Inverted Kingdom

31 July 2011

 Dear Phyllis,

I believe I told you before that I met an unusual couple on the train coming back from Malaysia a few weeks ago. In the course of the usual conversation – “Are you folks tourist or do you live in Thailand?” – I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were missionaries living in Chiang Mai. This has developed into an unusual relationship.

Gary and Jean are the kind of Americans I like best. They had a highly successful business in the states, but felt they wanted to devote the remaining years of their life serving Christ in some sort of an mission related outreach. They wound up here in Chiang Mai. Jean is teaching in a children’s school, but Gary has a lot of time sitting, more or less, at home. I had sent them a copy of your letter a few weeks ago, and he felt the message needed a broader hearing. He has taken this on as a hobby to see what can be done to assemble what he can find of back PB letters, to put them into a more concise book. I gave him everything I had on my computer which included two books I had written.

Gary asked me how I came up with the Inverted Kingdom. Was it something had read? I don't believe I have ever read anything on this subject, and I can't recall ever hearing a message about it. But over the years, I have noticed that this is a major theme in the Bible that, strangely enough, has been ignored by the rank and file of Christianity. It is particularly maddening when you go into Christian book stores and look at the bulk of literature on the shelves. It seems to me that 90% of what is being offered is the dead opposite of what Jesus told us. No one has written a book yet on The Way to the Bottom; The Way to be a Loser, At the End of the Line, etc. Everything promoted is directed on how to get to the top.

Basically we are indebted to our Lord Jesus for emphasizing this theme, but the basic truth is found throughout the Bible. It is significant that when Jesus began His famous Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:1-12), the very first words of the Beatitudes were,“Blessed are the...”; and then most of the points are the opposite of what we call a blessing. And Jesus said the greatest blessing is persecution. Really?!!! Is this what we want? Do we consider this the greatest blessing here? Do we consider the persecuted fortunate? Who is waving the flag for this?

Then, time and again, throughout the gospels we see that what Jesus is teaching is the dead opposite of what is being promoted by most churches in America today. I am not sure that it can be said that all the laws of the Kingdom of God are reversed from the natural laws of this world – I don't know, maybe they are – but certainly most of them are backwards. And so, as I observe the laws of the two conflicting kingdoms, it looks to me like one of them is the Inverted Kingdom.

Initially, what I intended to do was to take 30 items of the reversed laws and write a small daily devotional. I started this many years ago. To date I am up to 47 chapters and still writing. The further I go on with the Lord the more I see the laws of the Kingdom are radically different.

There is nothing in this with which we are not familiar. We all know well what Jesus taught. We all know that; He that exalteth himself shall be humbled, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted; He that seeketh his life shall lose it, but he that loseth his life shall find it; Give and it shall be given you. Etc. These are all basic truths that govern God's Kingdom. There is nothing mysterious here or shocking. But somehow the overwhelming power of this world, its logic, and its intense drive for success is so dominant that these fundamental biblical truth have been relegated to platitudes of nice sounding spiritual sermons, but certainly not anything that would be the guiding compass of our life. As a result, incontestably, Christianity today is driven by the engine of this worlds goals and laws of operation.

We must be honest and admit there are two ways of doing things. They both work. There are two different set of laws. Any wise operator can take either law, implement it, and get a result. There are basic laws of business. A good businessman can get ahead. There are laws of salesmanship. A good salesman can sell his product. There are laws of politics. A good politician can get elected. In the world of the natural, ignore these laws and disaster will come. You ignore the laws of good business and you will go bankrupt. Smart people want to get ahead. Someone who starts a business wants to see it succeed.

The mantra of this world is “Use your head, man! Use your head! Don't be stupid” Who can argue with that? The name of the game is not to see who can go the slowest; who can blow out the quickest; who can be the biggest failure or who can wind up on bottom or at the end of the line. Sanity demands that we play by the rules. Find out what those laws are and follow them. That is the way to success. I like Herman Cain very much. He is a highly successful business man. The secrete of his success is very simple. He says, “Look for the best men in that field. Look for those who have been successful, and then surround yourself with them.” That is a very smart approach. Why follow someone stupid or has failed in business? Get good men and go by the rules.

In one sense we can easily understand why churches and Christians behave the way they do. Like everybody else they want to be a success in their endeavours. Any young pastor starting out with a small church wants to see it grow. Anyone starting a radio or TV ministry wants to see it succeed. Any mission wants to see it be successful. There is no glory in the opposite. A church that starts out and struggles for two or three years, only to close the door is sad. Any mission that launches out, but later comes up empty handed, is a waste of money. Any radio or TV ministry that starts out, and sees its rating fall like the re-entry of the space shuttle is no testimony. Of course a church wants to be successful.

But the problem is that in most cases earnest Christians have taken the rule book of this world and applied it to Christian service. This permeates everything in the Christian life. And as a result we have come up with a very odd looking Body of Christ. We have come up with a religion that preaches Jesus but looks exactly like the world. We talk about sacrifice, but want to live like kings. We talk about giving, but the point is to see how much money we can get. We talk about serving others, but we are totally self-centred and expect the world to revolve around us.

The message that started out by telling the story of the Son of God who came to shed His Blood for us, and sent us out to preach this Gospel to the ends of the world; has mutated into a huge industry of Christian entertainment. America is inundated with mega churches that have become highly successful by preaching a feel-good religion. Tens of thousands of people flood to theses churches to be royally entertained by a highly professional program, and then a very good speaker that makes them feel good all over. Who wants to feel depressed when they go to church? Who wants to have to sit through some painful special by a wannabe but never-will-be musician? Who wants to have to sit there listening to some boring “messenger” give a can't-remember-it-'til- lunchtime sermon, on how you should be a better person. My goodness, we have problems enough without having to put up with that! Let's get a better speaker in here. So the ways of the world govern the Body of Christ. And to suggest that the laws of the Kingdom of God are reverse looks ridiculous.

But God's laws are God's laws. If someone wants to make progress in the Kingdom of God they will have to do it God's way, or it just won't work. God's laws are as immutable and unyielding as the laws of science. Gravity always works the same. The way to advance as a Christian is through humility. The way to gather real spiritual riches is by sacrificial giving. The way to find the most rewarding life possible is by losing your life for Jesus sake. In the eyes of this world, the giants in the Kingdom of God may look pitiful, but when the day is over there is no question who will be up front. Much of this religious entertainment – I mean preaching as well as music – that supposedly is promoting Christ, is repugnant to God.

Because the laws of God's Kingdom are reversed from the laws of this world, Christians are confused when things turn out backwards to what they expected. Many is the bewildered believer who said, “I thought God would bless me, but all I have had since I started following Christ is problems.” The problem is – maybe this is the blessing of God. Maybe it is a great badge of honour to lose your job or be demoted because of a strong stand for Christ. The day may well soon come when Jesus blesses His church in America with godly pastors in jail for strong biblical preaching. If so they should rejoice and be exceeding glad (Mt. 5:12).

 It is because these phenomenons are so diametric to modern Christian thinking that Gary feels the Inverted Kingdom should be rewritten an made available to a wider audience. I questioned that what I wrote would ever be published, and am surprised that the Lord seems to have sent a man with time and interest enough to possibly make this a reality. I am not satisfied with what I have written in the Inverted Kingdom, and have felt for some time that, if it ever was made more public, it should be rewritten. Last Wednesday Gary suggested he wanted to take on that project. God bless him.

There is one more chapter that I would like to add to it. That is the time factor. One reason why people fail to see the spiritual laws workout with the same predictability as natural laws, is due to the time factor. God’s Kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and the kingdom of this world is restricted to time. Eternity is greater than time, but now is more viable than later. Natural laws are operative now. God’s laws are operative now also, but to a large degree, we will not see the full impact until later. I have thought the games that are played in this world have four quarters. The game is over at the end of the last quarter. Whoever is on top when the buzzer goes off wins. When the clock runs out the score stands. But in God's game there is still one more quarter to go. The game is not over when the clock runs out. On the contrary, we will not see who wins until we all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ. There is no doubt that there are going to be some horrendous shocks then. Many of those who have been so immanently successful in this world will see that they have actually been on the wrong team all along. In closing the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus concluded with; “Many will say to Me in that day , 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? And in Thy Name cast out demons? And in Thy Name done many wonderful works?' And then will I profess unto them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity'”(Mt. 7:22, 23).

That is the bottom line of the Inverted Kingdom. It would seem to be the better side of wisdom to live by His laws, rather than the laws that this world promotes. May God's will be done.

bill