Talk

Values of the World

We’re all like the Pharisees. We think like the world. The Pharisees had it all wrong.

The world values power.

The Romans had power over Israel.

So, the Pharisees also wanted power. They wanted military power to drive out the Romans.

They were thinking this was the Kingdom of God. But no, this is the world.

They thought that the Kingdom of God had the same value structure as the world.

Another value of the world is pleasure.

Another value of the world is beauty. If you are physically attractive, according to the customs and standards of that culture, or of that

place, you get more sales, you have better jobs, people listen to you more, people pay attention to you more, and you’ve got more Instagram likes.

And, of course, value of the world is wealth. This is what the Sadducees had. The priests of that time connived with the Romans and they got wealthy because of that.

The world is all about power and so, the Pharisees were asking Jesus: “When will the Kingdom of God come?”

But they were thinking in terms of power, wealth, beauty, and pleasure. They wanted the Kingdom of God to come in power.

But Jesus says: “No. The Kingdom of God is among you, and you don’t discern it, you don’t see it.”

 The Kingdom of God Is Upside Down.

Is there a lot of evil in this world?

Are there wars? Is there drug addiction? Is there corruption? Those evils come from power, pleasure, wealth, and beauty — over people. There’s nothing wrong with power, pleasure, wealth, or beauty.

What is wrong is if you put people below all of these.

The Kingdom of God uses power, pleasure, beauty, and wealth– but what it does is it puts people above them.

This is the upside-down Kingdom of God. All of the “values” below are tools to serve.

Jesus is saying: “You don’t see the Kingdom of God among you because you don’t think this way.”

It’s people — every human being made in the image and likeness of God, the Shepherd leaving 99 sheep to look for the one lost sheep.

Jesus is proclaiming this in Luke 6:20- 21:

The list of Beatitudes is the inauguration of the Kingdom. But not only that.

It is also the Kingdom’s VIP guest list in the Kingdom party.

In the Kingdom of Jesus, the people come first– no matter who they are.

They come as Number 1.

It’s All About People

So, what should you do if you have the power, pleasure, wealth, and beauty now? While they are there, use them for the glory of God.

Two years ago, I started doing

push-ups. But a day will come when I get weak. I will no longer be able to do my 1,000 push-ups. Exaggeration.

But while I still can, I’ll enjoy the exercise. I’ll serve the Lord with it but I will not be attached to it because the Kingdom of God is not about power, pleasure, wealth, or beauty.

The Kingdom of God is about people:

The fetus in the womb of a mother– already valuable in the eyes of God.

You cannot kill that.

The prisoner whom the world throws away in a dark dungeon– God loves and values.

The elders who are weak and have no money are being thrown by the society. But God is God who says about each one of them: “That’s my child.

He has a value.”

The poor. The world shuns them because they are dirty and they smell bad. But God says, “That’s my child.”

This story was first published in the Feast Family Online News Magazine
Published by THE FEAST (April 27, 2025)