Coffee With The Lord

I just finished reading Matthew 5.1-12 this morning, most often referred to as the “Beatitudes.” In that passage Jesus informed His disciples about who was truly “Blessed” in the culture of the “Kingdom of Heaven.”

AS I READ THE PASSAGE THIS MORNING I THOUGHT ABOUT HOW “COUNTER CULTURAL” THESE “BEATITUDES” ARE to the way the broader culture thinks and what it values! Those who mourn over their failures and sin are “BLESSED”! Those who are gentle and non-assertive are “BLESSED!” Those who are “hungry” and “thirsty” to be righteous (and NOT self-satisfied) are “BLESSED”! Those who continually kind and merciful to others (even the undeserving) are “BLESSED”! Those who value a “pure heart” (“inside-out” purity) are “BLESSED”! Those who value and promote “peace” – peace without ethical or moral compromise – are “BLESSED”! And finally, believe it or not, persecuted, abused, reviled people because of their righteous lives or because they are devoted to Jesus are “BLESSED”! …BLESSED BY GOD!!!

I have to tell you that flies in the face of what the broader culture – the secular world – the world that operates and lives without reference to God, tends to value!

And the incredible blessings that accrue for those living by Kingdom values – Christ-centered values? God-given comfort! Incredible enjoyment of everything around you because God has given it to you to enjoy! Satisfaction in God-given mercy, forgiveness, and righteousness – not just a little of it – an abundance, a profusion of it! Imagine, God’s calls you His child… More than that, one day actually being in His presence and seeing Him face to face! AND FINALLY, THE GREAT REWARD … EVERY IMAGINABLE BLESSING OF “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN” … YOURS!

Wow!! Makes me want to structure 2025 and every year (and day) thereafter around “Kingdom” values… Living here as part of “another kingdom” – the Heavenly Kingdom – The Kingdom of GOD!

“GUILTY AS CHARGED!” … And the judges gavel comes down hard!  And the sentence is frightening – not simply imprisonment… death – eternal death!

I read the official transcript of the proceedings and the verdict this morning during my devotions – Romans 3:9-20! 

This is one powerful passage! Apostle Paul, a Pharisee and Old Testament scholar pulls together a large quantity of OT texts (Psalm 51:4; 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Psalm 5:9; 140:3; 10:7; Isaiah 59:7-8; and Psalm 36:1) to make an important and irrefutable point… “Both Jews and Greeks” (all of us – all humankind) are sinners in need of a Savior – “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God!”  …GUILTY AS CHARGED!

Oh, but praise God for the next passage! … There is an appeal!  There is evidence  the penalty has been paid!  Here it is… “There is no difference; ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD, … BUT ALL CAN BE JUSTIFIED [DECLARED RIGHT WITH GOD], FREELY BY GOD’S GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS!” (Romans 3:23-24) Praise the Lord!

REMEMBRANCE, WORSHIP AND A COVENANT OF GRACE!

Genesis 8:1 – 9:17 After experiencing a cataclysmic flood and after being locked up with your family and all the animals in an “ark” for over half a year, Noah might have begun to wonder, “Will this never end!? Has God forgotten about us?”  

But the Bible records, “GOD REMEMBERED NOAH, and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the Ark!”

God remembered, God acted, and God spoke (vss.15-17)! That was cause for worship! (vss. 20) And God responded with a wonderful covenant of grace (and we’re reminded of it every time we see a rainbow)! (vss. 8:21-22 and 9:8-17)!

That is what God has done for us through Jesus Christ!  (John 3:16-17)  Oh, Praise the Lord – reason for worship!!  In His love and mercy He has done it!