Is God a Reality or Concept in Your Life?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical4 Comments

This weekend I visited my brother and sister-in-law in Allen, where I attended my nieces baby dedication. On the drive back home, I listen to a sermon by Tim Keller. The sermon was entitled: The Gospel and Your Self. You can access it by clicking here.

In his sermon, Tim Keller asks the question:

Is God a REALITY or a CONCEPT in your life?

Your answer to this question will make all the difference, and it will have eternal consequences. Before I tell you how you can know that God is a reality or concept in your life, I want to define for you the two words at hand.

Definitions

Reality: Something that exists independently of all other things or ideas concerning it. It is something that exists outside of your mind, and it has the power to influence you.

Concept: A general notion or idea. Meaning it is something that exists in the mind and is not independent of your mind.

How do you know if God is a reality or a concept?

(1) You know God is a reality in your life when you allow Him to change your beliefs and actions.

When you quit saying things like: I like that God is loving and merciful, but I don’t like that God has a wrathful side. I don’t think it is wrong to have pre-marital sex if someone is in love. I don’t believe racism is wrong, even though the Bible condemns it. I believe the Bible is true, but I don’t think God is right about homosexuality, even though the Bible clearly speaks against it.

Unless you allow God to change your beliefs and affect the way you act, then God is a concept to you. He is not real, and He is not your Savior or the Lord of your life. God is just someone who you believe can help you live a better life. Someone you can get something from, but you are not willing to give things up for.

(2) You know God is a reality when you realize you are a sinner.

God is still a concept to you, if you do not realize your own sinfulness and need of a Savior. When God is a reality, you understand how holy He is and how sinful you are. If God is just a concept to you, then you think you are alright, you’re not that sinful, you are not so bad.

Why do you not see your sinfulness when God is a concept to you? Because you have constructed a God that does not push against, or reveal, your sinfulness. He does not challenge your ideas, or actions because you have constructed Him to fit neatly into your world. When you construct a God in your mind, you are not going to construct a God who is going to tell you that you need to change. Rather, you are going to construct a God who tells you that you are alright. However, when your God does not cause you to realize you are a sinner, you do not have a real God; rather, you have a God who is a figment of your imagination.

(3) You know God is a reality when you are willing to go on Mission for God.

God is not a reality for you unless you are willing to tell others about Him and the life He has given you through Jesus Christ. If you have no desire to present the Gospel to others, or even live in a way that reflects God’s work in your life, then God is a concept to you. He has not affected your life, and He is not your Savior or Lord.

Getting Real

I know, pretty weighty and bold words to say that God is not someone’s Savior and Lord, but if God is just a concept, then He is not your Savior and Lord. You have not accepted the reality that God exists, for if you had, then you would allow Him to change your beliefs and actions; you would see yourself for who you really are, a sinner; and you would be willing to tell others about Him. Until these things happen, God is nothing more than a concept for you, someone you have constructed in your own imagination to make yourself feel better. He is someone who fits into your agenda, rather than someone who sets your agenda.

Hope

There is hope and it is in the Gospel, the saving power of Jesus Christ, which has the power to change your life. It has the ability to make God a reality in your life. And you don’t have to clean yourself up in order for that to happen. All you have to do is trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and allow Him to control every aspect of your life. When you admit that you need a Savior, God has become a reality to you, rather than a concept, or construct of your imagination.

Image: nattavut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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.

Thinking Out Loud: How do we encourage inquirers?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Leadership, PastoralLeave a comment

This week I came across a post by Thabiti Anyabwile entitled, “What About Altar Calls?“, which I also highlighted in this weeks Interestingness. His article has caused me to think about altars calls this week, and to ask a question of my own, which I am hoping you can help me with.

Background Information

First, let me give you some background information. In his article, Thabiti answers the question: “Why he does not do altar calls?”

In order to answer that question, he provides a list from Pastor Ryan Kelly of Desert Springs Church. The list is as follows:

1. The altar call is simply and completely absent from the pages of the N.T.

2. The altar call is historically absent until the 19th century, and its use at that time (via Charles Finney) was directly based upon bad theology and a man-centered, manipulative methodology.

3. The altar call very easily confuses the physical act of “coming forward” with the spiritual act of “coming to Christ.” These two can happen simultaneously, but too often people believe that coming to Christ is going forward (and vice-versa).

4. The altar call can easily deceive people about the reality of their spiritual state and the biblical basis for assurance. The Bible never offers us assurance on the ground that we “went forward.”

5. The altar call partially replaces baptism as the means of public profession of faith.

6. The altar call can mislead us to think that salvation (or any official response to God’s Word) happens primarily on Sundays, only at the end of the service, and only “up front.”

7. The altar call can confuse people regarding “sacred” things and “sacred” places, as the name “altar call” suggests.

8. The altar call is not sensitive to our cautious and relational age where most people come to faith over a period of time and often with the interaction of a good friend.

9. The altar call is often seen as “the most important part of the service”, and this de-emphasizes the truly more important parts of corporate worship which God has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing).

10. God is glorified to powerfully bless the things He has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing), not the things we have invented. We should always be leery of adding to God’s prescriptions for His corporate worship.

After giving his reasoning, Thabiti explains that their church does give people an opportunity to respond to their services, they just do it differently. Thabiti says,

“We give them a number of ways they may follow up on what they’ve heard, from talking to an elder or Christian friend after the service, to scheduling an appointment during the week, to letting us know they would like us to visit with them, and so on.”

My Question

My question is not regarding Thabiti’s practices, which I am in agreement with. My question is about how to facilitate a way by which someone can talk with an elder, schedule an appointment, or let you know they want to visit.

Here are my questions:
  1. How do the elders effectively communicate their desire to talk further with someone who has questions?
  2. How do you go about encouraging others to take the elders up on their offer?
  3. What systems can we put in place to make it easier for people to contact and schedule an appointment with the elders to talk further?
  4. Or do we even put a system in place at all? Do we just let the Holy Spirit work in people’s lives?
  5. Or should we still do altar calls, just do them differently? That raises another questions: Is there a better way to do altar calls? In other words, are there better ways to allow people to respond at the end of the message than we are currently practicing?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please post them in the comments below.

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Interestingness

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Interestingness7 Comments

Here are some interesting articles I read and videos I watched over the last week along with a few freebies. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Should We Do Altar Calls?

I found Thabiti Anawabile’s recently posted article on Altar Calls particularly interesting. He gives 10 reasons why we do not do altar calls. You can read it by clicking here.

Free Wallpaper

Tim Challies does a post every month where he offers cool wallpaper to decorate your computer. I have been checking back every month since I found out about it to see what he has in store for the month. This week, a new set for May came out. You can check them out by clicking here.

Book Review: Bringing the Gospel Home

Randy Newman, author of Questioning Evangelism, recently published a new book entitled Bringing the Gospel Home. In it he gives advice on how to speak to your family about Christ. Tim Chester, over at The Gospel Coalition, recently reviewed Newman’s book. You can read the review by clicking here.

New York Times Timeline

Here is a great piece the New York Times put together on Osama Bin Laden. It is an interactive timeline starting from the time he was born in 1957. You can check it out by clicking here.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This week Focus on the Family had Eric Metaxas on their program. He is the author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. During the program, they discussed Bonhoeffer’s stand against Nazi Germany. You can read an article by Fox News on Metaxas’ book by clicking here. And you can listen to an interview by Focus on the Family by clicking here.

Evolution of Dance

Here is a video highlighting the evolution of dance throughout the last few decades. It is hilarious! You can check it out by clicking here.

Free Book

Here is a link to a free book on Christianaudio.com. It is Tim Challies new book, The Next Story. You can download it by clicking here.

Head or Heart Knowledge?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical1 Comment

I recently went to The Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago, where I attended a dinner, and received 19 free books. Yeah, I know, it was pretty awesome! Five of the books happened to be the Essential Edwards Collection by Doug Sweeney and Owen Strachan. This set is an excellent look into the life and writings of Jonathan Edwards. You can check them out here.

In the first book, Lover of God, this quote appears by Jonathan Edwards:

“He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart. There is not only a rational belief that God is holy…but there is a sense of the loveliness of God’s holiness. There is not only a speculatively judging that God is gracious, but a sense how amiable God is upon that account, or a sense of the beauty of this divine attribute (Works 17, 413)” (Essential Edwards Collection, 34).

Explanation

Edwards is distinguishing between an intellectual knowledge and a heart knowledge of God. He believes intellectual knowledge of God without heart knowledge is no real knowledge at all.

You see, you can define premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism better than anyone in the field; beat everyone in the church in a Bible drill, including the pastor himself; have the entire Pentateuch memorized in Hebrew, and still not have a personal relationship with the Lord.

Knowing the Lord should involve more than our mind. Knowing the Lord should involve our entire being. It should involve our mind, emotions, and soul. We should truly delight in God, knowing that He is our Savior. Just the thought of His Son willingly enduring the cross for our sins, should send us to our knees to praise Him. Pondering His attributes should cause us to fear Him, while at the same time bringing sheer joy to our souls. We should take delight in reading His word and seeking His face in prayer because He is our Lord and Savior, the Creator of the universe, and the One in whom we find our strength and rest.

Let’s Get Real

If you have never felt a sense of pure joy at the thought of Him saving you from the pits of hell, praised Him for His divine attributes, or even thanked Him for the roof over your head, the job you have, the money in the bank, and the food you eat, then you may need to rethink your relationship with the Lord.

Challenge

I invite you, as we speak, to take an honest look at your relationship with the Lord. That is what Jonathan Edwards did, and His life changed for all eternity.

God and Christians, What is Their Relationship Like?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical2 Comments

Have you every wondered what type of fellowship Christians have with God on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice? Have you been looking for motivation to pray throughout the day?

I have been reading a book entitled Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer. This weekend I came across a list by Matthew Henry explaining the availability of God to the Christian, which occurs on the basis of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

Read along as we explore the nature of the relationship Christians have with God through Christ.

Christians enjoy:

(1) A companion ready in all their solitudes, so that they are never less alone than when alone. Do we need better society than fellowship with the Father?

(2) A counsellor ready in all their doubts,…a guide (Ps. 73:24), who has promised to direct with his eye, to lead us in the way wherein we should go.

(3) A comforter ready in all their sorrows…[to] support sinking spirits, and be the strength of a fainting heart.

(4) A supply ready in all their wants. They that have access to God have access to a full fountain, an inexhaustible treasure, a rich mine.

(5) A support ready under all their burdens. They have access to him as Adonai [my Lord], my stay and the strength of my heart (Ps. 73:26).

(6) A shelter ready in all their dangers, a city of refuge near at hand. The name of the Lord is a strong tower (Prov. 18:10).

(7) Strength ready for all their performances in doing work, fighting work. He is their arm every morning (Isa. 33:2).

(8) Salvation insured by a sweet and undeceiving earnest…If he thus guides us by his counsel he will receive us to glory.

Application

As you can see, God is fully available to us as Christians. God’s availability and the nature of our relationship with Him should drive us to pray to Him. We should go to God everyday, seeking His strength, shelter, support, supply, comfort, counsel, and companionship.

Resource

Joel R. Beeke and Brian Najapfour, Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer, 143-44.