Greeting Members and Friends
It time once again for our weekly Sunday School preview so thanks for joining me and welcome back. The Summer Quarter entitled “Justice in the New Testament” focuses on ways God demonstrates His justice and ways His people should follow His example. The July unit is entitled “Jesus Calls for Justice and Mercy,” has five lessons that explore Jesus’ teachings on God’s justice in the books of Matthew and Luke. Included is Jesus’ demand for leaders to practice justice as well as to understand the universality of God’s justice and mercy.
This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “Entering God’s Kingdom” or “Come In”. In this week’s lesson, Jesus is asked about the number of people who shall be saved. In His response Jesus emphasizes the importance of the effort a person makes to enter the kingdom. The lack of such effort is why many shall desire entrance but shall be denied. Jesus warns of what I would describe as “casual Christianity”. Those who sought to enter but were denied were acquainted with Christ, but were not committed to Him nor got to know Him.
They were like guest to a party who came to the party to eat and drink but never understood what the party was for or the person responsible for the party. And because they attended the parties, they thought that alone qualified them to be friends of the host. But the host never got to know them and they never got to know the host. So, when they made a request to enter His home, the host had no idea who they were.
Today, many come to Church occasionally or as a matter of practice or habit and some perform this or that duty, task or function but these things alone only provide causal status. It is the deep abiding care and concern for Christ and His Church from which all of a person’s good works derive that makes that person someone Jesus knows and receives.
Jesus said that some people who people think shall enter will not enter and others who people think will not enter shall enter. So much depends on a person’s commitment to get to know God through Christ and His will for their lives and their effort in fulfilling that will. Well, that’s all for this week’s preview. Be sure to join us in Sunday School this week for a fuller discussion of this lesson and the general topic of Justice in the New Testament. So, until then
Grace and peace
Pastor Jordan
