I use the term quicksand because it has a scary connotation of being caught in something that I have no control over. Yet I have always heard that the best thing to do if your caught in it is to stay calm because all the flailing around we tend to due when we’re scared just causes us to sink faster.
What is a Paradigm? A way of looking at your world or at your God.
1. The Ancient Period - A.D. 100-600 was dominated by a Platonic paradigm.
a. Truth was found in mystery.
b. The true world was in the shadows of what we could see.
2. The Medieval Period – A.D. 600-1500 shifted the paradigm toward an Aristotelian point of view.
a. Truth was in the created order of things.
b. Structure was our guide to enlightenment and salvation.
3. The reformation Period – 1500-1750 was preceded by a new philosophy called Nominalism, which insisted truth was not found in an “objective institution” but in the mind of the individual.
a. This philosophy working through the culture weakened the strangle hold that the Roman Catholic church had and allowed the rise of the reformation in Christian thought.
4. The Modern Period – 1750-1980 was shaped by the philosophy of Descartes, which placed its hope on the reason of man. Which gave birth to all this confusion we call denominationalism. (divisions in Christian thought)
a. Most of the roots of the Church of Christ can be traced to men like Descartes and his disciple John Locke, which in turn had a great influence on the Campbell’s and their contemporaries.
5. And now we are in the Postmodern Period – 1980-Present.
a. This new area is marked by more knowledge than ever before but the realization that we still don’t have the answers for societies ills.
b. Science states that we are in an ever expanding universe.
c. Philosophy states that we are in an interrelationship with all things.
d. Which is in turn causing man to realize that the answers are not in himself and allowing a rise of the “New Platonic Thought”, which says that perhaps the answers are out there but cloaked in the mysterious.
e. Therefore the search is on.
So the real question is how does all that affect us today? I really don’t think much has changed in the way we should respond. I think we should respond:
1. The same way Ezra & Nehemiah did.
2. The same way Jesus did.
3. The same way the Reformers did.
4. The same way the restoration preachers did.
Ultimately our best examples of a response to a world of confusion and darkness are found in scripture so that is where will focus our time.
Lets start where Nehemiah did.
1. He was in essence a slave in the service of a foreign king.
2. What was his view of a God that would leave His people in captivity?
3. Couldn’t God have gotten them out when ever He wanted?
4. Why didn’t He?
5. Would all these answers be as easy if you were in Nehemiah’s shoes?
6. Would you feel the same way if you were the one in His situation?
Having considered all of these questions lets ask some tough ones of ourselves.
1. What are we a slave to?
2. How long have we been held captive?
3. What changes do we want to see made?
4. Can you afford to wait any longer?
We can pray the world into changing traditions and lives or anything else that is in the will of God.
But first we must: (all of these things are also examples of the way the reformers of the new testament church behaved.)
1. Rethink real nourishment.
He spent four months fasting. This was a sign that he realized that if God people weren’t returned to their right relationship with Him and their place in the Kingdom that it did not matter if he lived or died.
(Neh 1:4 NIV) When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
(John 4:34-35 NIV) “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. {35} Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
2. Repent of lethargy.
He took responsibility for his sin as well as theirs.
(Neh 1:5-7 NIV) Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, {6} let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. {7} We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
3. Renew our spirit with His spirit.
When his spirit was weak or scared he threw up a prayer and kept going.
(Neh 2:1-5 NIV) In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; {2} so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, {3} but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” {4} The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, {5} and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
4. Recommit ourselves to whatever it takes.
Nehemiah risked his life.
He set the example of commitment for his people. Chapter 2 is replete with him staying committed.
5. Refer to God’s word continually.
When confronted with trouble he reminded his enemies and his advocates that the hand of God had been with him all along and that it still was.
(Neh 1:8-9 NIV) “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, {9} but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
(Neh 2:18-20 NIV) I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work. {19} But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?” {20} I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”
6. Relinquishing fear to its rightful place and motivation.
He feared the result of not obeying God more than he did the reaction of the:
a. King.
b. Governors
c. Israelites
(Neh 4:1-6 NIV) When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, {2} and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” {3} Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” {4} Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. {5} Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. {6} So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
Fear and frustration should always bring us to our knees. God is strong enough to lift us back up to a position of strength.
***An example of Changing your paradigm to a more Theo centric world view.
(Matthew 3:17) And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
(Matthew 4:1-11) Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. {2} After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. {3} The tempter came to him and said,
1. "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." {4} Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
a. “If you are?”
b. Go ahead and have some freshly baked bread. (Hot Donuts)
i. Bread is not my greatest need.
ii. Doing the will of the Father is!
2. {5} Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. {6} "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "’He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" {7} Jesus answered him, "It is also written: ’Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"
a. “If you are?”
b. Go ahead God says its okay.
3. {8} Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. {9} "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." {10} Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ’Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’" {11} Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
a. “I will give you”
b. Go ahead and take it since your Father won’t give you your rightful glory is the implication.
i. That is just like us. We “will get the glory” one way or another.
*What did the Angels do?
*I don’t know but they’ll do it for you if you will trust God.
Notice that in all of Jesus’ responses he goes back to a view of the world that places God at the center of it and not what he or satan might desire. It is also worth noting that Jesus was casually quoting scripture here but He was making a passionate refutation of satan’s argument out of a heart that could not even think to worship anyone but Jehovah Jira the nurturer and provider of life.
I don’t have all the answers for a “postmodern world” but I know who does. It may however demand that we open our eyes wider than they ever have been before.
It will most assuredly demand that we not try to always cram the present or the future in the mold of the past and arbitrarily cut off anything that hangs over the edges.
In every past paradigm shift there have been those who were schooled in the philosophy of the past that tried to hold back the changes were being thrust upon them, but that is like trying to use a tissue to hold back the waters of the Hoover dam.
What we must do is find a boat sturdy enough keep us above the waterline while we find a way to be relevant with a timeless message in a changing culture.
Oddly enough the church is always a few years behind the culture instead of seeing the changes occurring and trying to provide guidance to scared and lost world during the time of transition so as to maximize its potential in every generation.
