Month: January 2012

The Relevance of Scripture | Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Pastoral, Practical, Preaching4 Comments

How is a 4,000 yrs old + book relevant for today? That is the question most people ask when they approach the Bible. They read about the Law, tent dwellers, and shepherds. They think back to a time where television and the internet were not even a glimmer in someone’s eye. Skyscrapers did not rule the air, nor were we immediately accesible through email, text message, or a mobile phone. With this in mind, how does such a foreign time remain relevant to us today?

Scripture is for Equipping

The apostle Paul tells us,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Paul informs us that every word of Scripture is God-breathed and useful in order to equip the man of God. Knowing that all Scripture is useful is part of Scripture being relevant for today, but there is another piece of the puzzle we must fill in before we have our answer [1].

Scripture is Written with a Purpose

Each writer had a specific purpose for the text he wrote, which is the missing piece to our puzzle. Modern writers write with purpose. They do not write a short story, poem, or book without a reason or purpose for doing so. In biblical times, it was no different. Every story, poem, and book in the Bible has a purpose for being there.

From Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3, we know the purpose of the biblical writer was to thoroughly equip the man of God for every good work. The way the biblical writer equips is no different than how our modern writers would equip. They looked at the situations the readers were facing and wrote toward those ends.

Our Issues are More Similar Than You Think

Some of you may be thinking, those in biblical times did not face the same situations I do today. How could they? There time was much different than mine. Even though all the modern conveniences were not available, and their culture was not exactly like ours, the situations the writers and readers of the biblical text dealt with are strikingly similar.

From the beginning of the Bible we see writers writing about men who desire power, wanting to be their own gods (Gen. 3), adultery and enticing women (Gen. 39; Prov.1-8), as well as barrenness (Gen. 16 -17). Demon possession (Luke 4), Homosexuality (Rom. 1), Disunity in the church (1 Cor. 3; Eph. 4; Phil. 2), Lawsuits (1 Cor. 6), Marriage (1 Cor. 7; Eph. 5), Partiality (James 2), Speech (James 3), Enemies (Matt. 5), Judging others (Matt. 7), and Anxiousness (Matt. 6) are a few more purposes for which the biblical writers wrote. Even though our world’s may look a little different on the outside, we are all still dealing with the same things on the inside.

Fallen Condition Focus (FCF)

Bryan Chapell calls

The mutual human condition that contemporary believers share with those to or about whom the text was written that requires the grace of the passage for God’s people to glorify and enjoy him is the Fallen Condition Focus [2].

Our world, and the biblical writers world, is corrupt and fallen. Since our world and man is corrupt, we need the grace of God to instruct us in how to live. The Word of God is designed to do just that, to instruct us in how we are to live, and it was the writers of God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, who took up that task in their writings.

Conclusion

As you read through the text, you can be assured that God’s Word is relevant for you. The times may be different, but we are still fallen and corrupt, needing God’s grace to instruct us in how to live. The biblical writers, just like the writers of today, write with a purpose. Their purpose is to thoroughly equip us for every good work. They do so through the many stories, poems, letters, and books they wrote.

So then, when we approach a text of Scripture, we need to first determine what FCF the writer is seeking to address, then we need to identify how we are to respond biblically to the FCF the writer is addressing.

Next time

In my next post, I will look more specifically at how we are to determine the purpose of the biblical writer and the FCF he is addressing.

Resources

[1] Chapell, Bryan, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, 49.  See also pages 48-51.
[2] Ibid., 50.
Image: Adrian van Leen for openphoto.net CC:PublicDomain

Grace, Hope, and Holy Living

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals5 Comments

In 1 Peter 1:13, Peter tells Christians, based on the fact that God is a God of kept promises, that they are to confidently and fully set their hope on God’s future grace.

In order to grasp the magnitude of Peter’s command we need to look specifically at two words, which are grace and hope. Then we will look at what hope in future grace should produce in us, namely, holy living.

Grace

The context tells us God’s grace will be given to us at the revelation, or return of Jesus Christ. This means God has given us a measure of His grace now, but it is not all the grace He will pour out on us. When Christ returns, God will pour a final measure of grace on us bringing us into a state of glorification. The body of death Paul talks about that hinders him in living completely for Christ will be put away and we will receive our glorified bodies. Sin will no longer reign in our members, rather, we will be perfect.

So we see: (1) Our final salvation is completed in the future, at the return of Jesus Christ. (2) It is God’s grace and nothing else that will provide us with eternal salvation. (3) It is God’s future grace we are to place our hope in.

Now that we understand we are to place our hope in God’s future grace and what that grace will accomplish for us, namely, eternal salvation. We need to look at hope, understanding it from a biblical perspective.

Hope

The Bible defines hope differently than our modern secular society. Hope in modern English has the idea of a wish that is uncertain.

For example, if we are going to a ball game this weekend with our family, we may hope it does not rain. We don’t know if it will or will not rain, but our wish is that it will not.

So then, hope in modern English carries the idea of wishfulness, but not certainty.

In biblical terms, hope is defined differently. Instead of a wishful thought, hope is certain. When Peter tells us to put our hope in the grace that will be poured out on us at the return of Christ, he is telling us something we can be confident in. Jesus’ return and the grace that will be poured out on us then is certain. Meaning Christ’s return and the grace we will receive at His return is not a wishful thought, it will happen.

Knowing what God’s grace will accomplish for us, and that He is a God of kept promises, means we should fully place our hope in God’s future grace, knowing for certain His grace will be poured out on us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Hope in God’s Future Grace Leads to Holy Living

Our hope in God’s future grace is not just the key to heaven, but it also is the key to holy living. If we don’t hope in God’s future grace alone, trusting in faith that He will pour out that final measure of grace on us at Jesus’ return, then living a holy life will not follow.

A holy life will not follow because it is pointless. If we don’t believe God will provide us with eternal life, then why would we live according to His commands? In other words, if the promises of God are not more satisfying to us than sin, why would we not sin?

All of this means that before we can live holy lives, it is important that our hope be in God alone, that we believe life with God for eternity is better than sinning now.

Challenge

So I must ask: Do you hope in God alone, realizing He will provide you with more satisfaction than sin ever will? If you don’t, then you will not live a holy life.

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Rejoice in the Lord in the New Year

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

I though it right to start the New Year off with a dose of Spurgeon. Read what he has to say about rejoicing in and magnifying our Savior in the New Year. May we all see our salvation in Jesus as a cause to rejoice in the New Year.

We will be glad and rejoice in thee (Son of Solomon 1:4)

Be Glad and Rejoice in the God

We will be glad and rejoice in God. We will not open the gates and begin the new year on a note of sadness. Rather, we will sing to the sweet strains of the harp of joy and the high sounding cymbals of gladness.

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation (Psalm 95:1).

We, the called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let others lament over their troubles.

Magnify the Lord with Joy

We who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah’s bitter pool will magnify the Lord with joy. Eternal Spirit, our perfect Comforter, we will never cease from adoring and blessing the name of Jesus. Jesus must have the crown of our heart’s delight. We will not dishonor our Bridegroom by mourning in His presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies. Let us rehearse our everlasting song before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem.

We will be glad and rejoice – two words with one meaning – double joy, blessing upon blessing.

Should there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? What riches are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source and every drop of their fullness in Him!

Concluding Prayer

Sweet Lord Jesus, You are the present inheritance of Your people. Favor us this year with such a sense of Your preciousness that from its first to its last day, we may be glad and rejoice in You. Let January open with joy in the Lord and December close with gladness in Jesus.

Resource

Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: January 1, Evening