Cyprus, southern and central Turkey, then over into Greece – Philippi. Wherever Paul and his teams went, things happened. Miracles of judgement happened. People were healed, demons were driven out. Jews and God-fearers gladly welcomed the message of Jesus. So did complete outsiders. Believers were transformed, and began to live as “brothers” with a new sense of belonging to Jesus and to each other. But there were also those who didn't believe, so there were arguments, riots... And it was still happening – in Thessalonica.
Same strategy – begin among the Jews, building on Paul's natural contacts; same message, the Cross and the Kingdom. Key words in Paul's message about Jesus were Acts 21. 38; Gal 5. 12 were “Messiah, Suffering and Rising.”
- Messiah: Jesus was Messiah, the one who came to fulfil the Old Testament promises. “The one who fulfils all OT expectations (Dictionary of Bible themes) The Messiah's work would be marked by restoration in creation (The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, Isa 11. 6); by righteousness, justice, peace, security (The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence for ever. Isa 32, 16f); healing fro the broken (Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Isa 35. 5f); the nations turning to the Lord (Jer 3. 17); and the coming of the Spirit (Joel 2. 28f). Kingdom: By the time Jesus came, the word people were using for the things the Messiah would bring, was The Kingdom of God.” What is God's rule like? What is on God's heart for his world? Because that is what Jesus came to bring. When we pray “your Kingdom come”, we then pray “your will be done on earth as in heaven”. God allows a lot of bad things to happen in the world. He allows people to get cancer, and heart trouble, to go blind, to have epilepsy. He allows young women to be ritually mutilated, and others to become slaves. He allows inequalities and injustice to continue. He allows it but he doesn't plan it. Cancer isn't part of God's plan; cardiovascular disease isn't part of God's plan; epilepsy isn't part of God;s plan; slavery isn't part of God's plan; war isn't part of God's plan. The Kingdom Jesus came to bring is a world without war, oppression, crime, sickness, demonic oppression, idolatry, addictions, greed, lust.
- Suffering. Messiah had to suffer. Why? Some evils such as wars, slavery, poverty and injustice are the direct result of human wrongdoing: greed, intolerance pride, and complacency. Natural disasters have the worst effect on the poorest people because of human decisions. Other evils seem to just happen: earthquakes, storms, life-changing illnesses are the result of living in a fallen, broken world. They're not caused by sin but they're attracted into god's world by sin just as flies are attracted to a cow's rear end! At its roots, all suffering is the direct or indirect result of the fall, of sin. The Cross In order to bring the Kingdom, Messiah had to be the “lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” When Jesus. Christ died on the Cross he did so in order to draw the sting of our sin; he died our death, paid our debt, carried our sin.
- Rising. The Messiah rose from death. Hallelujah! Because he did, we know that death is defeated. By that, we know that sin is fully paid for. Because he did, we know that Jesus Kingdom will finally triumph. Victory Jesus is alive. He is the victor today. That is Paul's message. He called men and women, Jew and Gentile, to embrace that Kingdom, to trust in that sacrifice, to encounter that risen Jesus and live in his Kingdom for eternity. The earliest Christian creed was “Jesus is Lord!” and the best creed for the Church is “Jesus. is Lord!”
That then was Paul’s message: Messiah suffering and risen. And as he proclaimed this message, people were turning to Jesus. Some Jews possibly, but Luke notes in particularly “godly Greeks” (who had already explored the Jewish “one God” faith) and “leading women” (ladies with wealth and influence. Many Jewish ladies had married into the aristocracy).
And, as in Philippi and other places, there was opposition: Jews who were jealous of Paul and Silas; who had heard from somewhere that they were supposed to hate this “Jesus” message, started to complain; formed a lynch-mob, and headed for Jason’s house, where Paul was lodging. Paul wasn't at home so the took Jason and his friends to court, with this amazing accusation: “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them; and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” (RSV)
The word “World” means the “inhabited world” – the world of Greek civilisation for Greeks, the Empire for Romans; and the word “Turned upside down” can mean “upset” or “permanently changed” the same word is used in Acts 21. 38 where Paul is accused of being “”That Egyptian who started a rebellion”; and in Gal 5. 12 where Paul says he wishes those who preached circumcision would go the whole way and permanently change themselves – by a do-it-yourself sex-change operation. ... it's a strong, violent word. It speaks of a radical, revolutionary movement that turns the world upside down. It suggests bringing a revolution the the culture, challenging the way things are in the Empire, so things will never be the same again. That’s what Paul was accused of saying. How would Paul respond? “guilty as charged.”
Isn't that exciting? Our world needs turning upside down. Our world needs alternatives to the greed and exploitation; our world needs alternatives to the excesses, the debauchery; our world needs alternatives to the guilt and alienation; our world needs healing, deliverance; it needs Gospel, forgiveness, a new start. it needs to be turned upside down. Don't you want to be “turning the world upside down?
We can be: if like Paul we are “saying that there is another king, Jesus.” Proclaiming that there is another King, Jesus", is a deeply seditious act. It challenges the way the world is. It challenges the authority of the big banks; of the Coalition, of NATO or the EU or the Russian Federation. There is another King, and him we must obey.
There is another King, and him we will obey. It is the Kingdom, and the radical refocus of our loyalties, to say “Jesus is Lord”, to say that this King, Jesus, rules our lives. We need to live under that authority of Jesus, not the authority of our bank manager, political party or our buddies. Entry to the kingdom, in the teaching of Jesus and in Acts 2, involves “Repentance,” a turn around; a change of heart and direction. A change from saying “I rule my own life” or “my politics, finances or whatever rule my life” to saying “Jesus rules my life!” In my life, Jesus is Lord.
That doesn’t mean we are totally separated from the world; it doesn't mean we are to be naive and foolish. There are moments when it is right to use the world's resources for the sake of the Kingdom. When the magistrates in Philippi decided the morning after the earthquake, to let Paul go, Paul said “Not on your life. They arrested us without charge and had us beaten although we are Roman citizens – they can come and apologise!” he was prepared to use his citizenship. He didn't want to go off and leave the church in Philippi to be bullied at the whim of every magistrate and every malcontent. Paul submitted to the authorities of the empire; he used the resources of the Empire; but his allegiance was to another King, Jesus.
So I am calling us all back to the centre: “Lord, I come to You; let my heart be changed, renewed.” I'm calling those of us who have been followers of Jesus. for many years or maybe just for a few years, to come back to this starting point of “repentance”; to come back to the place where we are able to say “Jesus is Lord.” To be changed, renewed; not just “filled with the spirit” so we can speak in tongues but to live a life where Jesus. is at the centre, in the driving seat, in the petrol tank: “he the power and he the prize”... turned upside down – and turning the world upside down.
And I am calling those who are not yet sure whether you are followers of Jesus, to this kind of radical conversion: not just to sign on the dotted line that you believe it to be true that Jesus died for you sins; rather, believing Jesus died for your sins, to say, “Risen Lord Jesus, come and turn my life upside down; I am prepared to hand control of my life unreservedly over to you.” (not to any human organisation or human leader, but to Jesus). “And help me to turn my world upside down.”
© Gilmour Lilly March 2014
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