Upside down world

Paul’s focus is the humble use of power to serve one another, as Jesus served sinful humanity by his sacrificial death (Phil. 2:5–8); in a fallen world, service often leads to suffering. This clearly calls into question any superficial, triumphalistic understanding of the kingdom of God or the restoration of rule, especially to engage in “culture wars” on behalf of the Christian faith (a powerful temptation in some varieties of contemporary Christianity).—J. Richard Middleton, A New Heaven and a New Earth, 146