The Upside Down Way: Following Jesus through the Gospel of Luke

by Lloyd E Brownell

Overview

Jesus' life should turn our world upside-down. His first observers, according to Luke, were routinely seized with amazement, both at the bending of physics--making the blind see and lame walk--and at the ridiculous things he did and taught. A careful look at the Jesus of the Gospels sketches a man completely out of touch with conventional thinking; a man radically devoted to living a shocking life for the sake of the broken and forgotten. In popular depictions of Jesus today he seems to be more concerned with upholding a conventional way of life than with overturning our understanding of ourselves. Jesus' life story should lead more to humble servanthood than to syncopated light shows in church or the triumph of a political candidate or a well-ordered and respectable lifestyle. The Upside Down Way is a series of devotionals drawn from the text of Luke. Each devotional is an invitation to a fresh look at the outrageous words and actions of Jesus. Author and pastor Matthew Ingalls combines rigorous historical study with a voice that is unflinchingly bold, reflective, honest, and challenging, in order to elevate Luke's ridiculous Jesus to his rightful position as the fountain of Christian faith.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532605376
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	02/14/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	711 KB

About the Author

Matthew Ingalls is the pastor of River Street Church of God in Newberg, Oregon--a small congregation dedicated to living the way of Jesus for the sake of its neighborhood. He is a graduate of Portland Seminary where he studied both Biblical studies and the history of Christian theology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

1 Questions Are the Beginning of Discipleship 1

2 Learning to Run Again 5

3 All the Baptists and Republicans with Me! 10

4 That Hairy Lunatic in the River 13

5 Jesus ≠ Power 17

6 From Marveling to Maleficence 20

7 Anger in Politics 24

8 The Credibility of Humility 28

9 Scarred by Affection 32

10 Which Jesus? 35

11 Where Is Your Faith? 39

12 Fear in the Way 41

13 Breaking Down the Kitchen Door 45

14 Money, Health, and Striving 48

15 Marching up the Hill 53

16 Swallow Jesus? 57

17 Yours or Ours? 61

18 Include Lazarus 65

19 It Matters Where We Begin 69

20 The Poor Investor 72

21 All of Patrick 76

22 Our Last Table 80

23 The God Who Suffers and Is with Us 84

24 An Upside-Down Sentence 88

25 Suffering, Even on Sunday 91

Bibliography 95