Being the Church 2, Shelter From The Storm
Teaching from Matthew 7:24-27 Pastor Andy Lucas reminds, the beatitudes are not instructions on how to live. Rather, they are an announcement of the kind of people that will be blessed by the arrival of the kingdom of God!
Since the Church is to be kingdom people, then it also means that the Church should be good news to the poor in spirit, the merciful, the peacemakers. It means that the Church should be a shelter from the storm where people can find rest, peace, hope, and love.
What if the Church – our church – began to live in such Christlike ways that the announcement of the Good News was not just good news for the well-to-do or self-sufficient, but for those who mourn, the persecuted, merciful, and peacemakers?
May this beautiful metaphor stir our imaginations.