Kingdom Life – Introduction
I have been spending some time thinking again about the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ as recounted in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and7, and must admit that over the last few weeks it has just blown me away!
It’s completely counter-intuitive
It’s revolutionary.
It’s life changing.
It’s basically…..
Incredible!
You think you understand it and yet it is so difficult to apply to your life, because it forces you to alter your worldview and viewpoint. It moves you to a different place, changes your perspective, gives you a new and fresh place to stand, a place where you start to see the world through different eyes.
It’s available.
It’s accessible.
Yet how many of us actually get it – truly get it deep down in our hearts.
We’ve all read it. Personally, I have read it many, many times, and have heard and delivered countless sermons on the issues that it raises and addresses. But have I really got it? Has it made a difference to the way I walk and talk, and live within the realm of the Kingdom of God.
Today.
Now.
It just doesn’t make sense to our self-obsessed, consumer driven minds. It’s so easy and yet so hard.
For those who were there when Jesus preached it, it would have been an emotional and spiritual rollercoaster. Confusing and yet comforting. Right from the start Jesus holds no punches and tells it as it is.
He wants it to be challenging, he want is to be controvertial. He’s not seeking the approval of his listeners.
He is deliberately turning the prevailing religious worldview of the time on it’s head! He knows what he is doing. He has a purpose – a reason. He picks his words for maximum effect, and by doing so, changes the world forever.
How? By redefining what it means to live a Kingdom life!
To live.
In God’s Kingdom.
Where God is King.
The true Theocracy!
For real.
Now
That changes everything. That’s revolutionary……and that blows me away!
Over the next few weeks I want to share some of my thoughts and observations on what Jesus preaches in these chapters, starting at the beginning with the Beatitudes, Matthew 5: 3-12. I’ve entitled this series of posts Kingdom Life – and as far as I am concerned this is where the rubber hits the road for all professing disciples of Jesus. So lets see how we get on.
