This Side Up

New Year’s JOKE

Good news, according to Jay Leno: Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So, overweight people are now average… which means, you have met your New Year's resolution.

Someone esle said, “People are so worried about what they eat the 7 days between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat 358 days between the New Year and Christmas.”

Benjamin Franklin had this advice for us. “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better [person].”

A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other. - Anon

Oprah Winfrey said, “Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.”

Seems we are always trying to change, to get it right, be it eating, spending time with others, and even – maybe especially – religion.

says, “When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,’ he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.”

How exciting that must have been. Traveling around, like they did, explaining the gospel, proclaiming Jesus as the Christ—the long-awaited Messiah—and to have such success.

PRAY WITH ME

Such success…but it wasn’t without opposition. And so, Verse 10 says, “As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.”

At some point after leaving Thessalonica, Paul turns around and writes back to them…

Turn - EP-EE-STREF'-O

…he writes in

The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

“They tell us how you turned to God…” Paul saw the first of this while in Thessalonica himself—people turning to God—but this news was welcomed, because it meant the work he had started had stuck! God things were happening…

The exciting thing is to read that the reports he received which contained the fact that the Thessalonians had “turned” to God.

This word “turned” is a Greek word, EP-EE-STREF'-O that means an immediate and decisive action—to convert.

Now that doesn’t mean that they heard the good news once and made an immediate decision—Paul preached three Saturdays before things got really stirred up—and certainly some people “TURNED” after Paul had left.

As a matter of fact—a few years ago someone did a study and the results of the study showed that the average convert—the average person turning to God—will have heard the good news, the gospel message, 8 times.

Some fewer no doubt—some take more than eight—but the idea is that when they make the decision—it is immediate and decisive. The idea is that we change. That’s what Jesus means in when He says we must be born again; that’s what Paul means when he says emphatically in , “what counts is a new creation.”

A young bride to be was very nervous on the day before her wedding, so she went to speak with her minister. "I'm afraid I might not make it through the ceremony.”

The minister assured her that everything would be fine: "When you enter the church tomorrow and the processional begins, you will be walking down the same aisle you've walked many times before. Concentrate on that aisle. When you get halfway down the aisle, you'll see the altar, where you and your family have worshiped for many years. Concentrate on that altar. Then, when you're almost to the altar, you will see your groom, the one you love. Concentrate on him."

The bride was relieved, and left to prepare for her big moment. The next day, she walked down the aisle with her chin up and eyes bright—a beautiful, confident bride, as she focused on the aisle and the altar and her beloved. But those along the edge of the aisle were a bit surprised to hear her muttering over and over: "Aisle, altar, him. Aisle, altar, him."

Well, we there are a lot of women out there who have chanted that same mantra, "Aisle, altar, him, with high hopes the guy they were marrying would someday be the guy of their dreams. But can we change? Many people so no, but Gary Demarest writes, “The Christian faith is grounded upon the claims that people can be changed.”

What got Paul so excited about the Thessalonians was the report that that was exactly what was happening there. Jews were accepting Christ, God fearing Gentiles were accepting Christ—and more than a few prominent women of Thessalonica had accepted Christ.

And not just accepted Him—they turned from their idols—to Christ. The difference, the change, the new creation within them was so great, as Paul said, “your faith in God has become known everywhere.”

I wonder—about our faith, our difference, our change. One of the great complaints from both within and outside the church these days is that there is no significant difference between us and world. I suspect people aren’t looking close enough—but the change ought to be obvious enough that we don’t have to look closely.

Turn-or-AN-AS-TAT-O'-O

I once preached a 3-point sermon and my points, were simply FREE, FREE and FREE.

Well this morning I have only two points, TURN and TURN. Although, if I was preaching in Greek—the points would be, epeestref-o and anastato-o.

Anastato-o is the word Luke used in the book of Acts, in our scripture reading this morning, when he wrote in; “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”

Paul and Silas are in Thessalonica—three weeks is all that they were there—and in that amount of time they managed to upset the whole city. That’s what “anastato-o” means—to upset, to stir things up, to turn the world upside down.

In our scripture reading this morning—Paul & Silas were in Thessalonica and winning people to Christ, people were turning to Christ. And the subsequent change in people’s lives began to have an adverse effect on the false religion business.

And so, idol makers, Jewish leaders and idol temples were all upset with Paul and Silas. They learned that Paul and Silas were staying at the home of a godly man named Jason. And so, a mob went to get them. Ah, but Paul & Silas weren’t there. So, they drug Jason to the local magistrate—to the city officials and complained.

This sounds so familiar—during Jesus’ ministry, he was constantly accused of stirring people up. Lloyd Ogilvie, former Pastor and chaplain to the US Senate, writes, “Paul’s message not only brought conversion but hostility.”

Most of you know that I’m a sports fan. One of the things I don’t like about professional sports is how often players move around. Despite huge salaries, contracts and devoted fans—players hold out, renegotiate and often move to other teams.

And just as odd as that seems to me—is how those players and the fans react when— let’s say a former Seattle Mariner comes to town to play but now he is an Oakland Athletic. The same fans who cheered him last year—are hoping he fails this year.

What changed? He changed teams…

Friends the world doesn’t like that we changed teams. The world liked it better when we played on their team; or would like it better if we played on their team, the World’s team sharing their values; living the way they live.

Back in the gospel of John, back when Jesus was telling Nicodemus about being born again—about changing. Jesus said, in verse 19, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

Back in the gospel of John, back when Jesus was telling Nicodemus about being born again—about changing. Jesus said, in verse 19, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

In Paul asks, “…what fellowship can light have with darkness?” After all, they’re on different teams!

The problem is—as one old preacher put it, “The world is wrong side up, and it needs to be turned upside-down in order that it may be right side up.”

You see—God has a different idea of how things ought to be. His is not a revolutionary way of thinking in that it is not a new way of thinking—it is a revolutionary way of thinking in that it is a different way and a better way of thinking.

Jesus said, the first will be last; He said it will be the meek—not the shrewd, not the powerful—who inherit the earth; He said we have to lose our lives to find them; that it’s the humble that will be exalted and the exalted will be humbled…Jesus came with a whole different set of values.

Michael Quicke writes, “When Christ comes among us, He turns everything that people thought about life upside down… God says, “My Kingdom is here. It’s a kingdom of love and service. The least are the greatest, outcasts are welcomed, adults become like children, enemies love one another, leaders are servants of others.

This morning is the first sermon in series we’re calling simply—The Upside-Down World.

This is a series about kingdom values; this is a series about living life God’s way; this is a series about authentic Christianity. This is a series about change—about turning—and about transformation—ours and the world’s.

One of the great scenes of the Bible is Jesus turning over the tables of the money changers in the temple just a few days before His crucifixion—but friends, Jesus wasted no time in His ministry turning things upside down. His very first sermon—we know it as the Sermon on the Mount—was all about values, all about correcting our thinking about things.

It’s interesting—Jesus looked like He was the One who had it all wrong—the Pharisees tested Him and tested Him—because they just couldn’t get in line with what He was telling them—it was, for them, upside down.

Maybe it is for you…

“As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,”

He reasoned with them and they turned to God and they turned the world upside-down. Can I remind you of this morning? God’s invitation is; “Come let us reason together…”

Turn towards God…as we hear the challenges of God’s values…we will be challenged to turn towards God. Immediate, and decisive, that’s how the Thessalonians did it.

The change affected them—and the world around them…oh how our world needs us!

So stick with us – this next few weeks – and let’s re-examine our values, just in case they need to be turned upside down so that we may be right side up.