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MOVING FROM
OUR PERSPECTIVE TO GOD’S PERSPECTIVE Have you ever seen a picture that looked at one way
looks like one thing but, when you look again, it looks like something
completely different? The picture below
at first sight looks like a wine glass – but, when you look again, it looks
like two faces in profile. 
You can probably think of other examples. Sometimes,
when we look at things in a different way and from a different perspective, we
see something different. I am sure we have all experienced the feeling of suddenly seeing something we hadn’t seen before, of being “enlightened,” something we couldn’t understand suddenly making sense, the “penny dropping”, maybe seeing a different point of view for first time. This idea of seeing something different depending on
our perspective is quite interesting.
Because what we see and understand, how we interpret the world around
us, is shaped by our individual experience, the people we have had contact
with, our education, culture, community, and socialisation process. People talk about “ways of seeing”, “mindsets”, or
“world views”. Another term is
“paradigm”, which means a pattern or model of how we see things, how we view
the world, the lens through which we look.
And what we do is determined by those patterns, models, paradigms,
lenses. It’s a quite powerful concept. As Christians need to make sure we are looking at
things with God’s perspective.
Remembering that his view of life is not the same as ours – our
perspective is very small and limited. Isaiah 55:8-9 God’s perspective is bigger and wider than ours,
encompassing whole universe and all of eternity. Today I would like us to spend a few minutes
thinking about moving our perspective more towards God’s perspective, and some
of the implications that has. What happens with paradigms is that people make
assumptions about what is true, and take certain things for granted. For example, we know today that the Earth is
round, and we don’t spend time thinking about it, but historically people thought
the Earth was flat – the paradigm changed. And what happens when new paradigm enters our
thinking is that suddenly the whole view of world changes, is expanded, moves
to a different level. We start to see
things never seen before. Looking at
the same thing from a different perspective, we see something completely different. When scientists accepted that
the Earth was not the centre of the universe – in fact, the Earth went around
the Sun not the other way round - it resulted in the Copernican Revolution. It opened up whole new world of understanding
and discovery, and changed mankind’s
view of the universe and ourselves. Now, I would like to
suggest something one stage further. There are paradigms in our Christian lives
too. We all have a view of the world that shapes
our Christian life. Our view is shaped
by our background, experience, the people we’ve come into contact with. But because we are human our view is not
necessarily God’s. So from time to time
God through his Spirit shakes us up, gives us access to new paradigm, helps us
see bit more of way he sees the world. For those of us who have experienced the last five
or so years in the Worldwide Church of God,
moving from Old Covenant to New Covenant teachings been a change in
paradigm and mindset. It totally
changed our perspective, our world view, our outlook. But, it has been exciting
because it enables us see things we couldn’t before. It moves our perspective onto a different plane.
New Covenant teachings
have certainly shaken up our understanding, faith, and view of the world for
many of us. They led to a lot of uncertainty, a certain amount of fear, and a
natural resistance to change. But
something else about paradigms offers some reassurance. New paradigms often include the old as a
special case. For example, Isaac
Newton’s laws of motion were superseded by Einstein, but are still taught in
schools today. Newton’s laws had value,
but were only part of the picture. I would submit that it is a very similar situation
with regard to the Old Covenant and New Covenant. What the New Covenant does is move us onto higher level, gives us
a wider perspective, a broader understanding.
Old Covenant laws had value but were only part of the picture. God is moving us towards his view, helping
us see more of his picture. Old Covenant
laws have value, but only if we see what they pointed to. Paul had the answer when he said that they
helped to bring us to Christ. They are
the means to an end, not the end itself.
Galatians 3:21-25. 21 “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the
promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart
life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But the Scripture declares that the whole
world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through
faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. 23 Before this faith came, we were held
prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to
Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer
under the supervision of the law.” Our knowledge of
the Old Covenant law was not wasted time - but it was only part of the
picture. God in Jesus Christ has chosen
to take us to the next level, broadened our horizon, given us a new paradigm. It’s almost as if Jesus is opening the blind of a
window, lifting a veil, opening our minds.
Imagine looking out of a window with the blind only slightly open, and
seeing a road. And we followed that
road. As we started down the road – and
the blind opened a little more – we began to see twists and turns. There were
hills and valleys, things that could
distract us, and forks in the road.
Things that we couldn’t see when we first started out, and if we had
seen them, perhaps we wouldn’t have gone down that road in the first
place. But we kept following the road
because we knew it was the right way to go. Then Jesus opened the blind little further, and we
were confronted with the “mountain” of the New Covenant. It has been a battle to climb that mountain,
a struggle, very hard work. But as we
climb the mountain and look back to the start, we begin to see a wonderful view
we’ve never seen before. Our
perspective, our world view, is suddenly so much larger. We realise that the road at the point where
we started was really only small part of the whole picture. It wasn’t a waste of time – without it we
wouldn’t have got here – but we are certainly glad we didn’t stop way back down
at the start and miss the wonderful view. The Old Covenant law is only part of the
picture. From top of the mountain, the
whole picture can be seen. That’s God’s
view, the high ground, that’s his perspective – he created it! Up in the sky at the top of mountain is the
Sun – the bright morning star – Jesus Christ.
That’s where he wants us to be – not stuck back on a road
somewhere afraid to climb the mountain to him.
It’s as if Jesus is opening the
blind of a window, lifting a veil, moving us up to new paradigm. 13 “We are not like Moses, who would put a veil
over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was
fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this
day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been
removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil
covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the
veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect
the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” So what does this all mean
in practice? What is the new paradigm? As we move more towards God’s perspective, onto the New Covenant paradigm, what changes? What changes is that now we view the world through a
set of principles – founded on love – not an arbitrary list of do’s and
don’ts. Instead of doing something like
children because we are told to or not, now we can understand how and why in
each situation. Now we can use
judgement, wisdom, God’s Spirit. One more analogy I would like to use is that of a
swimming pool. I hope no one will be
offended. Most pools have a “baby pool”
– it’s shallow and warm, and you can use armbands. It’s good – but you won’t
achieve your goal of swimming by staying in the baby pool. It’s a means to an end, not the end itself. You need to have the courage to climb out of
the baby pool, take the armbands off, and plunge into the big pool. Swimming in the water of God’s Spirit you
now have to make decisions based on principles in order to produce the fruit
God wants – the fruit of the Spirit. This isn’t some licence to do anything we like – No!
– this is harder than under the Old Covenant. Now we have taken
responsibility for actions like adults.
It’s an adventure in the big swimming pool of life! In conclusion, let’s strive to see the world from
God’s perspective. Let’s not resist
when he’s moving us onto new level, a new paradigm. Let’s battle up the mountain to see Jesus Christ and his view of
things. The New Covenant is not
something to be afraid of. It’s just
moving onto a higher level – something deeper – more profound – moving closer
to God’s level – understanding Christ as focus of everything. And then we can live the mature life he
wants us to have – a special, different life based on love and service in power
of God’s Spirit. Simon Williams 25th March 2001
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