Phil Inglis - January 24, 2021
Alternate Kingdom
There is this internet thing that people do where someone will post a picture of something and then someone will post a photo of the “Australian” version of that thing, simply by posting the exact same photo upside down (since we live on the bottom half of the planet). The internet is not a particularly inventive place at times. In fact, if they really want to make it ‘Australian’ they will paste a picture of a deadly looking spider somewhere on top of the photo. According to the most basic internet memes Australia is upside down and inhabited by the world's deadliest creatures. The reality is, that due to our unique geography, history and multicultural nature, we have a unique blend of character traits, stereotypes and cultural quirks that come together to form what it is considered to be ‘Australian.’ If you’re from the deadly upside-down country of Australia, people around the world will generally consider you to be ‘happy-go-lucky,’ loyal, friendly and able to wrestle crocodiles. Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. It’s not a ‘place’ you can circle on a map. It’s an alternative kingdom, ruled by a King and populated by those who consider that King to be their ruler. Like all other countries though, it is a realm where, due to a unique history and multicultural nature, those who live within it find that it has a unique blend of character traits and cultural quirks. Jesus, the founder and ruler of this kingdom, outlines these character traits and cultural quirks early on in his teaching. Many are very surprising and seem to run opposite to the way the rest of the world works which leads us to call our next sermon series, 'Alternate Kingdom'. For the next couple of months, we are going to spend time wrapping our heads and hearts around the foundational words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. We are going to see the alternate ways of dealing with anger, sex, worry, revenge, forgiveness and stress in the Kingdom of God, and how we can integrate his concepts into our ‘new-normal’ lives.
Scripture References: Matthew 4:17, Matthew 3:1-14
