One is Upside-Down, But Not the Other
The past couple of weeks we’ve been talking about our mission and how disagreements can be messy. We’re going to continue this messy discussion today. The leaders of the church in the Bible expected a messiah that would come and overthrow the people who they felt were oppressing them. They expected a worldly king.
Jesus was not that worldly king.
His message frustrated those leaders. In 1 Corinthians 1:26-28, Paul tells the people of Corinth, “The people of this world didn’t think that many of you were wise. Only a few of you were in places of power, and not many of you came from important families. But God chose the foolish things of this world to put the wise to shame. He chose the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame. What the world thinks is worthless, useless, and nothing at all is what God has used to destroy what the world considers important.”
We are constantly being bombarded by things the world thinks are important. This never-ending influx of worldly perspectives becomes what’s normal … if we allow it to.
God’s normal is upside-down to the world’s normal.
The world wants us to focus on ourselves. It has a way of making us feel inadequate if we aren’t working to build ourselves up in a worldly way. Paul goes on in verses 29-30 to tell us to brag about God, not ourselves.
In chapter 2 verses 1-5, he tells us that we don’t have to use big words or try to sound smart. Holy Spirit gives us the power and guidance to say what we should and to act like we should.
This comes from faith in God’s power, not human wisdom.
In the children’s message, Wilma shared pictures of amazing art that was made from thrown away, leftover, normal things. This is what God does in us. He takes our messy lives and turns them upside-down.
God makes extraordinary out of the ordinary.
If we will focus on Him rather than the world.
