God’s Kingdom in a Broken World

How do we live in God’s Heavenly kingdom, when the world we live in is still very much broken, when we are still broken? Last week, we heard the amazing and wonderful news that God’s kingdom is close at hand. Yet, if we take much time to think about God’s wonderful and life-changing kingdom we will immediately run into the very real problem: the world around us is still broken. So, the next thing we need to realize is that the kingdom is like a mustard seed: it might seem small and inconsequential, but when it is planted and nourished it grows to become a tree that is mighty and dominating. This mustard seed Kingdom starts by being created in us and our community, but then it spreads and changes this broken world.

So naturally, Jesus starts small. Did you notice how the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount start? Jesus sees this huge crowd gathering around him, so he leaves them to go up on a mountain. There is this amazing potential for Jesus to teach about the kingdom, but instead, he leaves. We see many times in the Gospels that Jesus leaves to pray. He leaves so that he and his ministry might always be centered on His relationship with the Father. Even Jesus needs this, and so do we.

This time, his disciples join him up there and he begins to teach them. Jesus leaves the crowds because he knows that in order for the Kingdom to work in the world, numbers are not the most important thing, it is quality not quantity, it needs to start with devoted followers who are willing to live differently. So, it is important to understand what a disciple is. Disciples were people who would follow a Rabbi or teacher around everywhere, even staying with them, to learn from what they do, say, and practice. They would learn to emulate as they take on their teacher’s way for themselves. This is an important practice and the way we should relate to Jesus as well. Jesus knew that more people needed to see the image of God so that they then could see his kingdom; that is why he started with those most dedicated to taking on that image.

That brings us to the start of the sermon on the mount, which is often called the Beatitudes. Each of the beatitudes can be read on their own and even from that we can easily that they are counter-cultural, they invert expectations and often even our desire. They go much deeper when you understand they come as a whole and have a kind of progression. Beatitudes 1 and 7 end with the blessing, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They become kind of bookends for us to understand that this is all about living in the Kingdom of God.

So it starts in the most important place for us to start in the Kingdom: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. So if you want to belong in the wonderful kingdom of God, an essential thing is internal or spiritual poverty. Another way of saying part of this is that we can only really receive the Kingdom of God if we know we need it. We need to know how weak and in need we and this world is. We need to know our brokenness and how much we fall short. We need to know that this stems from our lowly and diminished spirits. We need to know that we need something, someone more. A lot of us know our brokenness and the worlds, but it is still too easy to depend on it or trust ourselves to overcome it. This is reminding us that we can’t. We need to trust in something beyond this world as nothing here can create the kingdom we long for. And because it is Jesus saying it, with everything we talked about last week, he is showing us who we can depend on and whose Spirit can serve our poverty. A lot of people today see their own poverty and know they need something more, This world is full of great spiritual need but the problem is that they miss who it is that is speaking to them, who it is that has shown them their need and so they fill this need themselves with stuff, alcohol, other mediums, even dangerous spirituality, but nothing can fill that God size hole in our spirits.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. This is a natural consequence when we realize our poverty, our sin, our brokenness, and that of the world; we will mourn it. Mourning is the beginning of seeing that we have lost something fundamental to who we are. Mourning in this context is not complaining, blaming, arguing, or getting angry, because we can’t do that if we also recognize our own poverty - we have no feet to stand on. This painful mourning is not the way our culture reacts to brokenness and weakness. This mourning is not something generally lifted up. When I have seen or experienced this kind of mourning, it is very self-reflective, but it also invites others to see and experience mourning too. We share in this loss in more ways than one and so already God builds community and invites people in on the journey to the Kingdom. It is also through this kind of mourning that we might see what is actually wrong. We see that it is not the stuff, or those in power, or the wrong decisions, or even the violence. What is wrong is that we are not good enough and neither is our world and the only way it can be is with God. With that kind of mourning, we invite God in and we can for the first time in our lives experience real comfort, because for the first time in our lives we see the problem for what it is and God relieves us from that real pain.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. If the other two didn’t this seems automatically contradictory to me. How can we inherit something, unless we fight for it? Isn’t it the victors that survive, that gain riches, that get to tell the story? That’s how it would appear on the surface, but for most people who fight and strive, that becomes their life and world. They lose themselves in it. They only inherit the battle. What good is it for you to gain the world, but lose your soul? The fact of the question is that they lose it all anyway. The meek, those who know their littleness, who know their need, who know they depend on Jesus, are ready to receive, to be truly thankful, to praise, and to find joy. What’s more is when we are meek, we lift up others instead of fighting for our own way. We are no longer isolated islands adrift, we find and create community out of our shared need for God and how he fills it. In this case, we might appear to have nothing, but we the Christian meek truly have everything.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. I wish I could spend time on each, but the main thing is that our primary goal is to be in a good relationship with God. Righteousness isn’t primarily about being just and good, its primary definition in the Bible is about being in a right relationship with God. Righteousness is about how we stand with God as our king, master, father, friend, and more. That relationship should be our greatest hunger and thirst. All our other needs are filled by this singular hunger. Then we see that our relationship with God is also in how we live out our master’s character and will. By living out his mercy for others, we show that we have received and experienced his mercy, but on top of that as we forgive we somehow receive more and grow more and more in God’s grace. As we seek a pure heart and purity of living, God will become visible in our midst. We put so much in our eye line, all the stuff, the sin, the need to fight, our anger, our other hunger and they all get in the way of actually seeing God. We need to clear the debris and focus our eyes. Then as we live out God’s peace and actively create peace in our midst, then we shall know that we are truly of God and so shall others. So we see God and become like him.

I’m not pretending these are easy tasks. We have a habit of and live in a culture that reinforces our bad habits. We are driven towards longing after so many things that aren’t God. We are shown that forgiveness is weakness, or loss, or pain, but rarely shown its godliness. We experience the great urge to fill our hearts with so many things that don’t center us on God. Or we don’t really see how to create peace: we are taught to cancel or ignore those that have gone wrong, or who we don’t like, we avoid conflict, we let our anger out, and we dwell in stress; all of which drives others away and increases the distance, hostility and discomfort, even between us and God.

The last two beatitudes deal with persecution for our right relationship with God, the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the great reward that awaits us. This persecution is sadly natural. When we are truly different from the world, that means that many in the broken world will rebel against the change. Those who hold onto and fight for power, wealth or privilege will resist a new kind of power, wealth, and privilege that challenges their authority, their work, their lives, and everything they think dear. It is not easy to be an unwelcome other. Jesus warns them and us long in advance, but this just reminds us that when we are seeking God and His Kingdom in our midst we will naturally experience that we don’t belong in the brokenness, because we now belong in the Kingdom. This is a marker that we are already living in God’s Kingdom. For theirs IS the kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is not a future hope this is now. If we don’t fit, it is a sign that we are already starting to live in this other world.

This has already been a lot, but Jesus wants to confirm our purpose and life in the Beatitudes by summing it up with three parables. We are salt, light, and a city on a hill. Salt is something that preserves, kills off disease, and adds flavor. We are meant to do just that in society and living out the Beatitudes is how we become this salt. Light is something that reveals the truth, shows the way forward, both the dangers and the clear way, and it also shows the goodness in everything else. We can be light for a dark world, by living out the beatitudes. A city on a hill is a place of refuge against robbers or armies, a sanctuary to weary travelers, and a place where life pours out. Again, through the Beatitudes, we can be all of these things. In the reality of a broken world, we need to be all of these things. Thank you, God, that it starts with recognizing our poverty, mourning, and longing for your new world because that is something we can all do. Please God help us to follow through with those needs so that we might join you in building your Kingdom. AMEN