Tag: christianity

Our Story is Written by God

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals5 Comments

Out of these two statements, which one interests you the most:

(1) I am writing my own story.
(2) I am a character in a story.

Most of you were probably drawn to the first statement because we want to write our own story. As Americans, this is natural because we are constantly told we have to carve out our own path in life. We are told we have to do things for ourselves. No one else is going to make this happen for you, you have to make it happen for yourself. This mentality is written into the fabric of our culture. From tales of the Gold Rush, to the idea of Capitalism, to images of self-made millionaires, we are constantly told we are in control of our own destinies.

It is Not Our Story

Even though our culture tells us we are the one’s writing our own story, we have to understand that we are character’s in God’s story. God is the writer of the story, and we are the characters. His story starts at creation (Gen. 1:1). It ends with those in Christ living for all of eternity in a recreated world (Rev. 22). Everyone’s life on earth occurs somewhere in between those two events, and we are all apart of the overarching story of God.

I know that some of you may be thinking, why is that? Why am I apart of God’s story? Why am I not creating my own story? Let’s answer that question.

We are Apart of God’s Story Because We are Created in His Image

Look with me at Genesis 1:26-27:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

These verses tell us that God is the Creator and we are His creation. We were created by God in His image. As His creation, we are subject to Him, because He is our Creator. We are not gods. We do not forge our own path. Rather, we look to God, who is our Creator and the writer of the story, and we ask what path He would have us take.

Application

If God is the writer of our story, the place we are at right now is by design. It is apart of God’s sovereign plan for our life. In Psalm 139:13-16, we read:

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

So we see that where we are at right now is because God wants us there. It is apart of God’s sovereign plan that I live in Decatur, TX, pastor Sycamore Baptist Church, buy my groceries at Wal-Mart, along with everything else that occurs in my life because God is the writer of my story. He is the writer of your story as well.

If this is true, if God is the writer of the story, and we are characters in His story, we should be content where He has us, because He has us there for a reason.

In addition, if we are characters in God’s story, and His story is accessible to us in His Word, then we need to be a people of the Word, so we will know both the overall story, as well as our own purpose in God’s story, which I will discuss in my next post in this series.

Before I end, let me give you a few questions for reflection.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Are you attempting to write your own story, or find your place in God’s story?
  2. Do you believe where you are right now is apart of God’s plan for your life?
  3. Do you agree with the Psalmist’s statement that our days are written even before we were formed?
  4. Do you see your current situation as a way to glorify God, or do you see it as a hurdle to get you to the place you really want to be?

Resource

Bill Clem, Disciple: Finding your identity in Jesus, 11-35.

Will You Celebrate on Judgment Day?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

Will you celebrate on Judgment day? This is the question I asked my congregation in my last sermon, and the question I want you to think about as well.

Exposition

This last week I preached over 1 John 4:13-21. In that section, John provides his readers with confidence for the Day of Judgment by giving two tests.

These two tests ask the questions:

(1) Do you have the Holy Spirit residing in you?

The way in which you know you have the Holy Spirit residing in you, is by confessing that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 4:15). The reason our profession provides us with assurance that we are children of God is because without the Holy Spirit, we would not make that confession (1 John 4:2-3).

(2) Do you love your brother?

The reason loving our brother provides us with assurance that we are the children of God is because without God first working His love in us, we would not love others (1 John 4:16-17). God has to first break our hard hearts with the gospel, changing our will and affections, before we will love our brothers in the way that God loves us – self-sacrificially (1 John 4:19). When we love others in the same way that God loves us, then God’s love is said to be perfected with us (1 John 4:17). Perfect love casts out fear for the Day of Judgment (1 Jn 4:18).

So then, if we can answer yes to these two tests, then we can be assured that we will celebrate on the Day of Judgment.

Application

Even though, we who are assured of their salvation will celebrate on Judgment Day, it is clear from the book of Revelation that a Day of Judgment is coming. God will judge the nations and those who are not His children will be destroyed and thrown into the lake of fire. Those who are His children will live for all of eternity with Him in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 20:11-21:5). Knowing that this judgment is coming, we should seek to evangelize our neighbors, friends, and families.

In addition, knowing that we are going to celebrate on Judgment Day should cause us to look forward to that day because we know at that time we will live for all of eternity with our heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, for all of eternity in a new heavens and a new earth free from the bondage of sin, death, persecution, illness, and heartache.

The Sanctifying Work of the Holy Spirit | Part 4

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical4 Comments

In my last post in this series, I wrote about the Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit in the process of Sanctification. In this post, I will talk about how we work alongside the Holy Spirit to bring about change in our lives.

The Synergistic Work of the Holy Spirit

The Synergistic Work of the Holy Spirit refers to how we and the Holy Spirit work together to bring about change in our lives. In order to understand how we work alongside the Holy Spirit, we need to look at the concept of Dependent Responsibility.

Dependent Responsibility

We cannot change on our own apart from the Holy Spirit. That’s because change only occurs in us as the Holy Spirit lives in us and gives us the power to change (Ezekiel 36:27; 1 Cor. 6:19; John 15:4-5). The Holy Spirit’s empowering doesn’t absolve us from work. Rather, it means we must depend on the Holy Spirit to enable us to do God’s will. We don’t let go and let God as some say. Instead we work alongside God as He is empowering us to work [1].

Scriptural Support for the Idea of Dependent Responsibility

In Philippians 2:12-13 we read,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

And in Philippians 4:13 we read,

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

If you notice, in each verse the reason we can work out our own salvation and the reason we can do all things is because God works in us and strengthens us . So, while it is our responsibility to work, we couldn’t work unless God was working in us and empowering us to work. We are responsible, yet dependent at the same time.

How Does This Work Out Practically?

One way this works out on a practical level is through reading God’s Word. Romans 12:2 says,

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

In this verse, Paul gives us a command. He commands us to “be transformed by the renewal of [our] mind.” The command Paul gives isn’t in the present tense, instead it is given as a passive imperative. What does that tell us? It tells us that while we are commanded to be transformed, we must rely on someone else to do the transforming. The person we rely on is the Holy Spirit.

But relying on the Holy Spirit to transforms us doesn’t mean we don’t work. We do work. We work by depending on the Holy Spirit and by reading God’s Word. So, if we want to be transformed, we must read God’s Word.

Other ways we work is by attending worship services, praying, gathering with Christians in community, etc. As we do all those things, we not only depend on the Holy Spirit, but He also works to reveal our sin, convict us, and empower us.

Conclusion

So then, we see that we are responsible to be transformed, but transformation doesn’t occur through our effort alone. Instead it occurs as we work alongside the Holy Spirit. As we depend on Him and as we practice the spiritual disciplines (reading God’s Word, praying, attending worship, gathering with Christians in community, etc). When we do those things, when we work alongside the Holy Spirit in those ways, He exposes our sin, convicts us, and gives us the power to turn from our sin to live like Christ.

Resources

[1] Dependent Responsibility is a term coined by Jerry Bridges in The Transforming Power of the Gospel, kindle location 196 (ch 1) and 1530 (ch 8).

Jerry Bridges, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Ch. 8-11.

X-Ray Questions: Whose opinion of you counts?

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: Whose opinion of you counts? You can read the other posts in this series by clicking here.

X-Ray Question:

(13) Whose opinion of you counts?

From whom do you desire approval and fear rejection? Whose value system do you measure yourself against? In whose eyes are you living? Whose love and approval do you need?

Understand

When you lose God, you enter a jungle of distortion. You tend to live before your own eyes or before the eyes of others – or both. When you lose or take God out of the equation, what is left is to seek the approval of man, which will ultimately leave you wanting.

Even for us who have not removed God completely from the picture, the approval of man has a strong pull on our lives, often causing us to seek it, rather than God’s approval. Since man’s approval has such a strong pull on our lives, we must fight the desire within to seek man’s approval, finding our approval in the Lord alone.

If we do not fight, we will compromise our convictions, not speaking up when we know Scripture speaks against a certain issue. When we remain silent on issues because we fear we will lose the respect of men, we are like the authorities who did not stand up to the Pharisees. John says,

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. (John 12:42-43 ESV)

May we make it a point to seek the glory that comes from God more than the glory that comes from man.

Social Idols

The “social idols” which encompass approval and fear can take numerous forms:

  • Acceptance or Rejection
  • Being Included or Excluded
  • Praise or Criticism
  • Affection or Hostility
  • Adoration or Belittlement
  • Intimacy or Alienation
  • Being Understood or Caricatured

Awareness of these “social idols” is the first step, but we must also ask God to reveal to us where we may be seeking to please others rather than Him. In other words, we must plead with God in our prayers to reveal to us if the opinion of man is an idol that is present in our lives.

Repent

If after we pray, God reveals to us that approval is an idol in our lives, we must repent and turn from that idol. We do so by realizing true approval comes from God alone. The approval man gives us is temporary and situational. We may have man’s approval one day, but the next day they may reject us because we have not lived up to their expectations.

In contrast to the world, those who have repented of their sins and professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will never be rejected by God. As a result, they should never fear the loss of God’s approval.

Why want believers be rejected by God?

Because God accepts us based on Christ’s cross work, not our own work. When we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His righteousness is imputed to us, so that we too become righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). As those who are righteous, we are just as Jesus is even now in the world (1 John 4:17), meaning we are sons of God, just as Jesus is the Son of God. Those who are God’s children have nothing to fear. Instead they are to be confident on the Day of Judgment, knowing that God abides in them and they in God (1 John 4:15-18).

Scripture

Here are a few passages from God’s word to meditate on this week, as you consider the question: Whose opinion of you counts?: Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 29:25; John 12:43; 1 Cor. 4:3-5; 2 Cor. 10:18.

Resource

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

Faithfully Preach the Text

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Pastoral, Preaching5 Comments

I was sent the following quote as an encouragement this week. It is by John Broadus, who was the President of Southern Seminary from 1889 to 1895. Read what he has to say regarding our faithfulness in preaching the text:

It is so easy and pleasant for men of fertile fancy to break away from laborious study of phraseology and connection, to cease plodding along the rough and homely paths of earth, and sport, free and rejoicing, in the open heaven; the people are so charmed by ingenious novelties, so carried away with imaginative flights, so delighted to find everywhere types of Christ and likenesses to the spiritual life; it is so common to think that whatever kindles the imagination and touches the heart must be good preaching, and so easy to insist that the doctrines of the sermon are in themselves true and Scriptural, though they be not actually taught in the text, – that preachers often lose sight of their fundamental and inexcusable error, of saying that a passage of God’s Word means what it does not mean. So independent too one may feel; so original he may think himself. Commentaries, he can sneer at them all; other preachers, he has little need of comparing views with them. No need of anything but the resources of his own imagination, for such preaching is too often only building castles in the air.

Resource

Quote originally published at For Christ and Culture

Prayer: Assurance, Questions, and a Right Perspective

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals3 Comments

In 1 John 3:21-22, John tells us that those who are confident before God have their prayers answered. Confidence comes to those who have examined themselves with the test of love John provides in 1 Jn 3:16-19. After examining themselves they have found that they are able to persuade their hearts that they are God’s children because they see evidences of biblical love present in their lives. As a result, they can and should go boldly before God in prayer, knowing they will receive what they ask of God because they keep His commandments and do what is pleasing before Him. John writes,

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
(1 John 3:21-22 ESV)

God is Not Our Cosmic Genie in the Sky

With these verses, John is not turning God into a Cosmic Genie and supporting a Health Wealth Gospel, which is evident because after telling us God answers our prayers, he provides the reason our prayers are answered at the end of verse 22.

What is the Basis for Answered Prayer?

The basis for answered prayer is two-fold and requires we:

(1) Keep God’s commandments

(2) Do what is pleasing to Him

When a person keeps God’s commandments and does what is pleasing to Him, they show they are a true believer. True believers will pray according to God’s will because His will has become their will.

In addition to seeking God’s will, when John tells us that answered prayer comes to those who do things that are pleasing to God, it includes things we ask for in our prayers. This means believers would not ask God to make them into a millionaire, give them a new car because it makes them look cool, or ask God to cause a jury to acquit them, when they are guilty of their crime. These things are not done in obedience to God’s commandments, nor are they done to please God; rather, they are done to please oneself.

So, those who desire to obey God’s commandments and do those things which please Him, will have their prayers answered because their prayers will be inline with God’s commandments and with what pleases Him.

When God Does Not Answer Prayer

In talking about answered prayer, the question usually arises: What about those times when we are confident before God, coming boldly to the throne room of prayer, obeying His commandments and seeking to do those things that please Him, as well as we are praying according to God’s will, but our prayer is seemingly not answered right away, why does this occur?

In other words, what are we to think when God does not seemingly answer our prayers?

Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of all time, when faced with this question gives this counsel:

If you have been knocking at the gate of mercy and have received no answer, shall I tell you why the mighty Maker has not opened the door and let you in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to himself for keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show His power and His sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the delay is for our profit.

You are perhaps kept waiting in order that your desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps you waiting, you will see your necessity more clearly, and will seek more earnestly; and that you will prize the mercy all the more for its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in you that has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps your views of the gospel plan are confused, or you may be placing some little reliance on yourself, instead of trusting simply and entirely in the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes you tarry awhile that He may the more fully display the riches of His grace to you at last.

Your prayers are all filed in Heaven, and if not immediately answered; they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to your delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make you silent, but continue instant in earnest supplication [1].

In another place He also says,

Still remember that prayer is always to be offered in submission to God’s will; that when we say that God hears prayer, we do not intend that He always gives us literally what we ask for. We do mean, however, that He gives us what is best for us. If He does not give us the mercy we ask for in silver, He bestows it upon us in gold. If he does not take away the thorn in the flesh, He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee, and that comes to the same in the end [2].

So, if it seems that God does not answer our prayer, there are a number of reasons for that, but we always are to pray that God’s will be done and rest in that.

Conclusion

In these verses, John seeks to assure believers who are confident before God, obey His commandments, and do what is pleasing to Him, that God will answer their prayers, even if it does not seem like He does. As a result, we are to come boldly before God in prayer, lifting our requests up to Him. After which, we are to remain confident He has heard us, and we are to know that He will answer in due time and in the way He sees fit, if He has not answered already.

So then, may we all examine ourselves to see if we are true believers. If we are true believers, may we all go boldly to God this week in our time of prayer, knowing the Lord hears us and will answer us in due time.

Resources

[1] Spurgeon on Prayer: How to converse with God, compiled and edited by Harold J. Chadwick, 59-60.

[2] Spurgeon on Prayer: How to converse with God, compiled and edited by Harold J. Chadwick, 304.

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