“De-Tox”: “A regimen of treatment designed to remove poison or toxins/impurities and their effects from the body (or mind).”

“The truth is, we will never change unless we are sufficiently challenged with new ideas. But it is a fact of human existence that, when confronted with the new, our natural tendency is to defend our old position from behind a wall of resistance, sometimes even when our old position is draining life out of us”—Bruce Demarest

TABLE TALK What are some “Old restrictive unnecessary wine skins” that you believe people react to that either consciously or unconsciously create barriers to them considering following Jesus?   What are some “Old Wine Skins” that you personally have found yourself reacting to in a negative way? How do you tend to deal with them?

The First Disciple’s Religious Paradigms   Before Jesus called His son-to-be disciples, they were deeply mired in the observant Jewish religious worldview of their day, together with all the religious paradigms that made it up. Some of the disciples’ paradigms that needed to be torn down and rebuilt by Jesus, included: Cultural prejudices toward Gentiles and Samaritans. A belief that an earthly messiah was needed to overthrow Roman occupation. A ritualistic notion of prayer – there was a prescribed prayer for every function and task. A view of God that caused them to fear ever mentioning one of His names. A blessing notion that reasoned if you were pleasing God, you would materially prosper. Conversely, birth defects and barren wombs were indications of God’s displeasure with you. A behavior-oriented mindset that held up the self-righteous Pharisees as the gold standard. A social perspective that had a real concern for status together with mandatory reciprocal hospitality.

Jesus and His Kingdom Paradigm   Jesus came with a whole new Kingdom worldview that challenged and inverted all the foundational religious paradigms of His day. In fact, transformation can be viewed as a new way of seeing things – replacing restrictive religious paradigms with new liberating spiritual ones. Foundational to the biblical understanding of repentance is changing one’s mind for the better. Some of the paradigms of Jesus’ radically new Kingdom of God understanding included: A Father paradigm that said it was acceptable to call God, Abba, what some have called the most radical verse in the Bible. A concern more about the nature of your heart than your behavior. An emphasis that the “first shall be last” and that it is the human heart of the servant that gives his Father pleasure. A teaching that we now call a Sermon on the Mount, which inverted many of the norms of that day. Thus, an “eye for an eye” inverts to “turn the other cheek”. A heartfelt concern for Samaritans and Gentiles. An emphasis on a Kingdom of the heart and mind, not a political kingdom of this earth. A fundamental change in the whole way the Sabbath was understood.

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Memory Verse: Mt 4:19 “Come, follow me, Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people”.   2 Tim 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”