Upside Down - Parent Que
UPSIDE DOWN:
Series Overview
In the Upside Down series, we are going to look at something Jesus talked a lot about—the kingdom of God. Many of the people who heard His message firsthand thought that He was talking about a kingdom where Jesus would be in political power, and that their lives would be easier than their present circumstances under Roman rule. But Jesus was talking about something bigger than that—a kingdom where His desire for broken things to be restored is met. Jesus was talking about ushering in an upside down kingdom
Session One: Collision
When we’re talking about our lives, most of us wouldn’t think in terms of “kingdoms.” But the reality is that each one of us has one. We have some area of our lives where we rule and reign. A kingdom may be as vast as a school, team or group. Or it may be as small as your bedroom or your cell phone. There’s a place in your life where you are in complete control and really don’t care what anyone else thinks or wants. The problem is, when we live with only our kingdom in mind we often end up doing a lot more damage than good. But in Christ’s kingdom, His desire is for restoration and as difficult as it can sometimes be to allow His kingdom to reign, there is only room for one kingdom and one king.
Session One Parent Cue: What are some of the characteristics of my kingdom? How do I try to control it?
Session Two: Inverted Reality
Last will be first. Give to receive. Lose to gain. People who mourn are blessed. All statements Jesus made, yet they seem so opposite from how our world functions and even how we are wired, don’t they? But the kingdom of God is upside down compared to the kingdoms we seek to establish. The life Christ calls us to counters every natural and selfish inclination we have, but His way, His kingdom, is far better than anything we could have in mind. And when we surrender to God’s kingdom, we begin to live this upside down life that somehow brings more fulfillment, more peace, more satisfaction than the reality we live in every day.
Session Two Parent Cue: How is God’s kingdom the opposite of how the world operates?
Session Three: An Upside Down World
It’s easy to think that God’s kingdom is just about Him and us. It’s easy to forget that we are part of something bigger, something more vast that just our relationship with Him. We are part of His kingdom both some day, and now. We are a part of His mission to restore things that are broken, whether that’s in our own lives or in the lives of those around us, or those half way around the world. And when we live with a future kingdom in mind we can start to make it a more present reality.
Session Three Parent Cue: What are some things that are “broken” around us? How can we be a part of God’s restoration with those things?
Story Line
By Carey Nieuwhof
I’m not sure what time of day you are reading this, but whatever time it is, you and I have already been writing our story lines for the day. Your story line is that narrative that you and I bring to every day we live.
For me, my story line today, as I write this, is to complain about the snow.
In my view, the snow here is about three weeks too early. It’s November in Canada and it snowed a bunch last night, and it snowed a lot the night before. I had to fire up the snowblower. The snow from yesterday was still inside the chute and intake system (I think that’s what it’s called) and it was frozen. So I had to dig all that frozen icy snow out of my snowblower. Then after five minutes of snowblowing, the blower ran out of gas. The cars were frozen over too, so I had to chisel them free.
My guess is that reading the paragraph about that didn’t energize you. In fact, it probably drained you. That’s the point. Complaining belongs in the circular fire—shredded and even burned.
Complaining is something I want to banish from my personality. So I’m writing this post to remind myself that it’s just not helpful in any way. It’s not. Stop. Cease. Desist.
The trees were gorgeous this morning with the ice and snow. Despite the inconvenience, the front yard looks really beautiful too. And I think that, for me, that’s a much better story line for my day. Instead of complaining, there’s a better way for my day to be defined.
What about you? What’s your story line today? Choose what it will be.