1-3-22 The Good News

Hi Friends,

     Let’s try something a little different this year. Let’s work our way through the Gospel of Matthew, so we can see just how precious this Good News really is. But before we go there, listen to what St Paul says, in the Book of Romans, about the depravity of our human nature:

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” Ro 1:21-25 NIV

     The bad news is so bad. Imagine for a second that you were given a mansion with every possible luxury you could ever need or want. That you had enough funds to do  whatever your heart desired, and you had so much excess that you could even be fully generous to those around you. That you were surrounded by loved ones, that you had an amazing variety of animals for you to enjoy and also lived with a beautiful, peaceful nature around you, that always seemed to shine the warmth of the sun upon you…then with an ungrateful heart, you spit in the eye of the one who gave it all to you and threw it all away! That’s kind of what we humans have done to our Generous and Loving Creator. But to take this awful reality a step further, we not only exchanged all the good things of life, but then we went to the other side of the spectrum, by inviting everything dark and ugly into this world too. Here’s how St Paul puts it: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21) God gave us His Kingdom and we chose, and still choose, to treat it like garbage. To not be grateful for all that God has done for us…this reminds me of the heart of an Old Testament person by the name of Esau. It is an eye opening story, and a very sad one too. It is this thankless attitude that Esau had that causes God to hate him, “Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” (Ro 9:13) And what’s interesting is that God doesn’t love Jacob because Jacob is such a great guy, mind you! He was a liar conniving his way into stealing what belonged to Esau, his brother…but again, Esau did not appreciate any of these great gifts God had granted him. It is this attitude of ingratitude that makes the bad news so bad. As I always say, the heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart. Esau’s heart was dark and evil, and even though Jacob was a deceiver, God knew He could move Jacob’s heart, and so the nation of Israel was born. This begins the Good News, my Friends, because if God knew He could change this cheater’s heart, and do some good in and through him, then God can do this for us too. The bad news is so bad, but God is so good!

     The Good News of God’s Love. The Good News is so good because we don’t deserve the Father’s attention, much less His Love. As King David rightly said, “what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Ps 8:4) Yet God has chosen to freely and willingly give us His Love, and continues to grant us His Grace every day, if we simply choose to accept it.

     The Good News of Jesus. The Good News is so good because Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sinful nature, and the acts of sin that come along with it. He has made The Way for us to be in Heaven one day, when our time here is done. But He also desires for us to be able to taste Heaven here, in this broken world too. And moreover, to share this goodness with those around us, inviting them to know Jesus, so they too can to be saved by Jesus, and then point others to Jesus, so they will know the Good News too. 

     The Good News of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Good News is so good because, once we sincerely surrender our lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are never, ever alone, ever again. Ever! The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of our hearts. Uniting with our dead spirit, the Holy Spirit regenerates us, giving us a new life here, and everlasting Life forevermore. 

     The Good News of the Gospel of Matthew. As we work our way through the Gospel of Matthew this year, let’s pray for God to instill into our hearts a deeper sense of humility. We can have a greater sense of humility as we remember who we are in Christ. This means we need to keep everything in proper balance. We do this by never forgetting how bad the bad news is: we were dead in our transgressions, doomed to spend an eternity in hell far from the Love of the Father, the Light of Jesus and the unity of the Holy Spirit. But then we quickly remember who we now are in Christ: God’s beloved children, forgiven, saved, reconciled, redeemed, and restored. Now we are sealed in the Holy Spirit and our final destination is Paradise, with Jesus and all the saints that have gone before us. I was going further and further into the pit, but by God’s Grace now I am going to Paradise? That certainly sounds like very Good News to me! What do you think? Then won’t you join me?

     Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.

<>< Peace, Diane