Upside Down Kingdom
The grittiness of a 'Jesus is Lord' gospel.
Better said, God's kingdom is the right-side-up one. In the Beatitudes (Matt. 5), Jesus says God's favor is on the humble, the mourning, the gentle and kind, those who seek the repair of unjust systems, the merciful, the innocent, the peacemakers, and the oppressed. His kingdom consists of self-giving to God and neighbor. It's something Paul echoes in 1 Cor. 13, and details in Gal. 5. The challenge is to turn this from a religious abstraction to daily discipleship, to deny myself, take up my cross every day, and follow Jesus' lead, along with others in my church family.
