The Upside Down Kingdom

When Abby, the kids, and I moved here from Calgary, we took five days or so to drive out here. We first stopped in North Dakota for two nights to have one full day to rest. It was, how do I put this, disappointing, to say the least. But then we kept on driving, and we stopped just outside Madison, Wisconsin, at Wisconsin Dells for a couple of nights. Wisconsin Dells surprised us because it was a whole town of mini-theme parks and attractions. We had a ton of fun riding rollercoasters, swimming in the pool with a 9-foot tidal wave, water slides, everything. Our hotel was connected to our theme park, and next door to it was something I have never seen before. Check out this picture.

Crazy, isn’t it? I thought this building was cool because it reminds me of the Kingdom of God’s upside-down nature. Remember a few weeks ago, when Jesus, after a night of healing, spent time in prayer and solitude and then declared that he couldn’t stay in Capernaum but had to go to the other towns to preach the kingdom of God? Well, here we are. Once again, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and when he came down, he chose his 12 disciples and began to teach the people, mirroring what Moses did when Moses went up Mount Sinai, met with God and came down with the law and taught it to the 12 tribes of Israel. But instead of an ethos for the nation of Israel, Jesus gives us a new vision for the Kingdom of God.

Whenever Jesus preaches, he preaches about the Kingdom of God, whether it's the now aspect (how we live right now) or the future aspect (when Jesus comes back). That's what Jesus is teaching about here - how do we live as citizens of the Kingdom? What does it look like to live a kingdom ethic? In our passage today, he casts a vision for a very different way to live and gives us instructions on the character and behaviour of those who enter his Kingdom. And what Jesus calls you and me to is a world-changing, counter-intuitive, counter-cultural, others-oriented, love-based ethos that will radically alter your heart, impact your relationships and change how you relate to the world.

So why don’t we see what kind of ethos Jesus wants us to live out as citizens in this upside down kingdom. Let’s read the scriptures together.

In Luke 6:27-36 Jesus says,

Luke 6:27–36 NIV

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Pray

Have you ever really thought about how crazy Jesus' teaching here is. We are to love our enemies. LOVE OUR ENEMIES. That goes against our instincts, doesn't it? I mean, if you know someone hates you and is coming at you, your first response is usually either fight, flight or freeze. Either we want to defend ourselves and fight back, whether it be verbally or physically, or we want to run away from the problem and hope they don't find us ever again, or we freeze, stand there and numb out while they attack us and we do nothing. Sometimes, we freeze at first, then fly away as fast as possible and then fight them in our head. Is that just me?

So, what is your first reaction when it comes to conflict? Do you fight right away? Is it flight and you have to leave immediately? Or do you freeze up and do nothing until it's over?

What is so counter-intuitive and counter-cultural about Jesus' command to love our enemies is that he is directing us to RESPOND, NOT REACT. Many of us get into trouble, or we make problems worse by reacting right away instead of deliberately choosing to respond.

Your kid breaks something, you react in anger and scare them. Your spouse is upset with you, so you react harshly and make everything worse. You make a mistake, and you react with self-loathing in your mind.

Rections get us into trouble, which is why we need to respond, not react. In this case, a response is a deliberate choice. It means we overcome our natural instincts and rationally decide how we will answer the challenge before us. It means thinking before acting, and as I survey my own life, reflect on the struggles of people around me and ruminate on world events lately, I think we all could use more thinking and less reacting.

So what does “love your enemies” and “do good to those who hate you” look like? Jesus gives us some examples to help us conceptualize how we should apply this ethic.

1. Bless those who curse you

The word "bless" that is used here is "eulogeo." We get the English word “eulogy” from it. When someone gives a eulogy at a funeral, they say nice things about the deceased. Most people at funerals don't get up and say, "This person was terrible, and the world is a better place without them." No, we say good things about a person, like how they impacted our lives and the things we learned from them.

In contrast, a curse is a prayer or invocation where you express your desire that someone experiences pain and misfortune. The queen of cursing others was Sophia Petrillo, the short, elderly Italian woman on "Golden Girls." Abby, Rebekah and I are going through that show right now on Amazon Prime, and we love it. She once said to her sister Angela, "May the hair on your lip grow in the opposite direction and get tangled in the hair coming down from your nose." That's a curse.

What do we do when someone curses us? How should we respond when someone tells us to "go to hell" or some other curse? We need to respond with blessing.

Instead of cursing them back, or insulting them, or even ignoring them, Jesus calls us to love our enemies and speak words of life to them. Jesus tells us to eulogize them, to their face - to say what we appreciate about them and what we like about them.

Can you imagine that? Someone is calling you names and saying terrible things, and you respond with blessing? The reaction on their face would be priceless, but more importantly, I think it will de-escalate the situation and help bring about peace and better communication.

While our natural inclination when people curse us will be to curse them back, God calls us to overcome those tendencies. We are to them like Jesus did to those who crucified him when he said in Luke 23:24, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

2. Pray for those who mistreat you

Another way we are to love our enemies is through our prayers. Jesus tells us to pray for those who mistreat you. And contextually, I don’t think he means the prayers like in Psalm 109 when David prays,

Psalm 109:9–12 NIV

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.

Jesus means that we pray for their good; pray that God would bring blessings upon them. We understand from Jesus' statement in John 3:16 that he loves the world; he doesn't condemn it.

And from Paul’s letter to the Romans that

Romans 5:8 NIV

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So, as we encounter people who criticize us, who disparage us, who yell at us and who judge us, our response needs to be one of prayer—praying for the Holy Spirit to come upon them and compel them to repent; praying that the love of God would permeate their hearts and minds. If they are Christians and they have spoken to you that way, pray that they would draw near to the Holy Spirit and that He would produce the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Pray for people to succeed, pray for people to grow, pray for God's richest blessings to fall on them because according to Paul in Romans 2:4, "God's kindness leads to repentance."

3. Turn the other cheek

The third example Jesus gives us to love our enemies is to turn the other cheek. Again, how against our natural instincts this is. When it says in the old testament, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," we get it. They punch me; I punch back. Turnabout is fair play. Tit for tat, as the saying goes. But Jesus calls us to master our reactions and renounce revenge. Jesus' teaching here on "turning the other cheek" is a practical illustration of how are to

Romans 12:19 NIV

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

We are to trust God with justice when attacked by our enemies, not take revenge into our own hands. By renouncing revenge, by putting aside payback, we show love to our enemies, and we emulate Jesus. He didn't try to strike back when he was being beaten. He didn't retaliate for being flogged. He didn't defend himself when he was insulted and humiliated. He didn't declare vengeance on those who crucified him.

4. Be extraordinarily generous with your money and stuff

In our passage in Luke 6, Jesus also tells us to be extraordinarily generous.

Luke 6:30 NIV

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

Money and possessions are two of the biggest idols in our world. They are the easiest things to hold on to and protect, and yet, in another statement that is counter-intuitive and counter-cultural, Jesus calls us to live generously with our money. But, to make sure we are all clear in what he means by it, he calls us out for what I would call "easy generosity." Easy generosity is when we are generous to the people we like - our friends and family. On the other hand, Jesus calls us to give to anyone who asks - family and friends, yes, but also strangers and enemies. And he expects us to give without expecting them to repay it.

Now, Jesus is using this as an example of how our attitudes should be. He is not saying that we should always give everything we have to others so that we bankrupt ourselves - that's not being a wise steward of the resources that God gives us. He is saying that we should be willing to give to anyone because we hold our possessions loosely, and we value people over property. Jesus tells us to look at a situation through their eyes, and we do for them what we would want someone to do for us. Our money and possessions are gifts from God - given to us so we can be generous to others.

And when it comes to our enemies, while it would be natural to want to withold help from them, Jesus tells us to do the opposite.

Luke 6:35 NIV

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Your generosity might just help someone encounter Jesus because when we are generous to our enemies, we mimic God who was generous to us - who was kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

5. Be merciful, just like God is.

Jesus summarizes his whole teaching about loving our enemies with this sentence

Luke 6:36 NIV

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Mercy can be defined as “compassion to someone in need or helpless distress,” and it is one of the ways that God has related to us. King David puts it well in Psalm 51, which was his response to being found out by Nathan the Prophet for committing adultery with Bathsheba. David writes,

Psalm 51:1–4 NIV

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

While David's writing responds to a specific thing, it's true for all of us. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and so we all need mercy. And because God IS merciful, he gives us mercy. Paul writes,

Titus 3:4–6 NIV

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

God has acted in mercy to us. Many people think that God looks at us with disappointment and anger because of all we have done, but the truth is that God looks upon us with compassion, with mercy. So much mercy that he sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for our sin, lifting you and me from that miry clay, washing us clean and giving us new life. We get to live because Jesus chose to die, and Jesus chose to die because he is merciful.

As followers of Jesus, we are commanded to be merciful to others like God has been merciful to us. We need to look at people and situations with compassion, not judgement and do something to help.

Conclusion

Earlier, I talked about the upside nature of the kingdom that Jesus invites us to join. In his kingdom, we use the self-contol that is a fruit of the Holy Spirit to respond to people instead of reacting.

How much better would your marriage be if you didn’t react, but you chose to respond? If you looked for ways to do good to your spouse when they were angry at you instead of getting angry back?

How much better would your workplace be, if instead of reacting to the mistakes and frustrations of others, you responded by blessing them, even though they don’t deserve it.

How much better would our city be if we all practiced more generosity and a desire to help more?

How much better would the internet be if we all thought before we typed and if the Christians on it would love those with whom we disagreed?

Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you. That is the ethos of this upside kingdom of Jesus’, so instead of quoting it, let’s actually do it.

Pray.