Kingdom Influence Part 7
At Keys Vineyard Church, we are presenting a series called ‘Kingdom Influence,’ which we post here on Online Bible Institute.
Our series is called Kingdom Influence, and as we said last week, the Beatitudes are not a checklist. They are a portrait. They describe what it looks like to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 5, Jesus sits down on a mountainside and begins to teach. This is not a casual moment. In Scripture, sitting down to teach signals authority. What Jesus is about to describe is not advice for self-improvement. It is a declaration of Kingdom reality.
Matthew 5:1–5 (NIV)
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
From the very beginning, Jesus reveals that the Kingdom operates differently from the world around us. The Beatitudes describe a Kingdom that is completely upside down when compared to the values of our culture. Our culture says blessed are the confident, the self-made, the strong, the successful, and the people who have it all together. We are told to project strength, independence, and certainty at all costs. Jesus says something radically different. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. In other words, the Beatitudes are not how you climb your way into the Kingdom. They are what life looks like when the Kingdom has already come to you.
Everything our culture celebrates, strength, independence, confidence, self-reliance, Jesus quietly overturns. He says the Kingdom belongs not to those who have it all together, but to those who know they do not. To be poor in spirit is to recognize our deep need for God. To mourn is to take the brokenness of the world seriously. To be meek is not to be weak, but to live with strength under God’s control.
The Beatitudes describe what it looks like to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God, or as we have said over the years, what it looks like to live as an imager, reflecting the heart and character of God into the world. These are not traits we manufacture through effort. They are qualities that begin to form in us as we yield to the Holy Spirit and learn, day by day, to do the next right thing. This is Kingdom Influence at work.
This weekend at Keys Vineyard Church, we will discuss all this and more, so be sure to join us in person or online.
Steve Lawes is a pastor at Keys Vineyard Church and also the founder of the Online Bible Institute Network.
