5. Low Is High Series

Check out the book "The Upside Down Kingdom" by Donald Kraybill

https://www.amazon.com/Upside-Down-Distinguished-Professor-Emeritus-Kraybill/dp/1513802496/ref=sr_1_2?crid=226Z0R7BQKLQ3&keywords=donald+kraybill&qid=1669518981&s=instant-video&sprefix=donald+kraybill%2Cinstant-video%2C182&sr=1-2-catcorr

Low is High

-Today we are concluding this Upside Down Kingdom series and we’ve looked at a lot of the toughest teachings of Jesus.

-What we’ve seen so far is that the world looks at things one way but Jesus sees things completely upside down.

-In his Kingdom down is up, slaves are free, the poor are prosperous, and religious people need saving.

-In his Kingdom outsiders are made insiders, enemies are loved and the highest people are actually the lowest.

-And that’s what we’re looking at today.

-Yesterday I had a chance to go with a few of our church people to the Battle of the Domes in Pocatello.

-The Idaho State Bengals were hosting the Idaho Vandals for this instate rivalry game and I was excited to go.

-We arrived and there were two different parking lots with various tailgating efforts going on.

-It felt like a big game environment except for one thing:

-Heading into yesterday’s game the ISU Bengals were 1-9 and the Vandals were 6-4. The Vandals were heavy favorites which is probably an understatement.

-And as the game went on the Vandals had clear control.

-Heading into the 4th quarter the score was 38-7 and the Bengals were trying to drive at the end.

-Their running back burst through the line of scrimmage for about 11 yards and he popped up and proudly made the first down signal.

-That kind of something you do to flex on the other team.

-But it just struck me as dumb. His team was being annihilated.

-You’ve literally lost the game in every category, but you want to boast about a first down.

-But young men tend to boast. And I bring that up for a reason.

-Hang on to that and I’ll come back to it later

-We’re going to be in Luke 22 I’d like to read the passage to you and then we’ll work through it together.

Luke 22:7 Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed.

8 Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”9 “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

10 He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters,

11 say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’

12 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.”

13 They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

14 When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. 15 Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins.

16 For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

17 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.

21 “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. 22 For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.”

23 The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.

24 Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.

25 Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’

26 But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.

27 Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.