A World Turned Upside Down (Fourth Week of Advent)

If there is one thing we learn from observing the biblical narrative from start to finish, it’s this: God never really tells a story in a straight line. He loves unexpected twists, turns and ironies. He loves to confound the wisdom of the wise. He loves to do the big things with the little things.

Image bearers coming from dust
Helpmates coming from ribs
The youngest sheepherder in a little known family in the lowest tribe becoming king
Barren women bearing nations
Persecutors becoming preachers
Mustard seeds becoming trees that fill the sky
Wolves dwelling with lambs
Crooked places becoming straight
The high brought low and the humble elevated

God invented the plot twist.

The advent of Christ is the manifestation, the incarnation of God’s way in the midst of man’s way. In the garden, God laid before man Truth, Goodness, Beauty and Life. When he fell, man did not stop seeking Truth, Goodness, Beauty and Life. It’s just that he redefined (that is, he mis-defined) Truth Goodness, Beauty and Life. As fallen man, he called false things “True,” bad things “Good,” ugly things “Beautiful,” and he called death “Life”…and vice versa.

So now man walks through life looking and living completely upside down.

Enter Jesus of Nazareth.

Here we have the second Adam, a man who is sinless. He lives the Godward life. His compass is set to “true north.”

It got him killed.

He would eventually be crucified as, of all things, a blasphemer…a lawbreaker. The one who kept every jot and tittle of the law, would be punished as a lawbreaker.

Twists and turns don’t end here.

This Lawbreaker would die, and in so doing would (you guessed it) live forever. This act, according to the Lawbreaker makes everything new. It turns death in on itself so its teeth are broken, its sting removed and its victory revoked. Come to find out, dying kills death! Laying down one’s life is how one saves it.

So, in this world turned upside down, we are made to see aright. We are told to “repent” (that is, to turn around) and “die,” which is actually living because everything we’ve been taught in our messed up, twisted world was wrong.

A little child has led us. He teaches us a different way of looking at the world, thinking about the world and living in the world. He shows us right side up.

Table Talk

Around the table, talk about what living a “Godward life” looks like…and what it may cost.

Advent Readings for Week 4

Sunday, December 21	Isaiah 11:1–10
Monday, December 22	Zephaniah 3:14– 7
Tuesday, December 23	Matthew 1:18–25
Wednesday, December 24	Luke 2:8–20
Thursday, December 25	Matthew 4:14–16
Friday, December 26	Isaiah 2:1–5
Saturday, December 27	Luke 2:25–33

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