The Upside Down Kingdom

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Focus: The Kingdom of God

Function: To help people embrace the difference of living in the heavenly kingdom.

Form: Stories.

Intro:

The Title of this sermon comes from Don Kraybill's book, The Upside Down Kingdom.

Brother Kraybill also wrote “Amish Grace” which was made into the movie of the same title. It was about the forgiveness extended to the family of the man who murdered 5 Amish girls at the Nickel Mines School in Lancaster, Co.

I would drive by those schools and marvel at how vulnerable they seemed. The very first EMS driver to get into the school was a member of my church. Although the girl that he transported, one of the worst victims that survived the shooting, ended up surviving all the way, he was never right after that. The trauma of that event ended his career.

When that book and movie came out, the world wondered at how Christians could offer such a blanket forgiveness in the face of such evil.

But we are Christians, our world is not the same as others. We are representatives first and foremost of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus said: among the world's kingdoms, their rulers LORD it over them... ...but you, in order to lead, must be servants of others.

We lead by love. We lead by service toward others. We are the first to forgive, the first to reconcile, the first to honor others above ourselves.

Today's passage is about how foolish that may seem to those who live outside of the heavenly Kingdom.

Several years ago, just after one of my children was married, my wife and I traveled the 45 miles to visit them.

There was a big TV and a state of the art Sound System connected to it. The TV filled the room.

And we were all watching, together, one of those hour long news/story/investigative shows. It was in 2003, when 9/11 was still fresh in everyone's minds.

A Kansas missionary couple stumbled into a terrorist group affiliated with Osama Bin Laden.

They were kidnapped and that began a one year ordeal that ended with the death of the husband and the rescue of the wife.

She consented to the interview only if she could share how her faith took her through the incident.

They filmed her response inside of her home. On the refrigerator was a picture of one of her captors.

The camera man focused on that picture.

When the question came up, she told the reporters that she both loved and cared for this man and was actively praying for him, still.

I was weeping for how the Love of God could transform the human heart into one of compassion instead of hatred and bitterness.

I wept for joy!

But, as I looked around the room, there was one person who was visibly angry.

I heard a word that I cannot repeat here, but it had to do with what is coming out of the South end of a North bound bull.

I don't want to make light of this situation, however.

The room got tense and I was asked the question by this person.

Now, this person is a Christian and I am not going to judge this person.

But, the person asked me, as a pastor this question: “Is that what it really means to follow Jesus?”

No sooner did that question come out of the mouth than the news source tried to explain away her Christian love as a psychological aberration.

They said it could be what is called Stockholm Syndrome. That is a psychological dynamic that describes an emotional bond between captors and hostages, but it always has 3 components. 1). The hostage has positive feelings toward their captors, 2). the captors have positive feelings toward the hostages, and 3). both groups have negative feelings toward the police, rescuers or those in authority.

Now, the captors murdered her husband and tried to kill her. She never had any negative feelings toward the rescuers or those in authority and she didn't agree with their cause.

She agreed with her cause. She agreed with Jesus' cause. Love one another.

The news source's explanation served to changed the nature of the conversation, so I never got to answer the question, that night, if that was what it takes to live out our Christian lives as citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

To bad.

Although, I sense the other person was not quite ready to accept the idea of unconditional love and forgiveness.

However, the first thing I thought of, after the news source tried to explain away the miracle of this woman's love and forgiveness, was this passage of scripture.

The wisdom that we have is foolishness to those who are outside of Christ.

And it spurs from the Cross of Christ.

In verse 22 he states: Some need miracles in order to believe, others want a logical faith in order to believe.

But to learn to lead by dying? It made no sense to most of his audience.

However, the message somehow was used by God to transform hearts and create belief.

For the most part, it was because there was consistency with the message preached and the actions of those who followed.

They refused to take up arms in retaliation. They refused to hate their enemies.

The prayed for and blessed their enemies.

And the love that they showed changed the hearts of some of their enemies.

Oh I wish I always had that kind of faith!

But we are weak.

I once heard a person say this: “A Christian is one for whom the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made the ultimate difference in everything that they do.”

I believe that it comes from this passage.

Because of the cross, we too can put others before ourselves and live out sacrificial love.

If this selfish old world were to have its way with us, we would agree that living selfish lives is a moral good.

That is even the power behind our economic system.

That kind of pressure is not only selfish, but it is shortsighted.

It is shortsighted because it looks only for the immediate return instead of the long term blessing that we can have for and toward others.