Category: Discipleship

X-Ray Questions: What are your fears?

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 our fears. You can read the other posts in this series by clicking here.

X-Ray Question:

(5) What do you fear? What do you not want? What do you tend to worry about?

Sinful fears are inverted cravings. If I want to avoid something at all costs – loss of reputation, loss of control, poverty, ill health, rejection, etc. – I am ruled by a lustful fear.

Understand

When we want to avoid something (loss of reputation, loss of control, poverty, ill health, rejection) at all costs, and when we worry about those things we want to avoid, we reveal what rules us. We must realize that when we allow something other than God to rule us, we are submitting ourselves to idols.

“When we submit ourselves to idols, we will do anything to please them.”

For instance, caring about our own reputation more than God’s, will lead us to either compromise our morals, or the truth, in order to maintain our reputation in the community. When this occurs, we are allowing the cares of the world to rule us.

Repent

As Americans, I believe this weeks X-Ray question hits us hard because the culture in which we live cares a great deal about reputation, control, riches, and health. However, as Christians, we need to quiet the cares of the world in our hearts and repent of our idols, which we can do by realizing God is the only one who has the right to rule us because He is our Creator and Savior. Since God is our Creator and Savior, we should allow Him to be the King of our lives.

Thankfully, in the Gospel – the saving and redeeming work of Jesus Christ – we are given the power to submit to God as our ruler and remove all idols that rule over us. As a result, we must preach the Gospel to ourselves when we notice fear creeping into our lives. We must also take it a step further, asking God to reveal our fears, so we can remove the idols ruling over us.

Scripture

Here are a few passages from God’s word to meditate on this week, as you consider your fears: Matt. 6:25-32; 13:22

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

X-Ray Questions: Where do you bank your hopes?

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 where we bank our hopes. You can read the other posts in this series by clicking here.

X-Ray Question:

(4) Where do you bank your hopes? 

The future dimension is prominent in God’s interpretation of human motives. People energetically sacrifice to attain what they hope for. What is it? People in despair have had hopes dashed. What were those shattered hopes?

Understand

When we bank our hopes in something or someone other than Jesus Christ, we will always be disappointed. When we place our hope in something other than Jesus we are really placing our hope in an idol. Idols will never satisfy us, in fact, they will always disappoint us.

If we place our hope in our husbands and wives, finding ultimate meaning in the way they treat us, then we will always be disappointed. Man is sinful, and at some point that sin will cause us to treat others unkindly.

Alternatively, if we place our hope in a raise, promotion, or new job, we can almost always be guaranteed to be disappointed. Oh, we may get the raise, promotion, or new job, but when we do, we will find it did not provide us with the satisfaction or significance that we were hoping it would.

Riches will not satisfy us either. 1 Timothy exhorts us not to place our hope in the riches of our current age because riches are uncertain. One minute they are here, and the next minute they are gone. The bursting of the real estate bubble and subsequent recession a few years back, of which we are still feeling the effects, attests to the uncertainty of riches.

Repent

We should repent by realizing that our only hope lies in Christ. He is the only one who will never disappoint us. His value will never diminish, and we will always be satisfied in Christ. Where people, jobs, and riches fail us, Christ will not.

Scripture

Here are a few passages from God’s word to meditate on this week, as you consider where you place your hope: 1 Peter 1:13; 1 Tim. 6:17

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

X-Ray Questions: Evaluating our pursuits

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

In an effort to help us root the idols out of our lives, I am doing a series entitled X-Ray Questions. You can view the other two posts by clicking here and here. In this post, we will focus on our aims and pursuits.

X-Ray Question

(3) What do you seek, aim for, and pursue? What are your goals and expectations?

This particularly captures that your life is active and moves in a direction. We are purposeful. Human motivation is not passive, as if hardwired needs, instincts, or drives were controlled from outside us by being “unmet,” “frustrated,” or “conditioned.” People are active verbs.

Understand

The things that we seek, aim for, and pursue, as well as the goals and expectations we set for ourselves reveal the true nature of our hearts. As humans, we are not controlled by external conditions or instincts. We are not animals. We have the ability to make decisions. Decisions that reveal the true nature of our heart.

For instance, if our life goal is to acquire a particular job or success in our career, then we will do everything and anything to make it happen. We may neglect our families, compromise our convictions, or defame a co-worker, in order to achieve the level of success we are seeking.

Our desire should be to glorify Christ, not ourselves. In glorifying Christ, we may miss a particular promotion at work, but our families will be better for it because we are able to spend more time teaching them and building them up in the Word of God. Our witness to others about Christ will be greater because our convictions are not compromised. Our relationships with our co-workers will not suffer, resulting in deeper more meaningful relationships that will hopefully allow us to either share the gospel, or build another believer up in the faith.

Repent

We repent by redirecting our pursuits towards Christ. We must value Him and His glory more than our glory. We must see Him as our provider, comforter, and from whom we gain affirmation. We must see His mission, to reach the world with gospel, as more important than our success.

As you reflect on your aims, pursuits, goals, and expectations, remember that climbing the corporate ladder is only one example. You may not struggle with that particular goal or you may be pursuing your career from a godly perspective, but that does not mean you do not struggle with something else. Other idols may include: acceptance, comfort, a new car, a perfect looking spouse, or a finely kept home. Since we cannot cover every idol, my prayer is that you will honestly reflect on your life this week to determine if any of your goals, expectations, or pursuits are taking the place of Christ.

Scripture

Reflect on these Scriptures as you seek to root this idol out of your life: Matt 6:32-33; 2 Tim 2:22

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

X-Ray Questions: Abolishing slavery

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, X-Ray Questions4 Comments

In an effort to help us root out the idols of our hearts, I am doing a series entitled X-Ray Questions. Last time I introduced the series and gave one question to ask ourselves. You can read that post here.

This week we will continue to explore our hearts. This time our question focuses on exposing the desires that rule us.

X-Ray Question

(2) What do you want, desire, crave, lust, and wish for? What desires do you serve and obey?

This summarizes the internal operations of the desire-driven flesh in the New Testament epistles. “My will be done” and “I want ___” are often quite accessible. Various desires rule people, and sometimes another person’s will has control over you in peer pressure, people-pleasing, slave-like, or chameleon behavior. In such cases, your heart’s craving is to get whatever good they promise and avoid whatever bad they threaten: “I crave to be included, appreciated, accepted, and admired by you.”

Understand

Understand that if we seek satisfaction in man, we will be controlled by a desire to please man and will become a slave to their approval. This means that our desire to please man will be elevated over our desire to please God. We will choose those things that please man every time because we are enslaved by the desire for their approval. As a slave, we are not truly free and will find ourselves in a more miserable state.

Repent

Repent by finding your satisfaction in God and desiring nothing but Him and His salvation (Pss 17:14-15; 73:23-28). Only through God’s salvation are we freed from the desires of the flesh. We no longer need to find our approval in man, and no longer remain a slave to sin (Rom. 6). So then, when we find ourselves desiring man’s approval and acceptance, preach the Gospel to yourself. It is through the Gospel that we are freed from our enslavement to sin and reconciled to God.

Scripture

Reflect on these Scriptures as you seek to root out this idol in your life: Pss. 17:14-15; 73:23-28; Prov. 10:3; 10:28; 11:6-7; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 2:3; 4:22; 2 Tim. 2:22; Titus 3:3; 1 Peter 1:14; 2:11; 4:2; 2 Peter 1:4; 2:10; James 1:14; 4:1-4.

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

X-Ray Questions: Discovering the root cause of sin

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, X-Ray Questions4 Comments

In order to help get at the root cause of sin in our lives, I will be providing “X-Ray Questions” from David Powlison’s book Seeing with New Eyes. These questions are designed to expose the sinful desires and idols of our heart. Idols are not just tangible statues people setup in their homes. Idols are anything in our lives that replace God. Timothy Keller, in Counterfeit Gods, says,

An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure…If anything becomes more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol (xviii-xix).

Over the next several weeks, I will be posting a question or two for you and I to reflect on. These questions are designed to help us discover and root out the idols in our lives. My hope is that instead of placing external limitations on ourselves to rid sin from our lives, we will look within and discover the idols that are ultimately causing us to fall in particular areas.

X-Ray Question

(1) What do you love? Hate? This first “great commandment” question searches out, heart, soul, mind, and strength. There is no deeper question to ask of any person at any time. There is no deeper explanation for why you do what you do. Disordered loves hijack our hearts from our rightful Lord and Father. (See Matt. 22:37-39; 2 Tim. 3:2-4; Luke 16:13-14)

What is the Gospel? Rethinking its Content

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Practical, What is the Gospel?1 Comment

In the first installment of this series entitled, What is the Gospel?, I introduced the series and gave readers a brief sketch of where we are headed. In this second installment, I turn our focus to the content of the Gospel message.

If you ask most Christians today what the content of the Gospel is, you will most likely hear John 3:16 quoted. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” After which you may hear an explanation that goes like this: God sent His Son to die on a cross for our sins, in order that we might have eternal life. Our job is to believe that Christ is our Savior and we will be saved. While this is correct, I will argue that John 3:16 is only part of the Gospel.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe John 3:16 is a crucial part of the Gospel message, but I don’t believe John 3:16 represents the entire message.  Rather, it is the climax of God’s redemptive plan. In order to understand the full content of the Gospel we have to zoom out, way out, and look at the whole counsel of God’s Word because the Gospel traverses from Genesis to Revelation.

Tracing the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation

The Proto-Evangelion

Starting with Genesis 3:15, we are introduced to the proto-evangelion, or first gospel. After Adam and Eve attempted to subject God to their rule in the garden by disobeying God’s commandment to not eat from the tree of good and evil, ultimately showing that they rejected God’s rule and understanding of what is best for them, God provides hope for a restored relationship through the promised defeat of Satan. We read, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” Here hope exists in the midst of punishment and despair. God has promised to defeat Satan one day through one man’s actions, which restores God’s relationship with both man and creation. As Scripture unfolds, we learn more about God’s plan of redemption.

Abraham through David

Through His covenant with Abraham, the nation of Israel is born and a people are set aside as God’s chosen people (Gen. 12). Through these chosen people, a line is preserved from which Jesus is born (Matt. 1). Along the way, God honors His covenant with Abraham, renewing it with Isaac (Gen. 26) and Jacob (Gen. 28). He also provides the Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 20), in order to inform His people of the way they should live and as a means of removing their sin. He later makes a covenant with David (2 Sam. 7). The Davidic covenant brings promises of an unending royal lineage to rule on the throne of the kingdom. After which, many leaders and kings arose throughout redemptive history, but none were God’s chosen Son who would redeem His people.

The temple sacrifices of goats and bulls were not able to change the hearts of the people either. They were temporary measures by which God’s wrath was appeased. They allowed a Holy God to live amongst an unholy people, but they could not satisfy the wrath of God eternally (Heb. 8-10 see especially 10:1-18).

A New Covenant is Promised

God also knew that His people could not keep His commandments because their heart had not been changed. However, in Jeremiah 31, a New Covenant is promised. One that would put the law of God in the hearts of the people, giving them a new heart, allowing them to enter into a right relationship with God.

Jesus’ Birth to His Return

In God’s perfect timing, Jesus was born to Mary, a virgin. He lived a perfect life, and willingly subjected Himself to a painful death on the cross, in order to pay for our sins. What the sacrifices and Law of the Old Testament could not accomplish, Jesus did, in His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead (Isa. 53; Gal. 3:16-29; Heb. 10). By humbling ourselves and believing that Jesus is our Savior, we are saved from eternal punishment, just as John 3:16 tells us, but much more happens at that time. Our relationship with God is restored (Heb 10:22). And ultimately, at the return of Jesus Christ, all creation will be restored (Is 65; Daniel 9; Rev 21-22). The world will be recreated, and not only will man’s relationship with God be perfect, but God’s relationship with creation will be redeemed and made right (Isa. 65). Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the dead accomplishes much more than giving us eternal life; it redeems all creation, so that man and creation are able to accomplish their God-given purpose, which is to glorify God (Ps. 86:9; Isa. 60:21; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rev. 4:11).

Summary

In summary, the content of the Gospel includes everything from Genesis to Revelation. It is a story that tells of God’s plan to redeem fallen man and creation. It began in Genesis 3:15, climaxes in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and will serve to restore all creation when Christ returns. As one can see, the Gospel includes John 3:16, but it also includes much more.

Resources

In order to help you continue to think through the breadth of the Gospel message, I have attached an article by D.A. Carson on the Gospel.

The Biblical Gospel – D.A. Carson

Looking Forward

In my next post, I will consider The Functional Centrality of the Gospel.