Category: Higher Degree (Pastor Lee’s Blog)

The Higher Degree Blog is Pastor Lee’s blog where he desires for you to love God and love others to a higher degree!

Personal Health Update from Pastor Lee

Posted on by Lee Callicutt in Blog, Higher Degree (Pastor Lee's Blog)

The past year has been one of the best years of my life. Last August, I got engaged to the love of my life, and by November, I was married to her, my best friend. Within a few months of being married, we received the wonderful news that we would be expecting our first child due this November.

Yet, this past year has not been without some not-so-great news. Our baby is battling a heart arrhythmia. There have been more doctor visits, ultrasounds, dopplers, and echocardiograms than I can keep up with. The prognosis is good, and the baby’s heart seems to be growing stronger by the day. We praise our God for that!

For the past few months, I would go with my wife and sit through her ultrasounds, praying that our baby’s heart will be beating normally. Now, the tables have turned. About three weeks ago, I noticed something wrong with me. . . [For full disclosure, and because I have never been one to be embarrassed very easily, I noticed something wrong with one of my testicles. I’m thankful for great doctors who communicated to me and my family early on that I am considered high-risk for testicular cancer (I won’t bore you with all the details about that here), however because of that information, I have always given self-examinations to check for any warning signs.]. . . All of a sudden, instead of my wife sitting on the table with gel all over her body, I am now the one sitting back on the table getting checked out. Long story short, the doctors found a testicular mass, and I have testicular cancer.

Here is the good news. I am going to be just fine. We found out that the cancer has not spread to any other areas of my body. All my scans looked great! We discovered the mass about as soon as possible. The doctors will move forward with surgery to remove the tumor on August 10th, and it appears that at most I will have just one round of chemotherapy. The rate of survival in my case is 99%. Overall, testicular cancer is one of the most survivable cancers. One of the doctors told me that if you are going to get cancer this is the one to get. Thankfully, the surgery is not very invasive. I will be back at around 100% in just a few weeks.

Yet, even with that high survivability rate, I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t worried, stressed, anxious, or really all the above. The stats are comforting. However, there is still that 1%. That 1% matters to me. That 1% holds a lot of implications. It means I won’t grow old with my wife, it means I won’t watch my first child grow up, it means I won’t have that big family, it means that my parents bury me, it means I won’t officiate my nieces’ weddings (I’m assuming they’ll ask their cool uncle), and I’ll miss much of what I would have hoped to have witnessed.

But would you like to know what is more comforting than the statistics? The fact that God is the God over the 99%, and God is God over the 1%. I know that God’s plan for my life is infinitely better than whatever my plan is for my life. I take solace knowing I am in His hands. My God is sovereign, and nothing will befall me in which He has not ordained. And that which He has ordained is always right. God works all things out for my salvation, and He watches over me in such a way that not even one of my beard hairs will fall off my face unless he has determined it to happen. This is God’s tumor, and He can do with it as He wishes and use it however He pleases (Ps 115:3).

My comfort in life and in death is that I am not my own. I belong in body and soul, and in life and death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.[1] Here is the reality: my life is a mist. Inevitably, I will die one day. The likelihood that I will die from my cancer is 1%. The likelihood that I will die one day is 100%. In 150 years, no one on this earth will know who I am. Yet, for all eternity, my God will know me because I am His and He is mine.

My comfort in all of life is knowing that my Redeemer has fully paid for all my sins and purchased me through His shed blood on Calvary’s cross. I belong to Christ Jesus, and He has assured me of eternal life in heaven. This cancer episode is nothing more than a reminder that this world is not my home, but there is a hope of a home that awaits me where sickness, sorrow, pain, and death will be felt and feared no more.[2]

[1] Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer #1

[2] On Jordan’s Stormy Banks (Hymn by Karnes)

Summer 2021 Reading List

Posted on by gracehillchatham in Blog, Higher Degree (Pastor Lee's Blog)

As Summer 2021 starts, I wanted to provide you with a shortlist of books I will be working through over the summer. I would love you to join me in reading these books!

Fault Lines by Voddie Baucham Jr.

Baucham deals with today’s social justice movement. He explains the worldview behind social justice, Critical Race Theory, and intersectionality. He helps believers think through these polarizing topics and equips us to deal with all these issues biblically.

R.C. Sproul by Stephen J. Nichols

Dr. Nichols provides a biography about R.C. Sproul (1939-2017). Sproul was a renowned pastor, professor, and author. Most people know Sproul from Ligonier Ministries which he founded. Nichols dives into Sproul’s life. Biographies are helpful for Christians to read because they can provide great encouragement to us.

In the Presence of My Enemies by Dale Ralph Davis

In this book, Davis takes us through Psalms 25 to 37. He provides short chapters on each Psalm and helps us think through conflict. Davis is a superb writer and his pastoral heart shines through as he wonderfully applies each Psalm to the reader.

If you choose to read any of these books, I hope it provides great benefit for you!

Male and Female He Created Them: God’s Good Gift of Gender

Posted on by Lee Callicutt in Blog, Higher Degree (Pastor Lee's Blog)

Where once revealing the gender of your baby was accompanied by a party and celebration, those parties are now labeled as transphobic and hateful. One of the first questions you might ask a pregnant woman is “do you know the gender of your baby?” and now a question like that is deemed offensive. The world in which we live is confused and fallen. We live in a world where all of mankind is lost and ruined by the fall. We live in a world where men and women have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie (Rom 1:25).” People with their hearts so hardened and minds so darkened that for some it has become difficult to answer one of the most rudimentary questions: am I a boy or a girl?

The CDC refers to the word “transgender” as “an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity or expression (masculine, feminine, other) is different from their sex (male, female) at birth.” I don’t want to take the time in this post to explore the absurdity of transgenderism. I affirm that distortion of gender is a sin and that the sinfulness of transgenderism, a continuum of genders, gender-neutrality, or genderfluidity are against God’s design. However, what I do want to explore is the positive side of the discussion and how God designed gender as a good gift.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He also created mankind. Within mankind, God created two, and only two, genders. Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” These gender distinctions, which God had made, are not constructs of society nor are they simply labels we can choose according to how we feel. God created male and female, and gender is the sovereignly ordained difference between male and female. Any sort of attack on gender or its distinctions is ultimately an attack upon God.

Notice, later in Genesis, we read, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (Gen 1:31).” God called everything he created very good. God’s creation includes his gender distinctions. Gender and the difference between males and females are a good gift God gave to us. God created males and females for the good of humanity and human flourishing. We see that men and women have different roles in the home, church, and society. When we blur the lines of gender, we also blur the lines of God’s created structure for us as humanity.

Many view gender as limiting and restrictive. Yet, it is when we do not live within God’s designed gender for us, we become slaves to sin and live in bondage. Gender is not restrictive. Gender causes flourishing. Little boys are meant to grow up and be men. Little girls are meant to grow up and be women. Then as men and women, they live in the divinely appointed roles that God has given men and women. The church will flourish as men lead the church. The church will equip its women as older women teach younger women to love their husbands and children. The home will flourish as men lead their families as they love their wives as Christ loved the church. As we teach our children to live out in fullness God’s design. Society will flourish through common grace as men and women are fruitful and multiply (which biologically takes a man and woman to do!). It will be good for society as the public witness of the church stands firm upon the good gift of gender.

An unbiblical understanding of gender boils down to an authority issue. We do not get the option of defining reality. God defines reality. God designed the world we live in. Gender is God’s design, and because it is God’s design it is final and absolute. Anyone who seeks to mar that design is in sin and not submitting to God who is in all authority.

If you believe you were born the wrong gender, or believe gender roles and distinctions are archaic, my question to you this: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” God has made you what you are. He has made you either male or female. If you are male, embrace your masculinity. If you are female, embrace your femineity. Embrace the very roles God has given you and flourish. God has sovereignly made you male or female. Who are you to question what God has done? Instead of fighting it, try praising and thanking God for his gracious design.

For anyone who is struggling with gender, you might believe there is freedom in gender reassignment. Please do not believe the lie. Satan and his false teachers will promise you freedom, “but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. (2 Pet 2:19).” Attempting gender reassignment will not produce freedom but only more spiritual slavery and bondage.

Gender reassignment is not the answer. Jesus is your answer. You can pump yourself with all the hormones you would like, you can wear different clothes, and alter your physical appearance, but none of those will address your eternal problem. You hate God, and you hate His creation, and He stands in judgment over you. Escaping God’s appointed gender for you will never help you escape the wrath that is to come. Yet, there is a way of escape, and it is found in Christ. However, if you are to continue God will give you over to yourself in judgment. You, my friend, do not need a gender transformation you need a heart transformation. You can experience a new heart that now loves God when you receive the risen Christ. Christ has the transformative power to give you a new heart. Trust in him today.

Gender distinctions are good. Primarily because God has designed male and female. The church must be faithful to God’s divinely designed gender distinctions. God created male and female, it is very good, and it is for our good.

Euthanasia: Is it Ok to End Life this Way?

Posted on by Lee Callicutt in Blog, Higher Degree (Pastor Lee's Blog)

On the Higher Degree blog, there are occasions where I will answer your questions from a Christian worldview. One of the questions posed to me went like this: “If someone went through with physician-assisted suicide would they get into heaven?”

The only reason anyone goes to heaven is not based upon their morality or righteousness. We are all unrighteous in our natural state in Adam. We are born hating God and loving sin. We are vile and evil and walk in our trespasses and sins. We are born spiritually dead, damned, and doomed.

The good news is that God made a way of salvation. Out of His love, God sent his Son into the world. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived a perfectly moral life. He lived a sinless life. He is perfectly righteous. He then went to the cross to pay for our sin. The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23).

Death and hell are the payment for sin. However, Jesus went to the cross as a sufficient sacrifice to make atonement for our sin and provide forgiveness. In his person and work, Jesus restores us into a right relationship with God. He was also a substitute for all men. He would represent us on the cross. Therefore, God made Jesus who knew no sin to become sin so that all those who believe might be declared righteous (2 Cor 5:21).

Going to heaven is never based upon what you have or have not done, going to heaven is based upon what Jesus has done. If God asked you why he should let you into His heaven and you responded with any other argument other than Jesus, you are relying upon a deficient and insufficient Savior. Let’s be clear, the only people who go to heaven are those who have turned away from their sin and in faith turned toward Jesus Christ alone.

The question posed however is more based upon the ethics of physician-assisted suicide. There are various categories of euthanasia as posed by medical professionals, i.e., active, passive, indirect, and physician-assisted suicide. However, for this post, I will be working from a definition of euthanasia as “the killing of a patient suffering from a chronic disease.” Physician-assisted suicide falls within that definition. Therefore, I am not referring to stopping treatment, DNRs, etc. It is not wrong for you to refuse medical treatment for your sickness, and I know I would not want to be on life support indefinitely. I am talking about prematurely taking a life.

For us to answer this question appropriately, we need to start with the law of God. The sixth commandment states, “You shall not murder.” The Hebrew verb for murder, ratsakh, refers to a killing that is unlawful or forbidden. There are other words in Hebrew for accidental killings, something akin to manslaughter, killings during just war, and the killing of animals. Meaning there are such killings considered lawful and other killings considered unlawful. We will discover physician-assisted suicide falls into the category of unlawful killings.

As we think about the sixth commandment, God calls us to respect and protect life. As God’s image-bearers, we bear the mark of God, even though sin has marred and distorted the image, all human beings regardless of their ability are image-bearers. No human, from the womb to tomb, deserves to ever be thought less than God’s image-bearer. God made us in his image and because of this reality, he instructs us to not take human life lightly. In the unlawful taking of life, we are saying they do not deserve the dignity of an image-bearer.

Advocates of euthanasia view it as mercy killing. Advocates for euthanasia argue that they are minimizing suffering and killing someone for their good since their diagnosis is irreversible. People also consider the quality of life when deciding to euthanize. Whether it is dying of terminal cancer or someone being a quadriplegic, advocates of euthanasia believe the quality of life is so poor, or the prospects of the future so bleak, there is no point in them living any longer. However, none of these reasons give us the right or permission to kill them.

In the culture of death that we live in, we see so many are quick to shed blood and so many are quick to embrace death. Euthanasia rejects life as a gift from God. God tells Israel to “choose life” (Deut 30:19). By opting for physician-assisted suicide, we are choosing death and not allowing for the natural occurrence to take its course. Also, may I say, for a doctor to participate in “assisted-suicide” is a very charitable way to describe their actions. Physician-assisted suicide is murder, and we should think of the physician as a murderer. It is the premeditated destruction of human life. For us to speed up the natural occurrence of death is not protecting nor respecting life, but it is embracing death. Therefore, euthanasia in all its forms falls under the category of unlawful killings thereby breaking the sixth commandment.

We desire to protect life, and we do not want to prolong death in such a way that adds to someone’s suffering. There comes a point in someone’s medical care where we simply let them die, but it is only appropriate to do so when they are dying. It is never appropriate to expedite the process.

Anyone contemplating killing themselves, even with a physician’s help, is participating in self-murder. Self-murder does not make murder anymore justifiable. In your suffering, very often God makes his purposes known (Ecc 7:14). No one wants anyone to suffer, and God hears your cries for your suffering to end. However, in a choice to ends one’s life early, it displays a lack of trust in God’s sovereignty over life. He alone is sovereign and determines the span of our life. Trust God to know that there is a purpose in your suffering and illness, and you can rejoice in your suffering when you have Jesus Christ as your Savior (Rom 5:3). God’s timing is always best even when we contemplate our own death.

If you are in Christ by faith, trust that your chronic illness is a light momentary affliction preparing you for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Look to the things unseen that are eternal (2 Cor 4:17-18). No matter the circumstances surrounding your death and the suffering you may endure, in Christ, you receive a heavenly reward where He will make you new and you will never suffer again.

Skinny Jeans, Side Parts, and the Savior

Posted on by Lee Callicutt in Blog, Higher Degree (Pastor Lee's Blog)

Over the past week, a viral post has made its rounds through social media. The video is an indictment from Generation Z (born from 1997-2012) on the fashion and style of Millennials (born from 1981-1996). Gen Z has made it known that the fashion trend of skinny jeans and styling your hair with a side part is no longer cool. As a Millennial myself, any jeans I wore would never be classified as skinny, and I also have no hair left to part. Millennials are growing old and approaching middle-age. What was cool for the Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials have already faded. Also, for any Gen Z’r reading this post, your fashion trends and style will fade too, and Generation Alpha (born from 2013 –mid-2020s) will one day think you are lame and out of date.

Well, what does any of this have to do with Jesus, the church, ministry, and the gospel? What we realize is too often churches are enthralled and allured with results. Therefore, they will take pragmatic approaches to ministry and some will sacrifice core doctrine and beliefs for the zeitgeist. Pragmatism places methodology over theology which will inevitably lead to gospel compromise. It will lead a church, a pastor, or an individual to eschew the sufficiency and authority of God’s word.

Churches will offer pragmatic solutions, human ingenuity, and ride the wave of current trends all in the name of “reaching the next generation.” Now, we do need to reach the next generation, but we do not reach them with TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, or having trendy pastors. Every trend and fad will pass. Fashion, trends and all that is deemed cool today will look antiquated in just a matter of a few years (at most). By relying upon human wisdom, we communicate that the gospel is not powerful or sufficient to save sinners. What every generation needs, those that have all passed and those that will come, need a Savior. Why? Because all men and women have the same fundamental problem. The problem is that we stand as sinners before a Holy God. We have rebelled against him, and we deserve an eternity in hell under a righteous God’s fury and anger. The church is armed with the most powerful weapon, the gospel, the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16). Out of God’s love, He commissioned His Son into the world to save us from our sins. Yet, the way we “do ministry” seems like we are ashamed of the gospel or don’t believe its power to save sinners to the uttermost. At the end of the day, what you win people with is what you win them to. If we “win” the next generation with passing trends, they are still in their sins. There is but one mediator because God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5)

The church is called to preach the gospel. May we not be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes (Eph 4:14).” Everything fades. As Isaiah 40:8 states, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” It is the Lord who stands forever. He is the one that will remain. Jesus Christ stands transcendent over time, culture, and trends. He is the only sufficient savior for all generations. When everything in this world is nothing more than an asterisk in the history books, Jesus Christ stands as the Sovereign Lord. On the last day, the one who stands will be the Savior – – Jesus Christ. He will stand as judge over the wicked. Yet, there is a way of escape, and it is trusting in His sufficient sacrifice on the cross for sins and his resurrection from the grave. It is through Jesus Christ that we can be saved and know God. As the church, may we stand upon what transcends the test of time, Jesus Christ, His Scripture, and His gospel!