In Christ alone! - who took on flesh, Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.
(Stuart Townend & Keith Getty © 2001 Thankyou Music)
Only two people contacted me to tell me their favourite description of God, Mary E says ‘God is my rock always faithful and always there at all times’ and Joan says: ‘Beautiful Saviour as he has been my rock in life before and in lock down - I would not live my life without him’
Think about the many different ways God and Jesus are described in the bible,
and then thank God for the ways in which you recognise his love and care.
Listen to YouTube: Lift high the name of Jesus
Listen to YouTube: How great thou art
Today we start a series in which we will read 3 chapters of Matthew’s gospel, they are often referred to as ‘the sermon on the mount.’ These bible verses are full of familiar phrases, but together they give us Jesus’ description of God. Jesus also tells us in these passages how we ought to live our lives so that we will please God, and so these chapters tell us about the character and nature of God. We start by reading a very familiar passage: Matthew 5: 1-12
We can easily deduce from this passage of scripture that God is pure, full of comfort, mercy and peace, but there is so much more we can discover. Too often people read these phrases and see them as targets to achieve; ‘I must try to show more meekness and be more merciful.’ This attitude is doomed to failure, instead these phrases need to be seen as ways in which God wants to bless our lives whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. These blessings will occur in our lives as we trust God, and as we allow his Holy Spirit to guide and shape our lives.
The beatitudes are not a menu of ways in which we can get God to make us feel happy. We can’t say ‘I’ll have a go at no.5, but no way can I contemplate doing no.6!’ We can’t think ‘I’ll make do with the blessing that God will give me from obeying 1, 3 & 6 and forget about the rest’. These beatitudes don’t represent individual qualities, but together give us a picture of a person in whose life God reigns – a life where Jesus is Lord (Boss).
The beatitudes are not a standard for us to achieve, but an MOT of how we are getting on, of how we are doing at letting God reign in our life. I do not need to spend my time worrying about whether or not I am being meek enough for God to bless me – or whether I am showing enough mercy; the purpose of these statements is to help us consider to what extent we are allowing God’s Spirit to prompt us - to change us. These beatitudes should cause us to consider how to submit more fully to God’s reign in our lives.
Our starting point is to talk to God about every aspect of our lives – and then expect him to reply – summarised by the three words we thought about last week:
Pray – Trust - Wait
Having prayed (talked to God about our circumstances) we should be expecting God to speak into our lives, guiding us as to how to address those situations we have brought to him. While trusting and waiting for God’s loving care we should always remember that his reply might be as radically different from popular wisdom as “blessed are the poor in the spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God”
Listen on Youtube: O let the son of God enfold you
Let these lyrics become your prayer to God:
O let the Son of God enfold you with His Spirit and His love;
let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul
O let Him have the things that hold you, and His Spirit, like a dove,
will descend upon your life & make you whole.
Jesus, O Jesus, come and fill Your lambs;
(John Wimber © 1979 ThankYou Music)
Listen on YouTube to: ‘Shout to the Lord lyrics’ The first line of this song is
‘My Jesus, my Saviour, Lord there is none like you.’ Think about this phrase and then thank God for what it means to you to have a Saviour.
You may want to find time to read in one go the whole of the sermon on the mount, Matthew chapters 5, 6 & 7.
I am still looking for ‘Friday guest writers’ and I look forward to writing to you on Wednesday - Stephen