Tag: God

Why Preach Expository Sermons?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Pastoral, Preaching6 Comments

Today I am reading through Peter Adam’s book Speaking God’s Words, and I came across a section on why we need to preach expository messages. I would like to share with you what Adam’s says.

Reasons For Preaching Expository Messages:

(1) Expository sermons help us to let God set the agenda for our lives.

The danger of topical preaching is that it implies that we know what is important! Expository preaching lets God set the agenda in an obvious and public way.

(2) Expository preaching treats the Bible as God treated it, respecting the particular contexts, history and style of the human authors.

God chose to have the Bible written in books, each by a human author, and not as a collection of useful but disconnected sayings. We should follow God by preaching the way He wrote.

(3) This kind of preaching gives ample time for us to make clear the context of the Bible passage from which we are preaching.

If the Bible passage follows on from last week, the congregation will understand the context clearly. If I change the context each week, and include three or four Bible passages in my sermon, it will be very hard for the congregation to hear any text in context. This is not a model we should encourage. Expository preaching helps us to take each text in context, as God causes it be written.

Resource

Quoted from Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words, 128.

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Leadership Through Daily Scripture Reading

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Leadership, Pastoral, PracticalLeave a comment

Have you ever wondered why reading through the Bible every year is important? Have you ever wondered why leaders in churches consistently talk about reading your Bible everyday? Have you ever thought about how your Bible comes to bear on the leadership of your family, small group, or even church?

Leadership Through Personal Scripture Reading

Bible reading plans are a dime a dozen, with each one offering you a different way to read through the Bible. However, before we throw our latest plan off to the side, I want us to think through the importance of our daily Bible reading for our leadership. I am not just talking about leadership at a vocational pastor level, but at all levels because we are all called to be leaders/shepherds, whether that be in our homes, our small groups, or over a local congregation.

Personal Confession

I often find myself reading Scripture in order to gain knowledge. I want to know who the kings were at the time of Isaiah’s prophesy, how many times Jesus told His disciples He was going to die without them understanding what He was telling them, or what churches Paul started on his 1st missionary journey. In doing so, I often fail to see how the text comes to bear on my life in particular.

Reading Scripture for Personal Growth, not Just Knowledge

In saying that, I am not saying we should not understand the facts and broad movements of Scripture. Those things are necessary and very important if we are to understand what God is communicating to us, but we must not stop there. We must dig deeper into each text we are reading in order to understand how the text comes to bear on our lives. In other words, our reading of the text is not complete if we just have the facts, we need to understand what the particular text is teaching us about God (His character or what He has done for us) and about mankind.

Once we understand what the text is saying about God and about mankind, we need to probe our own lives to see if we are dealing with the same sins mentioned in the text. As we make that a daily practice, we will begin to understand what Scriptures speak to different issues we are dealing with, as well as we will begin to root sin out of our lives. When we understand what Scriptures speak to particular issues/sins in our lives, we can then determine what others around us are struggling with. But not only will we know what they are struggling with, we will know what Scriptures will help them in their struggles because we have personally sought to apply them to our own lives during our daily Scripture reading.

Importance of a Daily Reading Plan

Notice, I said, “as we make that a daily practice.” Here is where the daily Scripture reading plans come in. They serve several functions:

(1) To keep us on track
(2) To provide us with accountability
(3) To expose us to a wide range of Scripture, which then causes us to probe our lives in different ways.

So, before you throw your daily reading plan aside, think about its function and what it is helping you to achieve.

Conclusion: Tying It To Leadership

If we want to lead/shepherd others, and we all are called to lead/shepherd others, then we must first understand how the Scripture comes to bear on our own lives. As we understand how the Scripture comes to bear on our lives through the daily reading of it, we are then better positioned to understand how Scripture comes to bear on others lives, as well as we are able to provide them with places to go in God’s Word when discussing with them the particular issues/sins they are dealing with.

So if we want to be a good leader/shepherd, we must first shepherd ourselves with God’s Word by reading it daily and reading it widely, as well as by asking ourselves more about the text than simple who did what and where did they do it. We must ask ourselves: What is God telling us about Himself and about mankind? After which we have to be willing to probe our own lives to see if we view God the way the text presents Him or if we are dealing with the sins the text presents.

I hope that you now see the importance the daily reading of Scripture plays in our lives. It is not for the sheer facts or to check another box off of a list as we go through the day. It is so we can, first, personally grow to be more like Christ through understanding and subsequently rooting sins in our own lives out, and, second, so we can help others deal with sins in their lives in a biblical manner.

Some Additional Things to Keep in Mind

As we read the text, we should also seek to understand how we can use it to counsel others through difficult seasons in their lives. In other words, we should not solely ask, what attitude toward God does this address or what sin is illumined in my life, we have to also ask how could/would I use this Scripture to counsel others who are hurting.

Most importantly, we have to understand that when we discover a particular sin we are dealing with through our daily reading of Scripture, we do not root that sin out solely in our own power. It is by preaching the gospel to ourselves that we deal with sin in our lives, as well as by taking certain measures to remove the temptation for that particular sin. This means that we have not truly dealt with a sin if we do not deal with it at the root level.

May I recommend several resources to help you with this. First, I recently wrote about preaching the gospel to ourselves. You can read it by clicking here. I would also recommend two other posts I wrote: Understanding Your Idols and The Functional Centrality of the Gospel. Second, I would recommend you pick up: Counterfeit God’s by Timothy Keller, as well as How People Change by Lane and Tripp.

If you are interested in different reading plan, my friend Dustin Bruce highlighted some in a recent post on his blog Gospel Spirituality. You can check it out by clicking here.

The Lord Directs Our Paths

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals1 Comment

Psalm 139:13-16

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. 

Personal Reflection

As graduation from seminary approaches, I have been reminded that the Lord has a plan for each and every one of us, and that His plan was forged before I was even formed.  In the hustle and bustle of the business world, or the endless assignments, papers, and tests of school, we often become so consumed with what is due next, we forget that God is the one directing our steps. However, when we are in between jobs, finishing school, or starting a new phase of our lives we are quickly reminded that the Lord is the Sovereign ruler of the universe, which includes the jobs we take. He is the one who has sustained us through the countless hours of projects, papers, and tests. He is the one who has placed those difficult circumstances in our lives, shaping and molding us into the men and women He would have us to be, so He can use us how He sees fit. He is the one who will direct our steps into the next phase of life.

As I near the end of my studies, I am thankful for the sustaining power of the Lord, but more importantly I have learned that wherever the Lord places me, He has truly called me to be there. The same is true for you as well. This means, when the Lord provides us with a job, career, or ministry opportunity, we should recognize it for what it is, a calling from the Lord to a particular place, people, and responsibilities. As a result, we should serve Him diligently in the role He has placed us.

A Few Questions to Ask Yourself

In order to serve the Lord in our positions and community best, we should ask a few questions of ourselves:

  1. Why would God place me in this position at this time?
  2. What is it about this city, state, or region that God would see fit to place me there? In other words, do I know a lot of people in this area, or does my skill set suit these people particularly well?
  3. What do I believe God would have me accomplish for His kingdom in this particular place or position?
  4. What skills has He been developing in me that could be used to meet the particular needs of those He has called me to serve, or could be used in the surrounding community?

Conclusion

The Lord directs our steps and sustains us, as well as He uses us to accomplish His will. This means every place we live and every position we are given is from the Lord. As a result, we should seek to understand how we can best serve Him there, and then work that out until He calls us somewhere else. May we all remember this week that the Lord will provide a position for us, as well as that our future position and the position we currently hold, or community in which we currently live, was designed by God, and serves as an opportunity for ministry.

Continue In The Faith

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals1 Comment

Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life is more than a beginning in the ways of God. It is also a continuance in the faith as long as life lasts. It is the same with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon who said, “Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me.” The only true conqueror who will be crowned is the one that continues until war’s trumpet is blown no more.

The Target of Our Spiritual Enemies

Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all our Spiritual enemies.

The world does not object to you being a Christian for a time if she can tempt you to give up your journey and settle down in her Vanity Fair.

The flesh will seek to entangle you and prevent you from pressing on to glory. “It is weary work being a Christian. Come, give it up. Must I always be humbled? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least a vacation from this constant warfare.”

Satan will make many fierce attacks on your perseverance. It will be the target of all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in service. He will insinuate that you are doing no good. He will endeavor to make you wary of suffering. He will whisper, “Curse God, and die” (Job 2:9). He will attack your steadfastness: “What is the good of being so zealous? Be quiet like the rest.” He will assail your doctrinal beliefs: “Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? Sensible men are getting more liberal. They are removing the old landmarks. Blend in with the times.”

Conclusion

Wear your shield, Christian, close to your armor. Pray to God that, by His Spirit, you may endure to the end.

Resource

Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: May 26, Evening

Why Preach the Gospel to Ourselves?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals6 Comments

Preach the gospel to yourself. That is a buzz that is flying around in evangelical circles as of late. I would like to quickly answer what it means and then provide a few reasons why we should preach the gospel to ourselves.

What it means?

Preaching the gospel to yourself simple means that you remind yourself of all that takes place in the gospel. Before we can preach the gospel to ourselves we have to understand the gospel message.

The gospel tells us that we are sinners, who are headed for eternal destruction because our relationship with God is severed due to our sinfulness. Instead of allowing our relationship to remain severed, God made a way for mankind to be reconciled with Himself. When we believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, we are united with Him. Through our union with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection we are made righteous as our sin is imputed to Him and His righteousness is imputed to us (double imputation), and at this time we are freed from the bondage of sin giving us a choice to not sin. When we take on Christ’s righteousness our relationship with a perfect and holy God is restored because we are made perfect and holy. This all occurs because of the free gift of God (grace) and not because of anything that we have done, which would earn His gift of salvation (not by works).

Preaching the gospel to ourselves simple is a way of reminding ourselves of the truths of the gospel message.

Reasons Preaching the Gospel to Ourselves is Necessary

(1) Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us that our relationship with God satisfies us more than any sin. 

Sin will satisfy, it is why we do it. But it will not completely satisfy us, and its after effects often leave us feeling empty, ashamed, and lost. Christ is unlike any sin, He will satisfy us for all of eternity. He will never let us down, nor will He ever leave us feeling empty, ashamed, or lost. He will bring us joy that far exceeds the joy we can gain from any sinful action. When we sin, we are in essence saying that God is not sufficient enough, and what we are going to get from our sin is far better than God. However, when we preach the gospel to ourselves, we remind ourselves that we are ultimately satisfied in God and nothing else.

(2) Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us that we are accepted by God’s free grace.

God has accepted us by grace alone, not because of our works. Since God has not accepted us based on our works, then we do not have to perform works in order to keep His grace. This means we obey God’s commands not to earn His grace, but we obey out of His grace. When we are saved, God empowers us to live the Christian life (Philippians 2:13). He changes our desires (will) and enables us to obey His commands by empowering us to serve Him. Thus, we serve Him not to earn His grace, but out of His grace.

By reminding ourselves of our salvation, we remind ourselves that we cannot earn His favor, nor our salvation. Those who believe they have to do something in order to earn acceptance with God, do so because functionally they are trying to be their own Savior. They do not understand Christ has made them holy already. You see, our sanctification is based on our justification. When we try to gain acceptance with God through our actions, we are living like our justification is determined by our sanctification. Preaching the gospel to ourselves serves to remind us that God’s grace is free, not earned.

(3) Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us that we are free to live our righteousness out.

When we are saved, we are united with Christ, and we are made righteous through that union with Christ. Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us of our union with Christ and reminds us that we are free to live our righteousness out. In other words, we do not have to first earn our righteousness, we are already righteous, and, as such, we are able to live as Christ now.

Think of it this way: In Christ, we are full, meaning we do not have to fill ourselves up with righteousness like we would a gas tank. We are already full and we will forever remain full. We do not have to pull into the service station to top our righteousness tank off. Our tank never drops below full. Since we are always running on a full tank, we never have to fill up our tank by earning our righteousness. Since we do not have to earn our righteousness we can freely give to others. The reason we freely give is not to earn God’s righteousness, but because God has freely given to us.

However, when we work for our righteousness or feel we have to pay God back for saving us by being obedient, we are not living our righteousness out; rather we are evoking a debtor’s ethic.

The debtor’s ethic says I must give or do because God has given to me.

To help us understand this concept lets look at an area the debtor’s ethic is often evoked. One area the debtor’s ethic is often used is by those who want to manipulate others into evangelizing the lost. They tell us, “Christ died for you on the cross, the least you can do is tell someone about Him.” On the surface this sound good, but the underlying principle is that we are to tell others about Christ because we owe God for saving us and evangelism is a way we can pay Him back.

However, the gospel tells us that we can freely live our righteousness out. When applied to evangelism, it means we tell others about Christ, not because we owe God something, but because we want them to experience the same relationship with Him that we do. We want them to understand that the Savior is the only one who can truly satisfy, making Him better than any sin or idol.

You see the difference. One group evangelizes because they feel they have to, showing they do not understand God’s grace. The other group evangelizes because they want others to experience the grace of God, knowing that He satisfies us more than any sin will ever satisfy us. Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us of God’s grace and frees us to live out our righteousness.

(4) Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us that God is most glorified when we are happy in Him and only in Him.

We can strive to live lives that resemble Christ, not to earn God’s salvation or approval, but simple to please Him and glorify Him. You see, God is most glorified and pleased when we are happy in Him believing He is sufficient for us and that we need nothing other than Him (ie sin) to satisfy us. When we preach the gospel to ourselves, we remind ourselves of this truth.

(5) Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us of the magnitude of our sins, which brings about true repentance.

When we meditate on the gospel, we are reminded that Jesus died for our sins. In order to die for our sins, He left His throne in heaven, took on the form of a man, was beaten, mocked, and led to the cross where He died in our place.

With this in mind, we see that the gospel reminds us of the heinousness of our sins, it reminds us that our sins are so great that only the perfect sacrifice of God’s Son could atone for them.

When we understand the magnitude of our sins, and their cost, we are reminded that our sin should not be minimized. To minimize our sin proves that we do not understand the costliness of Christ’s sacrifice, nor do we fully understand the holiness of God. Preaching the gospel to ourselves serves as a daily reminder of the magnitude of our sins, which then serves to bring about true repentance.

When we understand the costliness of our sins, we are less likely to confess our sin quickly, in order to deal with our guilt; rather we are more likely to root sin out of our lives.

If we are quick to confess our sin, in order to alleviate our guilt, then we believe grace is cheap.

However, if we are willing to dig deep into our lives to root our sin out at the core, in order to truly cast it from our lives, we show that we understand the cost of our sins. True repentance understands the magnitude of sin and seeks to deal with it at the core.

True repentance also shows that we understand God’s grace and His holiness. We understand His grace releases us from the bondage of sin and His holiness means He is unable to be wed to an unholy people. Those who are truly repentant are motivated to repent not to earn God’s favor, but to glorify God. We glorify God when we delight in Him rather than in our sin and live lives that reflect His holiness. Our motivation for change is subtle but nevertheless it is a different motivation for change than what the religious/legalist puts forth. Preaching the gospel to ourselves serves to remind us of the magnitude of our sins, as well as it is a catalyst for true repentance.

Conclusion

Since we are naturally drawn to doing something in order to earn what we are given, we must constantly remind ourselves that what God has given us is free. We must also remind ourselves that God is far better than sin for if we do not we will easily succumb to its enticing lure. Furthermore, we must remind ourselves on a daily basis that God satisfies us more than sin could ever satisfy us. Moreover, we must constantly remind ourselves of the costliness of our sin, which should serve to spur us onto true repentance. Lastly, we must remind ourselves that God is most glorified when we are happy in Him believing He is sufficient to satisfy us. Preaching the gospel to ourselves reminds us of all the things mentioned here and is why it is a necessity. This means that preaching the gospel is not solely reserved for non-believers, but for believers as well. May we never forget that the gospel is not only a message that provides us entrance into God’s kingdom, but sustains us and helps us to live within His kingdom.

Gospel Conversations & Biblical Fellowship

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals4 Comments

The typical conversation between guys this time of year centers around sports, especially, football. Now I don’t believe we should never talk about sports, but as Christians our conversations should go deeper than the latest ESPN highlight. We should be talking about the Bible and the things the Lord is showing us in our lives, as well as we should be encouraging each other in the faith. We can’t do this if we do not break through the surface and dig down to find out what is actually going on in someone’s walk with the Lord. In order to help us have more biblical conversations, I want to provide a few practical questions we can ask each other.

Questions

(1) What has Jesus been teaching you this week through your reading of the word, prayer, and life situations?

(2) How has your reading, classes, interactions with others and prayer caused you to worship God this week?

(3) How can I be praying for you?

(4) What sins has God revealed to you this week?

(5) Has God answered any prayers lately?

My hope is that these questions will spur you on to have more gospel conversation and biblical fellowship with others this coming week.

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