Sorry I did not post yesterday, but I had plenty of mom type stuff to do. I know, if you are reading along, you had plenty to think about after reading Matthew 21.
Chapter 22 also has plenty to offer. I'd like to simply quote a few scriptures here in part.
v 9- Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.
v 32- He is not the God of the dead, but the living.
v 37-40- Love the Lord you God...Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.
God invites! Who does He invite? Well, what kind of person do you seek on street corners? God invites everyone. Some refuse, and some think they can come without ever really caring. But to those who understand the beauty of the wedding feast, and accept that invitation, there is something special in store.
God is Life! Those stupid saducees, just trying to trick Jesus with a crazy hypothetical. What is their big error? They do not get that God is a God of life; a God who desires to walk and talk with us; a God who has a plan to live side by side with us.
God is all about Love! We kill his prophets. We kill his followers. We even kill his Son. But He loves us so much that even in or killing, He redeems us. His message now: love each other!
Love each other. Invite. Offer life. That seems to me like a perfect mission statement for the church.
Imagine the shock of the wedding guest that was kicked out. He thought he had it made. He's thinking, "I just got an invitation to an amazing wedding feast and all I have to do is show up. I don't have to do anything to prepare myself to go" It saddens me to think how many people treat Christ's invitation the same way. "I'll say yes and show up, but I'm not going to turn away from anything or change anything about my self. I'll just go just as I was" But,they don't realize that if they truly accept the invitation there will be a change from the inside out as they allow God to change their heart.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings me to one of my favorite verses, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." With that kind of love, change is inevitable.
Well said Sherry. I think people get SO confused with the whole "grace for salvation/but how are we to live our lives" issue. John 14 has cleared that up for me better than any other scripture I have ever come across; vs. 15, "If you love me, obey my commandments"...vs. 21, "Those who accept and obey my commandments are the ones who love me". In other words, it's not an either/or...you really can't have one without the other. Salvation without grace is nothing! But salvation with no concept of how we are to live is not what God has in mind either.
ReplyDelete