Category: Practical

God Ordains All Our Work

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment

Ports

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. – Jeremiah 1:5

Before Jeremiah was born, God had a plan for his life. He knew, consecrated, and appointed him to be a prophet. God accomplished His plan for Jeremiah’s life. He served as a prophet to Judah during the latter years of Jerusalem before they were conquered by Babylon.

What about us?

If the prophet’s vocation was established before he was born, it is not a stretch to assume that our sovereign Lord has a plan for our lives as well. Before we were born, the Lord marked out our days, determining our vocation and the ways He might use us.

Our vocation, then, is God ordained. Ministers are not the only ones called and set aside by God. We are all called. God ordains all our work.

You are not sitting in your cubicle or corner office, your not working at Starbucks, running a thriving photography business, dancing on broadway, or teaching kindergarten by accident. You didn’t get yourself there. God determined your vocation and accomplished His plan just like He did with Jeremiah.

Questions for Reflection

  1. If God ordains all our work, what are the implications? How does it change your view of your vocation?
  2. How should we view our God ordained vocation in regard to ministry? In other words, do you believe ministry only occurs during church activities?

Resources

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What is True Faith? | Part 4

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical1 Comment

Faith

What is true faith? We talk about faith all the time. When we call someone to follow Jesus, we tell them to have faith in Him. When someone is struggling, we encourage them to exercise faith. We use salvation and faith interchangeable. Faith is a word we use all the time, but what does it mean? For the next few weeks I will answer that question.

The Faith of the Canaanite Woman

The Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28 serves as an excellent example of faith. Over the next few days we will glean four things faith is from her story.

(4) True Faith is Dependent

The Canaanite woman knew she needed Jesus. She couldn’t help her child. Nor could anyone else help her. She knew only Jesus could heal her.

Those who exercise true faith, know they need Jesus as well. They know they can’t do it on their own. They humbly recognize they are sinners who need Jesus.

They, however, not only depend on Jesus for their righteous, but also for everything they have in life. They recognize everything is given by Jesus.

The Content of True Faith

Continuing to build our definition of true faith, we see:

  • True faith believes – It specifically believes Jesus is Lord and the Son of David. He is our authority and the only way to a reconciled relationship with the Father.
  • True faith is persistent – It continues to go after Jesus not allowing anything to dissuade it or act as a barrier.
  • True faith is humble – It recognizes its place realizing we are sinners who deserve God’s punishment not His grace.
  • True faith is dependent – It not only depends on Jesus for salvation but for everything in life as well.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you recognize everything you have including your salvation is given by Jesus?
  2. Are you dependent on Jesus in every area of your life?

Resources

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Post adapted from my most recent sermon The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

On Felt Needs

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Pastoral, Practical, Quotes2 Comments

The newscaster gives us the awful truth, which is reality; the Bible gives us the revealed truth, which is revelation; psychology has given us the hidden truth, which is a rip-off.

America is the psychological society, and the language and philosophy of need have seduced the church.

Therefore the people in the pew ask all the wrongs questions, based on cultural programming:

  • What can the church do for me?
  • Can I get my needs met here?
  • Do I feel good when I leave here?
  • Does the pastor make me feel guilty?
  • Will I have to do what I don’t feel like doing?

These questions and more reflect the corruption of self-idolatry primarily fostered in our society by the secular psychological community.

This has led to the development of a “need theology” that finds its roots in gratifying the desires of the flesh. Therefore, the most popular theologies of today are directed toward immediate need gratification.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Can the church meet the needs of its congregants without being a felt needs church?
  2. How would you suggest a pastor meet the needs of his congregation without being a felt needs pastor?

Resources

Bill Hull, The Disciple Making Pastor, 42.

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On the Disappearance of Theology

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Pastoral, Practical, QuotesLeave a comment

The Stats

What does it mean, for example, when 91 percent of evangelicals say that their beliefs are “very important” to them, when 93 percent say that they believe in divine judgment, when 96 percent say that they believe in miracles? It does not mean all that much.

Theology is Peripheral and Irrelevant

Even in churches that are active and among believers who are religiously observant, it is possible that theology (i.e., a set of beliefs that refers beyond the experiencing subject to the world “out there, “natural and supernatural) has become peripheral and remote.

Even “those who count themselves as believers, who subscribe to the tenets of a Church, and who attend services regularly, ” Bryan Wilson has observed, “nevertheless operate in a social space in which their beliefs about the supernatural are rendered in large part irrelevant.”

Wherever modernity has intruded upon the Church, there the social space even of believers who give assent to the full range of credal elements will be emptied of theology.

Even the beliefs of such individuals will have been pushed to the margins of life, the central and integrating role they once had commandeered by other interests.

Theology on the Periphery Can’t Define Evangelical Life

It is in this sense that it is proper to speak of the disappearance of theology. It is not that the elements of the evangelical credo have vanished; they have not. The fact that they are professed, however, does not necessarily mean that the structure of the historic Protestant faith is still intact.

The reason, quite simply, is that while these items of belief are professed, they are increasingly being removed from the center of evangelical life where they defined what that life was, and they are now being relegated to the periphery where their power to define what evangelical life should be is lost.

Practice Reveals What Polling Can’t

This is not the sort of shift that typical polling will discover, for these items of belief are seldom denied or qualified, but that does not mean that the shift has not occurred. It is evangelical practice rather than evangelical profession that reveals the change.

Questions for Reflection

  1. What do you think of the state of the church? Has care for theology been moved to the periphery?
  2. If theology is moved to the periphery, what affects will that have on the church?

Resources

David Wells, No Place for Truth Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?, 107-108. (NOTE: Paragraphs are Wells; headings are mine)

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Respectable Sins: Anger | Part 5

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, Respectable Sins4 Comments

Angry Birds

In the last post in this series, I answered the question: How do we show our anger? Today I will look at reasons we get angry at God.

Anger Toward God

Anger toward God usually stems from thinking God has let us down, or that God is actually against us.

Even though people get angry with God, it is never ok to be angry at God. It’s not ok because anger toward God means we are making a moral judgment. We are accusing God of wrongdoing and sinning against us. We are accusing Him of neglecting or treating us unfairly.

Thinking God has neglected or treated us unfairly means we believe God owes us a better deal in life than we are getting [1].

How do we deal with anger against God?

First, realize we don’t have to stuff our feelings and live in alienation from God.

Second, we have to trust in the sovereignty, wisdom, and love of God.

Third, we should bring our questions to God in prayer. When we pray, we should do several things.

  1. Admit we are confused by the situation and we are having a hard time seeing God’s love in what we are going through.
  2. Ask God to help us trust Him.
  3. Ask God to strengthen us so we don’t fall into the temptation to be angry at Him [2].

Fourth, we have to remember God is a forgiving God. Our anger is not unforgivable. Jesus paid the price for our anger towards Him on the cross. We can rest knowing even if we get angry with God, forgiveness awaits. Isn’t that amazing?

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you believe you deserve better than what you are getting?
  2. Are you angry at God?
  3. Have you gone to God asking Him to help you understand your situation?
  4. Are you amazed that God forgives even our anger?

Looking Forward

In the next post in this series, I will talk about the long term results of anger.

Resources

Post adapted from Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 121-28

[1] Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 127.
[2] Ibid.

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Fight the Good Fight in Community

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Discipleship, Practical5 Comments

Fighting Men

Sin is something we don’t like to talk about. Something we would rather keep hidden. It is certainly not something we want to tell others about. James, however, tells us we should tell others about our sin. He writes,

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16).

James exhorts us to confess our sins to one another, so that others might pray for us. Do you confess your sins to others? Do you ask others to pray God would remove sin in your life? If you don’t, I would encourage you to find someone you can trust, confess your sins, and ask them to pray for you. Don’t try to fight temptation and sin by yourself. Don’t be a Lone Ranger Christian. Fight the good fight in community!

Why Can We Confess Sin to Others?

Often confessing sin to others is hindered by what we believe others will think about us. We don’t want to appear like we don’t have it all together. We are afraid others will look down on us, if we confess our sin.

Christians shouldn’t think that way. The gospel should encourage us to confess our sins to others because it tells us we are not accepted based on our works, or what others think about us. We are accepted based on Jesus’ work for us. Concern for what others think shouldn’t dissuade us then from confessing sin. What others think doesn’t matter because our acceptance is not based on what others think.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you confess your sins to others so they can pray for you?
  2. Are you worried about what others might think of you?

Resource

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