Show Notes
In this episode, Derek Vreeland explores the values of the Kingdom of God as taught by Jesus on the sermon on the mount. These values are best seen through the lens of the Beatitudes. He emphasizes the dual citizenship of believers in both earthly nations and the Kingdom of Heaven, and discusses how cultural values differ across societies. The conversation delves into the Beatitudes, highlighting their significance as kingdom announcements rather than mere promises, and reflects on the deeper meanings behind each proclamation. Ultimately, the episode encourages listeners to embody the values of the Kingdom in their daily lives.
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Narrow Path by Rich Villodas
The Message Bible by Eugene Peterson (translator)
Scriptures mentioned in this episode:
Matthew 5:3-10
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Transcript
Narrator: Welcome to Peaceable and Kind, the podcast where we explore the transformation. Each week your host, Derek Vreeland, will delve into the stories, scriptures, and practical steps that help us embody these essential Christian virtues.
Derek Vreeland: Welcome back to another episode of Peaceable and Kind. I am your host, Derek Vreeland. Thank you for joining me for this episode. I hope you are having a good day today. But no matter whether it’s a good day or a tough day, I hope I can bring a word of encouragement. And let me encourage you, if you have not already, to subscribe to Peaceable and Kind wherever you are listening to this episode. And if you want to leave a rating or review, that helps tremendously. So thank you for that. Let’s go ahead and jump into our conversation today. I want to talk about The values of the kingdom of God. You know, Jesus had one topic In all of his preaching, all of his teaching, even some of his dinner conversations, Jesus had one topic, and that was the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus came to do. He came to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom. That is, through Jesus, through his teaching, through his ministry, through his life, and then ultimately through his death and burial and resurrection. And ultimately his ascension, Jesus was proclaiming the presence of the kingdom of God. And if you’re a follower of Jesus, you have been invited into the kingdom. We are kingdom citizens. So in that way, we have dual citizenship. We are both citizens of this political nation that we find ourselves a part of But we are also citizens of heaven, citizens of the kingdom of heaven. You’ll notice in Matthew’s gospel, the very first book of the New Testament. that Matthew likes to use the phrase Kingdom of Heaven. Other gospel writers and in other places in the New Testament, it’ll speak of the kingdom of God, but Matthew speaks of the kingdom of heaven. And this is not, as I once imagined, a kingdom that exists in heaven Matthew is following a Jewish tradition of not writing the name God. For Orthodox Jews, the name of God is so holy. that they won’t say the name of God. In Hebrew they would say Adonai, which means the Lord. And in writing, sometimes, even in English, Orthodox Jews today will write G dash D. Matthew’s following in this ancient tradition of not saying the name God. So in saying kingdom of heaven, he’s referring to the God of heaven The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God, and it’s not a spiritual kingdom that exists in a faraway land. No, it’s a kingdom that has come from heaven to earth. That is what Jesus came to announce. Jesus, when he began his public ministry, and Mark has this clear in his gospel, the very first line of Jesus’ very first sermon. was to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. To repent. That means to to rethink To reprioritize, to realign one’s thinking and heart and life To the kingdom of God. So the kingdom is not a faraway kingdom in a spiritual area. No, the kingdom of God has come from heaven to earth. And it is a kingdom for earth. The kingdom of God is a kingdom for this place. And Jesus is the king. You know, when we say Jesus Christ, that last part Christ isn’t Jesus’ last name, it is a title. Christ in English is a transliteration of the Greek word Christos Which you see in the Greek New Testament, and you also see that in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the Hebrew word Meshiach, Meaning Messiah. Now we went from English to Greek to Hebrew. Let me connect the dots for you. Christ means king, particularly the Jewish king So the Egyptians, they had pharaohs, the Romans had Caesars, the Jews had a Messiah, a king And as that gets translated from Hebrew into Greek, the Greek word is Christos, where we get the English word Christ. So Christ is not Jesus’ last name, it really is a title Which is why in some places in the New Testament the order is reversed and you’ll see Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is King Jesus. So Jesus is the king in God’s kingdom, and Jesus is ruling and reigning from heaven, but he’s ruling through his people. He’s ruling through the church. So, those of us who have said yes to Jesus, we are kingdom citizens. And so today I want to talk about the values of this kingdom. You know, if you’ve spent time in other countries, if you’ve traveled abroad, you’ll recognize that different cultures have different values. For example, for a lot of us Americans, um, we’re very time sensitive, time conscious, time aware. So, you know, if you’re you know watching network television, if you’re gonna try to catch Monday night football, well, you look up and they’ll tell you kickoff is at 720. So if you’re watching it live, you better be in front of that TV at 7. 20 because if they say it’s going to start at 7. 20, it’s going to start at 7. 20. Other cultures are a little bit more relaxed with time. I’ve spent some time in India. I have Indian friends. I have one Indian friend in particular, he calls it Indian Stretchable Time, IST, because in India time is really an ish. One of the times I was in India and I was speaking at a church there with a friend of mine, I was going to prepare in the morning For the sermon I had to preach, I wanted to pray, review my notes. And I asked him, you know, what time does it start? He says, Oh, we start at 10 a. m. I said, Great. So I was ready to go and I got picked up at like five before ten and I thought, ooh, we’re gonna be late. And I get there and I thought, here we go, we’re gonna hit the ground running. The church service didn’t even start till about 1040-ish, because for them, you know, being precise with time is just not important. Relationships are much more important. So in different countries and in different cultures, there’s a different set of values. And so there are values that are in the kingdom of God. And they are found in the teachings of Jesus. And I think one of the clearest places to find the values of the kingdom of God Is in the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, I’m talking about the Beatitudes. This is a set of proclamations that Jesus makes at the very beginning of his sermon, the very famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. It’s Matthew chapter 5, verses 3 through 10. And so what I’d like to do is walk through these beatitudes and explore what the values of the kingdom of God are. Because if we’re going to be good citizens in God’s kingdom, we need to know what’s important. What are the values of this kingdom that we’re a part of? I’ll go ahead and let you know from the get-go that today’s episode was inspired by my friend Rich Velotis, his brand new book, The Narrow Path. I need to get Rich to come on the podcast and we’ll have a longer conversation about this book. But I’ve been leading a group uh at church on Wednesdays. uh through Rich’s new book. The title of the book again is The Narrow Path, and it’s subtitled How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls I’m leading a group on Wednesdays through this book and having great conversations about the Sermon on the Mount. That’s what the book is about. And so this is one of the books I’m reading right now. I’m always reading books, but this is one I am certainly recommending The Narrow Path by Rich Velotus. And he has a chapter on the Beatitudes. He has a chapter on each section of the Sermon on the Mount, but he has just one chapter. I believe it’s chapter two, which covers the Beatitudes. Now, before we look at the Beatitudes, we need to frame them correctly. The Beatitudes are not Bible promises. Rather they are pronouncements, they’re kingdom announcements from Jesus. I’m not opposed to Bible promises However, I think that there’s an impulse for some people to read the Bible in such a way that they’re only looking for promises that God is making to them as an individual. I don’t think that’s the best way to read the Bible. I think there are promises for us, but I want to keep it in the plural. God makes promises for ancient Israel, and that’s in the Old Testament. And then when Jesus comes, everything gets reworked and reimagined, including who are the people of God. Because before Jesus, the people of God were Jewish people. The people of God after Jesus, it’s the church made up of both Jewish people and non-Jewish people. So when you do see promises that are made in the Bible, remember those are promises given to a people, to a community. either Israel in the Old Testament or the Church in the New Testament. Now, if you’re a part of the church because you’re a follower of Jesus, you’ve been baptized, you participate in a local church, then the promises given to the church are for you. So there’s nothing wrong per se, but it’s not to me the best way to read the Bible, even though there are lots of promises. The Beatitudes aren’t promises. These are rather announcements of who are the people that are blessed in the kingdom of God. And what we find out is that the people most blessed in the kingdom of God are not necessarily the people blessed in the other world that we live in Rich in his book, The Narrow Path, talks about how we are, as modern Americans, persuaded that the good life Is defined by riches and possessions, and that in the kingdom of God, the values we find in the kingdom are really subversive. The announcements that are given to those who are blessed is probably not what we’re thinking in chapter two of the narrow path. Rich Velotis has this to say. He writes, humanity has been subduced into a vision of the good life that’s based on good physical health. Ample money, positivity, acclaim, and minimal challenges. Let me pause for just a moment You understand that, right? That when we look at someone and say, wow, they are well off. They’re doing good, right? They’re blessed, if you want to use a religious term. It’s typically people who are fit. They got money. They got a boat or a lake house or a beach house. And they got 3. 5 kids who are all in the honor roll, you know, the sort of stereotypical vision of the good life. Now, I always want to nuance that a little bit to say there is something valuable about having good health. There’s something valuable about having enough money in the bank to pay your bills. Um, I think being a positive person is probably better than being a negative person. So what Rich is writing here about this seduction around the good life. Is not that it’s all wrong. So to want to be a healthy person and to have enough money to pay your bills, that that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but these are surface level markers of the good life And what happens in American culture is we make it the depth, right? This is the only markers of the good life. Rich goes on to write, Jesus turns it all around, explaining that the most fortunate people are those who are socially disregarded are deemed unworthy by the dominant culture and recognize their deep need for God. Why don’t we look at it? I’d like to walk you through the Beatitudes. Again, it’s just seven verses, Matthew 5, chapter 5, verses 3 through 10. And I want to read from the message Bible. As you have heard on other episodes, I am a huge fan of the message. Now, the Message Bible is a modern contemporary translation, and it’s not necessarily the best translation. It is not the only translation that I use. I highly recommend for any kind of Bible study that you use multiple translations because the reality is there’s no one single perfect translation. I am regularly on a weekly basis reading from three to four different translations in English. I don’t think there are any really bad translations out there. There are some that have strengths and have weaknesses So the message is not perfect. In fact, in walking through the Beatitudes, I’m gonna just tell you straight up, there’s one I think the translator, Eugene Peterson, my hero, actually gets wrong. I really don’t like one of one verse that he translates in here. But overall, I love the message for how it opens up our imagination. So let’s walk through the Beatitudes and see if we can’t pick up the values of the kingdom of God. This is what King Jesus is valuing. Let’s start Matthew chapter 5, verse 3 And again, the message starts with great imagery. In the message, Matthew 5, verse 3, Jesus speaking. You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and his rule. I love the imagery of that translation. You might be more familiar with the more common translation. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But I love that imagery. You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope, when you’ve come to the end of yourself and you’ve tied a knot into the end of that rope and you’re just holding on white-knuckled for dear life And I appreciate that Eugene Peterson here in the message translation does use the word blessed. That’s an interesting word. The Greek word translated blessed is makareos. And makareas is a word that means happy or fortunate, again, most often translated blessed. Eugene Peterson originally wanted to translate it lucky. You’re lucky when you’re at the end of your rope. But his uh editor said people are gonna freak out if you put the word lucky in the Bible. So he ended up going with the more traditional word blessed, which I think is okay. It does sound a little religious-y and churchy, but I think it’s good. You are blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. Blessed are the poor in spirit, and in Luke’s gospel, it is rendered blessed are the poor. So is Jesus talking about blessed are those who lack material finances? Or those who have a spiritual poverty, Jesus is probably talking about both. Because people who are at the end of their rope, who are poor in spirit, they recognize that they need God. That I believe is the first value of the kingdom of God. Those who are physically fit, who are rich, whose family is just perfect. They feel like they have it all going on. So they don’t need God. But those of us who are kingdom citizens, we recognize we don’t have it all figured out. I know I don’t have all the answers. I don’t have a perfect life. I have at many times in many situations come to the end of myself, and then I’ve recognized I need God. So that’s the first value. Let’s move on. Matthew 5, verse 4, Jesus says, you’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the one most dear to you. This is more traditionally translated: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. You who are mourning, who recognize your loss, you’re the ones blessed in God’s kingdom. The value here is that we don’t skip over grief. The value here is that we don’t become happy clappy. And try to be all positive when people are going through grief. I just talked to a friend on the phone, and her pastor, who I have known, recently was diagnosed with cancer. And three weeks after his diagnosis, died tragically of a heart attack in the hospital. And as I was talking to her on the phone, she’s tearing up, and I was heartbroken. And as a kingdom citizen, I recognize the value here is to enter into that mourning. Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. you will recognize that you’re embraced by the one who is most dear to you, and that’s God. And so in talking to my friend, I simply entered into her mourning and grief and told her how sorry I was and that I’d be praying for her and The family left behind after this pastor’s death and his church as well. So the value here is that we recognize mourning and we don’t try to bypass it. Let’s move along. Matthew 5, verse 5. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are, no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. This is traditionally translated: blessed are the meek. for they will inherit the earth. Eugene Peterson in the message, you’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power that is constrained. Meekness comes from a heart. That is content with who you are. That’s the value. Meekness is a value in the kingdom of God Not that we’re passive in the face of injustice, but rather we are content. Content with who we are, content with who God has made us And Jesus says we will inherit the earth or in the message, we’ll be proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. Next Beatitude, Matthew 5. 6. You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat While I love the imagery, this is the verse in the message I think Eugene Peterson simply gets wrong because he misses the keyword righteousness He translates it, you’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God, which is true because this is traditionally translated, blessed are those who hunger and thirst. But what you’re hungering and thirsting for is not God per se, but hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And righteousness here doesn’t mean a right standing with God. Jesus is saying, Blessed are those who have worked up an appetite for justice. Sometimes we miss justice in the New Testament because it’s hidden under this word righteousness. But rightness and justice are very connected in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. So here, I think Eugene Peterson in the message translation misses that keyword righteousness, which I think is better understood as justice. Here I I I sense Jesus stirring within us kingdom citizens a hunger for justice, for rightness, for a world gone wrong to be set right. So even though I think the message doesn’t get this one the best, I still like the imagery. Let’s move on. Next Beatitude, Matthew 5, verse 7. You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being careful, you find yourselves cared for. This is traditionally translated: blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. I often see kindness as mercy in motion And another good word for kindness is care. Jesus is saying, Blessed are those who are merciful, who show mercy. Blessed are you when you care. When you are full of care, careful, and are showing that care to other people. This is a predominant value of the kingdom of God. Those of us who are following King Jesus, who are kingdom citizens, we care for our family, we care for our neighbors and our neighborhoods, we care for our cities. This has been a staple of the people of God from the very, very beginning, going all the way back to the Old Testament law. In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, you can read in the Law of Moses how there were provisions for strangers, for the poor. So, for example, in the Old Testament law, when you were reaping your harvest, you would leave some grain out there for the poor. And so from the very, very beginning, the people of God have been those who care for others. That’s such a high value. Next Beatitude. You’re blessed when you get your inside world, your mind, and your heart put right. Then you can see God in the outside. This is blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. So pure in heart, which is what is normally translated in the message is you’re blessed when you get your inside, your mind, and your heart put right. One of the values of the kingdom of God is that inward transformation leads to outward transformation. Sadly, many Christians have only focused on the outside, have only focused on behavior modification. But that leads to hypocrisy, that leads to legalism and the worst forms of religion. The value in the kingdom of God is to be pure in heart. The value here is we want our inside set right. And as we are being changed on the inside, that motivates us to change our behavior on the outside. Two more Beatitudes. Matthew 5, verse 9. You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are and your place in God’s family. This is the way the message translation is translating: blessed are the peacemakers. Here’s a value of the kingdom of God. It’s being peaceable and kind. You are blessed when you can show when you can demonstrate to people how to cooperate instead of competing or fighting. Whenever Christians choose one side of a culture war battle, I feel like they are losing sight of this value. Don’t invite me to fight in your culture war. I have beat my sword into a plowshare years ago I believe the way of Jesus is the way of cooperation and not the way of fighting. Now, it doesn’t mean that we play nice and try to get everyone to play along. Certainly, peacemaking in the way of Jesus requires that we acknowledge sin, that we acknowledge idolatry, immorality, injustice. But we do so in a way that leads to cooperation and peacemaking and not fighting for the sake of fighting Then we come to the final beatitude. This is Matthew 5, verse 10. You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. Jesus knew from the beginning that the world would hate us because the world hated Jesus. Now, Jesus goes on to say, Take heart, I’ve overcome the world. But he recognizes that we are indeed blessed when persecution comes. Because persecution, when people come at us as Christians, we have two responses. We can react and start fighting. Or we can just simply go deeper into the kingdom of God. And that is the value, I think, here of not simply reacting when we’re persecuted. But suffering willingly, even suffering joyfully, the insult of others, and going deep within the kingdom of God and responding in the ways of Jesus Well, that’s it for the Beatitudes, and hopefully, you have seen in this very quick walkthrough of these seven verses what it means to be a kingdom citizen. So which of these do you need to emphasize? Maybe as we close out this podcast episode, you can focus on one of those. What is it for you? Are you still full of pride or do you recognize you’ve come to the end of your rope? Are you one who kind of stays away from people who are becoming emotional or sad or grieving or mourning? Are you one who’s not content with who you are? You haven’t found that meekness? Are you one who have not really discovered the injustices in our world? Are you one who takes care of yourself, or are you really thinking about showing care for others? Have you focused on just the outside or not the inside? Are you more combative and wanting to be a fighter more than a peacemaker? Or are you running from persecution? Which is it for you? I don’t know, but I’ll let the Holy Spirit speak to you, and then you respond. with repentance, so you can absorb all of the values of the kingdom of God. Well, that’s it. That’s all we have for today. Thank you for listening.
Guest: Go in peace and be kind.
This transcript was generated with AI and may contain errors.