Category: Practical

The Story of the Bible

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Pastoral, Practical, Preaching8 Comments

In his book According to Plan, Graeme Goldsworthy provides an Outline of Biblical History at the beginning of each chapter in part three. I want to share his synopsis with you in hopes it will help you tie the entire biblical story together.

Genesis 1-2

In the beginning God created everything that exists. He made Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden of Eden. God spoke to them and gave them certain tasks in the world. For food he allowed them the fruit of all the trees in the garden except one. He warned them that they would die if they ate the fruit of that one tree.

Genesis 3

The snake persuaded Eve to disobey God and to eat the forbidden fruit. She gave some to Adam and he ate also. Then God spoke to them in judgment, and sent them out of the garden into a world that came under the same judgment.

Genesis 4-11

Outside Eden, Cain and Abel were born to Adam and Eve. Cain murdered Abel and Eve bore another son, Seth. Eventually the human race became so wicked that God determined to destroy every living thing with a flood. Noah and his family were saved by building a great boat at God’s command. The human race began again with Noah and his three sons with their families. Sometime after the flood a still unified human race attempted a godless act to assert its power in the building of a high tower. God thwarted these plans by scattering the people and confusing their language.

Genesis 12-50

Sometime in the early second millennium B.C. God called Abraham out of Mesopotamia to Canaan. He promised to give this land to Abraham’s descendants and to bless them as his people. Abraham went, and many years later he had a son, Isaac. Isaac in turn had two son, Esau and Jacob. The promises of God were established with Jacob and his descendants. He had twelve sons, and in time they all went to live in Egypt because of famine in Canaan.

Exodus 1-15

In time the descendants of Jacob living in Egypt multiplied to become a very large number of people. The Egyptians no longer regarded them with friendliness and made them slaves. God appointed Moses to be the one who would lead Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. When the moment came for Moses to demand the freedom of his people the Pharaoh refused to let them go. Through Moses God worked ten miracle-plagues which brought hardship, destruction and death to the Egyptians. Finally Pharaoh let Israel go, but then pursued them and trapped them at the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds). Then God opened the way in the sea for Israel to cross on dry land, but closed the water over the Egyptian army, destroying it.

Exodus 16-40, Leviticus

After their release from Egypt, Moses led the Israelites to Mount Sinai. God then gave them his law which they were commanded to keep. At one point Moses held a covenant renewal ceremony in which the covenant arrangement was sealed in blood. However, while Moses was away on the mountain, the people persuaded Aaron to fashion a golden calf. Thus they showed their inclination to forsake the covenant and to engage in idolatry. God also commanded the building of the tabernacle and gave all the rules of sacrificial worship by which Israel might approach him.

Numbers, Deuteronomy

After giving the law to the Israelites at Sinai, God directed them to go in and take possession of the Promised land. Fearing the inhabitants of Canaan, they refused to do so, thus showing their lack of confidence in the promises of God. The whole adult generation that had come out of Egypt, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, was condemned to wander and die in the desert. Israel was forbidden to dispossess its kinsfolk, the nations of Edom, Moab and Ammon, but was given victory over other nations that opposed it. Finally, forty years after leaving Egypt, Israel arrived in the Moabite territory on the east side of the Jordan. Here Moses prepared the people for their possession of Canaan, and commissioned Joshua as their new leader.

Joshua, Judges, Ruth

Under Joshua’s leadership the Israelites crossed the Jordan and began the task of driving out the inhabitants of Canaan. After the conquest the land was divided between the tribes, each being allotted its own region. Only the tribe of Levi was without an inheritance of land because of its special priestly relationship to God. There remained pockets of Canaanites in the land and, from time to time, these threatened Israel’s hold on their new possession. From the one-man leaderships of Moses and Joshua the nation moved into a period of relative instability during which judges exercised some measure of control over the affairs of the people.

1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings 1-10, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 2-9

Samuel became judge and prophet in all Israel at a time when the Philistines threatened the freedom of the nation. An earlier movement for kingship was revived and the demand put to a reluctant Samuel. The first king, Saul, had a promising start to his reign but eventually showed himself unsuitable as the ruler of the covenant people. While Saul still reigned, David was anointed to succeed him. Because of Saul’s jealousy, David became an outcast. However, when Saul died in battle, David returned and became king (about 1000 B.C.). Due to his successes Israel became a powerful and stable nation. He established a central sanctuary at Jerusalem and created a professional bureaucracy and a permanent army. David’s son, Solomon, succeeded him (about 961 B.C.) and the prosperity of Israel continued. The building of the temple at Jerusalem was one of Solomon’s more notable achievements.

1 Kings 11-22, 2 Kings

Solomon allowed political considerations and personal ambitions to sour his relationship with God, and this in turn had a bad effect on the life of Israel. Solomon’s son began an oppressive rule that led to the rebellion of the northern tribes and the division of the kingdom. Although there were some political and religious high points, both kingdoms went into decline. A new breed of prophets warned against the direction of national life, but matters went from bad to worse. In 722 B.C., the southern kingdom of Judah was devastated by the Babylonians. Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed, and a large part of the population was deported to Babylon.

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X-Ray Questions: What or Whom do you trust?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, X-Ray Questions1 Comment

This week we continue our X-Ray Questions series, as we look at the question: What or whom do you trust? You can read the other posts in this series by clicking here.

X-Ray Question:

(11) What or whom do you trust?

Trust is one of the major verbs relating you to God – or to false gods and lies. Crucial psalms breathe trust in our Father and Shepherd. Where instead do you place life-directing, life anchoring trust? In other people? In your abilities or achievements? In your church or theological tradition? In possessions? In diet, exercise, and medical care?

Understand

The person or object that we trust is the one we believe will provide us with happiness, joy, protection, deliverance, comfort, etc. Our trust should be in God and God alone because finite persons, inanimate objects, your abilities and achievements, or thoughts (I have in mind here theological traditions, or health ideas) will always fail you.

Repent

We must repent by realizing that God should be the one we must place our trust in, not in our own abilities or achievements, our traditions, other people, or objects. For when we decide to place our trust in anything other than God, we are trusting in something that will ultimately fail us and we are leaning on our own understanding. Solomon writes in Proverbs 3:5:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding

Solomon also tells us that the one who leans on his own understanding is a fool (Prov. 12:15)

In Psalm 103, David tells his readers of the benefits of the Lord: He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, crowns you with both lovingkindness and compassion, and He takes care of the oppressed by performing righteous deeds and judgments for them. Not only does God do all those things, David also says He “satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.”

The Lord’s benefits are greater than we could ever imagine and ever hope. Since He is the Holy, Unchangeable, and Sovereign Lord, what David wrote will never change. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. As a result, we can place our trust in Him knowing He will bring us joy, comfort, peace, deliverance, protection, etc. In short, He alone will fill the longings of our heart.

Scripture

Here are a few passages from God’s word to meditate on this week, as you consider the question: What or whom do you trust?: Prov. 3:5, 11, 18; 12:15; Pss 23, 103, 131.

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

The Purpose of the Good Book

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment


The Good Book, as some often call it, is written in such a way as to present the truth God has purposed to reveal to mankind. Since the Good Book, or the Bible, presents the truths God has purposed mankind to know, we should not expect the Bible to give us answers it was not designed to give us.

How We Often Think of The Bible

The Bible, like any other book, was written with a purpose, which we will get to in a minute. First, let me explain how people generally think of the Bible. I will start with a comparison. Take a math book for example, you would not open it and expect to learn about history, nor would you open a literature book and expect to learn about the inner workings of the human body. Rather, you would expect to learn about the subject the book was written about. Math books teach you math, and literature books teach you literature. If math and literature books are written with a purpose in mind, we should expect books covering other subjects to have a purpose as well. The Bible is no different.

However, we often treat the Bible as if it should be different, believing it should provide us with a detailed history of the surrounding countries, use language that is in accordance with the twenty first centuries scientific dictionaries, rather than language descriptive of an event, or provide us with answers it was not designed to provide, such as what existed before the beginning of the world, or who created God. In short, we believe the Bible should encompass all aspects of history, mathematics, science, literature, etc, while at the same time answering all our most pressing questions. If it does not, then we often believe we should be able to write it off as if it is a book wrought with error. However, this assessment of Scripture is not fair, because it is not taking into account the purpose for which the book was written.

The Purpose of Scripture

So what is the purpose of Scripture? The purpose of Scripture is to tell us about God, Us, His plan, and His Son.

The Bible tells us who God is – The Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign Lord of the Universe. It provides us with a glimpse of the Character of God, and how He expects His people to live and interact with Him and His creation.

It tells us who we are – We, and the world, are apart of God’s creation. Since He is our Creator, we should worship Him, but we often don’t. Here is where the Bible reveals the problem of why we don’t worship Him. Scripture tells us we are sinners and we inherited our sinfulness from Adam and Eve. As a result of Adam and Eve’s sin, mankind and the entire creation fell into sin. The result of our sinfulness was a broken relationship with God. We could no longer enter into the presence of God because His holiness would not allow it. The great news is that God had a plan, which is revealed progressively in His Word, the Bible.

God’s plan involves the redemption of all creation through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Jesus, who is also God, came to earth, lived a perfect life, while being subjected to the same pain, suffering, and temptations we face, and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. If we believe in Him as our Savior, then we will experience a restored relationship with God along with eternal life, instead of eternal death. God’s plan also tells us that after Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven, where He awaits a time when He will return to redeem and restore creation to a perfect state. All those who have believed in Him as their Savior, will enter into this new creation with Jesus as their king, and they will live for all eternity.

Conclusion

The purpose of the Bible is to reveal the overarching meta-narrative of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. As you travel through the pages of Scripture, this narrative is revealed. Through reading the story of the Bible we learn how mankind and all of creation fit into that narrative, as well as who our God and Savior is, and how we can and should interact with Him and His creation. If this is the case, then Scripture, like all other books, was written with a purpose. As a result, Scripture should be read with that purpose in mind, meaning we should not expect the Bible to answer questions it was not designed to answer.

Who Among Us are Missionaries and Where Does Their Mission Take Place?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical2 Comments

Wednesday I put out a post seeking to define our mission as Christians. You can read it by clicking here. In it I determined that our mission is God’s mission, and I gave this succinct definition of God’s mission and how I believe we fit into His mission:

God is on mission to redeem all of creation, we are apart of that mission as His elect peoples, and our purpose in that mission is to present the gospel through our actions and words, by which God will redeem all of creation in Christ for His glory.

Today, I want to discuss where our mission takes place and determine who is involved in this mission by asking and answering these questions:

Is our mission strictly relegated to overseas, or does it happen in our backyard? Is mission relegated to a special group of people sent out by a church, or is it taken up by everyone in the church?

Both Overseas and Our Backyard

I believe our mission takes place both overseas and in our backyard by all those in the church. Granted a special group of people will travel overseas, but everyone should participate in mission in their city.

Throughout the New Testament we have examples of mission happening overseas by a select group of people and in our backyard by everyone.

Jesus commissions his apostles to go to all the nations with the gospel message, but first He commissions them to go to their city (Matt. 28:16-20).

In Acts, the apostles are seen going to all the nations to proclaim the gospel to unreached people groups.

During Paul’s mission, he visits a number of places some of which are: Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus (Acts 16,17,18,19). In these areas, churches are established. Even though Paul continues to keep in touch with them, the church itself becomes responsible for evangelizing the area. This is evidenced by the apostle constantly calling these churches to holy living, so their conduct among their neighbors would be honorable, allowing them to proclaim the gospel unhindered (Matt. 5:16; Phil. 2:14-15; 1 Peter 2:12).

We see a prime example of a church who is living correctly and proclaiming the gospel to their neighbors in 1 Thessalonians. The church at Thessalonica was known in their region of Macedonia and Achaia because of their witness and example (1 Thessalonians 1). In fact, the Word of God had gone forth so faithfully from them in that region that Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy did not feel they needed to say anything.

How to Proclaim the Gospel in Your Backyard

If all the church is to proclaim the gospel in their own backyard, then we need to know how this works out. Does it work out by simply going door to door, or can it happen in other ways? In an effort to be succinct, but still answer the question, we will look at the church at Ephesus.

In Ephesians, we learn Paul expected their speech, sexual conduct, interaction with their neighbors, family life, and master slave interactions to be radically different than the culture in which they lived (Eph. 4-6). The purpose was so that they would shine as lights in a dark place and be witnesses to those around them.

From the example of the Ephesians, we learn how we can interact with those around us.

We are to live lives that are radically different than those who live next door. As we live lives that are different than those surrounding us, we put forth a model of what a redeemed community looks like and we hopefully earn the right to proclaim the gospel. Or when we proclaim the gospel to our neighbors, they are able to see how it has changed our lives, and hopefully they too will desire the same change.

Following the example of the Ephesians also means our everyday life is apart of our mission. As we go to work, play with our kids, date our wives, attend a movie, and interact with our neighbors, we are on mission. If we are on mission in our everyday lives, then we cannot fragment our lives into missional segments like so many in the church do.

Redefinition of Missionary

In order to be on mission all the time, we have to radically alter our current definition of a missionary. No longer can missionaries be thought of as a select group of people who go out to an area to proclaim the gospel and return home at a given time.

Rather, being on mission, and being a missionary, happens in every aspect of our lives, and is accomplished by everyone in the church.

Pastors, deacons, staff members, businessmen, lawyers, doctors, small business owners, blue collar workers, teachers, grandparents, stay at home moms, kids, etc are all on mission together. Meaning no one in our church is not on mission all the time, and there is no one in our church who are not missionaries.

Summary

From our limited examples, we can see that mission is not only reserved for a select group of people who go into other countries to proclaim the gospel, but it is reserved for the entire church, and it plays out in their own backyard.

If being on mission is to be taken up by everyone everywhere they live, work, and play, then we must redefine what we mean by the term missionary. Everyone in our church is a missionary, and their mission field is where they live, work, and play. Every aspect of their lives has to be included in their mission. The stores they visit, the places they live, the people they choose to hang out with, the restaurants they frequent, the places they take their kids to play, and the sports teams they play on are all apart of a strategic plan designed to meet and engage non-believers with the gospel.

Helpful Articles

The Geography of the Gospel

Chandler, Horton, and Keller on the Church in Mission

Image: Damian Brandon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Thinking Out Loud: What is God’s Mission and How Do We Fit Into It?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Evangelism, Practical1 Comment

What does it mean to be on mission? Whose mission is it? How do we fit into that mission? Does being on mission solely involve personal evangelism? Are there other things besides making disciples that are involved in being on mission?

I am seeking to find and provide answers to the above questions. I would love your feedback and interaction with this post as I seek to understand our mission.

God’s Mission

God’s mission is to redeem all of creation in Christ as seen in Col 1:20, and through the overarching metanarrative of Scripture – Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Recreation.

Our Mission is God’s Mission

I believe the mission of a Christian is to reflect God’s mission. If we are to take up God’s mission, and His mission is to bring redemption to all of creation, then our primary mission and directive is to follow God’s mission. This means the mission we are own is not our own, it is God’s, and we are apart of that mission as His co-workers (1 Cor. 3:9), who are working to bring redemption to all of mankind through the gospel (Col 1:20). God, starting with Israel (Isaiah 43:10-12) and continuing to the church today (Acts 1:8), purposefully set a people aside to take up His mission (Gen. 12, Eph. 1, 1 Pet. 2:9-10), meaning all those who are redeemed are on mission for God, not just vocational pastors.

Our Primary Mission

I believe our primary part, as God’s co-workers, who are on His mission, is to make God’s name known to all people, in order to make disciples (Matt. 28:18-20 and 2 Cor. 5:17-6:1).

Our Secondary Mission

However, our mission also includes confronting idols in people lives (Isa 40-48, Jeremiah 10, Deut 4 and 1 Cor. 10:22) and providing pastoral guidance to Christians (1 Cor. 8-10), so they will live lives radically different than the culture; thus, building plausibility structures for Christianity, which allows for the presentation of the gospel.

Furthermore, if our mission is to mirror God’s mission, we should look after the poor, orphans, and widows (James 1:27; Ps 146:9). As we work to help the underprivileged, alleviating social concerns and fighting for social justice, we create plausibility structures allowing for the proclamation of the gospel, as well as we are helping to redeem all of creation.

Our Secondary Mission Pushes Our Primary Mission Forward

By confronting idols, providing pastoral guidance, and working to help the underprivileged, we build plausibility structures for the presentation of the gospel, as well as work to redeem society. This means our secondary mission works to move our primary mission forward. Therefore, we see the combination of our primary and secondary missions work together to accomplish God’s mission, which is to reconcile all of creation to Christ.

Conclusion

As believers we have been set-aside for God’s mission, not our own (1 Cor. 3:9). Our purpose, as redeemed citizens of heaven, and those who are on mission with God, is to make the gospel known to all peoples. The primary means by which we accomplish God’s mission is through being sent out to make disciples through personal evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20, 2 Cor. 5:20-6:1).

In order to make our evangelism more effective, we must build plausibility structures by performing acts of social justice, confronting Christian’s idols, and providing pastoral guidance, so Christians know how to live. Through these efforts, plausibility structures are built, as well as we work to redeem creation.

However, in all these efforts, we must not forget creation can only be redeemed in Christ, so our ultimate goal in any social justice project, or moral reform in ourselves, or our churches, is for the purpose of presenting the gospel to the nations, so all things will be reconciled in Christ.

In short, God is on mission to redeem all of creation, we are apart of that mission as His elect peoples, and our purpose in that mission is to present the gospel through our actions and words, by which God will redeem all of creation in Christ for His glory.

Resources

The Mission of God by Christopher Wright

Contextual and Missional by Tim Keller

Image: maple / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How to Get Our People and Ourself on Mission

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Leadership, Pastoral, Practical5 Comments

Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to get on mission for Jesus and stay on mission? For most of us, we are excited to say we are living missionally, we throw the vocabulary around because it sounds cool, but the actual practice of living missionally is difficult. Why is it hard to live missionally? How we can actually get started and sustain our mission?

How Can we GET on Mission and STAY on Mission?

If we want ourselves and our people to be on mission for Christ, our affection for Christ must be the dominating affection of our hearts. If something else is the dominating affection, such as acceptance, status, or materialism, then mission will not be fully realized, and it is probably not going to start. Living on mission and staying on mission is a heart issue. It is not a program or strategy issue, which means we must attack a lack of mission at the heart level.

How can we increase Our affections for Jesus?

(1) We must have an unwavering commitment to understanding the Gospel in a greater way.

We have to be willing to make a commitment to understanding how every aspect of our life is affected by the gospel, and how every aspect of our life can be a gospel moment. Here is what I mean. Our life is a gospel moment when others witness the radical change Christ has performed in our lives. For instance, when a Christian’s view of sex, money, and power is radically different than our cultures, the gospel’s power to transform our life is demonstrated, not only to the world, but to ourselves. But that gospel change won’t result unless we commit to understanding the gospel in a greater way. An understanding that should result in our affections for Jesus changing as we recognize how wicked and depraved we really are and how great Jesus’ salvation really is.

(2) We must be willing to fail.

In our willingness to fail, we show we realize we are not the ones who expand the kingdom; rather, it is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who expand the kingdom. As we depend on God, see Him sustain us, and even use us to expand His kingdom, our affection for Him should increase and stimulate us to further mission.

(3) The travailing of our souls should cause us to pray.

As we face the laborious task of mission, our soul will inevitably groan with pain, because, let’s be honest, being on mission is hard, much harder than we might have first thought. The difficulties of mission should drive us to pray more often and more fervently. Prayer creates intimacy with Jesus and that intimacy should increase our affections for Jesus.

(4) Become an expert in proclaiming Jesus.

We become an expert on proclaiming Jesus by studying Scripture. As we study Scripture, we should gain a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and that should increase our affections for Him.

Conclusion

Changing the affections of our heart is key to getting on and staying on mission, which we are able to influence by committing to understand the gospel more deeply, be willing to fail, praying, and becoming an expert in proclaiming Jesus’ message through the study of Jesus’ Word. Doing these things should change our heart’s affections and drive us to mission, one that is more joyful and sustainable.

Resources

This post was developed from Tyler Jones’ sermon “The Church Planters Mission,” which you can find on iTunes under the Acts29 Network Podcast, or by clicking here (Note: it will be the one initially highlighted in light grey).

A great article on the subject of evangelism is Brent Nelson’s article Woe to Me if I don’t Evangelize