A Right-Side-Up Kingdom

Opening Prayer

Let’s open with prayer. If you have a prayer concern, just offer it up out loud in this space. It can be a situation, a need, a family member or friend. When I sense we are finished I will close out our prayer.

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Introduction

We are in the season of the church year called Epiphany, meaning “to appear”. This season celebrates the revelation of Jesus as the Savior of the world. During Epiphany we’re doing a series called The Hope of Glory, and we continue to look at how Jesus revealed his glory, and what this epiphany means for us.

It’s no stretch of the imagination to say that our world is messed up. We’ve been living through a global pandemic that has almost claimed 1 million lives and caused fear and disruption. Over the last 3 years we have seen political upheaval and social and racial unrest never experienced in our lifetime. People continue to divide themselves into smaller and smaller factions, isolating themselves from those whom they disagree with and turning them into enemies. The world truly seems to be upside down to what it should be.

But the problem isn’t just out there. We can take an honest look within our own lives and see that not everything is as it should be. We have broken relationships within our families. We face the reality of sickness and debilitating disease. We struggle with fear over losing a loved one. We grieve the loss of the dreams we had for our life. We have disordered desires within ourselves that keep us from being the person we know God wants us to be. We concretely feel the truth that our own world is upside down as well.

The question that Jesus’ hearers were asking that day, and the question we’re still asking is, is there any hope in this life? Is there any hope of things changing, or is this just the way it’s going to be? I remember one of the most arresting lines from the movie As Good As It Gets where Melvin Udall, played by Jack Nicholson, storms into his therapists office to demand an unscheduled visit. He’s rebuffed and told to come back during his normal appointment, and as he walks back through the waiting room, with all these sad and fearful people sitting and waiting their appointments, he stops and asks out loud, “What if this is as good as it gets?” And you hear one of the patients utter a gasp as the dreadful possibility hits her.

And this is the question we can be tempted to ask as well as we look out our upside down world and our upside down life. Is this as good at is gets? The good news this morning is that in Jesus Christ the kingdom of God has come to set the world - to set our own world - right side up again.

The hope of the resurrection

I want to begin unpacking our passages today by first asking, what is the hope of the resurrection? Certainly, one answer is that the resurrection is the definitive evidence that Jesus is Israel’s - and the world’s - Messiah. He is the one promised by God to conquer sin and death and bring eternal life to all God’s people. When we see the resurrection, we see the hope of the future, Jesus himself being the first fruit. He is the prototype of what we all will be when the the new creation comes. But is the resurrection only hope for the future?

The resurrection of Jesus, along with his ascension, also proclaims that the world has a new king. That he is the fulfillment of all God’s promises to Abraham to bless the whole world. Just like King Melchizedek of old, who’s name means king of righteousness, Jesus is the king of righteousness, which doesn’t merely mean that he has high morals, but that he is the king who will and is setting things right again. He is the promised one who’s coming ushers in the kingdom of God and turns the world right side up again. And while we don’t yet see the kingdom in all its fullness, we see glimpses of its slow and steady movement as people are healed, delivered, have their relationships restored, and are reconciled to God. The resurrection is the proof that the kingdom of God has come now and that our hope isn’t only centered on the future but in the present. Jesus is setting the world right side up.

Inclusion and power

This brings us to our Gospel reading for the day. One thing we should remember is that Luke is writing for an audience. He is putting his gospel together with people in mind - people who themselves are wondering if their faith in Jesus is in vain. They are people who have paid a high price for following Jesus, being driven from their families and synagogues, being shunned in business, and even facing hatred and violence because of their allegiance to Jesus. And they are only right to ask, is this as good as it gets? Will it always be this way? Will their be no relief and no justice?

Let’s notice some things that Luke is pointing out.

First, we see this crowd of people who have come to hear Jesus. There are three groups represented. There are the newly selected apostles, those disciples who will take a leading role in spreading the announcement of the kingdom. Then there are other disciples, those who have attached themselves to Jesus and are following his teachings. And then there is the crowd, those who are not yet disciples but are intrigued and curious about Jesus. And within this crowd Luke tells us that there are people, not only from Israel, but also from the neighboring nations of Tyre and Sidon. One of the first things we see about the kingdom of God is just how expansive it will be. That it welcomes those who are outsiders and makes them insiders.

This is still true today. I imagine we’ve all wrestled with feeling like an outsider, like we don’t fit it. One of the ways Jesus is turning the world right side up is by creating a space where everyone is welcome, everyone is included, everyone is wanted. The kingdom of God takes you from being on the outside looking in and places you within a family. This family, the church, is to be a visible sign of the already in-breaking new creation. Those outside should look at us and see a glimpse of how things will be when the world is turned right side up.

Second, we are pointed to the power of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is not merely a philosophy. It’s not just a theological reality. The kingdom of God is evidenced by power. The apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 4:20 “For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.” The signs of the kingdom is the power of God breaking through to bring healing and deliverance of every kind.

The touch of Jesus still heals. And the church is the conduit of this touch; we are the outpost of this new kingdom. And through the church God’s kingdom is to advance against the very gates of Hell, rescuing those who are trapped in sin and addiction, delivering those who have become victims of oppression, and proclaiming the good news that God’s kingdom has come. This is why it is imperative that we are equipped in things such as our School of Ministry, so that we can be vehicles of God’s kingdom coming.

The great reversal

But the kingdom of God also promises a great reversal of fortune. Jesus speaks a series of blessings to the disciples. We need to be clear that Jesus is NOT saying that there is some kind of merit in being poor or hungry or belonging to a particular social class. Poverty and hunger and sadness is the evidence of the kingdom of darkness at work. This is a very personal word to his disciples that are experiencing the pain of an upside down world. He is assuring those who are currently poor and hungry and sad and hated that you are blessed now, coming under God’s grace, because you will experience a great reversal as his kingdom comes. Things will not always be this way, because the resurrection promises us that the new creation has already begun.

This word is especially true for those who are experiencing suffering as a result of their allegiance to Jesus. And this doesn’t mean necessarily persecution from outside. It can also mean the suffering of picking up our cross to follow Jesus. Following Jesus requires sacrifice. You are no longer your own. There is the siren call of the world that must be resisted out of a greater love for Jesus and his kingdom. Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, and no truer words have ever been spoken, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him ‘come and die.’” The temptation we all face when we ensure suffering is to abandon our allegiance to Jesus and to embrace the world’s easier path.

The question Jesus disciples asked then, and that we ask now, is that we’ve left everything to follow you. We face hardship and hatred. What will we gain, and when will it come about? I’ve asked this question. I’ve reminded God on numerous occasions what I’ve given up to follow him and to be obedient to his call. I bet you’ve ask those questions too. The good news Jesus offers is that we’ve given up nothing that won’t be returned a hundredfold as the kingdom of God comes in its fullness. It IS coming, slowly but surely, and you will see Jesus turn your world right side up again.

Warning

Jesus also gives a warning. Again, he is NOT saying that it is inherently evil to be rich. You can be rich and righteous, and you can be poor and evil. There are examples in Scripture of many rich people who were righteous. Jesus is really warning those who would reject God’s kingdom, who would rather pursue what this life has to offer. To indulge the flesh, to be rich without regard for others, to be full without concern for the hungry, to laugh in the face of other’s misfortune. In making this choice, to reject the kingdom of God, means that you will be disappointed in the end. You will have gained the world but forfeited your soul.

Even as Christians, we must be on our guard against embracing the culture we live in. America with all its prosperity can be a blessing, but it can also be a curse if we forsake our first allegiance to Jesus in the pursuit of the American dream. The blessings and woes of this passage hinge upon how we relate to Jesus Christ and his kingdom. Those who will face the hardships of being associated with Jesus will experience the kingdom of God in its fullness. Those who choose the world, those who derive all their satisfaction from it and who have no interest in the coming kingdom, will have regret upon regret.

Application

Let me offer some applications as I close.

First, we who have given our faith and allegiance to Jesus can have hope that he is fixing the world - and fixing our own life. It will not always be this way. This can feel terribly slow sometimes, but the gospel calls us to faith that in the end our world will be set right side up again.

Second, the gospel also sends us out as kingdom representatives to announce AND demonstrate the good news of Jesus’ resurrection and kingdom. The SOM is a place to be equipped for this joyful commission.

Third, there is a call here to patience endurance. When the kingdom of God seems to come so slowly, we are tempted to throw off our commitment to Christ and embrace what the world offers. To set our hearts on pursuing worldly goals that would seemingly make us rich and full and happy and loved. Christ calls us to hold fast to our faith, for it is a slow kingdom coming. But it IS coming, and our patient endurance and patient sacrifice, and even our patient suffering when it calls for it, is possibly the greatest witness we can show a watching world that is wondering if there is really anything in this life worth living or dying for.

Christ has risen, the time of his kingdom has come, and we can have hope that he is turning our world right side up again. Amen.

Ministry time...

Communion

The table is a statement of faith. Not just that Jesus has defeated the enemies of sin and death, but that he is remaking the world in his timing. We eat in the confidence that he is at work in the world - in our world - making things right. And so we symbolically feast now as an act of faith in what he will do and is doing.

Words of Institution

The Lord’s Prayer

Invitation

This is the table, not of the church, but of the Lord,

It is made ready for those who love God and for those who want to love Him more.

So come, you who have much faith and you who have little;

You who have been here often and you who have not been here long;

You who have tried to follow and you who have failed.  

Come, because it is the Lord who invites you.

It is His will that those who want Him should meet Him here.