CITIZENSHIP IN THE UPSIDE DOWN KINGDOM

This summer, the Upside-Down Kingdom wove its way through communities across the country. Each Thursday over 5 weeks, we wanted to remind you of a few aspects of this Kingdom that we hope you will continue to talk about and live into long after this summer’s mission trip.

 

 

I was 15, I was a rule-follower and it was my first summer as a counselor at camp. So during the 8–10-year-old week, I may have made a few… unadvisable decisions. Like when we discovered that there was a kid who sometimes wet the bed sleeping in the bunk above the other counselor, we decided he needed to move. So we did the logical thing: We told all the campers that there was a giant wolf that sometimes snuck in at night and ate anyone who slept in that bed. The bed-wetter moved.

 

After lights out that first night, a camper walked over to my bed, and asked if he could go to the bathroom. Now, like I said, I was a rule-follower and the camp director – a great bear of a man – had very specifically told us, “Have campers go to the bathroom before lights out.” So, logically, I interviewed the camper, asking him if he could hold it and why he didn’t go before lights out but, finally, I relented. But because I wanted to follow the rule, I told him he couldn’t go to the bathroom, he could go behind the cabin. He agreed and was off. (It might be worth mentioning that the bathroom would have taken all of 20 seconds to walk to, but – you know – I was a rule-follower.)

 

I waited for the camper to come back… and waited… and waited. I figured he broke the rule and went to the bathroom. Finally, I was about to get up and go hunting for him, when he came back in. I decided I didn’t care where he had gone and drifted off to sleep.

 

The night passed uneventfully. Wake-up came. Flag raising and breakfast happened. Then at cabin cleanup a camper came up and asked me if I thought the wolf was real.

 

“Of course,” I said. “Why?”

 

“He was here last night,” the camper replied.

 

“What?!” I asked. “How do you know?”

 

The camper looked at me and said with all solemnity, “I think the wolf pooped behind our cabin.”

 

The thing is, I was a rule-follower. And I was so busy following the nuance of camp expectations, I missed the pretty important detail of what a camper really needed: a toilet and some toilet paper. In an effort to follow the rules, I overlooked the big picture of truly caring for a camper.

 

In the Bible, Jesus dealt with a lot of rule-followers. One time when Jesus was talking in the temple, one of those rule-followers came up and asked Jesus what the most important commandment of all is. You see, God had given his people all sorts of commandments to follow so they could be God’s set-apart people.

 

This guy who came up to Jesus cared about the details and wanted to know, What’s the one thing I need to really focus on? But Jesus flipped this guy’s question on its head and gave him a much bigger answer than he bargained for.

 

Read Mark 12:28–34.

 

Jesus had a lot of options when he answered this guy. He could have said, “Don’t kill people,” or “Don’t worship idols,” or “Don’t go to the bathroom after lights out!” But instead, Jesus pulls out: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength [and] love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

I would have been like, “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Jesus! I just wanted one easy way I can follow God a little bit better.”

 

But Jesus is making a pretty clear statement that citizens in God’s Kingdom don’t kind of follow God. He isn’t asking for “sort of citizens.” Jesus is inviting this rule-follower to be an all-out God-follower, and that requires something deeper than just doing certain things. It invites people to be a certain kind of person – one overflowing with love for God and love for others.

 

I sometimes get caught up in rule following with God. Sometimes I want to know where the line is between right and wrong, so I can stand a few inches into the “right” side. Sometimes I ask questions like, “How far is too far?” and “How little is enough?” Maybe that sounds familiar.

 

But Jesus continues to invite us to be citizens in the Kingdom by going beyond the nuances of the rules. Jesus invites us to follow God with outrageous love and to share that love with others. Jesus invites us to go all in.

 

Sounds like a tall order. But the other great thing about being a citizen of the Kingdom is that God doesn’t only invite us to love, God enables us to love. When we experience the deep love God has for us, we are empowered to respond with deep love.

 

Today, and in the next few days, think about your actions. Maybe you are doing all the right things, which is great! But think about what fuels your actions. Are you following the rules simply because it seems like the right thing to do, or are you driven by an all-in love for God and others?

 

Don’t forget: The Kingdom is established wherever God is making things right – in and through God’s people as they follow Jesus. As you step into whatever comes next, see how well your heart is connected to your hands. Seek to let love guide all your interactions, and see how God will more deeply establish the Kingdom in and through your life.

 

CONSIDER…

1. What’s the difference between doing loving things and being a loving person? Which do you tend toward?

2. How have you seen God’s Kingdom through others’ love?

3. Do you think others have seen God’s Kingdom through your love? Why or why not?

4. What is one way Jesus’ words are inviting you to more fully love God?

5. Who is one person Jesus’ words are prompting you to more fully love? How will you do that?

Loving others isn’t just a flip of the switch. It might be very hard for you to truly love certain people. Begin with prayer. Take some time right now to pray for a person or a group of people that you have a hard time loving. Before you head into whatever is next, use a pen or marker to draw a heart on your hand to remind you that good actions should be fueled by love – that your hands and heart should connect.

 

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Sam Townsend helps write training, programming and marketing materials for YouthWorks mission trips. When he isn’t hanging around teenagers at church or digging into seminary homework, he is generally looking for a good conversation and a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to have it in. Sam still considers his first couple summers working for YouthWorks in Virginia and Pennsylvania communities some of the most transformative times of his life.