The Upside-Down Kingdom
For Meditation (corey Widmer)
This Sunday we're beginning a new study on the Sermon on the Mount. We'll likely spend much of the coming year learning about this vital section of the New Testament. Though this sermon is only three chapters long, it is full of words both lovely and inspiring, and also confusing and difficult to interpret. John Stott writes, "The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed."
So what really is the Sermon on the Mount all about? That's what we'll spend time unpacking this Sunday, both by looking at the ways people have mis-interpreted the sermon, and also (in my opinion ;) ) is the faithful way of understanding its message. Here, the context is so important. In Matthew chapter 4, we encounter Jesus proclaiming the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 4:17), the good news that God's loving and just reign has arrived on earth in the person of Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount, more than anything else, is Jesus' invitation to all humanity to come be a part of that Kingdom. It is a Kingdom that is truly an upside-down Kingdom, because his kingdom operates on a completely different system of values than do the systems of the world. But is the true Kingdom, the real Kingdom, the Kingdom that brings life and wholeness.
In preparation for the series, I invite you to watch this great intro video from the Bible Project. Pray that the Lord would open wide our hearts to hear, receive, and respond to this good invitation to be a part of Jesus' Kingdom.
Matthew 4:17, 23-25, 5:1-2
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.