Coffee With The Lord

I’m enjoying reading James D. G. Dunn’s THEOLOGY OF PAUL THE APOSTLE – a delightful, thought provoking, and personally enriching read! Today my reading addressed, in part, Paul’s desire and experience of “knowing God.” I found this statement by Dunn especially insightful…

“Paul’s theology of God was no abstract speculation but was sustained and informed by his own experience… I was the integration of intellectual rigor, missionary and pastoral service, and personal experience, which is what makes his speech about God so compelling!” (pg. 50)

We live in a sin-corrupted culture, dominated by Satan, sin and self-occupation!  The behavior of those chosen to lead often disappoints and disgusts us.  What should those who call themselves Christians do – How should they behave?

This morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord” I read Apostle Peter’s words on the subject to “elect exiles of the Dispersion” who were challenged to live out their faith and allegiance to Christ in a world very much like ours in many ways…

“Be subject FOR THE LORD’S SAKE to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him… For this is the will of God, THAT BY DOING GOOD YOU SHOULD PUT TO SILENCE THE IGNORANCE OF FOOLISH PEOPLE!  Live as people who are free, but never use your freedom as a cover-up [or excuse] for doing evil!  Live as servants of God!  Honor everyone!  Love the family of God!  Fear [or reverence] God!  Honor the emperor!  Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.  For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures while suffering unjustly… If when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”  (From 1 Peter 2:13-20 ESV)

Don’t know about you, but that is how I want to live as a follower of Christ in our culture today!  Lord help me to embrace these God-inspired words in order to please you, enhance the Gospel message, and make the maximum impact for You in the sin-corrupted culture in which I live!

To the untrained eye, uncut, rough stones in a quarry are not much to look at. A person who is not a stonecutter, a mason, a builder or architect doesn’t see much except an ugly pile of rocks! But a person who builds with stones sees those rocks differently! He sees what they can become … he may see a beautiful temple from them – a house of worship – a place where God’s presence can be felt and experienced!

That’s the message of 1 Peter 2:4-10 that was a part of my Bible reading today during “Coffee with the Lord”…

Jesus of Nazareth (“can any good thing come from Nazareth?”) was the “CHOSEN AND PRECIOUS CORNERSTONE that God selected to build his “Spiritual temple” around (and upon)! But he was viewed as “a stone of stumbling – a rock of offense” many, and the religious system completely “rejected” Him!

Oh, and us? We, who relate to Him in saving faith, “LIKE LIVING STONES are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ! … We are now “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light! Once we were not a people, but now we are God’s people; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy!” (All of this from 1 Peter 2:4-10… and you also need to read 1 Corinthians 1:26-30 … com’on I dare you!)

Ordinary… very ordinary! Many thought of us as just an ugly pile of rocks… But God saw in us a beautiful, holy temple! And His Son, that the world rejected? He’s the cornerstone of it all!