Upside Down Kingdom – Week 5

Upsidedown Kingdom Week 5

there’s freedom in .  We think there’s , but there’s freedom

 Matthew 5:33-36 — Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.”  But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all:  either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 

Theme of this verse: manipulation… to try to get our way

Dallas Willard wrote:  “Jesus goes right to the heart of why people swear oaths.  He knew that they do it to impress others with their sincerity and reliability and thus gain acceptance of what they are saying and what they want.  It is a method of getting their way.”

What Jesus is talking about is

1 – there’s immense knowing that you’re loved

2 – there’s freedom in honesty

Here’s a few ways that we do reputation management: 

name-dropping  

embellishment

and introduce half truths

MISLEADING PEOPLE is fear, covered up in words

HERE’S A THOUGHT that I think Jesus is getting through to us

if you know that you’re loved then you have nothing to prove. 

If you have nothing to prove, then you have nothing to defend. 

If you have nothing to defend, you are finally and fully free to love. 

And that’s where he wants to get us.

God is a covenantal God

‘I will be your God and you will be my people’