Tag: Jesus

The Purpose of the Good Book

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment


The Good Book, as some often call it, is written in such a way as to present the truth God has purposed to reveal to mankind. Since the Good Book, or the Bible, presents the truths God has purposed mankind to know, we should not expect the Bible to give us answers it was not designed to give us.

How We Often Think of The Bible

The Bible, like any other book, was written with a purpose, which we will get to in a minute. First, let me explain how people generally think of the Bible. I will start with a comparison. Take a math book for example, you would not open it and expect to learn about history, nor would you open a literature book and expect to learn about the inner workings of the human body. Rather, you would expect to learn about the subject the book was written about. Math books teach you math, and literature books teach you literature. If math and literature books are written with a purpose in mind, we should expect books covering other subjects to have a purpose as well. The Bible is no different.

However, we often treat the Bible as if it should be different, believing it should provide us with a detailed history of the surrounding countries, use language that is in accordance with the twenty first centuries scientific dictionaries, rather than language descriptive of an event, or provide us with answers it was not designed to provide, such as what existed before the beginning of the world, or who created God. In short, we believe the Bible should encompass all aspects of history, mathematics, science, literature, etc, while at the same time answering all our most pressing questions. If it does not, then we often believe we should be able to write it off as if it is a book wrought with error. However, this assessment of Scripture is not fair, because it is not taking into account the purpose for which the book was written.

The Purpose of Scripture

So what is the purpose of Scripture? The purpose of Scripture is to tell us about God, Us, His plan, and His Son.

The Bible tells us who God is – The Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign Lord of the Universe. It provides us with a glimpse of the Character of God, and how He expects His people to live and interact with Him and His creation.

It tells us who we are – We, and the world, are apart of God’s creation. Since He is our Creator, we should worship Him, but we often don’t. Here is where the Bible reveals the problem of why we don’t worship Him. Scripture tells us we are sinners and we inherited our sinfulness from Adam and Eve. As a result of Adam and Eve’s sin, mankind and the entire creation fell into sin. The result of our sinfulness was a broken relationship with God. We could no longer enter into the presence of God because His holiness would not allow it. The great news is that God had a plan, which is revealed progressively in His Word, the Bible.

God’s plan involves the redemption of all creation through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Jesus, who is also God, came to earth, lived a perfect life, while being subjected to the same pain, suffering, and temptations we face, and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. If we believe in Him as our Savior, then we will experience a restored relationship with God along with eternal life, instead of eternal death. God’s plan also tells us that after Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven, where He awaits a time when He will return to redeem and restore creation to a perfect state. All those who have believed in Him as their Savior, will enter into this new creation with Jesus as their king, and they will live for all eternity.

Conclusion

The purpose of the Bible is to reveal the overarching meta-narrative of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. As you travel through the pages of Scripture, this narrative is revealed. Through reading the story of the Bible we learn how mankind and all of creation fit into that narrative, as well as who our God and Savior is, and how we can and should interact with Him and His creation. If this is the case, then Scripture, like all other books, was written with a purpose. As a result, Scripture should be read with that purpose in mind, meaning we should not expect the Bible to answer questions it was not designed to answer.

Thinking Out Loud: What is God’s Mission and How Do We Fit Into It?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Evangelism, Practical1 Comment

What does it mean to be on mission? Whose mission is it? How do we fit into that mission? Does being on mission solely involve personal evangelism? Are there other things besides making disciples that are involved in being on mission?

I am seeking to find and provide answers to the above questions. I would love your feedback and interaction with this post as I seek to understand our mission.

God’s Mission

God’s mission is to redeem all of creation in Christ as seen in Col 1:20, and through the overarching metanarrative of Scripture – Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Recreation.

Our Mission is God’s Mission

I believe the mission of a Christian is to reflect God’s mission. If we are to take up God’s mission, and His mission is to bring redemption to all of creation, then our primary mission and directive is to follow God’s mission. This means the mission we are own is not our own, it is God’s, and we are apart of that mission as His co-workers (1 Cor. 3:9), who are working to bring redemption to all of mankind through the gospel (Col 1:20). God, starting with Israel (Isaiah 43:10-12) and continuing to the church today (Acts 1:8), purposefully set a people aside to take up His mission (Gen. 12, Eph. 1, 1 Pet. 2:9-10), meaning all those who are redeemed are on mission for God, not just vocational pastors.

Our Primary Mission

I believe our primary part, as God’s co-workers, who are on His mission, is to make God’s name known to all people, in order to make disciples (Matt. 28:18-20 and 2 Cor. 5:17-6:1).

Our Secondary Mission

However, our mission also includes confronting idols in people lives (Isa 40-48, Jeremiah 10, Deut 4 and 1 Cor. 10:22) and providing pastoral guidance to Christians (1 Cor. 8-10), so they will live lives radically different than the culture; thus, building plausibility structures for Christianity, which allows for the presentation of the gospel.

Furthermore, if our mission is to mirror God’s mission, we should look after the poor, orphans, and widows (James 1:27; Ps 146:9). As we work to help the underprivileged, alleviating social concerns and fighting for social justice, we create plausibility structures allowing for the proclamation of the gospel, as well as we are helping to redeem all of creation.

Our Secondary Mission Pushes Our Primary Mission Forward

By confronting idols, providing pastoral guidance, and working to help the underprivileged, we build plausibility structures for the presentation of the gospel, as well as work to redeem society. This means our secondary mission works to move our primary mission forward. Therefore, we see the combination of our primary and secondary missions work together to accomplish God’s mission, which is to reconcile all of creation to Christ.

Conclusion

As believers we have been set-aside for God’s mission, not our own (1 Cor. 3:9). Our purpose, as redeemed citizens of heaven, and those who are on mission with God, is to make the gospel known to all peoples. The primary means by which we accomplish God’s mission is through being sent out to make disciples through personal evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20, 2 Cor. 5:20-6:1).

In order to make our evangelism more effective, we must build plausibility structures by performing acts of social justice, confronting Christian’s idols, and providing pastoral guidance, so Christians know how to live. Through these efforts, plausibility structures are built, as well as we work to redeem creation.

However, in all these efforts, we must not forget creation can only be redeemed in Christ, so our ultimate goal in any social justice project, or moral reform in ourselves, or our churches, is for the purpose of presenting the gospel to the nations, so all things will be reconciled in Christ.

In short, God is on mission to redeem all of creation, we are apart of that mission as His elect peoples, and our purpose in that mission is to present the gospel through our actions and words, by which God will redeem all of creation in Christ for His glory.

Resources

The Mission of God by Christopher Wright

Contextual and Missional by Tim Keller

Image: maple / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What is the Wrong and Right Way to Seek Change in Our Life?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, PracticalLeave a comment

I recently read an article by Tim Keller entitled: Gospel Preaching. In Appendix B: Applying Christ, he gives reasons people may say no to ungodliness before giving us the real way we can change. I would like to quote Keller at length, rather than attempting to summarize. Keller says,

The Wrong Way to Seek Change

Think of all the ways you can ‘say no’ to ungodliness. You can say “No-because I’ll look bad!” You can say “No-because I’ll be excluded from the social circles I want to belong to.” You can say “No-because then God will not give me health, wealth, and happiness.” You can say “No-because God will send me to hell.” You can say “No-because I’ll hate myself in the morning and disappoint myself and have low self-esteem.”

But virtually all of these motives are really just motives of fear and pride – the very things that also lead to sin. You are just using sinful self-centered impulses of the heart to keep you compliant to external rules without really changing the heart itself.

Also, you are not really doing anything out of love for God. You are using God to get things – self-esteem, prosperity, or social approval. So your deepest joys and hopes rest in other things beside God. This kind of ‘obedience’ does not issue from a changed heart at all.

How to Change

Paul is saying: If you want to really change and gain self-control you must let the gospel teach you – a word that means to train, discipline, coach you over a period of time. You must let the gospel argue with you. You must let the gospel sink down deeply until it changes the structures of your motivation and views of things. John Stott says on Titus 2:14: “Grace not only saves, but undertakes our training. Grace bases her teaching upon the great facts in which her first grand revelation of herself was made, and finds all her teaching power in those mighty memories!”

This Does Not Mean

This does not mean that Christians should not use every possible means to exercise self-control in the crucial moment. If you feel an impulse to pick up a rock and hit someone with it – do anything at all to keep yourself from doing it! Tell yourself “I’ll go to jail! I’ll disgrace my family!” Anything. There’s no reason why in the short run a Christian can not simply use ‘will-power’ like that to make a change that is necessary.

But in the long run change will only come from changing the heart’s deepest affections with the melting, moving grace of God.

Conclusion

In this article, Keller provides us with three things that are happening when we do not seek change at the heart level: (1) We will not truly change. (2) We end up using God to build our self-esteem, prosperity, or social approval because our hope lies in something other than God. (3) We end up using sinful self-centered impulses derived from fear and pride to exact external change in order to remain compliant to our social circles accepted actions, or because we believe compliance to rules will gain us favor with God; thus, meriting us health, wealth, happiness, and a ticket out of hell.

In contrast, the only way for us to really change is if our heart is affected by the Gospel. Instead of forcing ourselves to keep external rules, we need to seek change at the heart level by preaching the Gospel to ourselves and allowing the grace of God to melt away our hearts deepest affections for our own self promotion, glory, satisfaction, and pleasure.

X-Ray Questions: Where do you find your refuge?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, X-Ray Questions2 Comments

This week we continue our X-Ray Questions series, as we look at where you find your refuge. You can read the other posts in this series by clicking here.

X-Ray Question:

(10) Where do you find refuge, safety, comfort, escape, pleasure, security?

This is the question that Psalms invites. It digs out your false trusts, your escapisms that substitute for the Lord. Many “addictive behaviors” are helpfully addressed by this question. They often arise in the context of life’s troubles and pressures, and function as false refuges.

Understand

In what we take refuge becomes evident when troubles and pressures arise in our lives. The thing(s) we turn to in order to escape those pressures are our false refuge. When pressures arise at work, or in your marriage, to what do you turn for help? Do you turn to a mistress, a drink, or gambling? Do you lose yourself in your work hoping to avoid the situation by working late? Do you let the pressure build until you burst in uncontrollable anger? Do you begin to abuse an illegal substance like marijuana or cocaine hoping that it will relieve the pain?

All of these are ways we can deal with the troubles and pressures in our life, but they are all false refuges. They only provide momentary relief, and often times create more problems than they fix.

Repent

We must repent by realizing that God is our only true refuge. The Psalmist makes this clear because God is the One the Psalmist consistently turned to over and over again. He knew God was his refuge because God alone provided him with escape, safety, security, comfort, and pleasure.

In Psalm 27:1, the Psalmist writes,

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

And in 27:5, he writes,

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

We too must find our refuge in the Lord, and we must repent of our unbelief. When we make other things our refuge, we show that we do not believe God has the power to protect us, to provide us with a refuge. We must cast off our unbelief by preaching the gospel to ourselves daily. For it is only in the gospel that we realize the power of God. Paul tells us that the same power God used to raise Christ from the dead is available for those who believe. He says,

And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above very name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Eph 1:19-21).

If God is able to raise Christ from the dead, seat Him at His right hand, and give Him authority over all of creation, He certainly has the power to protect us. We must realize this and repent of our unbelief.

Scripture

Here are a few passages from God’s word to meditate on this week, as you consider where you find your refuge: Pss 23, 27, 31, 46.

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

Doubt: Why it can be a good thing

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical4 Comments

I have been reading Tim Keller’s The Reason for God, and he has raised an interesting point in the introduction regarding doubt. He recommended that each side, Christians and Skeptics, look at doubt in a radically new way.

Everyone has doubt and it should be acknowledged and addressed. In order to explore what I mean, we will look at Christian doubt first before addressing the Skeptics doubt.

Christian Doubt

He likens the Christian without doubt to “a human body without any antibodies in it” (xvii). A body without antibodies is defenseless when attacks come. Likewise, a faith without doubt will be defenseless when attacks from skeptics, or a time of trial enters into life because of personal tragedies. Those who enter these situation without having thought about the hard questions, the objections to the faith, will not be able to “provide grounds for [their] beliefs to skeptics” or even themselves when they are faced with trying circumstances (xvii). Not facing our doubts will result in a faith that could collapse over night when challenged.

On the other hand, facing our doubts will lead us “to a position of strong faith” and a respect and understanding of those who do doubt (xvii). As Christians, we must examine our doubt, being able to provide a defense for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). It is no longer acceptable to hold a position just because our family does; we must ask ourselves the hard questions. If we do not, we will find ourselves in a position where we are not able to offer a defense for the Gospel, our faith will be shaken, and we may be left wondering why we ever believed Christianity in the first place.

Skeptic Doubt

Those who doubt the veracity of Christianity can be labeled Skeptics. Most Skeptics of Christianity will say outright it is false while trumpeting their position as truth. This is where the problem begins. Most Skeptics are quick to disregard Christianity, but are not equally as quick to challenge their own beliefs. Some may not even admit that they have an alternative belief. But denying Belief A (Christianity) means you hold to Belief B, even if you are not willing to admit that you hold to another belief.

In addition, not only do Skeptics hold to another belief when they deny Christianity, but the belief they hold to is by faith. For instance, when Skeptics say there cannot be “any exclusive claims to a superior knowledge of spiritual reality”, they are making a religious claim (12). They are assuming God is unknowable, or that God is an impersonal force, rather than someone “who speaks in Scripture” (12). All of these are unprovable faith claims. Furthermore, when someone says there are no moral absolutes in the world, they are making an unprovable faith claim because there is no empirical evidence to prove otherwise. In fact, any belief that has no empirical evidence to prove it is a leap of faith. This means all religious systems, even those that are secular in nature, claiming there is no God, is based on a leap of faith because they cannot prove God does not exist.

Once one realizes they hold an alternative faith-based position to Christianity, they need to subject their position to the same scrutiny Christians should subject their position to. Skeptics, like Christians, should examine their belief system by asking themselves: How do I know my belief is true? Can I justify these beliefs to someone else who does not share them?

The Result

Once one has examined their beliefs by wrestling with an unexamined “blind faith”, and their personal and culture’s objection to their faith, they will be in a position to provide a coherent defense for their belief system, that is, barring they find their position to be true.

Tim Keller says,

At the end of each process, even if you remain the skeptic or believer you have been, you will hold your own position with both greater clarity and greater humility. Then there will be an understanding, sympathy, and respect for the other side that did not exist before (xix).

He goes on to say,

Believers and non believers will rise to the level of disagreement rather than simply denouncing one another. This happens when each side has learned to represent the other’s argument in its strongest and most positive form. Only then is it safe and fair to disagree with it. That achieves civility in a pluralistic society, which is no small thing (xix).

Conclusion

Both Christians and Skeptics must examine the doubt associated with their belief systems. Christians needs to answer questions on their own, not holding to a system because their family does. On the other hand, Skeptics need to first admit that they hold to a “faith-based” system, and then examine their system with the same rigor they ask of Christians. The result for both groups will be a greater level of clarity and understanding of their own position, helping them to think deeper about the system they hold.

In addition, as each group examines their own beliefs, they should also become more humble and understanding to those outside their religious system which could achieve a level of civility in our pluralistic society that does not currently exist.

However, apart from a deeper understanding and a greater level of civility, my ultimate hope is that those who are not Christian would realize the Gospel is the only hope for salvation, and that their initial doubts of Christianity were not as strong as they first believed.

Interestingness

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Interestingness2 Comments

Here are some videos and articles I enjoyed this week. Take a look at them and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy!

Blog Basics and Perseverance

Have you ever wondered what it takes to start and continue a blog,then you need to read Tim Challies latest post. You can check it out by clicking here.

The Scandal of the Gospel

Albert Mohler wrote an article about his exchange with Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today regarding Rep. Weiner. Here is an exert from the  article:

“The exchange on Twitter is another sign of how politically incorrect biblical Christianity is becoming in our times. Christians do understand that non-Christians disagree with the Gospel. We also understand that other religions claim “routes to restoring righteousness.” But biblical Christians cannot accept that these “routes” lead to redemption, and the only righteousness that saves — the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer, who is justified by faith in Christ alone.”

You can read the entire article by clicking here.

Church Membership: Why does it matter?

Have you ever wondered why church membership matters? Why join a local church? Why participate in worship services? Jonathan Leeman will answer your questions in this article. You can check it out by clicking here.

Piper, Keller, and Carson Talk About Their Future Transitions

Piper Talks with Carson, Keller About Succession Plans at Bethlehem from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Preaching Christ in the Old Testament Resources

If you have not seen the resources from The Gospel Coalition for preaching Christ in the Old Testament, then you need to check them out. You can do so by clicking here.