We oftentimes assume that God doesn’t want to bless us, or, if he does, that we have to pay him back. But God is good; we don’t have to make him bless us. His people are blessed in Christ with holiness, predestination, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, grace, and are sealed by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit—all to the praise of God’s glory. We bless the God who has blessed us.
In life and at the cross, God works through reversals. Repentance from us plus reversals from God equals rejoicing. God’s people in Persia were sentenced to death, but in a reversal, they put their enemies to death. With this reversal, God’s people went from mourning and fasting to rejoicing and feasting. Our sin brought us death, but in the greatest reversal, Jesus’ death brought us life.
Xerxes was the greatest king in the history of the world to his day, but in his kingdom, addictions were fed, men were castrated, and women were mistreated. Every generation chases the same foolish myth: if we could just get a good king with a good kingdom, then we’d have a heavenly life on a fallen earth. But when fallen, faulty, flawed sinners sit on a throne, you never get a glorious kingdom.
Pastor Mark continues preaching on the Beatitudes, examining principles from Jesus’ teaching: 1) Forgiven people should forgive; 2) Getters should be givers; 3) Leaders should lead themselves; 4) Good trees should produce good fruit; and 5) Truth plus obedience equals a rock-solid foundation. We are all hypocrites who are blind to our own blindness. We need to be uprooted and replanted for new lives and legacies built on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Mark preaches on the Beatitudes at the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus spent much of his ministry. Jesus taught that he is the King of kings who is bringing a countercultural kingdom. The kingdom of God is not about getting wealth, power, comfort, or fame. It’s about being in relationship with God—loving God and loving others, especially your enemies.