Upside Down Kingdom (Week 1)
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
**Meta 2024 Recap and Planning for Meta 2025:**
Good evening, everyone! I hope you're all doing well.
Before we kick off tonight's service, I want to take a moment to show a recap video from Meta 2024 this past weekend.
It was truly an incredible experience filled with unforgettable moments, powerful worship, and meaningful connections.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for being a part of it and making it such a success!
Your enthusiasm and participation made a significant impact, and I am so proud of our youth group. As we reflect on the blessings of Meta 2024, let's also look forward to the future. I'm excited to announce that we'll start planning for Meta 2025 starting next Tuesday! Get ready for another amazing journey together!
**Introduction of New Series: Upside Down Kingdom:**
Now, onto tonight's exciting news!
We're kicking off a brand new series tonight called 'Upside Down Kingdom.'
This series will take us through the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus presents a radical vision of what God's kingdom looks like.
Get ready to challenge your perspective as we explore what it means to live counter-culturally and embrace the values of the kingdom of God.
I believe this series will inspire and transform us as we delve deeper into the teachings of Jesus.
Let's open our hearts and minds to receive what God has in store for us during this series!
**Compassion International Fundraiser Update:**
Before we move on, I want to provide a quick update on our Compassion International fundraiser.
So far this month, we've raised $14.00 for Esteban.
Our goal for the month is $45.00, and while we're making progress, we still have a ways to go.
I want to encourage everyone to continue supporting this important cause by making donations.
Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a difference in Esteban's life and helps provide him with the support he needs.
Let's keep those donations coming and show our love and support for Esteban!
**Durham Rescue Mission Dinner Serving:**
Don't forget, our Durham Rescue Mission dinner serving is happening on Friday, March 22nd, starting at 4:30 PM.
This is a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community and serve those in need.
If you're interested in joining us, there's a sign-up sheet available at the entrance.
Let's make a difference together!
**Dodgeball Tournament Announcement:**
And mark your calendars, because we've got something exciting coming up!
We'll be hosting a dodgeball tournament at our North Campus Gym on Friday, April 5th, from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM.
Get ready for some high-energy fun and friendly competition!
While food plans are still pending, one thing's for sure—it's going to be a blast!
Be sure to spread the word and invite your friends.
Let's make this tournament one to remember!
Thank you for your attention, and let's dive into tonight's service with excitement and anticipation!
Introduction:
Attention:
Show an image of an upside down map
Q. What is different about this map?’
It is upside down
Let’s see if we can figure out where places are
Where is America?
Where is North Carolina?
Where is Canada?
Where is India?
Where is Japan?
Q. How does looking at a map this way challenge your perspective?
In the same way that seeing this map upside down challenges your perspective, the Kingdom of God flips over the world’s values and priorities
The Kingdom of God is upside down
It challenges us to rethink our assumptions about success, power, and significance.
Today, we are beginning a new series going through the Sermon on the Mount called Upside Down Kingdom
We will begin by looking at the Beatitudes, which is the first part of the sermon.
And this first part will show us exactly why this series is called the Upside Down Kingdom.
Need:
We talk a lot about who Jesus is
And we talk a lot about what He did
But how often do we spend time talking about the stuff that he taught?
This series will be a chance for us to do that
And concerning the Beatitudes specifically, it is important for us to know how Jesus views things differently from the world
How His Kingdom is truly “upside down” from what people would expect
So let’s dive right into things!
Matthew 5:1–2 (ESV)
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
Jesus tries to get away from the crowds so that he can focus in on teaching his disciples.
This group probably included the main 12 that we are familiar with, in addition to some other followers that he had.
So we get the picture here that what Jesus is about to share is going to be really important; something worth getting away from the crowds for
The disciples are about to get a private tutoring session from Jesus, and it is sure to be pretty awesome!
So, he gets away, and then he opens up his mouth, and starts to talk
So… what does he say?
Let’s take a look at that
We’ll look at all of these together first, and then we will tackle them one by one.
Matthew 5:3–12 (ESV)
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Q. What sticks out to you about this as we look at all of it together?
There clearly is a pattern here
Jesus will say “blessed,” and then apply that to a specific group of people
The title “Beatituces” actually comes from the Latin word for “blessed”
And then he will explain how it is that this specific people group is “blessed”
Q. What do you notice about the groups of people that are blessed?
They are people that, from a wordly perspective, you wouldn’t expect to be blessed
The religious leaders of the day ESPECIALLY wouldn’t expect these groups to be blessed
Q. What type of people did they think were blessed by God?
Those who had material possessions
Those who were rich
Those who flaunted there authority to boss around others.
This is the general picture that they would get
And, when we think of those who are blessed by God, it is easy for us to do the same thing
To us, whether or not we are blessed by God is often determined by whether or not he or she agrees to go on a second date with us
Who is it that God blesses? The person who has the most friends
The ones that are “cool”
But is that the way that Jesus sees things?
The beatitudes make it clear that this is not the case
To Jesus, being blessed looks different
Q. Speaking of that, what does it even mean to be blessed by God?
When we think of someone who is “blessed,” we often think of examples that stem from their circumstances
But the blessing that Jesus is talking about is one that isn’t dependent upon circumstances
To Jesus, being blessed is “a state of existence in relationship to God in which a person is ‘blessed’ from God’s perspective even when he or she doesn’t feel happy or isn’t presently experiencing good fortune.”
You know what that means?
Feeling sad doesn’t take away your blessedness
Being rejected doesn’t take away your blessedness
Losing the game doesn’t take away your blessedness
God sees things differently than the way we see them.
That’s how His Kingdom is upside down.
But now that we’ve talked about this in general, let’s look at each of these one at a them.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Q. What does it mean to be poor?
Usually, when we think of someone being poor, we are talking about someone that doesn’t have a whole lot of money.
Q. But what about being “poor in spirit”?
Well, this could describe someone who is financially poor, but it is more about those who are “spiritually and emotionally oppressed.”
This person is in need of God’s help
And not only do they need this, they realize that they need it
So there is a humility that goes along with those who are poor in Spirit
Q. How is this different than the way that the world looks at things?
To the world, being “poor” is automatically bad
Think of the way that we look at homeless people who are on the street
We often think negative thoughts about people like that
Rather than thinking about how hard their life is, we think about how lazy they must be, or something like that
We think, if they were blessed by God, certainly they wouldn’t be asking for money, right?
That’s not the way that things work in the economy of God
In God’s Kingdom, people aren’t strong because they’ve got it all together
People are only truly blessed when they realize that they don’t
And why is it that the poor in spirit are blessed?
“For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
They have the Kingdom
And the reason that they have it is because the Kingdom of God is upside down
Material blessings are NOT a sign of God’s approval
To be blessed by God is to be spiritually bankrupt
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Q. What does it mean to “mourn?”
To mourn is “to express sorrow or grief”
Q. Usually, when we think of someone “mourning,” what are they mourning over?
A death
But one can mourn over more than just someone dying
Again, think back to the person who is “poor in spirit.”
Q. What do the poor in spirit have to mourn?
Mourning over the physical or spiritual/emotional poverty
When one is poor, there is mourning to be had
Thus, you can see how this second beatitude seems to describe the same person as the first one.
Q. How does viewing those who mourn as “blessed” differ from the way that they world sees things?
How often do we go to funerals and tell the family members of deceased loved ones something along the lines of, “man, you sure are blessed right now”?
No, because that would be distasteful
But we also just don’t tend to think that way
How could someone who is mourning over a death, or mourning over anything else for that matter, be blessed by God?
Well, according to this verse, they are blessed in that “they shall be comforted.”
Christians have a unique perspective on the nature of suffering in the world.
Jesus turned the worst thing that ever happened (His death) into the best thing that ever happened.
There is a great comfort in knowing that our God works in mysterious ways
And that, although things might be hard, and we might not have all of the answers, we can be confident that God is at work behind the scenes.
There is no greater comfort than knowing that God is in control.
We mourn, but we do not despair.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
What does it mean to be “meek?”
To be humble
To not be prideful
To be “quiet in nature”
And specifically, the idea that is being communicated here is the idea of “power in restraint”
People who have power, but don’t use their power to mistreat others
Think of a horse being contained by its bridle; power under control.
Q. How does this different than the way that the world views “blessing?”
We usually think that the blessed ones are the loud ones who realize that what they have to say is more important than what others have to say.
They have their power, and they use it in every selfish way possible
But let’s take that idea, and flip it on its head
THAT’S what the kingdom of God looks like.
And why is it that the meek are blessed?
“For they shall inherit the earth.”
The meek have an inheritance in the Kingdom of God
And that inheritance is a plot of land; to be exact, the entire earth
This points ahead to the reign of Jesus, which every believer has to look forward to
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
The idea of “hunger” and “thirst” makes us think of someone who is in need
Here, what they are in need of is “righteousness”
Q. What does it mean to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness?
Those who want things to be morally right in the world and in their hearts.
This is, in essence, to want what God wants; to have the heart of God.
Q. How is this different from the way that the world views “blessing”?
“Hunger” and “thirst” have a negative connotation to them
It reminds us again of the poor in spirit and those who mourn
When was the last time you were really hungry or thirsty and thought, “man I really am blessed right now?”
We just don’t think like that!
And again, why is it that the hungry and thirsty are blessed?
“for the shall be satisfied.”
AKA, they will have their hunger and thirst fulfilled
They will eat and drink of the righteousness of God
How is it that this hungry and thirst are filled?
Jesus!
He is the perfect display of God’s rigtheousness
And when we look at Him, it satisfies our craving
And going even further, it causes us to want to be righteous like Him in our own lives as well
And through the power of the Holy Spirit working within us, this becomes a reality!
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Mercy is a major theme in the Bible
We turn to this theme a lot in Scripture
Q. What does it mean to be merciful, and how does this differ from being graceful?
Grace is getting to the good gift that you don’t deserve, and mercy is not getting the bad thing that you do deserve.
A very simple example is this: grace is that we get to go to Heaven, and mercy is that we don’t go to Hell
We see mercy in God (and Jesus), and we should see it in our lives as well
Q. How is this different than the way that the world sees things?
It’s way different!
Think about cancel culture for a second.
But first, I do think there are some good principles from cancel culture
We value authenticity, and when people are inauthentic, we call them out on it.
But usually, we take it too far
When someone gets “cancelled” and then experiences negative consequences, what do we usually think?
“Boy, they sure are getting what they deserve!”
“That’s just what happens when you...”
We DO NOT want to see these people shown mercy
But you know who does? Jesus.
Jesus wants us to show them mercy; he wants us to be merciful
For, if we are merciful, we will be blessed
How will we be blessed?
By receiving mercy ourselves!
Of course, we need to remember the Gospel; we could never show anyone mercy enough times to earn God’s mercy
God’s mercy for us was already earned through Christ’s sacrifice.
So, it is not the merciful that receive mercy, it is more so that those who have received mercy are the only ones who are truly able to show mercy to others.
Here’s a truth: God will never ask you to show more mercy to someone than He has already shown to you
Remember that next time you want to complain about forgiving someone (which, trust me, will happen!
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Q. What does it mean to be pure in heart?
To be authentic, consistent, undefiled, etc.
Q. How is this different from the way that the world views things?
We usually don’t think of success in terms of how pure someone is; we usually think that “successful” people aren’t worried about stuff like that
They just care about the fact that they are on top; they don’t care about how they got there!
But the Kingdom of God is upside down, which means that stuff like that really does matter
And what is the blessing received here?
“For they shall see God.”
This is quite the statement!
In the book of Exodus, we learn that no one can see God and live
But in the prologue of the Gospel of John, we learn that Jesus is God revealed, and when we look upon Jesus, we are looking upon God
So Jesus is, in a sense, pointing towards Himself as the means through which the pure in heart see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Peace” is another major theme in the Bible
We know that it is important.
Q. But what does it mean to be a peacemaker?
To be somebody that doesn’t have beef with other people
One who tries to settle the disputes of others, thus “making peace”
Q. How is this different from how the world views success?
We think that getting ahead in life involves creating a bunch of enemies and finding ways to topple them over
But, because the Kingdom of God is upside down, it is actually the peacemakers who are blessed.
And how is it that they are blessed?
“For they shall be called sons of God.”
This has to do with our identity.
Finding our identity in God allows us be at peace with ourselves and others.
Our identity shapes our peace.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Q. What does it mean to be persecuted?
To be mistreated for your faith
Usually, when we think about this, we think about martyrs in other countries who die for believing in Jesus
Q. How is this different from the way that the world looks at things?
We often view persecution as more of a punishment than anything
The way to get by in life is to get everyone else to like us, which means being quiet about what we believe in
But Christ calls us to a radical faith
Of course, I need to do a bit of qualifying here.
This verse doesn’t mean that we should “seek out” persecution and that, if we aren’t physically persecuted, that we won’t receive God’s blessing
Rather, it just means that we should be willing to lose it all for the sake of Jesus
It is a matter of the willingness of the heart.
Persecution may not look like blessing, but the kingdom of God is upside down.
And what is the specific blessing here?
It is another mention of the Kingdom, which bookends this whole section.
But we have one last set of verses to look at:
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This is an expansion of verse 10.
This spells out more specifically what this type of persecution looks like.
Persecution equals having bad things said falsely about you.
What people say doesn’t take God’s blessing away.
And look at verse 12; not only are we blessed, we should “rejoice and be glad”
Why?
For two reasons.
First, because “your reward is great in Heaven.”
This reminds us of the inheritance of verse 5
Not only do we inherit the earth; our reward is great in Heaven.
That is some good stuff!
And second, because “they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
There are plenty of examples in the Old Testament of the righteous suffering
All of these individuals prove to be strong role models for those who follow God.
God doesn’t bless his people by not allowing them to experience persecution; he blesses them in the midst of persecution.
Our God is awesome, and works in ways that are far greater than we could ever imagine.
Application:
But let’s get down to the nitty gritty
How does this apply to our lives?
There are three principles that we can clearly see from this text that I went you to take home with you as “fill-in-the-blanks” tonight.
Living for Jesus means living differently.
If you’re a Christian, guess what that means?
You’re weird!
You aren’t going to see things the way that other people see them
Your perspective should be upside down from theirs.
But does your life measure up to that?
If we were to take all of our actions within the past week and see if they reflected an upside down lifestyle, what would we see?
Do our lives look upside down?
Or are we just living like everybody else?
Which leads us to our next blank:
Living for Jesus means living differently.
What God thinks should be most important to us.
Is what God thinks most important to us?
Or do we care more about fitting in with others?
The Kingdom of God isn’t about “fitting in,” it is about God’s will being done on the earth.
Do we want God’s will to be done on this earth?
Do we actually care?
Through what God has done in Christ Jesus, believers are being given a heart that does care about this stuff
So take heart!
And lastly...
The Bottom Line: Flip your natural perspective upside down.
However it is that you are naturally tempted to look at things… flip that on its head, and you will be closer to seeing them the way that Jesus does.
Embrace true Christianity by living out the radical, upside-down teachings of Jesus.
Make the decision to see your life through the kingship of Jesus
Reach beyond this world through upside-down Kingdom living
Get excited about the wonders of living for the Kingdom of God.
PRAY
Small Group Questions:
In what ways is the Kingdom of God upside down?
How is the way that Jesus sees things different from the way that you tend to see things?
In the beatitudes, how does Jesus’ perspective challenge your own?
Why is it so hard to see things the way that Jesus does?
What is one specific way you can embrace “upside down” living this week?