Category: Quotes

On Church Discipline

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

Church discipline is not just “clearing the membership roll” as if the point were primarily accuracy in bookkeeping. Neither is church discipline designed to be a punishment, as if the church were saying,

“We don’t want your kind around here.”

Yes, the church speaks of this stage of discipline as the delivering of one to Satan (1 Corinthians 5:5), but the very next phrase in the same verse reveals that such is done precisely for the purpose that “his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

Thus, the goal in church discipline is that the one being put out of fellowship will hear the warning in the church’s action as Jesus’s own voice, saying to him,“I am handing you over to Satan,”and in response turn back in repentance and faith. If that happens, Scripture tells us, we will have “gained [a] brother” (Matthew 18:15).

The church disciplines in the hope that the one being disciplined will hear Jesus’s warning voice and return — as Jesus says of his flock, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you realize church discipline is for the benefit of our brother and the church?

Resources

Russell Moore, Acting the Miracle Together: Corporate Dynamics in Christian Sanctification

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On Being Guilty but Forgiven Sinners

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

As guilty but forgiven sinners, what the powers and principalities of this age say to us is true.

But we’ve already been accused; we’ve already been indicted; we’ve been arrested; we’ve been dressed in purple and beaten; we’ve been stapled to a Roman cross; we’ve had the wrath of God poured out upon us; we’ve been left in a tomb as a bloated, abandoned, cursed corpse; and on a Sunday morning in Jerusalem, we were resurrected.

So when the accusations of the Evil One come against us, what he hears in reply is the gospel truth that we can’t be re-executed. What we hear said of us from the Father is,

“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,”

because we are in union with Christ, and what is true of him is now, by the grace of God, true of us. And that is precisely why

“there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you realize the implications of being buried with Jesus in the likeness of His death and raised with Him to walk in newness of life?

Resources

Russell Moore, Acting the Miracle Together: Corporate Dynamics in Christian Sanctification

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On the Need to Preach the Whole Counsel of God’s Word

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

The sad decline in the quality of Christian life and witness in our country is largely due to the fact that the evangelical church has for several generations been a huge nursery, not only for infant babes but, much worse, grown-up babes…thus laying them open to all the carnal excesses and sectarian and heretical influences around them.

This is largely because [they] regard the Bible as the book which contain the Gospel message. Although they generally hold the whole Bible to be the inspired Word of God, they far from draw upon the totality of its inspired writings. All their search is for the simple Gospel, and if they don’t find the simple Gospel in its pages then it is politely, even reverently set aside.

There is nothing so sorely needed in the world today as the Word of God hammered home to people’s minds, hearts, and wills [through a consistent diet of expository preaching, covering the breadth and depth of God’s Word.]

Question for Reflection

  1. Pastor, do you recognize the need to feed your people with a consistent diet of expository preaching that covers the full counsel of God’s Word?

Resources

William Still, The Work of the Pastor, 80-82, 89.

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On Whose Approval Matters

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

Those who are servants of Christ, those who are entrusted with the secret things of God, do not see themselves winning popularity contest – not even within the church’s borders. That is what Paul means when he says,

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court” (1 Corinthians 4:3)

There is only one Person whose “Well done!” on the last day means anything. In comparison, the approval or disapproval of the church means nothing.

Question for Reflection

  1. Who do you try to please – Christ or Man?

Resources

D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry, 97.

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On the Primary Responsibility of Christian Leaders

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Leadership, Pastoral, Quotes4 Comments

All valid Christian leadership, however varied its style, however wise its use of sociological findings, however diverse its functions, must begin with this fundamental recognition:

Christian leaders have been entrusted with the gospel, the secret things of God that have been hidden in ages past but that are now proclaimed, by their ministry, to men and women everywhere…and all their service turns on making that gospel known and encouraging the people of God, by word, example, and discipline, to live it out.

Question for Reflection

  1. Pastor, do you recognize the immense calling God has placed on your life?

Resources

D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry, 96-97.

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On The Gospel’s Role in the Great Commission

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Practical, QuotesLeave a comment

The Great Commission actually begins with a great announcement. Before there can be a mission, there has to be a message. Behind the sending of the church lies the Father’s sending of his Son and Spirit. Before we go, we must stop and hear – really hear – what has happened that we are to take to the world. The evangel (good news) comes before evangelism.

We must hear this gospel not just at first, for our own conversion, but every moment of our lives if the Great Commission is to be a joyful delight rather than an intolerable burden with an impossible goal.

Hear it again, with all the supporting evidence of Christ’s incarnation, life, death and resurrection: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you allow the gospel message to spur on your Great Commission activity?

Resources

Michael Horton, The Gospel Commission.

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