Jesus Announces the Kingdom of Heaven

ME - Self-centeredness

Noticing how often we catch our reflection (mirrors, windows, phone screens, storefronts) 

The hook: We are more self-focused than we realize, and it shapes everything

WE - we all struggle with being self-centered

Broaden to shared human experience:

"We live in the 'selfie generation' but every generation has been the selfie generation"

We just have better technology for it now

How self-centeredness shows up:

In relationships: listen to respond, not to understand

In generosity: give only when it benefits us

In judgments: harsh with others, soft on ourselves

In faith: want God to bless our plans

The uncomfortable truth:

Martin Luther: "incurvatus in se"—the heart turned in on itself

Left to ourselves, we curve inward

Costs us: relationships, joy, the life God designed for us

The need: We need a new center—someone to reorient us away from ourselves

GOD - Jesus shows us how we have been looking at ourselves and others backwards and upside down

Set the scene:

Jesus has just called his disciples

Comes down from mountain, great crowd gathered

He holds up a mirror—a Kingdom mirror

Everything in it looks upside-down

1. The Beatitudes and Woes (vs. 20-26) — The Mirror Shows a Different Reality

The contrast:

World says: Blessed are rich, full, laughing, popular

Jesus says: Blessed are poor, hungry, weeping, hated

What Jesus is doing:

NOT saying poverty is good or wealth is evil

Announcing: In his Kingdom, the measuring stick is completely different

Kingdom doesn't ask "What do you have?"

Kingdom asks "Where is your trust? Where is your treasure?"

The application:

Self-centered life: chases what the world calls blessed

Kingdom-centered life: receives blessing from entirely different source

2. Love Your Enemies (vs. 27-36) — The Mirror Reflects Outward

Jesus gets specific (and hard):

Love your enemies

Do good to those who hate you

Bless those who curse you

What Jesus is doing:

Taking the mirror we use to look at ourselves

Turning it outward

"Stop calculating what you'll get back"

"Stop keeping score"

"Stop loving only people who love you—even sinners do that"

The contrast:

Self-centered life asks: "What's in it for me?"

Kingdom life asks: "How can I reflect God's mercy?"

The heart of it:

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (v. 36)

We love because God first loved us

We're generous because God is endlessly generous with us

3. Judging Others (vs. 37-42) — The Mirror Exposes Our Hypocrisy

The log and speck is Jesus' most vivid image:

Spot a speck of sawdust in someone else's eye

While we've got a two-by-four sticking out of our own

Would be funny if it weren't so painfully accurate

What happens when we use mirror only on other people:

Self-centeredness makes us blind to our own faults

Hypersensitive to everyone else's

Jesus says:

Deal with yourself first

Let the mirror do its work on YOU

Before you try to help someone else

4. The Tree and Its Fruit (vs. 43-45) — The Mirror Reveals the Heart

Jesus goes deeper—past actions to hearts:

"Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" (v. 45)

You can't fake Kingdom living:

Eventually what's really inside comes out

The principle:

Self-centered at the core self-centered fruit grows→

Christ at our center Kingdom fruit grows→

Kingdom has taken root in us Kingdom fruit will grow→

5. The Two Builders (vs. 46-49) — The Mirror Becomes a Window

Jesus ends with a choice:

Two builders

Two foundations

One storm

The one who hears and does nothing:

Building on sand

Looked in mirror but walked away unchanged

The one who hears and puts into practice:

Building on rock

Let mirror show truth AND acted on it

What this means:

NOT about earning salvation

About what saving faith LOOKS like

Real faith doesn't just hear; it DOES

Kingdom isn't just something we believe; it's something we LIVE

YOU - What is Jesus showing you about your life that needs to be turned right-side-up?

Where is self-centeredness costing you?

In your marriage: keeping score instead of keeping covenant

With that person you can't forgive: holding onto wound because letting go feels like losing

In your generosity: give out of surplus but never out of need

In your judgments: quick to critique, slow to confess

The invitation:

Jesus ISN'T asking you to try harder to be less selfish

He's inviting you into a different Kingdom with different King at center

When Christ is your center, self gets displaced:

Not by willpower but by worship

Not by effort but by grace

The call:

"Put his words into practice”

Not to earn his love—you already have it

But because this is what it looks like to live in the Kingdom he's announcing

WE - Live in light of this new Kingdom Jesus announces to us

This isn't just individual:

Jesus spoke to disciples in front of crowd for a reason

Kingdom is lived out in community

The vision:

What if we became known NOT for:

Our positions on hot-button issues

Our building or programs

But FOR being people who:

Love their enemies

Bless those who curse them

Give without expecting anything back

Judge themselves before judging others

The contrast:

World's mirror says: "Look at yourself. Promote yourself. Protect yourself.”

Jesus' mirror says: "Look at me. Follow me. Lose yourself and find everything."

Closing:

May we be people who stop staring at our own reflection, and start reflecting Christ to the world.