The Upside-Down Kingdom — Luke 6:20-30
Upside Down • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about an experience I had at my previous church. We had a couple of ladies on our staff who were extremely gifted. One Sunday morning, we came into the worship center and there was an enormous , probably 5’ by 5’, black canvas that was on our stage. When the service started, the choir began to sing. As the choir sang, these ladies began to dip their hands down into buckets of paint and just splatter it everywhere. They would splatter and rub it in, and you’re just captivated by what’s going on because it’s confusing and disorienting. As the song goes on, they’re working furiously until the whole canvas is completely covered in this splattered paint that had been smudged in by their hands. And, honestly, it just looked like a mess. But then, the choir song reached it’s crescendo, and in this climactic moment, they suddenly flips the whole canvas upside down, and you could see clearly the face of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. It was a masterpiece, one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed.
That’s a good metaphor for how Jesus explains that our lives as his disciples will be. Honestly, they just look like a mess, don’t they? Sometimes, it just seems like everything that we touch turns into a pillar of salt, doesn’t it? And, following Jesus seems to make our lives more complicated, more difficult. I mean, life is hard enough already, when you add in having value system that our culture believes is outdated and a desire to live righteously and honorably when that’s contradicted at every turn, life is even harder and more complicated.
God’s Word
God’s Word
But, that’s because everything is upside down. It looks like a bunch of random splatters on a dark canvas because you’re not seeing it right side up. When the Kingdom has fully come, when the choir music reaches crescendo, you’re going to see what a masterpiece it really is, and you’re going to be amazed. That’s what Jesus is teaching his disciples in this morning’s text, and that’s what we’ll be looking at over the next few weeks. He’s teaching us how we can see an “An Inverted Kingdom in a Perverted World.” (Headline)
We’re “given” an upside-down “identity.”
We’re “given” an upside-down “identity.”
Luke 6:20–23 “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
When do you consider yourself blessed? What types of pictures prompt you to throw it on Instagram with #blessed? Is it not when you see your name on the Dean’s List or when you find out that you made the team? Or maybe, it’s when you first get the news that you’re cancer free, or when you’re holding your precious little baby in her nursery for the very first time. Those types of moments create an overflow of feeling that make us want to tell everyone how fortunate we feel and how kind God is. And, man, we should do that. We should recognize God’s kindness to us in these things.
But, Jesus says something shocking. Jesus says that our values of blessing are upside down. He says that the blessed person isn’t the one who gets the job, but who is fired from their job. He says the blessed person isn’t the one who is enjoying a fine meal but the one who may starve to death. The blessed person isn’t the person healed of cancer, but the person who is left coping with the loss. The blessed person isn’t the homecoming queen that everyone adores but the geeky kid everyone picks on.
Jesus is redefining what it means to be blessed according to the values of the Kingdom, and He’s wanting you to see to be blessed in the Kingdom appears upside down int he world. It’s important to understand what Jesus is saying versus what He isn’t saying. He isn’t saying that all poor people are righteous and all rich people are wicked as if poverty is in itself a virtue and wealth is in itself a vice. Rather, Jesus is sharing with us a contrasting categories through which we can understand the world and the Kingdom. “Poor,” for example, was accepted in Israel as a way to describe one as humble or lowly. “Rich” was used to describe someone who was arrogant, haughty, and unscrupulous. This isn’t true of every poor person or every rich person. They’re categories and characters meant to make a point.
And, they’re tied to a condition that Jesus gives in verse 22, “on account of the Son of Man!” What Jesus has in mind are people who are trampled and overlooked and suffering and looked down upon because they value what the Kingdom values and not what the world values. They aren’t living for mansions and money like the rich man or for great meals and laughter like the self-indulgent man or popularity and acceptance like the influential man. They’re living to know Christ and to make him known at all costs. And, to the world it looks crazy; it looks upside down.
You see, the labels assigned by the world are flipped upside down in the Kingdom. What everyone says defines you here isn’t what defines you there. That’s the point. Here you’re called “poor,” “hungry,” and “hated.” And, those labels are real enough to cause you real pain. But, those aren’t you’re real names. They aren’t most real. They won’t last very long. The real Kingdom, the eternal kingdom is hidden but will soon enough be revealed, and when it’s revealed so will be our true identities. And, in the kingdom, you aren’t “poor” or “hungry” or “hated.” You’re an heir who will feast at the King’s table because you are beloved by him. Do you see how every label is flipped right side up? That’s what’s really real. Those are the names that are going to stick. That’s why Jesus says “Yours IS”. This is already reality. It’s already true. Your room is booked!
So, Jesus says your identity is not what you lack, but what you have because what you have is far greater than what you lack. And, it’s the security of this identity that allows you to live right side up in an upside down world. If an eternal treasure is already yours and you really believe it, then you aren’t spun out of control about a temporary deficit. You have abundance at home, and it’s no big deal to wait until you getthere. If a banquet table is awaiting you, if you’re planning to eat dinner at your favorite restaurant, you aren’t bitter to hold you’re appetite until you get there. You’re eager and excited to wait because you know you’ll just savor it that much more. If Goliath makes fun of you and hates you, you don’t become a bitter and angry person. You smile because you already know that David wins. You’re upside down identity enables you to enjoy an upside down joy. The rest of the world looks at us and thinks we must be confused, but we aren’t confused. We’re seeing straight. They just don’t have the eyes for it. It looks upside down to them, but when the kingdom comes, it’ll be right side up.
And, it’s our newly discovered identity in the kingdom that charts the course of our lives. It changes what we’re chasing.
We’re “seeking” an upside-down “ambition.”
We’re “seeking” an upside-down “ambition.”
Luke 6:21 ““Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”
You’ll notice that there’s a contrast throughout between “now” and “shall.” And, this is a key to unlocking the whole passage. There’s what is, and there’s what will be. Right now, you’re poor or you’re hungry or you’re grieving. Jesus isn’t blind to those things. He’s honest about them. He doesn’t intend for you to pretend they aren’t real. He intends for you to recognize that eternity is more real. By more real, I mean it’s longer lasting, more secure, and never changing. So, Jesus’ expectation of his disciples — an expectation that will make them appear completely upside down to their neighbors and families — is that they would live for what “shall” be instead of what currently is “now.”
The worst thing that you could do is evaluate your life by today’s condition. If you do, it’ll almost certainly spin you out of control, and you will almost certainly NOT call yourself blessed or enjoy any type of substantial joy and happiness. Rather, Jesus would have you to know that today’s condition is not the lasting condition. Poverty and hunger will not last. Weeping and mocking will not last. Today’s condition isn’t the lasting condition, and so it isn’t the condition that’s most real. And, this discovery creates the conditions that enable you to consider yourself “blessed” when everyone else would call you cursed. You are not defined by today’s condition. You are defined by Christ’s assurances. “You SHALL be satisfied.” “You SHALL laugh.”
Here’s what’s fascinating to me: the assurances that Jesus gives — satisfaction, happiness, acceptance — are the very things that everyone else is chasing, aren’t they? They want to know some sense of satisfaction and happiness, even if it’s only for a minute. That’s why some drink too much and others eat too much. It’s why some people have affairs and others turn to porn. It’s why some people have enormous consumer debt and others see how large they can grow their savings accounts. It’s why drug use and plastic surgery are normal. We want to be satisfied, and we want to smile. But, Jesus is teaching us that we’re looking in the all the wrong places. We’re chasing imitation satisfaction and imitation joy. It’s not real. It doesn’t satisfy, and it doesn’t last. We’re still falling prey to the lies of the Serpent, and he’s leading us away from Eden, not closer to it.
So, what’s the answer? Go all in on the Kingdom. A kingdom has started and will come in full one day. Right now, there are costs. It doesn’t ensure that you’ll be wealthy or that you’ll grow old or that everyone will think your awesome. It ensures that you “shall” be. All of the quick fixes are offering you the rewards of the kingdom without the costs of the cross. Quick fixes keep dangling the carrot of one more purchase or one more relationship or one more affirmation from your kids or one more job change and you’ll catch what you’re chasing, you’ll feel what you want to feel. But, Jesus is honest with us. The world is not. Commercials are not. Social media is not. Jesus says life will be hard, following him will be costly, but the Kingdom is coming. This is the pain of the walking down narrow path, but — as upside down as it is — this is the true fix, and his invitation is for you to be secured within it RIGHT NOW. So, you can live as an assured person, not as a panicked person — as a fulfilled person, not an empty one.
Stop chasing quick fixes, brothers and sisters. They’re liars. Change the ambition of your lives. Money cannot fix what’s broken in you. Ask Jeffrey Epstein or Ted Turner. Acceptance and popularity cannot fix what is broken in you. Ask P. Diddy or Princess Diana. Freedom won’t make you happy. Ask Steve Jobs or Kanye West or ARod. No, go all in on the Kingdom. Chase after Jesus. Learn what it means to live in the “now” in light of the “shall.” Make it your ambition to learn what it means to abide in Jesus and to rest in Jesus and to hope in Jesus. Make it your pursuit to discover how the hope He’s offered to you has enabled men and women, teenagers and parents, seniors and twenty-somethings just like you — some with even greater suffering — to live with an unflappable joy. It’s not the ambition that your friends have. It’s not what your parents are expecting. It’s upside down, but it’s the only way to live right side up.
You see, when you’re living out of an upside down identity in pursuit of an upside down ambition it enables you to enjoy…
We’re “enjoying” an upside-down “freedom.”
We’re “enjoying” an upside-down “freedom.”
Luke 6:22–23 ““Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
Luke 6:27–29 ““But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.”
When you’re living for an inverted Kingdom in a perverted world, you have to realize that it means a collision is coming. Jesus is being honest about that. “WHEN people hate you and WHEN they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil.” There’s going to be a collision between you and the world because you’re going in opposite directions. Your neighbors and friends and children don’t want to be shown that their way isn’t the right way. Augustine wrote 1500 years ago that the reason ancient Rome was killing its Christians was because they wanted to be able to do what they wanted to do and sin how they wanted to sin without feeling uneasy about it. When others see you living upside down, even though you love them, they will hate you because your life is a declaration to them that their treasures — their gods — are fake and fleeting. And, we shouldn’t expect anyone to take that lying down.
But, Jesus says we should should “rejoice in that day.” Further down, in verses 27-29, Jesus takes it even further. He says that as we collide with the world the hostility must only go one way from them toward us. He tells us to “Love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who abuse us. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.” That’s about as upside down as it gets, isn’t it?
Now, why would Jesus say such crazy things? It’s not because we’re gluttons for punishment. It’s because we’re joining him where the cross leads. And, we know that the crucifixion is painful, but the burial is short and the resurrection is glorious. So, we join him in a death like his knowing that we’ll join him in a life like his.
So, we can love and self-deny because we’ve been made free. We’re free from the need to be liked and accepted. We’re free from the need for vengeance or temporary justice. Everyone else is trying to live before they die, but we don’t have the pressure. While everyone else is trying live before they die, we’re trying to die to self before we really live. So, we joyfully take up our crosses.
Jesus is laboring to show us that we can love in a way that the world cannot because we have already been accepted. We can love our enemies because we do not need the approval of our enemies. We can do good to our abusers because our abusers’ rejection has been consumed by the unbreakable acceptance of God himself. You see, true freedom — the type of freedom that is offered by Jesus in genuine Christianity — is the ability to live FROM acceptance instead of FOR acceptance. You don’t have to lose ten pounds to be accepted. You don’t have to be a peak performer to be desired. You don’t have to choose all the right words or be the smartest guy or the funniest guy or the most attractive woman in the room to be noticed. You’ve been accepted based on the righteousness and perfection and performance of Jesus. So, you don’t need others to like you, which means now you’ve been set free to really love them without needing something in return.
My goodness, I wish I could pour this into the heart of every beautiful young lady tempted throw herself at some guy so that she feels wanted. I wish I could pour this into the heart of struggling mommas who don’t feel like anything they do is noticed or matters. I wish I could pour this into the hearts of dads who feel like a failure because his house isn’t a showpiece. I wish I could pour it into the hearts of senior adults depressed that they can’t spend winters in Maui. You’ve been accepted! So, let them look down on you. You’re days of measuring up are done. Jesus has done all of the measuring up for you, and He’s said, “It is finished.”
That’s what Jesus is trying to press into the hearts of his disciples, and that’s what I want to press into yours. You see, we’re living for a..
We’re “living” for an upside-down “crown.”
We’re “living” for an upside-down “crown.”
When we were coming together as a team to create a new logo for our church, I told our team that I wanted to create something that would embody the heart of who we are and who we’re aiming to be. I wanted something that would capture our mission and our message. I wanted a symbol that we could rally around and use to direct our families. I wanted something that we could see that would immediately transport our minds to our home with Jesus. I wanted something that wouldn’t just cast a vision for our church as an organization but for our lives as disciples of Jesus. So, we came up with an upside down crown. A reminder that our lives and values will look upside down to the world until Jesus comes to make everything right side up again. It’s a declaration to our families that this is not our home, and we are not crazy. It teaches that we’re co-heirs, not prisoners. I want this crown to be a reminder in your life of what Jesus taught about his Kingdom.
(Pause and let the tension build) Blessed are the stay-at-home moms who pour Jesus into their babies and the dads who drag themselves to dead end jobs so their families and church family have what they need and the grandparents who burn out their gas to taking their families to church, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are those who give their vacations to fulfill the Great Commission and whose investments in the Kingdom are greater than those in their 401k’s and whose homes are more modest than they could otherwise afford, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who have entrusted your loved ones into the resurrection of Jesus and who are staring death in the face with hope and who live with joy by faith in light of painful providence, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you because they love their sin more and when people exclude you because you walk upstream against the current of the age and revile you because you won’t forsake Jesus to make them like you, for your reward in heaven is great.
Blessed are you when you live for an upside-down kingdom, for your crown shall one day be turned right side up. It’ll be like when my friends flipped their painting upside down, what looked like a mess will turn out to be a masterpiece. “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
