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March 2008
Insight is a monthly contribution on remarkable topics dedicated for thoughts, reflection and prayers. Please feel free to contribute to this page what you would like to share with others.
Jesus' Paradigm Shift at Easter Colossians (3:1-17)
Dear friends, warmly welcome to our insights for March 2008.
Why do Christians get so excited about Easter?
I think because Easter is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.
Indeed, we do not worship a God sealed in a dusty tomb, but a God who is alive and who changes lives! The heart of the matter is, throughout the ages we have received testimonies of men and women who have met Jesus while he was physically alive, saw him, heard him preach, touched him, ate with him, experienced his healing power. and his death on the Cross. Up to Good Friday, Jesus' business plan was very clear, to fulfil his Father's eternal plan to die and rise again at Easter Day.
The Bible says that if Jesus is not risen, then we are still 'dead in our sins', weighed down by the burden of the things we have done wrong in the past, struggling through the present and worried about the future.
We believe Jesus is alive today, and so we have everything to live for and to look forward to. Our past is dealt with, he guides and helps us in the present and he has promised we will never be separated from him in the future.
Come and get excited about Jesus' Paradigm shift with us this Easter at St Matthew's Church.
Jesus' Paradigm shift at Easter. The term 'paradigm shift' was introduced by the philosopher of science, Thomas Kuhn. He shows how almost every significant breakthrough in the field of scientific endeavour is first a break through with tradition, the old ways of thinking and the old paradigm.
Copernicus created a 'paradigm shift' by seeing the sun, rather than the earth, as the centre of the universe. Suddenly everything took on a different interpretation.
According to Paul - 'when the rubber meets the road,' everything will change. For Paul , everything changed while he was travelling to Damascus to arrest the Christians when he saw a dazzling light and heard Jesus say to him, 'Why do you persecute me?'
Blinded by the light, he was led to Damascus. Ananias was sent by God to visit him and restore his sight, and Paul was baptised. At once, there was a paradigm sift in Paul's ways of seeing and understanding things and he started preaching about Jesus in Damascus.
The apostle Paul encourages his readers in Colossians 3:1-17 to make a 'paradigm shift'. A relationship with God through Jesus Christ affects who we are and all our relationships at places of work, at home, school and in Church. We should see everything in the new light of Easter experience.
Many of Paul's letters can be divided into two distinct parts. In this one he wrote to the Church at Colossi and the first part of it deals with biblical issues related to the nature of Christ and the gospel. The second part of the letter wisely deals with the practical outworking of becoming a Christian. What we believe affects how we live, which is why what we believe matters so much. Paul write here that being a Christian will make us different from other people.
How does this 'paradigm shift of Easter experience' affect our lives?
It is the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' Mission-shaped Church.
Paradigm shift in ourselves (Col. 3:1-12).
There are many self-help books and much success literature that teach techniques to sort ourselves and our lives out and offer us superficial solutions. However, what matters most is much more fundamental: our characters.
We died with Christ, that's what Good Friday is all about. Come and experience the challenges and blessings of Good Friday with us at St Matthew's
We are raised with Jesus on Easter Day and we will one day appear with him (Col. 3 :1-4). The old self has died so that we are to get rid of the old ways and live in the power of Easter experience and presence of God.
Paul uses an image of changing our clothes: we are to take off old habits and put on new ones.
Paradigm shift to take off the old clothes: Firstly, the old clothing involve the misuse of sex and money (Col 3:5-6). There is nothing wrong with these things in themselves except insofar as they are misused and become idols (v 5). When this happens, serious consequences follow (v 6). Secondly, our old clothing may include sins of speech: using language aggressively and destructively (vv 8-9). Thirdly, it may include discrimination (v 11). Among Christians there should be no racial, religious or class barriers. We are all God's chosen people holy and loved by him (v 12).
Paradigm shift to put on the new clothes: The new clothes offers us an alternative way of behaving and responding to each other: compassion rather than malice, kindness rather than slander, humility rather than anger', gentleness rather than rage, and patience rather than bad language.
Paradigm shift in our relationship with others (v 13-15): Forgiveness (v 13). Forgiveness is a uniquely Christian virtue. Others may forgive but only Christians have a real basis for it. We have to forgive because we have experienced Jesus' 'paradigm shift' of God's forgiveness. We will never forgive to the extend that we have been forgiven.
Love (v 14). This is not just an emotional but something we are to 'put on' and which binds everything else together.
Peace (v 15). The kind of peace that Paul speaks about here is only possible when the peace of Christ is filling our hearts.
Paradigm shift in our attitude to Jesus (vv 16-17). Listening to him (v 16a). We experience a longing to hear Jesus and a thirst for the word of God. Our priorities change, and we find time to study the Bible regularly, meditating on it and putting it into practice.
Here at St Matthew's, I am aware of some who are committed to reading extra bible notes like (Living light, Every day with Jesus, Day by day with God, Closer to God,) and studying the Bible.
If you need any help to get one, please don't hesitate to contact the parish office on 020 8534 2397.
Paradigm shift in our Worship (vv 16b). We respond to God's love for us by expressing our love and thankfulness to him in worship, as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.'
Paradigm shift in centring our lives on him (v 17). Whatever we do, whether in word or deeds, we should do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Our families, our jobs, our friends, money, possessions and leisure activities are all important and have their place but none of them should be at the centre of our lives. That place should be reserved for Jesus and him alone.
We can have a paradigm shift this Easter. Jesus died to make it possible for us to live a new life. We must change and as we move on in our life with Jesus, we will change. We will be transformed into his likeness. Easter experience is Jesus' Highest paradigm shift in the world to prove that God has the power to change humanity for his glory.
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