Date: December 12th, 2010
Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder
Title: Radical Christmas
Text: Matthew 3:1, Luke 3:4-6
INTRODUCTION
Several years ago I saw a video by Joel Barker called :The Business of Paradigms.
In the video he explores some of the major paradigm shifts in history and how we reacted to them. He says a paradigm is a model, pattern. It helps explain the world to us and helps us predict its behaviour. And when you are in the midst of a paradigm, it is hard to imagine any other paradigm.
Some of the major paradigm shifts.
i.e.
- flat to round earth
- earth centered universe to sun-centered galaxy
- He has a particular interest in business and how these shifts affect business success.
- Watch-making
One example he identifies is watch-making.
He asks “Who dominated the world of watch-making in 1968?
Answer: Switzerland. In 1965 it held 65% of the market.
Who dominates watch-making today?
Answer: Japan – a nation which in 1968 had virtually no watch-making industry.
What happened?
Well, in the mid-60’s someone introduced at a watch-making tradefair the quartz watch.
Who invented it? (The Swiss)
But the the Swiss industry leaders were so sure that it wouldn’t catch on that they showed but but overlooked it. It had no gears, no main spring, it needed batteries….
The Japanese bought the technology and began to manufacture it. The rest is history. The Swiss lost all but a small little niche in the watch market.
Barker makes 2 insights that speak to our text today:
- When a paradigm shifts everyone goes back to zero.
- The people who bring about a paradigm shift come from the fringes not the mainstream. (i.e. Facebook, Yahoo) (Galilee and Nazareth.
And because of that change is hard. It is often resisted. We can’t see it because we are blinded by our paradigm.
Well, there is probably no better evidence of Barker’s concept than John the Baptist and the paradigm shift to be ushered in with Jesus’ birth.
It was
- radical.
- upside down.
- challenged all the conventional wisdom and patterns of the day.
- It was quite frankly – revolutionary.
And if paradigm shifts come from the extreme edges then there is probably no more extreme charater than John the Baptist.
Maverick – par excellence!
The Biblical biker
- Long hair
- Leathers
- Diet of sweets and gross
God chose a man not from the status quo, but a radical from the desert to introduce the biggest paradigm shift in history.
What was the paradigm shift John spoke about?
1. KINGDOM SHIFT
John came preaching the “Kingdom of God was near”.
In Luke 3: 4 -6 he uses 4 images paint a picture of this radical new kingdom:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’
The Baptist describes this new kingdom as filling valleys, levelled mountains, straightened curves, and smoothed bumps. It will change our whole landscape. Each image portrays a radical transformation from its former state. The old ways are altered so abruptly that they won’t be recognized.
This coming kingdom will not just be a paving of the old roads, but will be a radical overhaul. It will be an upside-down kingdom.
Mary in her song spoke of the surprising nature of this new kingdom (Luke 1: 39 – 43)
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
Identifies some people who will be in the shock of their lives.
- According to Mary , the positions at the top of the social pyramid occupied by the proud, the rich and the mighty are shattered.
- They are brought down and instead the poor and hungry at the bottom of the social hill are elevated to the top.
Jesus introduced the values of this radical kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. In this new kingdom of God –
- The poor in spirit inherit heaven
- The meek inherit the earth
- The hungry are filled
- Merciful are not trampled but shown mercy
- Peacemakers not war-makers see God
- In this new kingdom enemies not just friends are loved.
- Religious acts such as giving and prayer are done for God not for tax receipts.
- Helping others is more the mark of success than the accumulation of wealth for oneself.
- Trust not worry are the symbols of a well-managed life.
- Justice and mercy and compassion for the poor and needy are valued.
This new kingdom, where Christ reigns in the hearts and relationships of people will bring about a radical social revolution.
Think of 2 ladders side by side – one representing the Kingdom of God and the other the values of the kingdom of this world. An inverted or inverse relationship between the 2 ladders means that something at the top of one ladder is at the bottom of the other. An object highly valued on the 1 ladder is on the bottom rung of the other.
The Kingdom that was near was one that was upside down from the values, norms, and relationships of the surrounding society….and it still is.
Jesus calls us
- to be helpful to our enemies,
- to be friends with bums and prostitutes,
- to exchange the pursuit of staus for washing feet,
- to see money not as security but responsibility, not as something to get but to use;
- to turn the other cheek and stop the cycle of ascending violence,
- to not build bigger fences in our neighborhoods but to break down walls,
- to not ignore the poor but engage them…
i.e.
Tony Campolo – “Who Switched the Price Tags?”
-burglers broke in to hardware store – never stole anything but changed price tags. Toaster were 4.99 and spatulas were $22.99.
It created chaos until it was fixed.
Well, that’s what evil did to our world. It broke in and switched the price tags on our values. We’ve got our priorities messed. The things that really matter become trivial pursuits. And thetrivial become our obsession.
And this new kingdom was a radical shift in putting back the right price tags on everything.
But this shift went beyond the just changing our values and relationships.
2. LIFE DIRECTION SHIFT
This new kingdom would call for a “Life Direction” Shift.
John ‘s message was “Repent” “Change direction”
The same old pattern was not to be continued. A new direction needed to be embraced.
In our various Christian traditions, we have different ways of explaining “What it means to be a Christian?”
- For some it is believing some key doctrines
- For some it is participating in some key rituals
- For some it is a humble confession and faith in God’s grace.
But whatever we call it, and however we believe we get it, when I boil it down there is one core element that I keep coming back to.
And that is a change of direction.
John describesthat change specifically in Luke 3
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
To each person there was a change called for.
A change from a self-centered, self-directed life to God-centered, God-directed life.
A change from “me” - first to “others” - first.
It is a change from “I’ll do it my way” to “I’ll do it His way.”
It is a shift from where we quit down-sizing God’s way to our way, and up-size our way to God’s way.
i.e.
Story of Alexander the Great – young fellow went AWOL
Normally just run him through with sword without asking questions.
But brought fellow in front :
What is your name?
“Alexander”
Stood up, picked him up, feet dangling, threw him to the ground
And with a pointed finger “Alexander, change your character or change your name.”
Friends, I wonder if John wouldn’t say that to us in the Christian church today.
There are a lot of things we do that don’t reflect the name of one whose name we bear.
Many “evils” & impure & worldly things get done by those who claim to bear the name.
And I wonder if John spoke today if in his bombastic, revivalistic style he wouldn’t say to us”Repent. Change your ways or change your name!”
3. RELIGIOUS SHIFT
The 3rd radical and revolutionary shift was a religious one.
John rattled the religious establishment.
The Sadducees and Pharisees were the religious leaders and influencers of the day.
- They shaped who was “in” and who was “out”.
- They wrote the script for the do’s and the don’ts.
- They were the ones who defined holiness.
- They were the ones who prescribed what one needed to do to be considered “spiritual”
- They formed the rules….even though Jesus later said they didn’t follow them very well.
And John rattled their world:
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them:
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
John rattled their world by saying: Whose child you are doesn’t matter. Just cuz Abraham is physically your father doesn’t mean a lot. It’s spiritually “Who is your father?”
Just because you have been in a Christian family for 4 generations doesn’t make you a Christian. “You aren’t a car because you were born in a garage.”
No, it’s personal.
- It’s about you.
- It’s about your engagement with God.
Let me get practical:
- It’s not about what church you attend that determines your spiritual standing….sometimes we think it does
- It’s not about how long your biological family has been in that tradition…
- It’s not even how often you show up….
- Or how rigid your moral code is…
- It’s about your heart and your soul, and your engagement with this person of Jesus Christ, who became flesh and dwelt among us.
- It’s about his rule and reign in your heart.
And so this paradigm shift – shifted allot of things.
It radically altered the landscape – valleys filled, mountains levelled, crooked roads made straight, rough ways made smooth….
It shifts how we think relationally.
How we want our community to be. As followers of Jesus we want it shaped and influenced by the values of the Kingdom of God.
It shifts how we think about our life direction –
It means that there is a desire and energy to bringing our lives into congruence with Jesus Christ
It shifts how we do God.
It’s not just rituals….heady beliefs, being good guys doing an acceptable number of nice things, it’s personal. It’s about making the last verse of “OLittle Town of Bethlehem” our prayer:
O holy child of Bethlehem
Descent on us we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel!”
Here we are 2000 years later on the other side of this paradigm shift….and I wonder sometimes….if we don’t need a John the Baptist every Cmas to shake us out of our worldly, commercialized, romanticized view of Cmasand stir us to embrace the radical revolutionary paradigm shift Jesus brings to our world?
- The radical shift to our social world
- To our values
- To our spiritual engagement
“As the Christmas carol says “Let earth receive her king.”
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The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 3:4-6
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 1:51-53
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 3:10-14
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Mt 3:7-10