Upside Down Kingdom: Steady Souls

Introduction

Jesus begins His ministry in Mark by preaching “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come.” Jesus teaches His disciples to pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Jesus is the promised King. And over the last few weeks, we have seen that we have been invited into His Kingdom. And as we have also seen, His kingdom, is nothing like the kingdom of this world.

The kingdom of the world tells us to be someone, do the most, figure everything out, and prove you deserve to make it. Jesus goes to people who have nothing to bring to the table and offers them a place to sit anyways. He sees us in torn and stained garments and he offers us royal robes. We have been outside the city walls begging for a piece of bread, and Jesus makes us citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus’ kingdom is one founded on justice, mercy, righteousness, love, and grace. We don’t deserve to be citizens of His Kingdom, and yet Jesus makes us heirs with Him through faith.

I hope you see after going through the Beatitudes the beauty of the Gospel. There is hope, forgiveness, comfort, belonging, satisfaction, inheritance, and life for you to experience and have because of Jesus. Jesus looks at you and sees the mess. He sees the guilt. He sees the baggage. He sees the perfectionism. He sees how hard you try, and fail, to be good enough. And He has compassion for you. He sees your brokenness and he stretched out his hands and was broken for you to be made whole.

Tonight, we finish our study through these 8 statements. We will be looking at Matthew 5:10-11, but we will read the whole section starting in verse 1.

(Read from Bible)

Big Idea: Jesus Gives Us Hope that Outlasts the Pressure

Expect Pressure

What does Jesus say about suffering? Does He say blessed are you if you are persecuted, or when?

Over and over we see Jesus warning His disciples that they will experience suffering and persecution. They will experience mockery, abuse, abandonment, betrayals, and all types of other pressure. And He tells them that it is because they are followers of Him.

Verse 10 says that those who suffer for righteousness sake are blessed. Verse 11 says that the mockery and reviling we may experience is on the account of Jesus.

John 15:18 tells us that we will be hated because the world hated Jesus first. We just finished 1 Peter and the main theme was rejoicing through suffering. Why? Because we are united with Jesus.

Simply put, you should expect pressure if you are a Christian.

Illustration I lost all my friends in High School because of lies told about me by one of them.

1 Peter 3:14 “14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.”

As Pastor Mark mentioned this morning, suffering stings. Losing my friends stings. I have lost many friends over the years, for different reasons but all for my faith. I have been passed over for promotions, I have had to reject positions. I know what it is like to feel the pressure to compromise and to fit in. I know what it feels like to be the only person in the room to be a Christian and to stand for truth.

It stings. It hurts. It feels impossible. But what does Jesus say in Matthew 5:10-11? Blessed are those who are persecuted and mocked. Why? Because they belong to the Kingdom of Heaven.

So pressure is expected. It will come and it will hurt. But it’s not the end.

Pressure Will Not Crush You

You will encounter things in your life, maybe you already have, where you will feel tempted to give up, give in, and go with the flow. The pressure will be too much. Jesus will feel too far away. Relief seems like 1,000 miles away.

But God tells us to hold on. Jesus says that He is with you. In fact John 16:33 “33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””

Jesus has overcome the world and He will carry us through the pressure, persecution, suffering, and doubts that we face. He says in Matthew 28:20 “ And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Where you go, Jesus goes. What you face in your life, Jesus has already conquered, and we are more than conquerors.

Romans 8:28-39

The hope that you and I have is that even if we would suffer our whole lives, we belong to Jesus and we are safe in Him. We may feel all alone. We may lose all our friends. We may never get the job we want, go to the school we want. But if we have Jesus we have everything.

Some of the best years of my life have also been the worst years of my life.

My parents divorced in 2013

My dad moved half way across the country in 2015.

2019 and 2020 were ROUGH years. My whole world fell apart, I almost walked away from God. I was constantly angry at myself, my family, Lizzy, everyone. The fall of 2022 I dealt with severe loneliness because it was the first time I was ever truly alone. It was a dark time mentally.

Last year, I watched my best friend blow up his life, and walk away from God. My little brother came out as bisexual and an atheist/agnostic.

These years are marked by pain, confusion, tears, depression, and immense pressure to give up. But in the middle of all of that God has worked. I am not who I was in 2019. I am not who I was last year. My faith is secure in Jesus. I know that I am safe in Him and that He is my life.

Suffering and pressure can be intense and very painful, but it is not the end. It will not leave you crushed.

Pressure will refine you. 1 Peter 1:6-7

1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Hope That Lasts

We have hope that outlasts the pressure we experience. Your friends abandoned you? You have Jesus and He will never leave you or forsake you. Your parents separated? Your Father in Heaven is holding onto you right now.

Are you dealing with anxiety and depression? Jesus says to give Him your anxiety and He will give you rest.

Our hope is not that our circumstances get better. Circumstances may never get better. Our hope is that one day, we will see Jesus. We will spend eternity with Him and will dwell in the Kingdom of God for all eternity.

Pressure may come and it may feel like it will crush us. But it can never crush us. Even if our bodies are crushed, our souls remain firmly secure in Jesus.

Do not give up. Do not give in. Continue living for Jesus and trust Him.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

Prayer Prompts:

Pray for the other person to have endurance in the middle of suffering

Pray that the other person keeps trusting Jesus

Pray that you can be support for each other.