Tag: God

Are You a Berean?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment

Berean Congregation

Week in and week out church members listen to sermons, sit in on Bible studies, and attend Sunday School. They receive teaching, but what do they do with that teaching afterward? I am afraid most members do nothing more than casually mention to their family over lunch that the sermon was good this week.

Scripture tells us that is an inadequate response. It calls us to do more than listen to the sermon on Sunday, even though that is a good start. What else should we do? Let’s look to the book of Acts and see what our friends the Berean’s did.

The Bereans as Our Example

After leaving Thessalonica, Paul and Silas came to Berea. Luke tells us after arriving Paul and Silas…

… went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:10-11).

The Bereans model for us what we should do on Sunday morning. What is that?

Here are the three things they did that we should be doing:  

(1) They Eagerly Received God’s Word – They came to the synagogue hungry for the preached Word. Preaching wasn’t the part of the service they endured. It was a part of the service they eagerly anticipated.

(2) They Listened Attentively – Not only did they desire to hear God’s Word taught, but they listened attentively. Limited edition Berean Moleskine’s sat in every listener’s lap being filled with notes from the sermon. Daydreaming, counting the pews for the 100th time, or catching up on their beauty sleep was far from their mind. They listened to the exposition of God’s Word attentively.

(3) They Examined the Teaching they Heard – Not only did the Bereans receive the Word with all eagerness, listening attentively, but they went home, opened their Bibles, and examined Paul and Silas’ teaching. Was it accurate? Did it coincide with the rest of Scripture? Was it applied rightly? These are the questions they probably asked and more.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Do you hunger to hear God’s Word proclaimed?
  2. Do you listen attentively during the preaching of God’s Word?
  3. When was the last time you went home and examined the sermons content for accuracy?
  4. Are you a Berean?

Resource

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God as Our Creator | Part 2

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

Leaves Changing

Chances are if you started a Bible reading program this New Year, the first verse you read was Genesis 1:1. Even if you have not, it is a familiar passage to us all.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

This succinct statement is packed with application both for us individually and our worldview. In my last post in this series, I looked at how God as Our Creator applies to our worldview. You can read that post here. In this post, I will reflect on how God as Our Creator applies to us individually.

What are the individual implications of God being our Creator?

(1) If God is our Creator, we should listen to what He says to us and keep His commandments.

As our Creator God has authority over our lives. The writer of Ecclesiastes comes to this conclusion in the final chapter of his book. There the writer tells us if we want to find meaning in life, we are to fear God and keep His commandments. The reason that can be his conclusion is because God is our Creator. He is the one who made us, and He is the One we are to submit to as Lord.

(2) If God is our Creator, He is also our Sustainer.

God is the One who upholds all things. The reason the earth spins, the laws of science do not change, why we have a never ending supply of oxygen, why our crops grow, why anything happens the way it does, is because God sustains the universe. Without God holding all things together, everything would fall apart. Hebrews 1:3-4 says,

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

The writer of Hebrews makes is clear God upholds the world by the word of His power. Nothing more but His Word is needed to Sustain His own creation, which He also created by the Word of His mouth.

God as Sustainer means we fully depend on Him for everything in our life. To forget that means we will try to do things our own way. When we strike out on our own, leaving behind what we know about God, we act like a fool and repay God with sin instead of worship (Deut 32:4-7).

God as Sustainer also means that all creation depends on something outside of themselves. Self-help books and religious teaching that tells us to look inside ourselves to fix the problem has it wrong. Instead of looking inside ourselves, we must look outside ourselves to God. He is the only one who can provide an answer for the problems we face.

(3) If God is our Creator, True Worship begins when we see that we are but creatures and owe our Creator thanksgiving, praise, and obedience.

Worship is not solely what we do when we gather together on Sunday Morning. Rather True Worship is given with our entire lives every minute of every day. By living with the idea that God is our Creator who has authority over our lives and who is our Sustainer we set ourselves up to worship God because this understanding will lead to thankfulness, praise, and obedience. When these things characterize our daily lives, then we are truly worshipping God.

(4) If God is our Creator, He leaves us without excuse because He places His fingerprints all over creation.

Romans 1:18-32 tell us that God made Himself plain in Creation, but man did not submit to Him as God. Instead we worshipped the creation. As a result, God gave man over to the lusts of their heart, and because of our rejection of God we deserve to die.

The main thread that runs through these verses is that God has made Himself known to His creation. He has placed His fingerprint everywhere for man to see. Intelligent Design is evident in all creation, so man has no excuse for not searching out and worshipping God.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Can you think of any other ways God as our Creator applies to us individually?
  2. If God is our Creator and King, when we sin against Him, we are doing more than just breaking the rules. What are we doing?

God as Our Creator | Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals2 Comments

Leaves Changing

Chances are if you started a Bible reading program this New Year, the first verse you read was Genesis 1:1. Even if you have not, it is a familiar passage to us all.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

This succinct statement is packed with application both for us individually and our worldview. Let’s start with worldview.

Worldview

The first thing that may come to your mind when you hear the word worldview is:

What is a worldview?

A worldview is a set of ideas and beliefs through which we interpret the world and interact with it.

For example, as Christians we believe life is sacred, which means we believe abortion and murder are wrong, should not be practiced, and those who commit such acts should be punished.

Our example shows us that our belief shapes the way we interpret and interact with the world. Since it is a set of beliefs that shape the way we interpret and interact with the world, every religion, philosophy, or way of thinking has worldview implications.

How do we know which one is right?

As Christians, we believe our worldview is right because our God is the Creator of the entire world. We read that in Genesis 1:1. As the Creator, He interacts with His creation through His Word, the Bible, which necessitates the Bible be correct.

How do we know Scripture is correct?

Scripture is correct because it has proven itself to be true through both internal and external evidence. I don’t have space to go into all the evidence, so let me briefly point out that part of that evidence has to do with answering questions that every worldview must answer. Those are:

(1) How did we get here?
(2) How did the world get the way it is?
(3) How is it going to be fixed?

Scripture answers these questions. It tells us that God created the World, sin is the reason the world is the way it is, and Jesus is the way everything will be set right.

If Scripture could not provide these answers, then we should not allow it to operate as our dominate worldview. Scripture, however, does answer these questions, which means we can trust the claim of Genesis 1:1 that God is our Creator. As such, we should allow Him, through His Word, to shape the way we view the world.

Looking forward

In the next post in this series, I will look at how God as our Creator applies to us individually.

Question for Reflection

  1. Can you think of a worldview that cannot answer one of the three questions above?

Respectable Sins: Anger | Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, Respectable Sins1 Comment

Angry Birds

This week we continue working through Jerry Bridges’ book Respectable Sins. The respectable sin for this week is anger. Let’s get started by defining anger.

Anger Defined

Anger is defined as:

A strong feeling of displeasure and usually antagonism often accompanied by sinful emotions, words, and actions hurtful to those who are the object of our anger.

Righteous Anger

One form of anger is righteous anger. We would like to think this is the form of anger we often exercise, but most of the time it’s not. How do we know? We can employ two tests to see if our anger is righteous.

Two Tests

First, do we perceive the action of another as true evil that is a violation of God’s moral law?

If we do see it as a violation of God’s moral law, we should be concerned about God and His will, not concerned about ourselves and our will. In other words, is our focus on God and His will or on me and my will?

Second, are you in control when you are angry?

Those who are angry for righteous reasons are not out of control. They do not lose their temper, nor do they seek vengeance.

Conclusion of Two Tests

I believe when we employ these two tests, we find our anger is not as righteous as we first thought. Even if we are “reacting to another person’s real sin that does not necessarily make our anger righteous. We are likely more concerned with the negative impact of the sinful actions on us than we are that it is a violation of God’s law. Or we may even use the fact that it is a violation of God’s law to justify our own sinful angry response.”[1] If either of these cases are true, then our anger is not righteous anger, but sinful.

An Example of Righteous Anger

Jesus cleansing the temple is an example of righteous anger. Look with me at the following two verses.

John 2:13-17

“The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”” 

Mark 11:15-17

“And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

When we apply the test above to Jesus’ actions, we see that: 

  • Jesus had a valid concern for the Lord’s will – He did not want the temple to be a den of robbers, but a house of prayer.
  • Jesus did not retaliate in a vengeful way.
  • Jesus is self-controlled.
  • Jesus did not lose His temper.

We can conclude that Jesus’ actions were done in righteous anger.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Can you think of sins others commit that would cause us to be more concerned with the negative impact on us than on God?
  2. Have you ever used others violation of God’s law as a way to justify your own sinful anger?

Looking Forward

The next post in this series will deal with sinful anger and its causes.

Resources

[1] Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, 122.

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Do We Treat God Like Santa Claus?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment

Do you think of God like St. Nick? You may have a different answer to that question after watching this video.

Resource

Anti-Santy Ranty from 10ofthose.com on Vimeo.

A Man After God’s Own Heart: Connecting the Cross to 1 Samuel

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals2 Comments

I have been reading through 1 Samuel this last week. When I came to chapter 13, something struck me while reading the discourse between Samuel and Saul. Let me give you some background information before jumping into their discourse.

Narrative

Saul was set to again fight against the Philistines after Jonathan had initial defeated them at Geba. After their defeat, the Philistines came out strong with thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops. The text says, “They were like the sand on the seashore in multitude” (1 Samuel 13:5). This caused the Hebrews to be afraid, some crossed over the Jordan, others hid, and the men who were Saul at Gilgal trembled. This was obviously a tense time for the nation of Israel and their leader Saul. There newly installed king had won a military victory once against the Ammonites and his son Jonathan had defeated the Philistines, but Jonathan’s victory seemed only to anger the Philistines, causing them to come out against the Israelites even stronger.

Apparently, Samuel had told Saul to wait at Gilgal for seven days (1 Samuel 10:8), but Samuel did not show up in the allotted time (1 Samuel 13:8). As a result, the people following Saul began to leave. Instead of waiting for Samuel, the prophet of God, Saul decides to proceed without him in offering sacrifices to the Lord. Just as Saul had finished offering burnt offerings, Samuel shows up and asks, “What have you done?” Sauls response is telling of  his heart. He says,

“When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering” (1 Samuel 13:11-12).

Samuel responds by telling Saul that he has not obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and, as a result, the kingdom will be taken from him. Immediately afterward he tells him,

“The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you” (1 Samuel 13:14).

Later on in Chapter 15 we read about another instance when Saul rejected the commandments of the Lord and did what the people wanted. There he did not kill all the Amalekites or destroy all their livestock, instead he spared their king, Agag, and sought to sacrifice the livestock to God because that is what the people wanted to do.

Common Thread

The common thread that is running through these narratives is Saul’s lack of obedience to the Lord and his desire to please his people.

  • Instead of waiting for Samuel to come to Gilgal, he offered sacrifices to the Lord when the people started to leave.
  • Instead of killing all the Amalekites and devoting all their livestock to destruction like he was commanded by the Lord, he listened to the people and kept the livestock to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord.

The result, is that Saul was to be removed as king over Israel (1 Samuel 13:14), and God regretted making him a king (1 Samuel 15:10-11).

Man After God’s Own Heart

Saul was not a man after God’s own heart; rather, he sought his own fame and glory by pleasing those he was ruling over. As I read about Saul, I saw a little of myself in him, but I also learned a valuable lesson.

If I want to be a man after God’s own heart, I need to obey God’s commandments even when it is not popular. Even when others will shun me, walk away from my leadership, or outright persecute me, I need to obey the commandments of the Lord because that is to what I have been called.

A man after God’s own heart obeys the Lord rather than people. He seeks the will of God rather than his own will.

Our Example

David becomes our immediate example of a man after God’s own heart, but he failed from time to time, seeking his own will instead of God’s.

Even though he represents a man after God’s own heart in the immediate context, it is not until we get to Jesus do we see someone who perfectly exhibits what that means. Jesus lived a perfect life and was even obedient to the point of death, accomplishing the Father’s will instead of seeking to glorify Himself (Philippians 2: 6-11).

Salvation Before Obedience

Jesus is our example, but He must be our Savior first. Try as we might, we can never hope to live as Jesus did without first being raised from the dead. We are inherently sinful people, who want nothing more than to accomplish our own will and please ourselves.

If we ever hope to obey God’s commandments and live an obedient life like Christ, a life we will never fully live this side of eternity, we must believe that Christ is our Savior. When we do, will be made a child of God, given a new heart, and the Holy Spirit will indwell us. With our new heart and the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit, we will be better able to obey the commandments of the Lord.

Questions for Reflection

  1. Can you restate what it means to be a man/woman after God’s own heart?
  2. Do you understand why you must be regenerated before you can live as a person after God’s own heart?
  3. Do you ever seek others approval rather than living for the Lord?
  4. What is the chief end of man?