlasting life. He is the Creator of the universe, the reason we all exist, the reason we are able to eat, sleep, live, and breathe. Without His hand on our life, we would not have the things we have currently. God, not self, should be the one we live for. Pleasing Him should be the heartbeat of our lives.

However, in our sinfulness, living for God, not self, is a foreign concept, but because of the regeneration our hearts experience through Christ’s death, we are able to live for God alone. Through the death of His Son Jesus Christ, and our subsequent belief that His death paid the price for our sins, we are able to enjoy a relationship with God. Since we are able to commune with God, we should seek to worship Him and do the work that He would have us do, remembering we were not created for our glory, but for the glory of God.

Scripture

Here are a few passages from God’s word to meditate on this week, as you consider what makes you tick: Isa. 1:29-30; 50:10-11; Jer. 2:13; Matt. 4:4; 5:6; John 4:32-34; 6:25-69.

All X-Ray questions taken from David Powlison’s book Seeing with New Eyes.

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Entertainment is the Supraideology of all Discourse on TV

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical3 Comments

I have been reading through Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death for sometime now, and I came across this quote:

“Entertainment is the surpraideology of all discourse on television” (87).

Postman’s quote reveals that no matter what the show is about its main purpose is our amusement and pleasure. Simply put everything on TV is entertainment.

On TV, All Subject Matter is Entertaining

Postman believes television “has made entertainment itself the natural format for the representative of all experience” (87).  In other words, “all subject matter is presented as entertaining” (87).

Jack Johnson’s song The News speaks to Postman’s claim. Here are a few choice lyrics:

A billion people died on the news tonight
But not so many cried at the terrible sight
Who’s the one to decide that it would be alright
To put the music behind the news tonight
Well mama said
You can’t believe everything you hear
The diagetic world is so unclear
Why don’t the newscasters cry when they read about people who die?
At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eyes

Johnson recognizes that even the nightly news is entertainment first and informative second.

We are just as guilty as the Newscasters in Johnson’s song. Why?

Because to us, the news is not to be taken seriously, it is entertainment. Where did we learn this from? The show itself teaches us.

Think about it

The most attractive people are selected, the music is exciting, the commercials are fun and light hearted, the video footage is high quality, and the banter between the newscasters is exciting, not to mention you are given only a few seconds to process the events presented before you are ushered off to think about another story presented in the same way. It is no wonder the newscasters never shed a tear, nor anyone at home.

What does this do to our society?

(1) I teaches us that life is all about entertainment.

If we are not entertained, then we are not living.

(2) It teaches us there is no place for feelings.

Especially, the kind of feelings that should surface when someone dies.

(3) It provides us with a kind of morbid craving.

Nothing short of a terrible accident or someone hurting themselves will entertain us. It is no wonder shows and movies such as Jackass and Faces of Death are a regular attraction. We have been taught that death and pain are entertainment, and we learned it from something as innocent as the nightly news.

Technology is not Bad

You may not come to the same conclusions that I have. I believe, however, these ideas will give you something to think about the next time you turn on the 10 o’clock news.

Not only should we think when we turn on the news, but also when we use any piece of technology. Each piece of technology affects us in different ways. Sometimes the effects are good and sometimes they are bad. Let me be clear, I am not saying technology is bad. I use it everyday. What I am saying is understanding how it affects us is important, so we can approach it in a discerning manner.

Questions for Reflection

  1. What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with Postman?
  2. Have you ever thought about how the technology you use affects you?
  3. Do you believe the medium also contributes to the message, or do you see the medium as neutral?

Resource

Post adapted from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death.

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net