Cuppa Joe

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy — full of greed and self-indulgence!”

- Jesus, Matthew 23:25

“We have changed the Jesus Question from “Who do people say I Am”…to “Who do you want me to be?”

- Robert Putnam

I wonder how many coffee drinkers are reading this today? If you’re a Christian, chances are you’re a coffee drinker cause caffeine is like the Christian’s Cocktail. As a coffee drinker, I have my favorite mug that I use everyday at work and at home. I have one... And I never clean it - I just empty it out and then put in new hot fresh coffee every morning. I figure it’s self-sterilizing. And that works great, unless I leave it to sit for a few days. And then when I do return to it, it looks like a bad science project growing on the inside of my cup. In Matthew 23:25, Jesus is saying, “Look, you can look great on the outside but inside you're a mess! You’re gross! Disgusting!”

Last week, our teacher, Mike Foster, drew a distinction between Kindness and Niceness when he said that niceness is simply an outer veneer of civility while kindness is a deeper inside job. In Jesus’ day, the religious leaders were way more interested in niceness - their goal was to be Good, to follow the rules. ‘Cause God, they believed, liked Good people more. So Jesus comes along and wrecks their whole system by putting a magnifying glass on the inside intentions of their hearts and exposing their meanness, their greed, their selfishness and their lust. The inside of their cup is gross!

“Kindness" is the grateful expression of a heart that’s been convinced that “I’m way worse than I ever dreamed…but I’m way more loved than I ever imagined!”

On the cross, Jesus died to totally clean up the inside of our cup. And then, after He rose from the dead, He invited us to sit down and have a cuppa joe with Him…Forever!

You know anyone today who’s sorta feeling’ like they’re on the outside looking in?…like they don’t fit in…or like they’re not good enough? Why not try a little kindness and invite them to share a cuppa joe with you this week….just like Jesus did with you!

Pastor Harry

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