Tag: Gospel-Centered

You are God’s Fellow Worker

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Cor 3:9)

What a privilege it is to be called God’s fellow workers. As believers, we have not only experienced salvation but we are also used as God’s instruments to bring others to faith in Christ as well as to help others grow as disciples of Christ. We are His fellow workers.

If God thinks of us as His fellow workers, we must think of ourselves in the same way. We must not shrink back from Jesus’ command to make disciple-making disciples. We must get to work.

While we must get to work, seeking to accomplish the mission Jesus has set before us, as God’s fellow workers, we don’t work alone. The God of the universe, the All-Sovereign, Creator, and Sustainer of all things works alongside us as we seek to work for Him. We work with the power provided us by God Himself.

Do you recognize you are counted as God’s fellow worker? Do you trust God to empower you for the task of making disciple-making disciples?

Are you able to boast in the Lord?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””

(1 Co 1:31)

You are not a Christian today because you are wiser, more powerful, or from a family worthy of salvation than others you rub shoulders with each and every day. Nor are you a Christian today because you are stronger and popular than others. You didn’t earn, force, or buy your way into right standing with the Lord. Your wits, brilliance and intellect didn’t cause you to turn the Lord over the next person. You are a Christian today because the Father sent Jesus Christ to die for you.

It is Jesus who presents the us with the wisdom of God. It is Jesus who is righteous. It is Jesus who is set apart. It is Jesus who provides us with redemption from the wrath of God. Wrath we deserve because we live in constant rebellion against God. 

When you consider your salvation, you are not to boast in yourself. No, you should boast in the Lord. He is the reason you can call yourself a Christian today. He is the reason you experience salvation from His wrath. 

As Christians, we are to boast in the Lord. Some may boast in their intellect, successfully completed projects, wealth, homes, cars, career success. Other may boast in their atheletic abilities. While the world celebrates these accomplishments, we are to celebrate and boast in the Lord saving us. 

We must cast off what the world values and put on what God values. When we separate ourselves from the world’s values and the things in which they boast, we will be able to boast in the Lord. 

Should we submit to the government?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Rom 13:1)

Among all the the things we have experienced in 2020, we can add a season of political turmoil. A season that doesn’t want to end. Come January though changes will happen. Some of you may be glad for those changes while others will disagree.

Whether we agree or disagree, we are to heed the instruction found in God’s Word. We are to be subject to the governing authorities. Whether they represent our political party or not, we can be subject to them because every authority has been instituted by God. Paul even goes so far as to call them God’s servants for our good and the avenger who carries out God’s wrath (Rom 13:4).

Given some authorities bent towards immorality it is hard to believe they are put in place by God, considered His servants, and are to carry out His wrath. But God’s Word reveals that is their position. It is how the sovereign Lord uses them. Since they are appointed and used by God, we are to respect their position. We are to pray for them. Where we can, in good conscience, we are to follow their direction and the laws of the land. To be sure, God is our first ruler. Where His law would be transgressed, we are to resist, but by and large we are to respect and honor our rulers.

While we may believe that to be a radical request, Paul, the author of Romans, is writing these words while living under Roman rule. Rule that was ruthless and, at times, antithetical to and persecutor of Christianity. As Christians in the USA we experience much more freedom than those in Roman society. While many would like to erode those freedoms, we are still to trust the Lord, His wisdom, and His Word. We are to be subject to the ruling authorities for they have been instituted by God.

Are your feet beautiful?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”” (Rom 10:15)

As Christians we have been sent out to make disciple-making disciples. We are to make these disciples “as we are going” about our day. We don’t have to travel half way around the world to be “on mission” for Jesus. We can live “on mission” for Him right here in our own community.

Paul reveals in this section of his letter to Romans that we are sent to preach the good news. It is a beautiful thing. Beautiful can be translated as “the appropriate time; timely” or it can be translated as beautiful in the sense that it is an appropriate action or a lovely action.

If we translate the word timely, which it seems many commentators lean towards, the idea links more to God’s plan being worked out in His time. The preaching of the gospel as the message of hope to both Jews and Gentiles has come at the appropriate time in God’s plan of salvation.

While at the same time, the feet of those who come with the good news of the gospel are beautiful, they are lovely. It is a beautiful action for someone to preach the good news of Jesus to others.

We are to be those beautiful feet who in God’s timing are bringing a message of hope and light to those who live in darkness. Are your feet beautiful?

Christian, whose slave are you?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (Rom 6:17-18)

If you are a Christian today, you were saved from slavery. Yes, you were saved from slavery. Before Christ you lived in bondage to sin. It held you captive. You were unable to escape its chains. You were led here and there, committing further acts of lawlessness because sin reigned in your life.

Christ has set you free! His sacrifice on our behalf and our belief in Him as Savior broke the chains of sin. Jesus released us from bondage so that we might live upright lives. Lives free from the grip of sin.

Since we have been set free from sin, we should not allow it to dominate us. We should not allow it mastery over us. Instead, we should live as free men and women from the grip of sin.

Though we have been freed from sin, that doesn’t mean we are free. We are either a slave of sin and Satan or a slave of God. There is not neutral middle ground. Having been saved and freed from slavery to sin by Jesus, we should live as if He is our Master. We should live our freed lives as slaves of righteousness.

Slaves of righteousness is that for which we have been created. We were created by God to live according to His will and way. Those who live upright lives, who seek God’s wisdom found in His Word, live with God’s blessing. To experience God’s blessing results in a life of joy despite the external circumstances we experience.

Christian, are you living in your past chains or are you living as a slave of righteousness?

Your works don’t make you righteous

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…” (Ro 3:21-22)

Paul’s letter to the Roman’s is a theological masterpiece. It highlights who we really are and what God has done so that we might have a relationship with Him. We are sinners through and through. Our sin has so corrupted us that we cannot nor do we desire to live for God. Using Paul’s term — we are not righteous. We do not live morally upright lives, nor are we in right relationship with God.

We cannot earn a right relationship with God through the Law, whether that be God’s law or our own moral code. There is absolutely nothing we can do but there is something God does. He sends His Son — Jesus — who is the Christ. Jesus is the God appointed Savior of the world. Through His life and death on our behalf, we can experience a right relationship with the Father. Not by emulating Jesus or sacrificing to Him, but through faith. Simply trusting that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection provides you a right relationship with the Father, provides you a right relationship with the Father.

All those who believe in Jesus’ cross-work experience salvation. Through Jesus, the Father establishes the righteousness of man.

Trust in Jesus and not in your own work. Your works don’t make you righteous.