Living on Mission with the Kingdom’s Counterintuitive Call

Living on Mission with the Kingdom’s Counterintuitive Call

When I read this passage in Matthew 5:1-12 it gets more and more confusing. It just doesn’t make sense. It seems so backwards. It’s definitely counterintuitive. By the time I get to verse 10 I’m shaking my head like a cartoon character trying get their brain back into its place after it goes “TILT.”

Are these verses telling us how to obtain the favor of God? If I want to see God, I need to be pure in heart.

Are they providing a formula for getting what we want? If I want to inherit the earth, I need to be meek so I’d better run down to the MeekMart.

No, that’s not what these verses are all about. I think Jesus is demonstrating to us that the way of the Kingdom is not our way. In the Kingdom everything is different than the kingdom of the world we live in. It’s counterintuitive. If I want to lead in the world’s kingdom I have to fight and claw my way to the top, but in His Kingdom the leaders are serving others. Because of the way His Kingdom works, I will never find the satisfaction I long for by pursuing things/love/power—only my hunger and thirst for right standing with God (righteousness) will provide that.

The way of the Kingdom is counterintuitive.

We will never be pure enough in heart on our own to be able to see God. We’ll never be merciful enough to deserve God’s mercy or be good enough at peacemaking to earn our way into His family. We can’t do any of these things in our own power. We’re completely and utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit to fill us and change us from the inside out.

Let’s practice Living on Mission and answer the call of the counterintuitive Kingdom.

Pastor Angela