Embracing the Upside-Down Kingdom of God

Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God blessed are you who hunger now for you will be satisfied blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the son of man rejoice in that day and leap for Joy because great is your reward in heaven for that is how your their fathers treated the prophets but woe to you who are rich for you have already received your comfort and woe to you who are well fed for you will go hungry and woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep woe to you when all men speak well of you for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. [00:27:27]

Jesus Christ brings is a revolutionary that's the most radical because the values and the pattern and the power and the product of his kingdom is utterly different now you see what's a kingdom I just told you a kingdom always has three things it's got a pattern in other words anything that any king or any AD new Administration always has got a pattern of values if a Coach takes over the team immediately he says you know conditioning I know the last coach wasn't into conditioning but I'm into conditioning and so I mean there any Kingdom any new Administration any management is going to bring in a new set of values there'll be a pattern of values secondly a kingdom has a power to implement the pattern of values and then thirdly there's always a product that means uh the the the the pattern as it's implemented is going to have an effect uh there so what we're going to find out is if the coach gets into power and he puts his program into place will the team win will the players reach their potential will the morale go up what will happen so there's always you a kingdom always always always has an impact always has an influence so you always have a pattern put into power and it produces a product results in people's lives. [00:04:24]

The power of the now look carefully in verses 24 to 26 and you'll see it says that wealth and power and success and comfort these are things now you're laughing now if you if you basically go for Success if that's your goal if you basically go for power if you basically go for for for happiness and for you know to avoid suffering if you basically go for recognition for claim these things pay off now they they give you results and you know of course if the now is real if the Now is really the only real and you know for most of us the now I mean the past is gone and the future who knows what'll happen the now if the now is all there really is if this world is all there is absolutely this set of um of value seems absolutely natural absolutely natural it's biologically natural I mean have you heard of evolution mhm have you heard of the survival of the weak the survival of the rejected the survival of the s sacrif icing forget it biologically it's totally unnatural it's natural to say power and so on it's psychologically natural uh I found this is an interesting quote by a British psychiatrist and uh a very very a fairly prominent psychiatrist he says this the spirit that so permeates Christianity is in my opinion masochism a much stronger expression of masochism is to be found or the strongest expression of masochism is be found in Christ's teaching in The Sermon on the Mount this blesses the poor the meek the persecuted to do good to them that hate you and forgive them that their trespasses all this breathes masochism see the right side up Kingdom I call it right side up because when you think about it it just seems biologically psychologically utterly natural that these things would be up who would value weakness who would value sacrifice who would value grief who would value exclusion and rejection forget it but what's the product now Jesus says when you live according to these values driven by the power of the now because of results he says it's temporary you will only laugh now but later you'll weep it's temporary you'll be filled now but later you'll be empty and what he's saying is actually common sense because you see in other words if you say the now is all that matters who knows about eternity who knows about other things then now if you build build your life on the now you get results in the now but the but the plain fact is that these things have to crumble eventually and if you build your life on your beauty you know your claim your beauty your beauty is going to fade if you build your life on people who love you they are going to die if you build your life on achievement and power you know your records will be eclipsed and there and also if the Now isn't all there is if there actually is an etal world then of course a person who builds their life on Power and comfort and success and recognition here if you build your life on that if that's your bottom line if that's your ultimate value and this world is not all there is then of course your your uh he's saying your full stomach is going to actually turn into Cosmic emptiness your laughter is going to turn into Cosmic grief and weeping now somebody says and this is a good question how how do we know that Jesus is right you see when you actually move out into the world there is no doubt that the right side up Kingdom the reason I'm calling it right side up is uh to to Value these things seems absolutely right any other approach seems like suicide why would you value weakness who would do that why would you value sacrifice why would you value tears why in the world you move on out and therefore it makes no sense and so what Jesus is saying goes absolutely against everything we believe so why should we believe him and here's the answer I never forget uh I I was I for some reason I was reading a commentary a good commentary on this chapter and the uh uh G it the commentator points out that Jesus came down from the mountain healing feeding see Power was going out the Miracles and the commentator said the handwriting on the wall see Daniel 5 and you know sometimes commentaries are just too piy I say the handwriting is on the wall Jesus comes down the mountain Daniel 5 what are we talking about well here's what we're talking about in Daniel chapter 5 if you go back there you'll find that there was a man belshazzar who was the last king of the Babylonian Empire and Cyrus the Persian was closing in on the city and he knew he couldn't possibly win and he knew his Empire was going to be over and so what he did was he had an enormous part and they got drunk and they he brought in his concubines one of the things I realized when I looked at Daniel 5 was that is utter that was never done you didn't bring your concubines in you know to to you know along with your wives they were always kind of touchy about your concubines and U and yet in comes the concubines and they brought in they it was a wild party and suddenly the handwriting began on the wall of a hand moved on the wall and it basically said your days are numbered when Jesus Christ showed up and he began to heal the sick to raise the dead to feed the hungry and to die on a cross that's the handwriting on the wall for the Old Kingdom and the old ways if you are living for yourself if you are spending all your money on yourself if you are not being if you're not living like Jesus Christ lived and if he really did come and if he really did those Miracles that means that you're like elhazar having this huge party and your kingdom is about to crumble the handwriting is on the wall the Mir I I began to realize it gave me a chill when I began to realize what the commentator was saying he was saying you have to ask yourself was there a Jesus Christ did he live the life he did if he did that means that the shutters are going to come down on the kingdom of living for myself rising up to the top doing everything I can for success and throwing a few bobles to the poor on the way and occasionally going to church if things are unhappy and always sticking around with people of my caliber the whole right side up Kingdom that seems absolutely to be the only way to go because Jesus Christ lived the life he lived touching the lepers giving himself to the poor dying on the cross coming as a poor man coming and and uh riding into town on a bar of donkey and eating his last meal in a borrowed room and and being buried in a borrow tomb and giving up everything he comes with power and this is the handwriting on the wall for anybody who will not live according to the pattern of his life so it now you have to you know you say well I don't know if Jesus ever lived I don't know if he ever did these Miracles I don't know if he did any of these things and of course then you need to look at that and that's not the sermon that's not what we're talking about today we're not talking about how do we know ofes Jesus lived and died I'm not going to give you the evidence I'm not going to take you to the text but if he did if he lived a life anything like what the Bible is saying your days are numbered belshazzar unless you are living a life which is upside down from the way the world thinks things should go now let's take a look at the upside down kingdom that was the right side up Kingdom what is the upside down kingdom well I mean you know I've already said so but let me give you another quote by one of those commentators that helped me so much for this week a guy named Michael Wilcock wrote a commentary on Luke and he says this about this passage it perfectly he says it perfectly in fact when I read it I should just end but I won't in the life of God's people it will be seen first of all a remarkable reversal of values the people of God will prize what the world calls pitiable and suspect what the world thinks desirable in other words the mark of what makes you a Christian is a reversal of values the things that the world puts as pitiable we prize he said he Michael Wix says we prize wait a minute we prize weakness sacrifice grief and and an exclusion are we the masochist that the psychiatrist said we are and the answer is prize is not the same thing prize is not the same thing as seeking in fact if you seek it I'll show you in a minute you're just as controlled by the old world's values but what we're saying is prizing means that when it comes we see its value when it comes we understand what it's doing in our lives when it comes we're not saying oh my word we our life is over now if if when these things happen to you if when weakness comes when all these things hit you you say oh my go my life is over you're like you're under the influence of the old world the Old Kingdom the kingdom that's being replaced the Kingdom on which the handwriting has been written uh we prize when it happens we know its value and we prize the people who are going through it we're attracted to them we get into their lives to try to amarate their lives now let me break this down let's look at the pattern the power and the product of the upside down kingdom number one the pattern the pattern of the upside down kingdom is a reversal of values with regard to the world in other words Christians are no longer controlled by the things that that the world thinks are so critical we're not controlled by power success we're not controlled by Comfort or recognition we're not controlled by them now let me point this out to you for a second if you can't take them if you run away from them if you if you can't stand being around money if you have no idea what to do with recognition if you if you absolutely can't stand being around people with any power at all if you run from them you are still controlled by them you're scared of them it probably means deep down deep inside you're intimidated by them or you or you will really want them but a person who's a Christian who's living in the upside down kingdom isn't controlled by these things you don't need them which means you don't want them they don't drive you they're not things that control you and that means you can take them or you can leave them and that is the first Mark of somebody who's living upside down the kingdom that's the pattern of your life uh for example here's a non-Christian here's a Christian standing alongside of each other but it shouldn't put it that way here's a member of the Old Kingdom here's a member of the New Kingdom because you know what let's not talk about Christian non-Christian for a second let's not here's a person who's been controlled by the right side up Kingdom and a person who's been controlled by the upside down kingdom and let's say they're both in the same situation in their job if they tell the truth they're going to lose their job well you see a person who's under the influence of the Old Kingdom of the of the right side up kingdom is going to have to lie they're not they're slaves they're going to have to lie why because they can't do without that house and greenage because they can't do without without power and without Comfort they can't do without success they can't do what they can't do but a Christian says hey I have to do whatever I have to do because these things don't bother me anymore now where does that come from and the answer is there's a couple of wonderfully paradoxical um there's there's a number of wonderfully paradoxical statements in the passage that tell you the secret Dynamic here first of all notice how all the way through Jesus says blessed are you who weep now blessed are you who hunger now okay blessed are you who weep now look at the Paradox you know what that means first of all you're weeping now you're weeping something's going wrong in your life but you're blessed and you know the word blessed means deeply satisfied Jesus says a Christian is somebody who can weep and still be blessed a person who lives under the Old Kingdom if something you lose your job you lose a loved one you lose reputation and you see blessedness and laughter go together blessedness and whing can never go together but in the New Kingdom they do because there's a blessedness that is not got to do with circumstance is actually a better place the other another place that shows the Paradox is verse 23 when he says rejoice and leap for joy in that day for great is your reward in heaven now boy Carl marks used to look at verses like this and he used to say oh that's what I hate Ah that's what I hate about Christianity the Opium of the people see great is your reward in heaven so I'm supposed to trudge through life and not fight Injustice and just accept my lot in life because later on I'll have F in the Sky by by in the future but there's no future here there's no future tense that's not what going on Carl marks I'm sorry you can't be here to hear this what it says is rejoice in that day what day not the Judgment Day in the day that you're excluded verse 23 is referring to verse 22 in the day you're excluded well how can you rejoice in that day because great is your reward in heaven not will be this is what's going on Colossians chapter 3 Acts chapter 7 I've never gotten over Acts chapter 7 here's Steven he's about to be stoned to death he's about to be executed I've never gotten over this how is he going to handle it with courage and how is he going to handle it with love how will he keep from fear and how will he keep from anger toward the people who have uh are doing this great Injustice well he looks to heaven and he suddenly says he says I see the glory of God and I see Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of the father in other words he says I realize that though down here this kangaroo court is doing Injustice to me before God I'm Vindicated and a Christian is somebody according to Colossians 3 chap one who says this uh I have set my mind not on things below but on things are above for my life is hid with God in Christ a Christian is somebody who says I've lost recognition but I'm famous with God see that's weeping but blessed I've been excluded but I'm welcomed by God see that's exclusion but leaping for joy and a Christian because you have that pattern because you've got that you therefore are not controlled by the world's values those things don't control you anymore you're living a free life that's the reversal now here's a couple practical things before we move on you realize what this means Carl marks is utterly wrong if this world is all there is and working for Injustice will lose my job or lose my reputation or lose my life then I'm not going to do it but if I've got a blessedness if I relap for Joy because of my standing in heaven now I see my standing in heaven that means of course I can work against Injustice because so what if I lose my reputation so what if I lose my life if I see Injustice in my neighborhood I stand up for it so what if I'm ostracized okay if I see Injustice in the company I blow the whistle so what if I lose my job you say I who lives like that you've got the resources to live with that kind of Integrity you've got the resources to live with that kind of Courage absolutely this is this is not the Opium of the people this is the smelling salts of the people this will wake you up you see and mean not only not only if this is true will you live with Integrity but keep this in mind what's great about this is it really means that you no longer have to have these things or have not to have these things I already mentioned that and you won't live a bitter life if somebody takes it from you okay so that's the pattern the pattern is I have a complete reversal because I'm free from the world's value but secondly okay do you get the power for this and somebody says yeah where do you get the power for it I don't completely understand well look it says where you get the power right there in verse 19 him Jesus Christ's life is an example of the very way in which we're supposed to live Jesus comes into the world even though he's the king and he's poor now he even talks about it here he says he says don't be upset if you're excluded don't be upset if you are rejected don't be upset if you're a failure don't be upset if uh if you're weeping because this is how the prophets always have been he says this is what's always happened to the prophets he says have you ever have you ever heard of a successful Prophet have you ever heard of a happy Prophet a happy Prophet have you ever heard have you ever heard of a popular Prophet see what Jesus is saying and now what does he say saying though if it's true that the prophets have always lived according to these values how much more the great prophet the true Prophet the ultimate Prophet if the representatives of the King live this way how much the real King when he finally comes and when he comes you see Jesus Christ becoming poor you see him being totally rejected and finally when he's on the cross he's not only rejected by his friends and by the crowd he's even excluded by his father and yet his you see he gives himself and you say ah yes that's an example and that's where we're supposed to get the power the example of Christ no if Christ only came as an example of the reversal of the world's values I don't think he'd be of any power to you at all he would just be a burden he would just make you feel terrible he would say oh my goodness I'm supposed to be willing to be generous oh my goodness I'm supposed to be willing to do all these things oh no I can never live like Jesus and he wouldn't be a power at all if he was if it was just an example but here's what the gospel is the the gospel is not that we look at Jesus reversing his fortunes with people you see we don't see him becoming weak to make people strong we don't see him becoming poor to make people Rich you have to see that everything he did was to reverse fortunes with you why can he say though you are Weeping now you will rejoice because he took the Weeping you deserve the cosmic weeping he died in the dark AR why can he say you you will be comforted because he was utterly disconsolate he was he was thrown away why can he say you will be satisfied because he was utterly dissatisfied on the cross Jesus Christ God my God my God why has th forsake why can he say these things why can he say you can know that you have this great standing in heaven because you can live in reversal of values because you live by his reversal he took your place he put you where he deserves to be Before the Throne of God accepted beloved and he put himself where you deserve to be cast out and because of that that's where you get the power that's where you get the power um that's the reason why Jesus Christ can look at his disciples and say blessed are you who are poor now some of them weren't poor look at see in verse 19 20 says he looked at his disciples and said blessed are you poor but now Matthew for example was a tax collector we know he wasn't poor why can he look at all his disciples like this and the answer is because basically the only way for you to actually receive this power is to be poor in spirit let me give you two ways of looking at God one way of looking at God is like this I have nothing of value God owes me nothing he would be just to cut me off but I Rely completely on what Jesus Christ has done for me and ask that he accept me the other approach goes like this I've lived a fairly good life I've lived a pretty decent life God owes me something he owes me a few things he owes me some comfort he shouldn't let bad things happen to me now the first one is being poor in spirit the second one is being middle class in spirit middle middle class in spirit simply is what it's the right side up Kingdom I've worked I've done my best I've done my duty God owes me at least a little bit he shouldn't let bad things happen to me if that is if that's your heart you don't really you see Jesus as an example maybe but you'll never see him as someone who actually substituted himself for you you won't you won't have the power that comes from knowing that he reversed his fortunes with you because he reversed his fortunes with you you can reverse your fortunes with everybody in other words a Christian who knows where you're standing in heaven is you live recklessly you don't get rid of your money and you don't keep all of your money you live recklessly with your money you don't what do we mean by that okay I did that on purpose what I mean is if you really are living in this upside down kingdom it means that you are going to be so generous that you put yourself somewhat at Financial Risk it means you're going to be so generous with your money but you're also it means you're going to be so generous with your heart that sometimes people will exploit you emotionally you're going to be so involved involved at some in trying to help people work out their differences that sometimes people will get mad at you Christians don't care because they say well I my money it's nice to have it my privacy it's nice to have it my comfort it's nice to have it but I'm going to live like Jesus because of who I am before him I'm not controlled by these things so I'm able to move out and in a sense live in a way that the world will consider Reckless because I'm poor in spirit not middle class in spirit and if you also live by this power you will also see when bad things happen to you people who live in the Old Kingdom look at what's wrong you know uh troubles and difficulties and what they what do they say they say I got to my life is meaningless but Christians know that when you're poor when you're weeping when you're empty the kingdom of God is near see this is another way in which the upside down kingdom says strength is weakness and weakness is strength let's admit it when have you really come to know yourself when have you really come to meet Christ when have you really come to get connected with God it's not when you're rich not when you're happy not when you're laughing not when you're included it's the opposite and therefore Christians are willing to go out and sacrifice themselves and when I use the word reckless I don't mean irresponsible I mean Reckless as far as the world would understand the world would say anybody who gives that kind of money away you should be saving up for a rainy day you need to make sure anybody who gives your life like that of course people are going to kind of exploit you occasionally but a Christian will have such strength in Christ that by the world standards a Christian is going to look Reckless and is not afraid of weeping and is not afraid of emptiness and sacrifice because I know the kingdom of God makes progress in my life and the lives of other people when it happens now lastly one last thing and it's pretty important uh the pattern of the upside down kingdom is what it's a total reversal of your attitude toward the things that the world thinks are so important power and comfort and success and recognition secondly the power is to know that Christ reversed places with you then lastly and very important why why does Jesus Christ say here at the very end uh I me right here at the very begin blessed are the poor whereas in Matthew chap 5 he says blessed are the poor in spirit people have continually gone back and forth and said I really don't know which it is is Jesus Christ saying that my gospel is really for just the poor in spirit you don't have to be really literally poor you just have to be poor in spirit or is the gospel really for the literally poor and the answer is there's a deliberate Duality there's a deliberate ambiguity the gospel will take middle class people the gospel will take Christians and turn them toward their hearts toward the poor whereas the gospel will take the poor and turn their hearts toward the rest of Christians you see the poor know Salvation has got to by Grace you never find the poor having a kind of very very nice ethical religion the poor the poor tend to say I believe in the blood of Jesus I believe in salvation by grace why because you see they don't have the illusion that we're really in control of Our Lives that the reason why you're on top of things is because you work so hard the poor know that everything's a matter of Grace and therefore the poor open them the poor are more open to the gospel but the gospel will take a middle class person and say you are saved by grace alone and turn your heart toward the poor and so one of the things you see in the in The Sermon on the Mount is if you really understand the gospel who you associate with will be the test do you only hang out with people who are of your caliber do you only hang out with people who seem to be you know uh have achieved what you have achieved or do you recognize that you are what you are by the grace of God Alone who your friends are who you hang out with very very much a matter of the lifestyle of a Christian so here here's where we are the handwriting is on the wall for the Old Kingdom you have to ask yourself some very very simple questions am I living a life in which I'm controlled by what the world says or am I living a life like Christ I can only live a life like Christ if I see that he's come into my place and taken his place for me taken my place for me so I can stand in his place I don't want you to be like belshazzar I'd much rather you be like Nebuchadnezzar because Nebuchadnezzar was the king before belshazzar in the Book of Daniel and God showed up in a dream and said I'm going to Cut You Down you're like a big tree but I'm going to cut you down but you're going to grow back once you realize that all success is an unmerited Grace and Nebuchadnezzar was smitten down you remember some if you remember the story he was a terrible blow he fell into Mental Illness but when he woke up unlike Bel Shazer he realized that he'd been living his life according to the old way of the kingdom and he got up and he said everything is a gift of Grace and he changed the way she did everything don't be like belshazzar be like Nebuchadnezzar live in the upside down kingdom not in the right side up Kingdom let's pray father we ask that you give me give us a uh an ability to apply this in some of our cases it means being much more generous than we've been in some of our cases it means rethinking who we spend time with uh it's a sweeping and comprehensive uh sweeping and comprehensive theme we pray Lord as the weeks go on we can break this down and see what this actually means for us in every single area of our lives but we pray that you would help us today to be humbled not like belshazzar who just simply continued to party harder but like Nebuchadnezzar who raised his eyes to heaven we ask that you would make us uh people who live according to the upside down kingdom uh show us what that means by your spirit in Jesus name we pray amen for more of this series and other resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church please visit www.gsp.ro. 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