A few weeks ago one of our pastors at SOJO preached something that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
He was teaching through Matthew 20 and he pulled out this image that just locked in for me. He called it the pyramid scheme. Not a scam. The actual structure of a pyramid. And he used it to describe how Empire operates.
Think about it. A traditional pyramid has one person — or one small group — at the very top. They hold the power. Below them are the people who serve them, who give their energy and output to keep the person at the top in their position. The further down you go, the more people there are carrying the weight for fewer and fewer people above.
Most churches are run like pyramids. Most families too.
Somebody at the top. Everybody else serving the vision of that person. And the whole thing depends on keeping the hierarchy intact.
Then he said something I want to say to you right now. Jesus didn’t just critique the pyramid. He flipped it.
That is the inverse pyramid. And it is the operating system of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus modeled this with His whole life. Think about who He spent His time with. Not the powerful. Not the connected. Not the people who could advance His platform. He spent His time with fishermen and tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers and children and outsiders. He was constantly lifting the people that Empire had pushed to the bottom.
He washed feet. He touched the untouchable. He stopped for the one when the crowd was pulling Him toward the many. He gave His life — not to gain power but to give it away.
The cross is the ultimate inverse pyramid. God at the bottom, lifting us above it.
Now let me make this real. The inverse pyramid doesn’t just apply to pastors and leaders. It applies to you. In your home. In your workplace. In your friendships. In your church.
It looks like the parent who sacrifices their comfort so their kids can thrive — not as a martyr, but as someone who genuinely loves to watch their children become who God made them to be.
It looks like the employee who uses their position to develop the people around them instead of protecting their own lane.
It looks like the volunteer at SOJO who doesn’t care who gets the credit — because the win is people encountering Jesus, not their name being called.
It looks like asking a different set of questions every day. Not how can I get more? but who can I lift today? Not who’s going to recognize what I do? but whose gifts am I helping release into the world?
I want to be honest — this is hard. Empire’s voice is loud and sounds a lot like wisdom. But Jesus didn’t offer this as an idea. He offered it as a way of life. And He proved — with His resurrection — that the upside down way is not the losing way. It is the only way that actually leads to life.
Identify one person in your life this week that you can intentionally lift. Not because they’ll notice. Not because it benefits you. Just because that’s the Kingdom move. Do it and see what happens on the inside of you.
If you know someone who leads — a parent, a manager, a coach, a volunteer — send them this. The inverse pyramid might just change how they see their role entirely.
— Corey