Our Response to God’s Kingship

On July 15, 2014July 31, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical, The Gospel and the Christian LifeLeave a comment

Since God is our Creator and King, we should worship and obey Him. Worship and obedience, however, is a foreign idea to most people today. God isn’t naturally viewed as a King we should worship, but John paints a different picture for us in Revelation.

In 4:11 John writes,

““Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”” (Re 4:11)

So God is someone we should worship. We should worship Him because He is our Creator. Everything we see, the Lord created, including you and me. His Creative power, His sovereignty, and ownership should lead us to worship Him.

What Does It Mean To Worship God and How Do We Worship Him?

Worshipping God means we show a deep respect and love for Him. We worship Him by praising Him, as well as by exalting or holding Him in high regard. When you come to church on Sunday, we do all these things. We praise God by singing of His attributes, abilities, and actions. As well as we hold Him in high regard by reading, studying and learning from His Word.

Not only should we worship, by praising and exalting Him, but we should also worship Him by obeying Him. Obeying God means we think, do, and act as He wants. In other words, we live according to His will.

How do we know God’s will?

God reveals His will in His Word — the Bible. The Bible then isn’t just a book of stories, nor is it just a book of rules. The Bible is a book about God and man. It reveals who God is, who we are, what He has done, and what we are to do. So if we want to know about God, we go to His word. If we want to know about ourselves, we go to His Word. If we want to know what God has done, we go to His Word. And if we want to know how we are to live, we go to God’s Word.

Questions for Reflection

Why is it important we read and study God’s Word?
If we worship God through living obedient lives, what does that imply about where we can worship God?

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Do You Desire to Appease or Worship God?

On April 10, 2013July 27, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals11 Comments

How do you view God? Is He someone you worship? Or is He someone you seek to appease?

Background

In 1 Samuel 6, the Philistines prepare to return the ark of the Lord to Israel. They captured the ark seven months earlier and it has been ravishing their people and their gods ever since.

Originally, they placed it in the house of Dagon. He ended up face down in front of the ark with his head and hands cut off. The ark then went to Gath where the people broke out in tumors. Ekron was the next city on the circuit. They experience the same thing as Gath. Since God’s hand was heavy against the Philistines they decide to send the ark back to Israel.

Appeasement Not Worship

As they prepare to send the ark back, they forge five golden tumors and mice. These were placed in the cart with the ark to appease the Lord. The Philistine Priests say in verse 5:

So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will lighten His hand from off you and your gods and your land.

The Philistine Priests did not counsel the people to turn from their idolatry and worship the Lord. Instead they counseled them to appease the Lord. Their reason was simple. They wanted to freely worship their own idols and do as they pleased. Israel’s God was getting in the way, so they sought to appease Him with offerings of gold.

Application

The Philistines acted in a pagan way. Offering gold to God in order to appease Him so they could do as they wanted.

Americans often act the same. No, we don’t offer gold to God, but we offer acts to Him. We go to church on Easter and Christmas, or even every Sunday with the intent of appeasing God. We do this thinking He will allow us to do what we want the rest of the year or week. We serve and give for our own benefit, so that we can pursue our own way of life and our idols.

These actions show we don’t understand who God is. We don’t understand He is the Creator of heaven and earth, the one true God. He is the Redeemer, sending His Son to die in our place so that we might be release from the bondage of sin, Satan, and death. When we offer acts of appeasement to God, we show we don’t understand these things about God. We show we don’t understand Christ’s work. We show we don’t understand the gospel.

Instead of appeasing God so we can continue to worship our idols, we should bow to Him in worship. Freedom from the slavery of idolatry is possible with God. Quit thinking like the Philistines. You don’t have to appease God. Jesus does that for you on the cross.

His work on the cross, however, doesn’t free us so we can live as we please and worship what we desire. Instead, His cross work frees us to worship the one true God. So then, worship God!

Question for Reflection

Do you appease God or worship God?

Colored Eggs, Scavenger Hunts, or the Resurrection

On March 30, 2013July 31, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Practical1 Comment

What comes to mind when Easter is mentioned? For many it might be the thoughts of family gatherings, colored eggs, and scavenger hunts. Easter, however, is about more than our family, our fun, and ourselves. Easter is about the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Why is the Resurrection Important?

(1) It proves all Jesus’ claims during His earthly ministry were true.

As the climax of the biblical story, it proves that Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Son of God, the Savior of the World.

(2) It provides salvation for the believer.

Jesus’ resurrection brings all those, who believe by faith that He is their Savior, into a right relationship with God (Rom. 4:25). In Jesus’ resurrection we are vindicated and made sons of the Living God (Gal. 3:26). As well as, we are freed from the bondage of sin, which means we should not let sin reign in our bodies any longer. We must put all unrighteousness to death by the power of Jesus’ resurrection (Rom. 6:11-13).

(3) It provides eternal life for the believer.

Death no longer has dominion over the Christian. All those who believe in Jesus as their Savior, will be resurrected to a new and eternal life, and given a perfect body that is not subject to aging, weakness, or death (1 Cor. 15:50-57). Whereas, all who reject Jesus as their Savior will experience eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:5-10).

The Proper Response to the Resurrection

In Matthew 28, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go to the tomb of Jesus where they meet an angel. The angel shows them the empty tomb and tells them to go and tell the disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead. On their way to tell the disciples, they meet Jesus on the road and fall down and worship Him.

The two Mary’s provide us with the proper response to the resurrection.

We are to go and tell others of Jesus’ resurrection and what that means for those who believe.
We are to worship Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Conclusion

Jesus’ resurrection proves all that He said is true. It vindicates us from our sin. It mends our relationship with God. It frees us from the bondage of sin. It allows us to live in accordance with God’s commandments. As well as Jesus’ resurrection provides us with a new body that will never die, age, or experience decay for all of eternity.

As a result, our proper response is to tell others about Jesus’ resurrection, and to worship Him as Lord and Savior.

I pray that we will contemplate more fully the resurrection of Jesus this Easter Sunday.

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Where Do You Find Your Identity?

On February 20, 2013July 31, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Books, Practical10 Comments

Recently, I have been reading Driscoll’s new book: Who Do You Think You Are? His book deals with identity. Specifically, where we should find our identity.

Reading his book over the past few days has me asking the question: Who do I think I am? I want to put that question to you as well: Who do you think you are? In other words, where do you find your identity? Do you find it in your possessions? Do you find it in your job? Do you find it in others? Or do you find it someone else?

When someone asks you who are you, what do you say? Do you respond by saying, I am a farmer, a business man, a missionary, a pastor, an addict, an alcoholic, an abused person, or an angry person?

It is common, we respond in these ways, but should we, or should we find our identity in something else? In order to answer this question, we must start at the beginning, the beginning of the Bible and time.

The Beginning

Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It starts with the creation account. After God created everything else, He creates man. In Genesis 1:26-27 God says,

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Notice God makes man in His image, which means we are God’s image bearer. No one else bears God’s image. Humans are the only ones’ created in the Image of God.

As God’s image bearers, we are created to reflect His goodness and character to the world for His glory. When we love others, we reflect God’s love to the world for His glory. When we forgive others, we reflect God’s forgiveness to the world for His glory. When we are merciful, we reflect god’s mercy to the world for His glory. And so on and so forth.

Genesis 3

As we move on through Genesis, we come across the temptation of man in Genesis 3. The entire chapter focuses on the fall. For the sake of time, let’s just look at verses 1-7.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Satan told Adam and Eve they would “be like God.” Adam and Eve believed him and ate the fruit. When they did, they forgot they were already like God; they forgot they had been made in His image. Instead of recognizing they were already like God, they sought to create their own identity apart from God by eating the fruit God had forbidden.

Just like Adam and Eve faced an identity crisis – they forgot who they were – we wrestle with our identity as well. In fact, man has been wrestling with their identity ever since our first parents sought their identity outside of God in the garden.

Problem with Seeking Our Identity Outside of God

What is the problem with seeking our identity outside of God? When we seek our identity outside of God, we go from a God given identity to a Man sought identity. Instead of becoming like God, we become like our idol – the thing that represents God to us, but is not.

When we seek identity in something other than God – Job, Hobbies, Nationality, Cultural Tastes, Status – we deify that something. It becomes our god. It is what we live for and seek to glorify. Our identity then becomes rooted in our idolatry, a false god instead of the one true God.

This is a problem because we are not created to image our idols. We are created to image God for His glory. When we seek our identity in an idol, we take away from God’s glory. As well as we don’t accomplish our purpose in life – to glorify God.