Is Kingdom Spirituality Dirty Spirituality?

Is your understanding of spirituality/holiness more like that of the Pharisees---separation/segregation from the unclean, the impure, the ethnics, the poor---or more like Luke 4:18 where the Holy Spirit is directly tied to the despised poor and oppressed?

Matthew 6:33 is the key verse in the Sermon on the Mount.  The Sermon is about spirituality and a sharp contrast is drawn between hypocritical spirituality and Kingdom spirituality.  The NEB translates 6:33 this way:  "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else."  My paraphrase:  "Give your highest priority to incarnating the kingdom of God as justice---Jubilee justice for the oppressed poor who are living in a spirit of despair."

Country to popular opinion, the highest form of spirituality is not prayer and worship in a monastery; it is releasing the oppressed; it is caring for the poor (Isaiah 58:6).

Pastor David Jeremiah is normally a careful, thorough expositor of the Scripture.  Recently I hear him preach on Matthew 6:25-34.  He did a fine job showing how stupid and unproductive worry about the necessities of life was; he spent most of his sermon on the folly of worry.  But when he came to the key verse of the passage, 6:33, he only lightly touched this all important theme.  Unfortunately, this is typical of white evangelical preaching---little understanding of the importance of the kingdom of God as justice for the oppressed poor.  6:33 should be placed along side John 3:16 for a complete gospel.

The church needs to choose between sanctuary spirituality or street spirituality, between stained glass spirituality or broken window spirituality.

More from the Sermon on the Mount.

1.  Do not store up treasure on earth; instead build the kingdom as justice.
2.  You cannot serve God and Money; instead incarnate the kingdom as Jubilee justice.
3.  Do not focus on the necessities of life; instead release the oppressed.
4.  Don't be a God-talker; instead do the will of God---kingdom justice.
5.  Don't build your house on sand; instead build it on kingdom rock.
6.  Jesus came to fulfill the Law and Prophets---justice and love; the church must combine love and Jubilee justice.
7.  Hunger and thirst after justice for the poor and oppressed; give it your highest priority.