Wouldn't It Be Strange?

My friend, Fred Kofi Afedzi Hagan gave me the 1999 Charlie Peacock album 'Kingdom Come' this past summer, and I found that the second track has easily become my favorite. In a sense, it's a compilation of some of Jesus' hard sayings focusing on what it means to live in the Kingdom. "Wouldn't It Be Strange?" challenges our understanding of "right" Kingdom living. The choruses goes as such:

Wouldn't it be strange if riches made you poor,
if everything you earned left you wanting more?
Wouldn't it be strange to question what it's for?

Wouldn't it be strange if power made you weak,
if victory came to those who turn the other cheek?
Wouldn't it be strange to welcome your defeat?

Wouldn't it be strange to find out in the end,
the first will be last and all the losers win?
Wouldn't it be strange if Jesus came again?

These lyrics come from places in the Gospels like Matthew 5:39 and Luke 6:29, Matthew 16:25 and Luke 17:33, Matthew 19:30 and Mark 10: 43-45, and Acts 1:9-11. I think the problem is how closely the Church culture strangely reflects Worldly culture, especially in terms of what we place value upon. After working in the Church for twelve plus years, I can testify from first hand experience that there is subtle (and not so subtle) worldliness that has disguised itself as particular kind of false piety. The sad thing is, I think, that most people don't really recognize it. And it is difficult for most pastors and elders to communicate, teach, and model for congregations. One question that comes to mind is, what is normative for interpreting and living out the faith, both personally and corporately? The interesting tension here is the difference between appropriate ownership and indigenization of the Gospel by a particular culture or people group, and the Gospel becoming so acculturated that we equate the controlling of and/or participating in the culture with living out the Gospel rightly. So what is the difference? I'm feeling that there's little difference in the mind of many Christians in the West.

My questions are tough. Is your church preaching this? Is your small group wrestling with what this means? with the implications of this? Are you asking the Holy Spirit to help you living in a manner worthy of your calling? Wouldn't it be strange if Christians suddenly started to live like this?

What do you think?