Tag: redemption

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. 

How Do We Redeem Our Work?

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals1 Comment

Work

What do you think of when you think of heaven? Popular perception is something like floating around on a cloud somewhere singing and playing harp. Those who are musically inclined might be thrilled, but that is not what is going to happen. We aren’t going to just float around for all eternity. No, we are going to be apart of a renewed city.

A Renewed City

In Revelation 21, we are told that a New Heavens and a New Earth will be formed. A New Jerusalem will be made ready for us to live in. Which means we are going to be citizens of a city in the future. A city where we will have responsibilities. A city in which we will live and work. If that doesn’t sound like heaven to you, keep in mind work is one reason we were created.

Work is one reason we were created.

Created to Work

In Genesis 2:5 God says,

“When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,…” (Ge 2:5)

He continues in verse 7 by saying,

“…then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” (Ge 2:7–8)

We are told in verse 15 the reason God placed Adam in the garden was to

“work it and keep it.” (Ge 2:15c)

So we were created to work. If that is true, you may ask yourself then: Why do I hate working so much?

Why We Don’t Like Work

Well, the reason we don’t like work is because of The Fall. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, part of the punishment was increased labor in their work. In other words, work was made more difficult.

Work is for Our Joy

From the beginning, work wasn’t supposed to be something we hated. It wasn’t supposed to be difficult and dreadful. That wasn’t how God designed it. He designed work to be something we enjoy.

We see glimpses of the joy of work even today. Think about your hobbies. I am sure none of you just sit in a dark room as a hobby. No, what do you do? You do some form of work. Think about it. Remodeling a car, making a quilt, hunting, training dogs and whatever else you do. All of that is work — It takes effort, skill, and time; it’s work.

The difference though between our hobbies and our job is that we enjoy our hobbies. Since we enjoy them, they don’t feel like work, even though it is work.

How Do We Redeem Work?

We redeem work by seeing it as something good God created. Work is good for us and others. It is good for God’s creation. God told Adam to work it and keep it, to cultivate the land he was given stewardship over. When we work to cultivate God’s creation and put our creative abilities in play, we create things that are good for everyone. Of course, I know some of you will say we create things that are not good. While that is true, the process of creation and cultivation in and of itself is a good thing.

Another way to redeem work is to see it as a way to glorify and honor God. When we view work as a way to honor and glorify God, our work becomes worship. While it may be hard, difficult, taxing, something at times we don’t enjoy, it is a way for us to worship God. Knowing work is worship should help us get through the day a little easier.

Along with seeing work as worship, we can also redeem work by viewing it as an opportunity to witness to others. Before I was a minister, I slaved away in the corporate world chained to a desk and phone all day. While I didn’t enjoy what I did, I had the opportunity to build deep relationships with my co-workers. Relationships that ultimately allowed me to speak the truth of the gospel into their lives. In that way, I redeemed the work I hated doing.

Question for Reflection

  1. How do you redeem work?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon What Does It Look Like To Be A Faithful Servant of God?

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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

God’s Glory in Salvation

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals4 Comments

Recently, I have been working to prepare a sermon on Ephesians 1:3-14. If you don’t have your Bible’s handy, you can read the text here. The main idea of the sermon is that God is glorified in His remarkable plan of redemption, by electing a people for Himself before the foundations of the world, saving them through the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and sealing them through the work of the Holy Spirit.

God is Glorified in Election

God is glorified, firstly, because He chose and predestined a people for Himself before the foundations of the world. Election is not a popular topic; especially, in our consumer driven individualistic society. We are taught to make our own decisions, and we believe this right extends to our salvation as well. However, Ephesians 1 tells us that in God’s sovereign plan He has predestined those who would join His church before the foundations of the world.

Application

This means that we can rest assured that our work in evangelism is not in vain, nor do we have to depend on our own power to bring others to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. God has elected a people for Himself, and He will bring those people to salvation for His glory.

Our job is to be instruments in His sovereign plan by obeying His command to proclaim His gospel to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28)

God is Glorified in Redemption

God is glorified, secondly, in the redemption of the elect through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross, to provide a way for man to once again have a relationship with God. If we believe that Christ has the power to save us from eternal destruction through His death on the cross, then we experience a repaired and restored relationship with God. Here we see that salvation only comes through faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

Application

This means that we cannot work for our salvation. There is nothing we can do outside of having faith in Jesus Christ. And our last point makes it clear that God provides us with that faith through His electing grace for His glory.

God is Glorified in Sealing

God is glorified, thirdly, in the sealing of His church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Those God has elected to salvation are saved through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, and are kept in Christ until their death by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Application

This means that we do not have to work to gain salvation, nor work to keep our salvation. We are secure in Christ because of the sealing power of the Holy Spirit.

However, this does not mean that walking the church aisle and praying a prayer with the pastor ten years ago precludes you from living a life pleasing to God. It is still necessary to reflect Christ in our thoughts and actions. What makes a Christlike life possible is the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and working to remove the idols of our hearts.

Come As You Are!

In order to attain salvation, we do not have to clean ourselves up. Salvation is not like trading in your old car for a new one. You don’t have to spend time fixing yourself up in order to gain a higher trade in value. We can come to God just as we are, and expect to get the highest price we would ever get for a beat up old car, eternal life and a relationship with the God of the universe.

Charge

If you are trying to get your life right before you approach God, don’t. Come just as you are. Accept the call of God on your life, believe in His Son for salvation, and you will be saved. To God be the Glory!