Category: Devotionals

On God’s Word

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Pastoral, Preaching, QuotesLeave a comment

God’s Word is bold, honest, and direct, cutting across the grain of popular culture. It penetrates hearts, illuminates minds, and transforms lives. Our circumstances and preferences don’t inform or liven up the Bible, dictate its meaning, or determine how it applies to our lives.

It is eternal truth, living and active, and it cuts to the heart of every issue.

Its meaning is fixed, and applicable to everyone, everywhere. Scripture speaks with absolute authority as it guides believers, confronts error, and brings clarity to even the most confusing theological questions.

There is simply no substitute for Scripture. Nothing else is as trustworthy and steadfast as the Word of God. Church tradition changes over time. Authors and pastors make mistakes. Even your own conscience can be wrong.

All believers must be like the Bereans Paul describes in Acts 17:11, measuring everything we hear, read, and see against the perfect, unchanging standard of the Bible.

The authority and power of God’s Word is unmistakeable and unforgettable.

Question for Reflection

  1. What do you think about God’s Word?

Resources

John MacArthur, John MacArthur: Servant of the Word of the Flock, 240.

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On Moralism

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Quotes2 Comments

Christians who are taught to act morally primarily to escape punishment or to win self-respect and salvation are learning to be moral to serve themselves.

They are not loving God for Himself.

They are not obeying him simply because of his greatness and because he has done so much for them in Christ. Rather, they are using God to get the things they want.

Question for Reflection

  1. What is your motivation for obedience?

Resources

Timothy Keller, Center Church, 67.

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On Community

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Devotionals, Quotes3 Comments

Ephesians 4 makes it quite clear that full spiritual vitality cannot be present in the church until its macro-communities and micro-communities consist of fully developed networks of Christians who are exercising their gifts and contributing to one another, so that “the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).

Questions for Reflection

  1. How do you think about your work in the church?
  2. How do you contribute to growth in the members of the church?

Resources

Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, 167.

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There are No Self-Made Men in God’s Kingdom

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals6 Comments

Men at Work

Sam Walton – the founder of Wal-Mart – is a self made man.

He grew up during the Great Depression. His family was poor like most others. He had to pay his own way through College by working as a lifeguard. After college, he worked two jobs before serving in WWII.

Not until after the war did he catch a break. Using the money he saved, along with a loan from his father-in-law, he bought into a franchise, before opening his own store – Walton’s Five & Dime – and eventually Wal-Mart. His success as the owner of Wal-Mart earned him the title of America’s richest man.

We love stories like Walton’s. It motivates and inspires us. It drives us. That’s because it tells us if we work hard enough, we can become whatever we want. It’s the American Dream.

When it comes to our job, that way of thinking is fine, but we must set that aside when we turn to our relationship with God. Hard work doesn’t earn us success and acceptance with God. If we think that way, we are in trouble because there are no self-made men in God’s kingdom.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Resources

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Post adapted from my most recent sermon: Rest Not Works

On Prayer

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Discipleship, Quotes14 Comments

If all regenerate church members in Western Christendom were to intercede daily simply for…

…the most obvious spiritual concerns visible in their homes, their workplaces, their local churches and denominations, their nations, and the world and the total mission of the body of Christ within it,…

…the transformation which would result would be incalculable.

Not only would God certainly change those situations in response to prayer – we have Christ’s word that if we ask in his name he will do more than we ask or think – but the church’s comprehension of its task would attain an unprecedented sharpness of focus.

Perhaps much of our prayer now should simply be for God to pour out such a spirit of prayer and supplication in the hearts of his people.

Question for Reflection

  1. How is your prayer life?

Resources

Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, 160.

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Count The Cost, But Don’t Count It Too Long

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals3 Comments

Money cash money change coins money

In Matthew 8:18, before Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes, Matthew writes:

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to go over to the other side.

After hearing Jesus’ command, two men approach him.

First, a Scribe promises to follow Jesus wherever He goes.

The Scribe’s promise is noble, but Jesus’ response reveals something more. Jesus says to the man:

Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head.

Essentially, Jesus tells him He is homeless.

Why did Jesus say that?

Here is a man who says He will follow Him wherever He goes. Seems like Jesus’ remark might dissuade him from following Him. So why say it?

Jesus says it to expose this man’s heart and his lack of thoughtfulness. The Scribe hadn’t considered what it meant to follow Jesus. He hadn’t considered following Jesus meant he had no home to go to at night, no promise of a comfortable bed, or a hot meal. In other words, he hadn’t counted the cost of what it meant to follow Jesus. He heard Jesus say go to the other side, and he came up and said I will follow you wherever you go.

Often times we see that in churches. The preacher tells us that we need to make Jesus our Savior. So people do. They do it, however, without ever considering what it actually means. What it will cost them.

Second, a disciple says he will follow Jesus, but he must first bury his father.

Again, this sounds good. He wants to take care of his family, but Jesus doesn’t see it that way. He tells him:

Let the dead, bury their own dead.

Why did Jesus respond in this way?

It wasn’t to say we can’t ever go to funerals, if we want to be a Christian. He says it to reveal something is hindering him from answering His call. That something is his father. He wants to wait to follow Jesus until after his father is gone.

There could be several reasons. Maybe there is an obligation he must keep, but once his father is gone he is no longer bound to it. Maybe his father doesn’t approve of Jesus and would disown him if he followed him. While we don’t often experience this in the Bible Belt because Christianity is culturally acceptable. It is a reality for some that when they come to Christ they will lose their family or friends.

No matter what this man’s, or our reason for not following Jesus, we learn Jesus expects us to be willing to put Him before all things – our family, our life, our business, or our career. Jesus wants to be supreme in our lives. To truly be His disciple, we must allow Him that supreme position. We should not allow the concerns or rejection of others, including our family to keep us from Jesus. Jesus is not going to say on Judgment Day.

“Oh, following me would have cost your relationship with your family, or your business, or your life. That is ok. I understand. Come on into the kingdom.”

No way, that would never happen. You see, we must be willing to give up everything for Him. To sacrifice it all.

What do we learn?

Our narrative presents both a person who is too quick to promise to follow Jesus without first counting the cost, and a person who waits too long because he has put something else before Him. With that in mind, the idea Matthew is driving home is:

Count the cost, but don’t count it too long.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Have you counted the cost?
  2. Are you counting the cost too long?

Resources

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This series is adapted from my recent sermon: Why Should We Follow Jesus?