The Upside-Down Kingdom.

We are starting today a brand new series called A Whole New Way to Live. We just finished the book of Ruth. If you missed it, it's on our podcast. You can thank Josh for getting that up every week for you, so you can go back and listen to know what have we been talking about here at New Culture.

Today we're starting a new series going through what is famously known as the Sermon on the Mount, which is Matthew's chapter 5, 6, and 7, leading up until Easter. If you know me, I have a really hard time not going slow through Scripture. So it's going to go beyond Easter, but we broke it up a little bit. We're going to be going up until Easter on the Sermon on the Mount, and we'll have a shorter series on Matthew after that.

What you can find back at the welcome table today. Because we always say at New Culture our hope is that truly we want to create the culture of Christ. And we believe that that happens here on Sundays, but also every single day of the week beyond this. And so we want us all to be people that we love the Word of God. We love the Bible. We love hearing the voice of God through Scripture. And we want to do that together.

We have just a really short just kind of reading plan. This is great because if you have another reading plan that you're doing, you can do this alongside it. We'll probably be about five to ten minutes of reading a passage of Scripture every week from the Beatitudes. And if you're new to reading scripture, this is a great place to start with just five to ten minutes a day. You can add in a Psalms or something else like that. It also kind of has just some key themes and some other additional resources for you. If you're like, I really want to study this beyond Sunday, what does that look like?

And then we added a little new thing of maybe a dream like memory verse for the week to continue to memorize scripture. Lock it in on our hearts, all of that. And then the other thing you're going to see today is a little Lent guide. And so Lent is starting this Wednesday. We're doing our first ever Ash Wednesday service that'll be happening here at the church. Wednesday at 7 p.m., we're going to have a time of prayer as we welcome in this Lenten season.

And so if you're new to Lent and you're like, I have never observed that before, we have a little guide that will show you what is Lent? How do I practice Lent? How do we do this as a community? So there's that.

The Beatitudes

We are starting today in Matthew chapter 5 in verse 1.

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:1-12

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much today for your word that is alive and active. We thank you, God, for the unique ways that you brought each and every one of us into this room today to open this passage of scripture, to hear from your voice, to hear from your Holy Spirit. God, I just pray right now for these next few moments, in what is such a rare moment for us to be free of distractions, but to be fully listening to you and to your voice, would you just speak so clearly to us?

God, we just take a moment even now, and I just invite you in whatever way feels comfortable to just even pray and say, God, I surrender these next few moments to you. Would you speak in your own way? Would you just take a moment and invite the Holy Spirit to come and to speak through these scriptures, believing that he has something for you today?

And so Holy Spirit, we know that you're here, that you're with us. We thank you. We welcome you into this space. We are open. We lay everything else aside. Would you come? Would you have your way? It's in your name we pray. Amen.

This is one of Jesus' most famous sermons that people talk about all the time. But as I was thinking about this, one of the last things that it talks about here is it keeps going into Scripture, is that the people that were around there, they were like in shock of what Jesus was saying. They were blown away by what he was saying because it was so different from what they came from.

Now growing up my grandmother used to say this thing. She would say that different families have different rules. Now this was polite. I think we might say things like we listen and we don't judge. When you walk into other people's homes when you see how some people would sit around a dinner table, send people a couch in front of a TV, and it was a way to help us to be polite children and not like make comments of the way people live their lives. She would just say, different families have different rules.

So when you go to someone's house, you can follow their rules, right? To an extent. She also always told us we could pull the, my mommy said I can't do that card whenever. I still do sometimes, honestly. I was like, sorry, my mom said I can't do that. It's a great cop out if you needed out from peer pressure. So there was a balance, right? It's not just like go into anyone's home and do whatever they tell you to do, right? That's not good. That's not normal, not healthy.

But there was this way that she would do that for us of saying like when you're in somebody's home, like they're going to have a different culture. They're going to have different rules. But just because they have that doesn't mean then you always live by that wherever you go.

When we even get into this text today and we're going to be talking about what is the kingdom of heaven? What is the blessed life? What is the good life? We have to recognize that based on the families that we came from, the place that we grew up, our surroundings, each and every one of us are going to filter this through a different lens, based on our cultures, based on our upbringing, based on the people that surround us.

And so when we say these are the family rules, we're all going to have a different idea of what that means. When I even say that word family, we all have a different idea of what that means.

So Jesus is entering the scene and people have an idea of what a kingdom is. They know what a ruler is. They know what it's like to conquer and to win and to be victorious. They know what a supposed good life is based on their culture, their customs, the kingdom that they knew. And Jesus is showing up on the scene with a completely different idea of what the kingdom of heaven is, of what the blessed life should be.

Our so what for today is this, that Jesus shows us a whole new way to live. A whole new way to live. When he enters the scene, he does not just live and he does not start to rule and reign like the previous kings did when they came. But instead, he shows us a whole new way to live.

And what do we do with that? We follow Jesus' example. We celebrate what the world doesn't. And we learn as followers of Jesus to find comfort in this uncommon kingdom. And I use that word comfort because that might be the hardest thing that we're constantly trying to do as followers of Jesus is to be comforted by the uncomfortable, uncommon ways that Jesus invites us to follow him.

This passage specifically here, the Beatitudes, it's talking about what is known as the blessed life in the kingdom of God. I want you, and if you're taking notes or if you're throwing out jotting things to just right when I say that, a blessed life, a good life. Don't try to be super holy here. I want you to just think, what are the first things that come to mind? When you think of a blessed life? When you think of a good life? If we're honest and we're not, you know, of course we know Jesus, right? But our honest answers probably start with something like financial stability, a roof over my head, right? Maybe marriage and a family and a happy marriage and a happy this and kids and healthy children and all of these things.

And Jesus is coming here and he's showing us this blessed life that he's talking about is so different than what we would initially think. So he's showing us not only who is blessed, but what it means to live a blessed life in the kingdom of God.

So our context that we're naturally going to filter this through is when we think of a kingdom, as we know it, kings and rulers and inheritance are typically something you're born into, right? I mean, think of Prince Harry and Prince William. They're born into it, so they get this inheritance. That's maybe the context we get of kingdom. It's like, well, you're born into it.

But here's what's so cool about the kingdom of heaven and Jesus and his kingdom. It's he's like, if you choose and you surrender your life to me, you are now a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come. You are now a part of my family. So we can be adopted in and now we get this inheritance of this blessed life.

Understanding the Beatitudes

I want to talk about the context really quick, the Sermon on the Mount. Before we dive into the Beatitudes themselves, Jesus had, at this point, you can read earlier in Matthew. And if you haven't recently, I'd recommend this week, taking a minute to do that. We see that Jesus was baptized. Then Jesus goes in and he's tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. He's fasting.

And then he comes out and this is where we see his public ministry begin. And so people have started to hear about this guy who's healing the sick. They're starting to hear like, oh gosh, we should bring people to Jesus. So the crowd is gathering around here.

Now in those days, the mountain was a place of solitude and reflection, but it also was a way of offering this vantage point from which one could see all the surrounding landscapes. So it says he went up on a mountain. So he's sitting somewhere where he can see the entire landscape but this was a symbolic place. They often represented in the Bible and the Old Testament where people went and encountered God. So he's talking to them very intentionally on this mountaintop to say, look around and here we are, a place where we can encounter God.

This word beatitude. It essentially means this blessedness or happiness. But these blessings are not just these feel good affirmations. It basically this idea of saying this is what the good life is. Blessed are those who live like this. Blessed are the poor in spirit. The good life is when you mourn. The good life is when you're merciful. When you're pure in heart. The good life is fill in the blank.

Each of these blessings, though they bring a radical shift in how we view our relationship with God and the world around us. And Jesus is showing us a whole new way to live like this.

So we're going to go through these today. And the first one says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When I read this, this is what comes to mind. To be full, we first must empty ourselves.

To be full, we first must empty ourselves. The first blessing might be the most shocking when you read that. I mean, if I were to survey, I'm sure most of us, when we went through of what do we think a blessed life is, there was some sort of financial stability or something like that that came to mind because money is power, right? It goes on and on. We know the weight of that.

And Jesus is saying poor in spirit. He's using that language, poor, that emptiness. And you think about this. So essentially, Jesus is saying, congratulations and be blessed when you're poor. That's not how we do things typically, right? Typically we go and we celebrate when it's like, you got a promotion. You got a raise. You got a new job. We celebrate abundance and more, more, more, more, more.

But he's saying, congratulations when you are poor in spirit. Beyond the earthly things that we can attain and the more or the lack of, this is an acknowledgement that we are spiritually helpless and in need of God's grace and his mercy and his kindness.

In our world, our idea of a kingdom is power. Our idea of kingdoms value strength and independence and self made success. But Jesus is saying, in my kingdom, I value an emptiness. I value when you release everything else that you have and you hold on to nothing and you are poor in spirit.

If I were to hold something here in my hands and when I put it down, my hands are empty. Now there's two ways to look at this, right? The first is to say my hands are empty. There's nothing there. But the second is to say my hands are empty they're now ready to receive. For us to be people that are poor in spirit is not to walk around saying we're people of lack but to say we're people that are ready to receive the kingdom of heaven.

And we're people that are then when it comes we're ready to release it again and release it again because we recognize we don't have to live clinging to everything that comes but we can continue to surrender and let the kingdom of heaven flow through us.

Jesus is talking about us being people that we get over this idea that we have to cling to power, that we have to cling to success, that we have to cling to this world where it's all about us attaining things, but to be empty over and over again in order to receive.

Essentially, Jesus is saying, blessed are you who recognize your need for God. Blessed are you that come empty before the king of kings and are ready to receive.

And then he says, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. To be comforted we have to mourn. Raise your hand if you like to mourn. Yeah no one. This is not a comfortable thing for us to do.

When we think of mourning we often think of death and loss and grief but Jesus specifically when he's using this word mourn here in the text. And something that's important to note in the New Testament. Although it's written in Greek, Jesus would have been speaking Hebrew or Aramaic. And so a lot of the times we'll look at the Hebrew words even when Jesus is talking, because that was the language that would have been spoken, even though it's written in Greek.

So the Hebrew word that was likely used here was evel, which means to mourn or lament the loss of something or someone. So Jesus here, he's not speaking though about any type of mourning. He's also referring to this idea of how do we mourn over our sins? How do we mourn over the ways that we're not living for the kingdom of heaven?

And I think it's important for us to note that here, that there is an invitation for us to continue to be people that mourn our need for God. Mourn our sin and the way that we separate ourselves from God, the way that we continue to fall short. Because if we don't, then we'll never fully walk in that forgiveness and that grace and that mercy that is promised.

You know, you think about it. It's like if you've ever had car trouble and you get it fixed. Where was the starting point? It was first you acknowledging that the noise was getting too loud, that you had to take it somewhere. And then you going in and allowing someone to fix your car for you. The first step is often us acknowledging the sin that exists in our life. It's acknowledging the ways that we are not living in the ways of Jesus and the kingdom of heaven in order for us to be people that seek forgiveness and repentance and to walk in the mercy and the grace.

So in a way, Jesus is saying like, blessed are you when you're able to acknowledge your sin. When you're able to mourn your sin. Mourn the separation. Mourn when you're not walking towards God. And so you can turn and walk back towards him instead.

Then Jesus says, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. To become meek, we first must overcome ourselves. Another place that meekness is referenced in scriptures in Psalms 37, where it says, starting in verse 7:

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes, refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while and the wicked will be no more. Though you look to them, they will not be found, but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Psalms 37:7-11

Another thing that we have to recognize whenever we're reading the New Testament is that when Jesus is speaking, oftentimes we see these like little quotes of Old Testament scriptures. And that's because culturally, he was speaking to a culture that was practicing first century Judaism, where they would have memorized scripture. Like not just like I gave us a little memory verse a week to learn. Like they would have memorized like all the Psalms, all the prayers, all the things to where it went in the same way.

Like if I were to reference a movie quote, which I've tried that before here. And then like, I realized I don't think I watch the same movies as people because nobody gets it. And then it's just really awkward. So I'm not going to do that as an example today. But if I were to make like a reference from your favorite movie, I wouldn't have to quote the entire movie to you, right? I would just be like, oh, remember, and then you would know what I'm talking about.

So that's kind of what we see happening in scripture often is Jesus gives this little like quote, this little glimpse, and everyone's like, ah, yeah, we know. We know that Psalms. You know, we know Psalms 37. We know what you're talking about.

So he's saying that the meek here will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. Here's what I want to talk about with meekness. Meekness is not weakness. Often we think of it like that. We think to be meek, we're weak, but rather it's strength under control. Meekness is about being self aware. It's about being humble. It's about acknowledging our imperfections and releasing all pride.

Because again, the world and the kingdom that we might have an idea of, it celebrates power. It celebrates control. But Jesus celebrates those who are gentle, those who recognize their need for a savior and aren't afraid to show their weaknesses. They're not afraid to acknowledge I'm a sinner and I'm going to mourn over my sin, right? They're not afraid of these things.

You see, it's so easy for us to not only put on a facade, but think that we need to put on a facade. That we need to pretend to have it all together. But the truth is each and every one of us here today, we have struggles. We have weaknesses. We have things that we're not proud of. We have things that we hope nobody would ever know around us.

And so Jesus is saying, will you humble yourselves? And blessed are those people that can say, I need God and I can't do this alone. And there's no shame. There is no shame in living like that. The meek. Those that are self aware and those that are not afraid to acknowledge their imperfections.

In the same way that the longer that you let that car light stay on and you don't take it in, at some point you're going to be like me in circa 2022, where I'm trying to go through a drive through and it's just rattling and rattling and there's nothing you can do to stop it. And you know, everyone's staring at you because you can't hide it. You can no longer hide it. It's going to come out.

And so we either get to be people that say, we're going to mourn. We're going to grieve. We're going to repent. We're going to come before the Lord. We're going to empty ourselves. We're going to lay it down at his feet in order to be healed and held again.

We need to acknowledge the things that are happening to be meek we must first overcome ourself our pride we must first overcome ourselves to let Jesus in to be our strength. But this is the good news is that with Jesus like we can change. Like there is a way for us to change. When we come to Jesus he transforms us.

So these first three beatitudes they're all talking about the kingdom coming. And that the kingdom this blessed life it's going to come to not the powerful victorious strong people we think. But it's going to come to those who are meek. Those who are humble. Those who are seen as powerless. Those who are seen as unimportant. The poor in spirit.

And now Jesus is going in in these next few beatitudes he's sharing the character of those who will feel most at home in the kingdom. Those that are going to relate and be like, this is my place. Like he's sharing the characters. And it says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

The pain of starvation leads to deeper satisfaction in Jesus. This idea of hunger is a strong word here. It's not just like, oh, my stomach's crawling a little bit. I think I skipped breakfast and it's almost noon. Like we're talking like starvation pains, okay. But we don't feel the pain of starvation truly until we fully empty.

I mean think about it. Sometimes if you accidentally get to the end of the day and this is not healthy and you just like oh shoot I forgot to eat. You might just be like oh I'm a little hungry. But this is a pain. This is a real hunger and a starvation.

Now, this is something I want to talk about spiritually in a sense. Because I think for many of us, we experience this and we feel this, but we don't have the words to name it. And because we can't name it, then we can't fully surrender it to Jesus and instead it leads to us going to other places in order to find the satisfaction.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says:

He made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity on the hearts, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

You see, each and every one of us, we are born into this world with a longing. We are born with this restlessness where we will not find rest until we find Jesus. And then we find Jesus and we can surrender our lives to him. And we're still here living in this world where Jesus has come and he's coming again to continue to bring his kingdom to completion.

I share this with you today to say this. If you feel unsatisfied with life you're not alone. At the end of the beatitudes it even references that. Like the prophets that came before. The prophets that were also persecuted. The prophets that also hungered and longed and waited for the Lord to come. So if you feel dissatisfied with what you're seeing on the news. With what you're reading on social media. Like you're not alone. Our hunger is a holy dissatisfaction with the world around us.

And it's such an interesting word that a wording here that it doesn't say those who hunger and thirst for God, but those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. So essentially Jesus is saying here that we will be blessed when we not only hunger and thirst for God, but also for what is right in God's eyes.

I want to stay on this for just another minute because Psalms 89:14 says:

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

Psalms 89:14

So if righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne, then they should be the foundation of our lives. God himself is just. Is fair. Is right. So justice and righteousness. Instead where it's saying blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God, it's saying hunger and thirst for righteousness, for justice. Other translations use that word justice.

It is saying hunger and thirst for the God that is just. The God that is right. And hunger and thirst for those things to come to life. Justice is God's fair and impartial treatment of all people. And as a God of justice, he's interested in that. He wants to see fairness. He wants to see his righteousness. And so when we begin to not only hunger for God, but hunger for what he hungers for, we start to live that blessed life.

But here's the thing. Starvation. Not just like I skipped breakfast kind of hunger, but starvation. It's painful. It's uncomfortable. To truly hunger and thirst for righteousness will be uncomfortable. It was a great Sunday to come to church today. But here's the thing is I want us to be a church that we are not afraid of the uncomfortable. That the second following Jesus gets hard or painful, or we start to feel those insults and that persecution, that we don't flee from that, but instead we lean into that because we look at what the blessed life is and it's not just rainbows and butterflies, but it's being poor. It's being meek. It's mourning. It's hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Jesus is saying to us today, you are blessed when you give everything you have and you remain ready to receive. You're blessed when you grieve over your sin. When you humble yourselves before God. You're blessed when you hunger and thirst for the things that I hunger and thirst for.

And he says you're blessed when you show mercy. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. This is a pretty simple like we get what we give type of thing. So mercy. It's about this compassion. This kindness towards those who do not deserve it. And Jesus is saying here that if you are going to be someone. If you want to receive mercy and kindness and compassion. Give it away. Give it away. Give it away.

Mercy is a hallmark. It is a foundation again of the kingdom of God. Jesus was someone that lived this out so well in the way that he showed kindness and compassion to everyone around him. And so Jesus is saying do the same. Be merciful and you'll be blessed.

Then he goes on to say blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. To be pure though we must first be refined. To be pure we must be people that are willing to let everything else be removed from our life.

In first century Judaism culture, this purification process. Before people would come to the temple to worship, they would go through what was called a mikvah, which was a ritual bath for women when they were seen as unclean during their menstruation or before or after childbirth. They would go through this mikvah, this ritual to be cleansed, to be purified. We see this again in the Levitical laws that the priests in ancient Israel, before they performed their various different purification rituals in the temple, it would be washing their hands and their feet before they would perform any sacred duties.

And so Jesus is saying to be pure in heart. For us to be blessed people, we must be pure in heart. You even think of water purification. The process of removing any of the toxins, any of the things that we're filtering, all of the things that we're doing to remove anything that might be harmful for us to consume. Purity of heart is about having this single minded devotion to God.

To be pure of heart, it's not just about these external actions, but it is about us having a heart that is focused on God alone. Purification removes anything that is polluting or making your life unsafe, harmful, or unclean.

Jesus is promising us that if we will be people that go through this process of allowing him to cleanse us, to purify our hearts, that we will see God. We will see him rightly when there's no other distractions. When there's nothing else getting in the way.

Jesus then goes on to show us that the good life of those who follow Jesus and live according to his kingdom, these are the results. He said blessed are you the peacemakers. You will be called children of God. He's like here's the family values. Here's how you represent me. Here's how you act like me and my child. Be a peacemaker.

Again notice this proactive language. Peace is made not kept. This is a hard one for us to wrap our heads around because most of us I would say, like, we kind of think, well, like, if you're going to be peaceful, it's almost like, shut your mouth, sit still, maybe do some deep breathing and peace.

But to make peace is not passive. It's proactive. To make peace, it might be, oh, there's some conflict here. And instead of just saying, ah, I'm going to ignore it and shut my eyes and close my mouth and sit still. We might be, you know, calling someone on the phone and say, hey, can we sit down? Can we talk about this, right? Hey, can we confront what's happening here? Can we start to make peace with the situation? It's a lot harder.

Peacekeeping today might look like I'm just going to turn off the TV. And if I don't address what I see happening, if I forget about it, then it's not happening. And I'm at peace and I can sleep at night.

Peacemaking is saying, God, I see what's happening. I'm overwhelmed. What would you have me do? What would you have me do with this? Because we might not be able to make peace for the whole world. We might not be able to just snap our fingers and say, here's world peace.

But what we can do is we can make peace in the world around us. We can make peace with the people around us. We have power. Peacemaking is proactive, not passive.

What does it look like if all of us start to live in this type of way where we acknowledge like, yes, like what we're seeing happening around our world is not peaceful and it's not good. And I'm not promoting like the doom scrolling. Like sometimes we got to turn the TV off, right. But rather instead of just saying, we can't do anything, we can't do anything. So we're just not going to say anything. We're going to ignore it and turn off the TV.

What if we came and we prayed and we said, Jesus, it's your kingdom that's coming. So you better tell us the strategy. You better tell us what to do. What is our invitation to make peace? To not be passive but to be proactive people that are ushering in the kingdom of heaven?

Jesus is calling us to actively pursue peace in our relationships and in the world.

Then he says, congratulations. Be blessed. Those of you who are persecuted because of righteousness. Yours is the kingdom of heaven. What a happy Sunday. The final thing he's doing is saying, you're blessed when you suffer for doing what is right.

In a world that tells us that often that standing up for truth leads to opposition, Jesus promised us that those who are persecuted. Those who stand up for my name and are righteous. You will inherit the kingdom of God. This is good. But he's saying in this, as you follow me, be prepared to be misunderstood. Be prepared for people to reject you. Celebrate this. This is the good life.

There is a cost for speaking out against injustice. There's a cost. And there's a call. There's a cost for us to make peace in the world in a world that would rather always put themselves first. There is a cost. But we today have a call to live this type of way. To live in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus and the Multitudes

I'm going to invite Elena to come up as we get ready to close. I want to go back to the beginning of this passage where it says in Matthew 5 verse 1, Jesus seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and he taught them, saying.

So the multitudes are around. We talked about how Jesus had come from teaching and healing the sick. So who was around Jesus? Who was here listening to these teachings? I think this is really important for us to grasp. At this point, Jesus is starting to get some fame from his teaching. People know who he is. People are like, okay, something's going on with this guy.

So I think that there's probably many different people here, but these might be some of the people we see. That there were some that were standing around because they just heard who he was and they're kind of curious. And they're like, who is this guy? I want to know about Jesus. I'll show up, I'll see what it's all about.

Then I think there were some that they wanted to get something out of Jesus. That they're like, miracles? Sounds nice. Free lunch? Sign me up. I'll take some food. And then there were others that were there that were truly following him.

Jesus uses this moment, seeing the multitudes. Remember, he's on a mountain. He has this vantage point. He sees the multitudes. And he chooses to do something so interesting. Jesus sees the multitudes, and he sits down.

Now, when I sit down and if I were to remove the microphone in this moment, pretty much those of you sitting right up here could see me. Maybe the second row, you could see me. And I'm going to invite you guys actually to stand right now. So I'm sitting and I'm teaching and you're all standing.

Now when you're standing, now it's really like the first row of people can see me. Maybe if you're a little bit taller than the person in front of you. You can see me and you can hear me. But those of you even three rows back, it's like you can't see anything. You can't hear anything.

Now at this time, Jesus is a rabbi and he has his disciples, his followers, that he's teaching. And the process of a disciple is someone that's following their teacher in order to become like a rabbi. We see a lot of different conversations between students and rabbis, whether in historical texts, documents, and even in scripture. And oftentimes if someone was standing, as a rabbi, if you're standing and you're, it's like said, they're standing. That means it's a casual conversation.

But what would happen when the rabbi was ready to take authority and the rabbi was ready to do the real work of teaching, the rabbi would have everyone stand, his followers would stand, and the rabbi would sit. And the rabbi would teach the important authoritative things to those that were close enough to see and to hear.

You see, this text that we're seeing here, Jesus was intentional. Although he could have stood high and mighty and he could have preached and we often talk about the sermon of him preaching to the masses so everyone heard. He's like, if you're going to get this, if you're going to follow me, this is for those who are close to me. This is for those who are willing to count the cost because to live like this is no small thing. To live like this is not easy, but it is the way of Jesus.

So he was saying, come close, and I'm going to speak with authority of what it looks like to live in my kingdom. His disciples were there, listening. The disciples that then he empowered to go and to continue his mission of seeing the kingdom come.

The Invitation to Kingdom Life

Today we have an invitation to find hope and our home in Jesus, and to acknowledge that we have a longing and a hunger to be home with him and his kingdom forever. And to not hide that hunger and that thirst. And to not hide our sin and our shame, but rather to say, Jesus, I want that blessed life. I want to inherit the kingdom of heaven. I want to be your child.

We have an invitation to be comforted, to find peace, to receive inheritance, to be blessed, to receive this good life, but it's uncommon. And it involves us being people that are willing to come close and to stay close enough to hear the teacher. To not be distant and far away, but to be right up close in the front row so that you can hear the whisper, that you can feel the warmth of his breath and his embrace, like you're right there. You hear it.

So when the teacher speaks with authority, you're ready to go. Here's the thing. As we wait for the fullness of the kingdom to come, we're going to hunger. We're going to be misunderstood. And we're going to be people that say, let's proactively make peace. And let's teach others to do the same.

What does it look like for us church to make peace with Jesus? Like Jesus did not world peace. But if every one of us lived in a way that said I can make peace the world around me. How can we stand up for injustice and righteousness no matter what the cost? How can we be comfortable being uncomfortable for Jesus?

The Beatitudes that invite us to a life that isn't comfortable. That doesn't seek ease or success as the world defines it. Jesus celebrates those who are willing to be uncomfortable. Those that are willing to hunger.

So I'm going to invite you to take a moment and to just close your eyes across this place. And to just think, are we willing, are you willing today to hunger and thirst for righteousness? Are you ready to be a part of a kingdom that's uncommon and uncomfortable? And if you are today, I want to pray for you.

Because when we talk about this kind of kingdom, it's all centered around a king, and that's Jesus. We need Jesus to empower us with his Holy Spirit every single day if we are going to live this way. Because it's not common, it's not natural, but it's who we were created to be.

And so today I just want to invite you in your own way to just pray and say Jesus would you come and would you give me the strength? Jesus would you come and would you help me to be humble and to be meek? Would you help me to mourn over my sin? Jesus would you come and would you help me be someone that hungers and thirsts for you? To not be afraid of the hunger pains that I have but to know it's because I was created for eternity with you.

And so it does make sense that I don't always feel at home in the world around me. It makes sense that I have these longings for something more because that more is found in you and your kingdom. Would you remind us of that today?

Jesus, would you help us to be people that don't just seek to keep the peace, but we're willing to make it no matter what the cost? Holy Spirit, would you bring comfort to us in the moments where we're misrepresented or misunderstood? Would you help us to recognize that persecution is not a sign that we're doing something wrong, but it is rather a sign that we're living surrender to you? And that it's all about you and your reputation, not ours.

Holy Spirit, would you empower us today? Would you empower us today?

I want to close today with a benediction which is a blessing, a prayer of blessing. And if you're here today and if you want you can stay just with your eyes closed. But if you're here and you're in a place where you're like yeah I want to live like this. I want to see God's kingdom come. And I recognize that as a follower of him. That if I'm choosing to say yes to Jesus and to follow Jesus. Then that means to follow the ways of the kingdom. And I'm all in and I want to do that. It's just a sign of surrender to that.

I want to pray the beatitudes and this prayer of blessing over us. And I want to invite you, if you're comfortable, to just place your hands out in front of you as a sign of surrender. To say, yes, I'm empty and I'm ready to receive this blessing.

So be blessed today as you acknowledge that you are not enough. As you recognize your inability to supply all your needs and provide for yourself. Be blessed today as you feel the weight of your sin and you mourn over your wrongdoing. The ways that it has taken you farther from the heart of God. Be blessed as you turn back to him.

Be blessed as you humbly proclaim your weakness and your need for a savior. Be blessed. As you starve yourself of the pleasures of this world and you welcome in the starvation pains that come with it. You acknowledge your heavenly longing. No matter how uncomfortable it may be. Be blessed. Be blessed as you go without. Be blessed as you lack.

Be blessed as you are persecuted. Be blessed as you are rejected. Be blessed as you suffer. Be blessed as you fight for justice and reconciliation. Be blessed as you step into the unknown and walk towards what you cannot yet see.

Be blessed. Be blessed as you give all that you have following the example of Jesus and all that you are away for the sake of his kingdom come. Be blessed. Be blessed as you hunger and thirst for righteousness. The kingdom of heaven. All of its riches and all of its glory. They're yours.

Be blessed. God we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the ways that you continue to speak to us. We thank you for the blessing and the inheritance that we have in following your kingdom and your ways. So would you continue to empower us as we move from this place? It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.