Join me in reading The Upside Down Kingdom: An 8 Day Study Through the Beatitudes
Day 1...The Poverty That Makes One Rich
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3
AS WE BEGIN
Mike Vetrone was an ex-drug-runner for the mob who was addicted to heroin. Feeling all alone, crushed by persistent death threats, and tired of running, the idea of ending it all presented itself. On an overcast morning in South Florida, Mike dropped by a favorite haunt, Big Apple Bagel, to pick up his last meal. Back in his apartment, he flipped on the television in search of company. On came a television preacher exclaiming, “Life has a way of grabbing you by the collar, forcing you down to your knees.”
Mike turned up the volume.
“There’s a chain that binds every soul,” the preacher exclaimed, “and that chain is sin—an addiction from which Jesus’s death and resurrection sets us free.” Suddenly, as the television evangelist invited viewers to embrace Christ, Mike found himself shouting at the television, “Yes!” In that moment, he no longer felt alone.
Mike was facing not the end of his life, but a new beginning.
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
When we sense our spiritual poverty, we are ready to receive the King’s riches. The kingdom is not for the graspers, but for the broken—those who reach the end of themselves and approach God with empty hands.
OBSERVATIONS
The phrase “kingdom of heaven” occurs throughout Matthew and is generally synonymous with the “kingdom of God.” It describes the true, peaceful, pure, and joyful life that is realized in communion with God. Such blessings confront our idols—the gods of comfort, success, and national pride—and promise something far greater. Indeed, idols are merely the profane and twisted parody of which the kingdom is the satisfying reality. So, Jesus frames his Beatitudes with reference to the kingdom: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3; cf. 5:10).
Notice how Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as “theirs.” The positioning of this word at the beginning of the clause gives the sense that the kingdom is for this particular group, the poor in spirit, the marginalized and forgotten. It’s not for those who are content with life and consistently in control. It’s not for those who believe in themselves, who have the natural ability to win the day. As Martin Luther proclaimed from his deathbed, “We are all beggars; this is true.”
APPLICATION
Many of Jesus’ contemporaries expected a deliverer like Joshua or David, a military commander who would vanquish the Romans and establish an earthly kingdom. Instead, he became known as a friend of tax collectors—a circle of traitors who aligned with the political enemy.
In keeping with our Savior’s example, we don’t always need to defend ourselves or have the final word. Christians who are poor in spirit can live with being maligned and misunderstood. We can be like Jesus before Herod Antipas—silent. Such poverty is essential when we are tempted to excoriate our “enemy” who thinks differently about a social or political issue.
How will you embody poverty of spirit, even among those who seek to argue?
CHAPTER 1...The Upside Down Discussion Questions
The Poverty That Makes One Rich
1. The blessings of the kingdom, Chris says, “confront our idols—the gods
of comfort, success, and national pride—and promise something far
greater.” What are the prominent idols that are currently commanding
your allegiance? How might a renewed focus on the riches of Christ’s
kingdom help you to reject these idols?
2. “In God’s kingdom,” Chris says, “the valley is the turning point.” How
does the valley reveal your poverty, and how does that realization lead
you to rely more fully upon God’s enabling power?
3. Christ “fully embraced our impoverishment,” Chris says, even
undergoing the ultimate in human poverty—death. Why does a focus on
Christ’s death on the cross provide hope and comfort in our darkest days?
4. Spiritual transformation of the broken sinner happens in three areas of
life—before God, in our communities, and in the church. Which of these
especially resonates with you right now?
5. Why is hope, as Chris says, “a form of poverty”? What is “the only true
basis of our hope”?
6. Why might well-intended modern marketing methods sometimes
actually undermine a church’s efforts to reach her neighbors? How
does Jesus’s call to spiritual poverty provide an answer?
Day 2....When Loss Becomes Gain
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4
AS WE BEGIN
Philosopher and theologian Nicholas Wolterstorff, grieving the death of a loved one, describes the universal scope of suffering in his book, Lament for a Son: “Suffering keeps its face hid from each while making itself known to all... We are one in suffering. Some are wealthy, some are bright; some athletic, some admired. But we all suffer. For we all prize and love; and in this present existence of ours, prizing and loving yield suffering.”
The ubiquity of suffering opens the door to God’s unimaginable comfort for each of us.
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
When we face loss, we can do so either with bitterness, a detached stoicism, or faith. When we choose to respond in faith, we begin the process of mourning and open ourselves up to God’s comfort.
OBSERVATIONS
Over the centuries, Christians have encouraged one another to recognize and embrace suffering as part of life. “Memento mori,” they said. Remember death. But such recognition is increasingly rare. “Few of us,” noted J.I. Packer, “live daily on the edge of eternity… and we lose out as a result.” This acknowledgment of one’s mortality sought to endow human experience with meaning and urgency.
Tragically, too often, we seek to deny this reality, secluding ourselves from others so that we will not see their pain and they will not see ours. But isolation, it turns out, also separates us from faith, hope, and love—to say nothing of joy. Try as we may to deny our emotions and deaden our pain, our hearts remain vulnerable to sorrow so long as we have breath.
There is no getting around it. As long as we traverse the gritty, nail-strewn pathways of this broken world, we will suffer and mourn. But instead of fleeing in despair, let us approach the One who wept with us, who identified with us to the point of a wretched death, who intercedes for us through our darkest nights of the soul. In a way we can only dimly understand, God suffers with us even now. May that thought provide comfort to all who mourn—including us.
APPLICATION
Often, it is merely the fearful thought of catastrophe that consumes us: the fear of illness, concern for our children, loneliness, financial misfortune, anxiety about old age, or unpleasant memories. In short, we suffer from a persistent current of fear that captivates our attention to the extent that Christ and His eternal purposes fade from our view.
But we don’t suffer alone. Christ abides with us. Other helpers fail and comforts flee, but the Lord remains. His divine presence, which now resides in our hearts, will soon fill the universe, a radiance that will vanquish every diabolical shadow forever. On that day, “the sun of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings” (see Malachi 4:2), and all will be made new. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things [will] have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Yes, “blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
CHAPTER 2 ...The Upside Down Kingdom Discussion Questions
When Loss Becomes Gain.
1. What are the three dimensions of suffering in this world? Which one(s)
do you feel most acutely?
2. When forced to swallow “the cocktail called misery,” do you do so with
bitterness, detachment, or faith? Can you cite an example?
3. Against the witness of church history, many Christians today
seek to flee heartache and misery. Why is lament an integral part
of understanding and worshiping God? How might we begin to
reintroduce lament into our churches?
4. Why does reflecting on the brevity of life open a door to deeper spiritual
clarity and inspiration? Do you have a memento mori in your own life?
5. Describe a time when you tasted death in an experience of fear,
intimidation, or angst. What sustained you?
6. Chris asserts that we don’t suffer alone. While friends may fail and
comforts flee, Christ abides with us, even to the end of the age. How
does the promise of Christ’s presence provide ultimate comfort?
Day 3 ... Gentleness in a Hostile World
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
AS WE BEGIN
In 1095, Pope Urban II called for what became known as the First Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from the Muslims, with a cry of Deus Vult, “God wills it.” With the same crusading spirit, many conquistadores (from Portugal and Spain) sought to spread Christianity through the Americas—another story of brutality in the name of Jesus. The Thirty Years War (1618 to 1648) also comes to mind, when Catholics and Protestants went toe-to-toe on the field of battle, wielding crude weapons, resulting in millions of deaths.
All of this leads us to the question: what is the proper role of power in the Christian life—the marshaling of “power from on high” (Luke 24:49) by which the kingdom advances in this world?
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
The heartbeat of meekness is the self-giving love of God, seen powerfully in Christ laying down His life. But meekness must not be confused with weakness. Paradoxically, meekness can be defined as gentle strength, governed by the Holy Spirit, and it will inherit the earth.
OBSERVATIONS
Our Beatitude says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). The verb “inherit” points to a firm possession, a gift that God places into our hands. But what does this mean—to possess the earth? Psalm 37 speaks of the meek inheriting the land (the land of Israel). The blessed meek are those who trust in the Lord. They turn from anger. They wait patiently—and God rewards them with the Promised Land.
But our text doesn’t say “land.” Jesus says the meek will inherit the “earth.” God’s blessing has been universalized. Now the kingdom belongs to people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Theologians call the Kingdom “already and not yet.” The full inheritance will come in the future. But the blessings have already started, including intimate communion with God … a clear conscience … peace ... and spiritual fruit.
APPLICATION
Across Christ’s kingdom, we do not have nearly enough individuals prepared to lead Christ’s church with meekness—that is, gentle strength, governed by the Holy Spirit. Instead, many sit back and wait for others to lead, to decide, and to carry on the work of the ministry. The church languishes—and the devil cackles. In such moments, we forget that Christ is a lion, a scourge on impotent religion, who calls his followers to engage in spiritual battle.
To see the indescribable power of meekness, we must look not at meekness itself, but at the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of meekness who humbled himself to the extent of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2). With such a vision before us, we will be inspired to serve in the church and at home with gentle strength, governed by the Spirit. Then, a world caught up in so much strife will see the difference that Christ-honoring meekness makes.
CHAPTER 3...The Upside Down Kingdom Discussion Questions
Gentleness in a Hostile World
1. Chris writes, “While the world has witnessed inspiring movements of
mercy in church history, too often the body of Christ has displayed the
resentment of Cain, defacing and destroying brothers and neighbors for
all kinds of reasons.” What examples might you identify?
2. How is meekness defined biblically, and how does Christ’s life so vividly
illustrate it? Why is meekness not to be confused with weakness?
3. Resisting the extremes of passivity and pugnaciousness, Chris says we
need Christ’s model of strength and gentleness. Have you encountered
an example of someone who embodies this balance? If so, what did it
look like?
4. Why do you think so many men in the church are passive and uncertain
about their call to leadership? How should we address this challenge?
5. When we become angry, do we respond like Nietzsche’s Übermensch
(superman), or like Jesus, the suffering servant who laid down his life
for others? Why is Jesus’s model more powerful?
6. While there are many threats to meekness, Chris identifies resentment
(ressentiment) as the root issue. How does the false or exaggerated
narrative of injury that follows from resentment naturally prevent us
from responding in meekness? What alternative is available in Christ?
Day 4...Taste and See
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
AS WE BEGIN
All of us know what hunger feels like. As famished babies, we cried, and as ravenous adults, we may get irritable, or, as they say, “hangry.” We also know the kind of hunger that compels us to sacrifice and achieve; a hunger that occupies our thoughts, shapes our vision, and gives rise to our ambitions. Over time, this hunger shapes our identity. As physicians often say, “We are what we eat,” an axiom that is equally true in the spiritual realm.
When we maintain a diet of selfish ambition, duplicity, materialism, and infidelity, we inevitably personify these qualities. Like the food addict who consumes the entire canister of Pringles and then moves on to the tub of Breyers ice cream, we can slide from moral compromise into deeper patterns of self-destruction, including greed, lust, envy, and the other so-called deadly sins. Philosopher James K.A. Smith emphasizes the necessity of “rehabituating” our hungers. That is, submitting our deepest longings and cravings to the supremacy of Christ.
We are called to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
The righteousness that we are to seek is God’s redeeming grace—a grace that blesses humanity where we need it most: in relation to God, in the renewal of our souls, and in the structures of society.
OBSERVATIONS
God’s righteousness manifests his glory as he extends his gracious hand of salvation. Jesus personified this righteousness, and now anyone who embraces him by faith enjoys his redemptive blessing. When Matthew, the tax collector, repented, he experienced God’s justice and blessing. So did the prostitutes and those dismissed as “sinners.” So, Jesus told the religious rulers, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31). Is it any wonder the Jewish leaders sought to arrest him? An alternative kingdom was now encroaching upon their religious economy—indeed, the kingdom of God.
“This blessedness,” says Donald Hagner, “is ascribed not to achievers, but to receivers.” We must work very hard to resist the natural urge to find something within ourselves that deserves God’s favor. From beginning to end we are saved by divine initiative. How else can we explain God’s acceptance of cowards such as Abraham, and adulterers and murderers such as David? (See Romans 4:1-8.) And of course, how do we explain our own faith?
APPLICATION
While contending for this gospel of justification by faith alone, the Reformers insisted that our faith does not remain alone. Calvin was convinced that “we dream neither of a faith devoid of good works nor of a justification that stands without them.” United to Christ, we consequently encounter the renovating work of the Spirit, which in turn yields the fruit of righteousness (Galatians 5:22–23).
In this way, Jesus transforms our appetites from the inside out. Such a person, says Martin Luther, “continually works and strives with all his might to promote the general welfare and the proper behavior of everyone and... helps to maintain and support this by word and deed, by precept and example.”
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will display that they have been satisfied as they live increasingly righteous (yet still imperfect) lives. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? How is this new appetite being revealed in your life?
CHAPTER 4....The Upside Down Kingdom Discussion Questions
Taste and See.
1. Chris speaks of “the kind of hunger that compels us to make sacrifices
and to achieve, a hunger that occupies our thoughts, shapes our vision,
and gives rise to our ambitions.” Describe in a sentence or two your
experience with this kind of hunger. How has this hunger shaped your
identity, for good or ill? How can we increase our hunger for kingdom
priorities, a longing for the good, the true, and the beautiful?
2. Righteousness begins with God, not our own efforts. “We must work
very hard to resist the natural urge to find something within ourselves
that deserves God’s favor,” Chris says. “From beginning to end we
are saved by divine initiative.” Why is it necessary for God to initiate
salvation, and how have you experienced God’s grace in your own life?
3. Describe how righteousness extends to us in justification, in us through
sanctification, and through us into the world.
4. How does the righteousness given freely by God deliver us, as Chris says,
from “the power and pollution of sin by instilling a hunger for God”?
5. What does it look like to hunger and thirst for righteousness in this
moment of history?
6. What are some obstacles to maintaining an appetite for righteousness,
and what can you do about them?
Day 5...The Face of Mercy
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7
AS WE BEGIN
A 70-year-old woman named Marinella Beretta was found dead in Prestino, near Lake Como in northern Italy. She was seated at her table in a mummified state when police discovered her remains more than two years after she had died. Marinella’s neighbors, it turns out, had not seen her for at least two-and-a-half years. She was “loneliness personified,” wrote Massimo Gramellini, a journalist covering the story. “People die alone. And we live alone, which is almost worse.”
The closing words of his article are convicting: “The mystery of Marinella’s invisible life behind the closed gate of her cottage teaches us a terrible lesson. The real sadness is not that the others did not notice her death. It is that they did not realize Marinella Beretta was alive.”
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
After receiving God’s mercy, we must recognize the needs of others. It’s easy to ignore the needs of our family members who live under the same roof, to say nothing of unseen neighbors and friends. But we are called to notice.
OBSERVATIONS
Jesus calls us to notice others, to compassionately acknowledge their need. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). This is the heartbeat of our Beatitude—what Calvin understood as suffering with our neighbor, or what today we might call empathy.
Manifesting God’s mercy will produce not a small trickle of mercy, but a massive deluge. “Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’” (Matthew 18:21).
Forgiveness is not an example of mere benevolence; it is an eschatological act of faith and hope. In other words, by extending forgiveness to others, we demonstrate our belief that Christ will return and mercifully set all things right. Our salvation enables us to face the most grievous forms of evil with hope. “Where sin increased,” says Paul, “grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20).
APPLICATION
Because God alone can fully heal our wounds and revive the dead, we need to acquire His merciful heart if we are to forgive others. In view of this, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Should we say anything less?
Let us pray that the Lord would transform our hard, unforgiving hearts. Every time we extend mercy, forgiveness, and compassion in the name of Christ—a love that pardons another of his guilt—we reach forward to his coming reign, a kingdom blessing that we enjoy here on earth as it is in heaven.
CHAPTER 5...The Upside Down Kingdom Discussion Questions
The Face of Mercy
1. After he was spared from execution and began reading the New
Testament, a central question of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky
was concerned with “how mercy restores human hearts—indeed, all of
creation—to the righteous image of God.” How has mercy restored
your heart?
2. How are anger and indignation the besetting sins of those who crave
justice (e.g., Javert from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables)? What is
the solution?
3. “Try as we might,” Chris says, “we can never secure God’s favor through
our moral behavior.” Nevertheless, mercy is a vital element of spiritual
life. What does it say about the state of one’s soul?
4. How does a recollection of life before Christ—when we perhaps lived
in darkness without hope—engender a deeper appreciation for sharing
God’s mercy with others?
5. How does forgiveness of those who have wronged us constitute an act
of faith and hope?
6. If you were in the position of Margaret from the story at the conclusion
of the chapter, how would you have responded to the confession of your
spouse? Why was her response a beautiful example of mercy?
Day 6....Seeing God
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8
AS WE BEGIN
After losing her sight during infancy through a doctor’s negligence, Fanny J. Crosby went on to compose over 9,000 hymns, including “Blessed Assurance,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” and “I Am Thine, O Lord.” Crosby’s voluminous output was indebted to her extraordinary mind. According to one of her collaborators, Hugh Main, she could dictate two hymns simultaneously, alternating between the lines of each poem and keeping two secretaries busy.
This, however, was only part of her ministry. For over two decades, she visited the marginalized and downtrodden of society at Manhattan’s rescue missions. Crosby often motivated her listeners by pointing to the end of life when believers encounter Christ face-to-face. Through the centuries, the church has described this culminating hope as the beatific vision (1 Corinthians 13:12).
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
God examines our inner attitudes, evaluates our motives, and observes our private behavior. Such heart motivations and intentions are the focal point of the kingdom.
OBSERVATIONS
The trouble is that the sinful heart of those who don’t know God is turned in on itself and away from God. This results in falsehood and pride, says Augustine, which lead into further isolation and conflict. The heart is the core problem. Even our most humble and altruistic deeds—our service to others and pursuit of the common good—inevitably become occasions for pride. Our pretensions to purity often conceal a secret sin.
Speaking to God, Augustine says: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” He uses the singular “heart” and not plural “hearts,” suggesting that humanity shares a common heart and thus a common need—for our emptiness to be filled with God’s purifying presence. This is precisely what God’s Spirit accomplishes through Scripture, a transformation that breaks our terminal trance.
This experience—the movement from blindness to spiritual sight—is the way of salvation. Addressing his congregation in Hippo, Augustine preached, “Our whole business in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God may be seen.” This is a seeing that surpasses sight. It is the vision of God.
APPLICATION
This Beatitude graciously reminds us that the focus of our sight is inextricably linked with the focus of our heart. Impurity and a vision of God do not go together. We who have looked to the One who was raised for our justification are not saved to continue in lives of impurity. Rather, we are saved from impurity to life anew, a gradual and messy process (from our point of view) that increasingly cherishes Christ over the vain things that charm us most.
Those who are seeking purity are also seeking the Lord, and, like a thirsty man in the desert, will find both and quench their thirst forever. Where’s your heart?
CHAPTER 6...The Upside Down Kingdom Discussion Questions.
Seeing God
1. How does the biblical conception of the human heart differ from the
way the heart is understood in popular culture?
2. What does it look like to combat our sick, sinful, and inwardly
turned hearts?
3. According to Augustine, what has the power to break the heart’s deadly
spell over us and begin the process of personal transformation?
4. Chris describes the time when his heart was made new “through
the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of Christ.” Have you
experienced something similar in your life, or was it a more gradual
process? If Christ has renewed your heart (slowly or suddenly),
describe what happened and how you have been changed.
5. If seeing God is “the greatest possible joy,” how does this truth impact
your life now and help you to think about the life to come? What are
you doing to live in this blessed reality right now? What changes do you
need to make?
6. Since God meets us, as Chris says, in “the valley of humiliation,” how
can we change our outlook on pain and suffering so that we see the
valley not as an interruption but as a divine gift?
CHAPTER 7...The Upside Down Kingdom Discussion Questions
Peace Be with You
1. What keeps us from peacemaking, both in our own hearts and in
today’s world?
2. Chris writes, “When we search for the kindling wood of Satan’s fire,
we usually find it in the subterranean levels of our heart, particularly
in smoldering fears and apprehensions that question the Father’s
goodness.” What does this look like in your experience?
3. How does anxiety destabilize peacemaking?
4. What is the “Upsilon Vector,” and what role does it play in your life?
5. To extend peacemaking to others, Chris commends the tradition of
applying the previously stated virtues in the Beatitudes—poverty of
spirit, mourning, meekness, etc. What beatitude do you sense the Lord
is calling you to share with a world longing for true peace? How might
you apply it to the hyper-partisanship that has gripped much of the
church in recent years?
6. How is peacemaking integral to our identity as sons and daughters
of God?
Day 7...Peace Be With You
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9
AS WE BEGIN
An intern recently asked me, “What is the most significant obstacle to peace in the church today?” At once, a flurry of clanging conflicts came to mind: petty jealousies, ambitions that disrupt unity, domestic strife that fractures marriages and results in divorce, and so on. But above them all emerged what might be the single greatest threat to peace in the contemporary church—political partisanship that prioritizes cultural values (many of them quite legitimate) over the Great Commission.
Today, many Christians correlate their political party with the manifest presence of Christ’s kingdom and take a partisan posture that makes slogans and fits of outrage the chief ways they identify themselves. Consequently, members on the opposing side not only represent a different position, but are viewed as a hideous evil. Such is the antagonism that now divides political progressives and political conservatives, even within the church.
Is it possible for the church to approach this battle royale differently?
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
Peacemaking is not simply being nice or kind. Nor is it extinguishing the flames of hostility. It is God’s divine plan for community living in which Christ fills our hearts and then, by extension, permeates the world.
OBSERVATIONS
The way God extends peace resembles the way he imparts justice—to us, in us, and through us. As Paul explains, God offers peace to the justified “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). It is the setting of our minds on the Spirit that results in deep dimensions of peace within (Romans 8:6). And finally, it is our calling to let God’s peace flow through us by pursuing “what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Romans 14:19). This sequence matters because we can’t offer what we don’t already possess.
Anxiety, however, can rob us of our promised peace. We have moments of anxiety and irritability—maybe for days, weeks, or a season—but thank God it does not last forever. Deeper and more basic than this inner turmoil is our identity as sons and daughters of God in union with Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Such indwelling subdues our hearts and leads us inexorably, if not haltingly, toward peace.
In practical terms, our call to peacemaking is simply the public demonstration of what the Spirit is doing in our heart—the cultivation and displaying of Christ at work.
APPLICATION
Instead of suspicion and infighting, what if we expressed patience and kindness, enduring all things in the name of Christ (1 Corinthians 13:4, 7)? What if we treated others the way we ourselves would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31)? What if we took Paul’s words, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6) to heart?
Could we, for example, maintain a commitment to protecting the unborn and preserving God’s design for the family while also addressing racial injustice and helping the poor? This sort of peacemaking doesn’t require us to compromise our theological convictions. It does, however, require us to emulate our crucified Savior, the one who demonstrated love toward enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Our position as sons and daughters of God leads us more and more into the divine practice of peacemaking. Such peace doesn’t come easily or cheaply, but the God of peace, who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead, will surely cause it to prevail (Hebrews 13:20).
Day 8...Even So, Rejoice
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:10–12
AS WE BEGIN
Celio Secondo Curione was arrested in 1523 for discussing Bible doctrine. An Italian humanist whose heart was ignited by the writings of Martin Luther, Curione was summarily confined to a convent, where church authorities urged him to consider the heretical nature of his ideas. Instead, he continued to read the Reformers, sharing their message of unmerited grace with anyone who would listen.
In fact, he became so animated by Scripture that he eventually removed the bones from a saint’s reliquary and replaced them with a copy of the Bible and the following provocative caption: “This is the Ark of the Covenant where we find the true oracles of God; these are the true relics.”
This story illustrates the heartbeat of Jesus’ final Beatitudes. Captured by the saving power of the gospel, Curione joyfully endured persecution and reprisal, recognizing the reality of Christ’s kingdom as more compelling than personal safety or approval.
DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT
While the biblical promise of peace is the heritage of every believer in Jesus, so too is the requirement that we, like him, carry a cross.
OBSERVATIONS
The eighth and ninth beatitudes identify two reasons why persecution is considered blessed: when it is for righteousness’ sake (Matthew 5:10), or when one is reviled and insulted for the name of Jesus (Matthew 5:11). The latter is a reiteration and explication of the former, for our public witness to righteousness consists in our identification with Jesus.
In this cultural moment, tragically, there are plenty of ways that Christians bring suffering upon themselves. Those who spout hate or unbounded conspiracy theories invite derision or canceling on social media. Those who defend ugly or sinful behavior of their preferred politicians (on either side of the aisle) are aptly called hypocrites. Those who excuse breaches of integrity by saying the other side does worse are ridiculed as craven practitioners of “whataboutism.”
However, we must not deny that Christians today, even in the supposedly tolerant West, are being persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Those who refuse to participate in the active affirmation of unbiblical lifestyles current in business and the academy can find themselves ostracized, dragged into court, or unemployed. Outside the West, Christians can face all kinds of dangers for refusing to deny their faith—or simply for the crime of identifying as followers of Christ.
This “thicker” account of the gospel recognizes that to be “in Christ” defines everything about us—every ambition, activity, purpose, and relationship—an identity and calling that will inevitably offend the sensibilities of the world.
APPLICATION
How is persecution good news, even to the point of producing joy? Simply put, it is the privilege of living for Christ’s sake. It is the joy of now embracing by faith the ultimate reward that is promised in the kingdom of heaven. Disciples of Christ, like Abraham, look forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). Sadly, though, it’s a joy that remains foreign to the world, which seeks another kingdom.
Are you living a life that elicits questions or wonder from your neighbors? Persecution? How much joy and gladness are yours as you live for Christ? Are you willing to suffer to experience this peculiar joy of the kingdom? What might be keeping you from wholehearted commitment to the Lord?
CHAPTER 8...The Upside Down Kingdom Discussion Questions
Even So, Rejoice
1. In discussing Christ’s promise of persecution, Chris notes that the
final two beatitudes “describe . . . what happens when we manifest the
purposes of Jesus on earth as they are in heaven.” This seems to be
the very opposite of “the good life” to which most of us aspire. Why is
persecution promised for those who follow the Lord? What else
is promised?
2. What is the relationship between persecution and gospel flourishing?
How does your suffering allow others to enter God’s counterintuitive kingdom?
3. What two reasons are given in these two final beatitudes for when
persecution is considered blessed? Can you point to any times in your
life when you were blessed in this way?
4. What is the difference between how Christ’s kingdom advances
and how worldly power structures advance? How willing are you to
embrace the former and to reject the latter?
5. Why should Christians be able to experience joy amid persecution?
How have you seen this counterintuitive joy in your life?
6. Why is suffering, as Chris says, “a badge of true discipleship”? Are you
looking forward to the reward? How can we prepare ourselves now for
the reality of suffering for Christ?
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