A
Paradigm Shift
.
by Bob Tedesco
Introduction
A paradigm is a model or pattern, something that
can be copied. It can also be a theory, an
approach, or a set of ideas. The archetype is the
original pattern or the original paradigm. In this
chapter we want to consider the archetype of God’s
relationship with man and the paradigm shift that
occurred as a result of the saving work of Jesus
Christ.
The questions to be addressed here are: How does
the Lord relate to his people, and what is to be
the corresponding response? If there is anything
to be learned from Judeo-Christian history, it is
that people get confused; they get tricked, and
they drift, invariably in the direction of their
own will, their own flesh, or their own
circumstances. Our response to the Lord is the key
issue because, although we may become
confused or drift from what the Lord wants from
us, he is not confused in the slightest!
He knows how he wants to relate to his people, and
he has an expectation for a certain kind of
response from us. Assuming that most people want
to do the right thing with their life, we would be
prudent to consider what the Lord is asking of us
and not waste an opportunity to respond in a way
that is pleasing to the Lord.
A New Testament, a New
Covenant, a New Paradigm
The first pattern of the way the Lord wanted to
relate to his people is seen in the garden
accounts from Genesis. But there is a second
paradigm, a second model, a second pattern that we
also see in the Old Testament. The archetype of
this model indicated that Israel was to be a
geographic nation. God’s people were to be
favored, protected, and provided for by God.
That’s the way he chose to relate to them. All the
other people on the earth seemed to be aware that
there was something different about this people –
that they were “set apart.” They had their own
priesthood, their own prophets, and their own Law.
They had a distinctive and protected way of life.
What we see is a set of people who are gathered in
one place, whose God has graciously given them all
they need in order that their relationship with
him might work as it should while they live on the
earth. This was not a “personal” relationship for
most.
Often when we read about Moses, Elijah, or Elisha,
we get a certain picture of what their
relationship with the Lord must have been like. We
can infer a level of familiarity and closeness
that was absent from the experience of most other
people of the time. Mostly, they were assigned to
doing the right thing, to keeping the Law, staying
out of trouble, and living their own lives. That
was the paradigm, the pattern of God’s
relationship with his people in the Old Testament.
The “live your own life” element becomes the pivot
in the paradigm shift we will see in the New
Testament.
In the New Testament we see that the Lord wants to
“inhabit” the people of God. Rather than having
his people inhabit the promised land and live as a
walled-off nation in the confines of which he
takes care of and provides for them, a shift takes
place. He is now choosing to live within them! We
should not take that lightly because the seemingly
subtle shift makes all the difference in the world
as to how we relate to God, how we follow him and
are inspired by him.
“‘If a man loves me he will keep my word,’”
says Jesus in John 14:23. This verse from John is
a familiar one to us, and we’re generally okay
with it – up through that point. But the verse
continues: “and my Father will love him, and
we will come to him and make our home with him.”
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, “Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the
old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
All this is from God who through Christ has
reconciled himself to us.”
We may not have been struck by the fact that in
our Lord’s Day prayers we read, “the Father has
sent his son to begin the new creation.” The New
Testament and the work of Christ usher in this new
creation. That’s a paradigm shift – to God
inhabiting his people rather than God just having
a people; God expecting his people to all be
engaged in sharing the gospel, as they are able,
and to be capable of worship. We still have
ordained ministry and the priesthood, as in the
Old Testament, but God expects all of his people
to be leaders, ministers, and lights to the world,
to know the way of the Lord, to have his Law
written on our hearts to that we don’t have to
research it before we can respond to a given
situation.
A Paradigm Shift Back...
A Hybrid
It’s not unusual for man to put a certain spin on
God’s intentions, and sometimes we can have a
paradigm shift backward, slipping into what looks
more like an Old Testament model. One fallback is
to come into a personal relationship with Christ
and then think we can choose to do whatever we
want. That’s not the life to which we’re called.
We are a holy nation, but we’re not just a holy
nation that is walled-off geographically while the
Lord is caring for and protecting us. He has a
different plan! The model for the way in which the
Lord relates to us now is very much connected to
his plan, not just for us as individuals but for
the human race. It is possible to have a
relationship with Jesus and then fall back into
doing our own thing. That is a regression into the
Old Testament paradigm or model.
Constantine was the Roman emperor who brought in
Christianity and made it a kind of “state
religion.” Christianity was already becoming
popularized, but with Constantine the paradigm
shifted. Up until his time Christians were being
martyred and were deeply committed to Christ.
Christians in the early centuries actually
embraced martyrdom. Many of us don’t see as much
of that anymore (though it is certainly happening
in parts of our world), but it is a privilege to
die for the kingdom.
Living the model of the New Testament, where
Christ inhabits his people, looks very different
from simply having a personal relationship with
the Lord and then doing our own thing. Unless we
embrace this new model, we cannot understand many
of the teachings of Jesus or Paul. They won’t make
sense if we’re living a nominal (in name only)
Christian life. Consider, for example, Jesus’
words in Matthew 10:37: “‘He who loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and
he who loves son or daughter is not worthy of
me.’” Is that a difficult Scripture for you?
When a soldier goes off to war for his country,
does he not in a sense turn his back on his home,
his wife if he’s married, his children if he’s a
father, and his state? He goes off to a different
place and fights for the way of life he’s trying
to protect. He is forced to say, “If I have to I
will give up my life here at home and go fight
that battle.” Something has to die within him in
order for him to be able to take up that call.
Something has to be embraced or defended so that
he can make that sort of ultimate decision.
We can gain a better understanding if we consider
the model of a missionary. A missionary lays it
all down. Mother Teresa serves as an example. To
join her order one must lay down everything. These
people, and hopefully there are some like this
among us, understand the difficult Scriptures a
little better than most of us. Those Scriptures
are really only understood from the vantage point
of a significant level of Christian commitment.
But some of them will remain difficult. Even if
you were to lie down on the floor and say “Take
everything I have, Lord – strip it all away,”
there would still be some Scriptures that would
remain hard for you to understand. There is a
whole lot of Scripture that begins to open up as
your level of commitment increases.
As we get older and grow in the Lord and can give
more and more away to him, more things will begin
to make sense. When you’re young, say in your
twenties and thirties, that’s good news! As you
progress into your fifties, sixties, and seventies
you’re going to understand more of these difficult
passages. More and more of this world is being
systematically stripped away from you in the aging
process, yes, but your commitment level grows as
well. For example, if you lived in a country that
had never been at war and had the task of training
an army, this would be hard for you to do. The
enlisted men might be protesting, “We’ve never
been to war! What’s the Sarge so excited about?
Does he actually think this is a real army?” It’s
hard to see unless you’re committed to the cause
and facing the reality that the battle could
actually be lost! From the sergeant’s perspective
that is a possibility. And we have seen brothers
and sisters lose or relinquish the faith they once
proclaimed. It’s a real war.
When we consider some of the more difficult
Scripture texts, we might ask ourselves, “If I
were completely sold out for Christ, could this
make sense?” Or “If I didn’t care about anything
else but pleasing him, could I understand this?
Final Question: Are We Raising
Our Children to be Old Testament Christians?
For me it always comes back to this question Are
we raising our children to be Old Testament
Christians? Are we embracing a paradigm and then
shifting it for our children into a hybrid with a
human spin on it? Are we saying to our children,
“We want you to have a personal relationship with
Jesus and then “follow your dreams”? Scripture
doesn’t say that, does it? Jesus seemed to be
tremendously disappointed in the rich young man.
He didn’t say, “Have a personal relationship with
me and then do what you want.” We need to raise
our children saying, “Embrace the will of God.”
Their life experience might actually line up with
their dreams, but maybe it won’t. The Christian
life has to cost something. Eternal life is at
stake. We need to train our children to see that.
John Keating is a brilliant international leader.
His father was a doctor, and John was himself on
the course to becoming a doctor when the Lord
called him to be his servant. He just gave up his
dream of becoming a doctor. Many people thought
that was silly. Some said, “You could be a doctor
– somebody else can serve Christ. You’re
brilliant; let the people who are less brilliant
serve Christ.” But John put aside his dream of
becoming a doctor and chose instead to serve the
Lord as a Servant of the Word brother.
Not too many generations back, if somebody were a
genius they almost certainly were sent off to a
monastery or a convent. Often, the intellectually
best of the best were “skimmed off” the top and
given as an offering to the Lord. They would get
the best training, but they would also have the
opportunity to discern whether or not they had a
vocation.
When we’re training our children we should ask the
question, “Do career and education trump Christ
and the kingdom?” If the answer is yes, we should
repent and figure out what we can do to change
this.
A call to the priesthood or to the ministry is a
high call. The call to be a youth worker is a high
call. A youth worker has the lives of young people
in his hands. Yes, you could be a brain surgeon or
a rocket scientist. But youth work is a high call,
and we need to support those who answer that call.
The Plan: God Inhabits His
People and Takes Over the Earth (Three
Commandments)
The plan of God is to inhabit his people and to
take over the earth! He wants to take back what is
his! It is not for him to inhabit his people while
we just sit here and enjoy his touch and love
coming to prayer meetings. “Take over the earth!”
commands the Lord.
We’re all aware that there are ten commandments.
We’re also aware that there are two overarching or
summarizing commandments. The two commandments
are: You shall love the Lord your God with your
whole heart, your whole mind, your whole soul, and
all your strength, and you shall love your
neighbor as yourself. But there are really three
commandments. The third is, “Go into all the earth
and make disciples of all the nations.” The people
Jesus talked to understood what he was telling
them. “Go into all the earth.... Some of you will
be killed, but don’t worry about that.... You’ll
probably be persecuted and tortured, but don’t
worry about that. ... Go into all the earth and
take it back! And I will be with you until the end
of the age.”
The body of Christ is not just a metaphor; the
limbs respond to the head. We talk about the body
of Christ and understand that we’re the body and
he is the head. He’s thinking, “Take back the
earth.” We’re thinking, “Volleyball, football,
dance lessons, book club... ” No, he wants us to
take back the earth! He’s inhabiting us and
teaching us to do a particular task. You can’t
have the limbs going in one direction and the head
in another. The limbs respond to the head, and
that’s what the head is thinking. He wants to take
back what is his. The body of Christ is an army on
a mission.
John 12:24–25 “‘Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and
dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears
much fruit. He who loves his life loses it.’”
Teach that to your children. We need to love our
life in Christ, not just love our natural life. “
...and he who hates his life in this world will
keep it for eternal life.”
It’s a good deal. If there is anything
business-oriented about you, you know that this is
a good investment.
1 Peter 2:9–10 “But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own
people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds
of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Once you were no people, but
now you are God’s people; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received
mercy.”
Scripture is very clear about our purpose and our
call.
Paradigm Shift (c)
2019 by Bob Tedesco is featured in his new book,
Choosing Discipleship: Embracing the Call
in a Modern Culture, published by
Credo House Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Bob
Tedesco is the founder of the People
of God, a
Sword of the Spirit community in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA where he
served as Senior Coordinator for 26
years. He has been involved in lay
ministry for over forty-five years,
serving in the Sword of the Spirit as
the North American Regional President
and Chairman of the Board of Directors
of the North American Executive
Committee.
Bob is the author of two books, Essays
on Christian Community and Choosing
Discipleship. and forty-one
Christian life articles published in
the Sword of the Spirit international
online magazine, Living Bulwark.
He has a BS in Aerospace Engineering
from the University of Pittsburgh and
worked as a consulting engineer for
twenty years. He and his wife, Bobbie,
have been married for nearly sixty
years. They currently have ten
children, thirty-seven grandchildren,
and eleven great-grandchildren. They
reside in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania,
USA.
Choosing Discipleship
Embracing
the Call in a Modern Culture
by Bob Tedesco
163 pages
Published in 2019 by Credo
House Publishers,Grand Rapids, Michigan,
USA
The
book is available in print at Amazon and Credo
House Publishers.
Choosing Discipleship
is an excellent book and very
helpful for keeping some key issues
before us in a compact way. It is very
useful, easy to ponder, and easy to teach
from. It is a great resource...
personally; I liked the style you used...
it relates to the busyness of our culture.
Bill
Durrant, Founder, People of God’s
Love Community, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Excellent pastoral material and also well
written. It’s a tremendous contribution to
the Sword of the Spirit worldwide and the
wider church as well... Seasoned leaders,
parents, pastoral workers, and community
members need to be refreshed and learn
again (and again) the vision and sound
principles and wisdom you have taught over
the past few decades... It will continue
to be circulated to many communities and
individuals for generations to come.
Don
Schwager, Editor, Living Bulwark,
international online magazine of the Sword
of the Spirit
Typing the manuscript for Choosing
Discipleship over the course
of a summer felt like being on an
extended retreat! My own life of
discipleship and my understanding of what
God is doing in the world today has been
significantly influenced by Bob’s clear
vision, insight, and wisdom... The impact
he has had both as a community builder and
author has stretched across continents,
and I suspect his influence will be felt
for many years to come.
Joanie
Nath, Senior Women’s Leader, People
of God Community, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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