Convicted!

Technology convicted me this weekend

Yesterday was our first day out with a new SatNav. The deep Russell Crowe Aussie voice is calming and reassuring (particularly for the female ears).

 But my first try-out revealed rather more about my stubbornness and independence than I had intended to divulge. Ironically, it was the words I spoke to my wife – out of my own mouth! – that brought about my own conviction.

 Reaction one – “please turn off the verbal directions”

 Being told what to do by someone else – even an electronic voice – was irritating. I preferred observing the Satnav screen and making my own way. As I journey through reading the Bible in a year I recently reread the bizarre story of Balaam and his donkey. That stubborn old mule – Balaam – failed to heed the words of the Lord and needed rebuking by his donkey:

 The angel of the LORD asked {Balaam}, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her.” (Num 22:32-33)

 Finally, Balaam gets the message and confesses his sin for failing to hear the voice of the angel of the Lord.

 What are you like at asking for, and then heeding, directions? God has given us His Word and His Spirit to instruct and to guide us. I must not turn the volume down or allow it to be drowned out by the hullabaloo of modern living. Pump up the volume (particularly when your instinct is to do the opposite!)

 

 Reaction two – “please turn off the speeding notifications”

 The Satnav reminders were convicting and uncomfortable. But rather than ensuring that I always drove within the law, my conscience felt more comfortable when the notifications were turned off. We do the same thing in the spiritual realm, don’t we?

 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at their face in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, goes away and immediately forgets what they look like. (James 1:23-24)

 The warnings of the bible are there for our own good and failing to heed them is to self-inflict harm. Talking back to the Satnav helps no one!

 

 A better way – “Be wise; Be warned; take heed; listen; have ears to hear….”

 The bible has a lot to say about, first hearing and then, heeding God’s word.

My driving experience yesterday reminded me of the need to be less stubborn and to be better at listening: first to the words from my own my which convict me; then, secondly, to the voice of Scripture.

 I’m still not sure I am going to turn up the sound on my SatNav, but I will renew my pledge to hear and heed God’s voice, something which God strongly encourages:

 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.  Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. (Psalm 32:8f.)

Preparing for suffering with the help of Job

Job 6 – “When words are like wind”

 In “Blue like jazz” Donald Miller wrote that he did not like Jazz because it didn’t resolve. He didn’t like God for the same reason.

Job helps to answer the question: what do you do with the unresolved, and how do you love God when life doesn’t make sense?

Miller argues that he eventually learned to love Jazz when he heard a street saxophonist “playing his heart out”, utterly absorbed in the music. When you love God you learn to live with the unresolved. Job helps us feel the heart of God.

Job is a complex and detailed book. The following four points are intended as an introduction to the long exchange between Job and his three so-called friends.

1. The value of Job

“If I did not have Job! It is impossible to describe all the shades of meaning and how manifold the meaning is that he has for me. I do not read him as one reads another book, with the eyes, but I lay the book, as it were, on my heart and read it with the eyes of the heart… just as the child puts his schoolbook under his pillow to make sure he has not forgotten his lesson when he wakes up in the morning, so I take the book to bed with me at night. Every word by him is food and clothing and healing for my wretched soul. Now a word by him arouses me from my lethargy and awakens new restlessness; now it calms the sterile raging within me, stops the dreadfulness in the mute nausea of my passion. Have you really read Job?” (Soren Kierkegaard in Repetition ).

Kierkegaard encourages a deep absorption into Job in order that we might be immersed in the “melodic line” of the book and find our dependence on a God who knows what he is doing, even in spite of appearances to the contrary.

2.  The unhelpful role of his friends

As some have observed, perhaps their most useful contribution was when they wept with their suffering friend and said nothing. Unfortunately, they broke their silence all-too-soon! (2:13). Not everything they said was wrong, in fact, someone once remarked that they spoke “the right words at the wrong time”.

For example, Eliphaz

-        4:7 – do the innocent really suffer? Have you examined your heart?

-        4:17 – you are presumptuous to think that you are “right with God”

-        5:9ff – God is so much greater than you, so don’t question his plans

-        5:17ff – God sends suffering to discipline and correct us

-        5:27 -  He is confident that “he has the mind of God” …

• How easy it is for “friends” to presume to know definitively what God intends to teach in this or that circumstance…

 

3.  Job as a model of innocent suffering (6:1ff)

Job’s responses are helpful

-        6:2f – My suffering is very real (“if it could be weighed”)

-        6:4 – but my suffering drives me To him not from him

-        6:8-10  – heaven would be more preferable to suffering on earth (Phil 1:21)

-        6:14-20 – The comment attributed to Teresa of Avila “God, if this is how you treat your friends, have you no wonder you have so few of them?!”

• Job hasn’t gone that far — he finds himself comforted by God’s consistency, but deeply troubled by his so called friends    
• Undependable (v15) – like overflowing streams, thawing ice
• And like caravans which have gone of course 9v18ff)
• They are confident that they are going in the right direction,  but in fact they are way off track
• V24ff. Look, I’m not saying this because I am unteachable…but your arguments are not convincing (namely that I must have sinned; and that is why I suffer)
• V28ff. You are judging me, but won’t look me in the eye; you believe you know my heart and my integrity
• V30 But, in fact, I am suffering innocently — I have not spoken wickedly not been malicious to anyone. Cf v10 “I have not denied the words of the Holy One”

-        Consistently throughout Job, he is held up as a model of one who – though he suffers greatly – he is innocent.

 

4.  Job points us to Christ

 1.      Jesus denied a simply link between sin and suffering

 John 9:1ff – “who sinned that this man is suffering?”

• Jesus’ answer implies
• There is a connection between sin and suffering, but it is not simplistic;
• There is an answer to suffering but that too is not simplistic

 2. Jesus taught: We are blessed when we suffer unfairly or unjustly (Mtt 5:10-12)

 3. Jesus is the sinless suffering par excellence (1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:13-18) … and unlike Job, his suffering deals with the very problem of sin and suffering

It is sometimes said: “Suffering makes you bitter or better”.  The way you react to suffering depends on your prior commitment to trust God in whatever circumstances he brings your way. A deep engagement with Job and his sufferings will help the Christian prepare for the trial, testing and difficulties of life.

An Easter Word for Exhausted Preachers

What to preach at Easter – and how to do it with vigour!

 Easter is one of the busiest times of year for any Preacher. There is a sense of build-up through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday (silent Saturday) and Easter Day as we walk through the week of Jesus’ betrayal, mock trial, crucifixion and finally resurrection.

 The “finally” gives it away, though.  As a Vicar of a parish congregation I was usually exhausted by Sunday. I often felt that I had given my all, particularly as we paused and lingered at the foot of the cross. I often also found myself musing: Big crowds come on Easter Sunday, but isn’t the heart of the message the cross? How do I do as Paul did and resolve to “preach Jesus Christ and him crucified?” (1 Cor 1: 17f; 2:2) when the crowds are biggest and my energy is at its lowest?

 Two simple thoughts have helped sustain me over the years:-

 Preach the cross and the resurrection – a combined, powerful package

 There has been a lot of discussion over whether the heart of the Gospel message is “the cross” – for it was there that Christ bore the penalty of human sin, becoming the sacrificial offering and scape goat. For others the heart of the Gospel is the resurrection – for if there is no resurrection Christ is rotting in a Palestinian tomb and we are people with no hope (1 Cor 15).

 By all means follow the liturgical pattern of the Holy Week, but don’t miss the fact that Christ’s death and resurrection belong together.

• [David] spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. (Acts 2:31-32) 
• You killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.(Acts 3:15-16, see also, 10:39)
• In Athens it was the thought of resurrection from the dead that turned the crowd against Paul but which also compelled others to hear more (Acts 17:31-32);

 As these few examples from Acts demonstrate, it also means that on Easter Day – indeed every other day too – I preach the resurrection as a celebration that “the price is paid”, his one perfect sacrifice is accepted by the father; and I preach the reality that “he is alive” – today, among us.

 Remember that the cruciform pattern is: Strength through weakness

 When Paul told the Corinthians that he resolved to “preach Christ and him crucified” I think that his point is that the kind of Christ he preached was not a “super apostle” type of Christ but one who hung on a tree, one who was abandoned by friends and ultimately by his father. This is the Christ we preach.

 This message is apparently weak; but so too is the messenger.  Not with wise or clever words; not in human strength or vitality, but in weakness, fear and trembling – that’s how Paul summed up his preaching (1 Cor 2).

 Paul had learnt the lesson that when he was at the end of his human resources God was most likely to act.

 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:8-10)

 Preacher, as you crawl out of bed to preach, often exhausted, sometimes discouraged:

• remember that it is your weakness that God seems to use more than your strength; and
• make sure you preach the whole package: the cross and the resurrection. And, oh yes, in your weariness, allow this great Gospel to refresh your own soul, seeping into the marrow of your being, before you preach it to others. 

 Happy Easter!

Tim & Kathy Keller “The Meaning of Marriage”

Review of Tim and Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage. Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God, (2011, Hodder and Stoughton)

 This is an excellent and wise book on Christian marriage which started life as a sermon series preached at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in 1991.  At least two sections are more strongly shaped by Kathy (chapter 6 “Embracing the other” and the appendix “Decision making and gender roles”).

 The 8 chapters are:

-         The Secret of Marriage;

-         The Power for Marriage;

-         The Essence of Marriage;

-         The Mission of Marriage;

-         Loving the Stranger;

-         Embracing the Other;

-         Singleness and Marriage;

-         Sex and Marriage.

 The context in which the book is written, 20+ years in Manhattan, New York, clearly shapes the way in which the conversation about marriage takes place.  Theirs is a congregation full of many single young adults living out their relationships where tolerance is expected, “try before you buy” is the norm, and hopes of a “fairy tale ending” are often dashed.

 What is particularly helpful is the way in which the Kellers have an eye to their context, a good grasp of the social sciences’ perception on gender roles, but primarily seek to see the Gospel shape and pervade their interpretation of what makes for marriage as God intended it.

 There are four particular areas which I found refreshing:-

 1)      The basis for a strong marriage is friendship.  Marriages that last for a lifetime are those where partners work at being good friends to each other, above almost everything else.  This also means that if Christian marriages are based on friendship then they can be the place where single people are brought into the friendship.

 2)      The foundation of strong marriage is the Gospel.  The book carefully answers the concerns of the postmodernist (who might tend to think that marriage is archaic and unsustainable) and also the traditionalist (who might tend to have a blinkered romanticism attached to bygone traditional roles). As with all Tim’s writing and speaking, the good news is a message to the religious and the irreligious:

The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once.  The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope… love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws.  Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it.  God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us (p48).

 3)      The power for a strong marriage is found in knowing its purpose. Here Tim draws on the excellent work in Peter O’Brien’s commentary on Ephesians (Eerdmans 1999). The mysterion (Eph 5:32) is God’s unveiling of that which was previously hidden.  The profound insight of Ephesians 5 is the way Paul applies the foundational text of Genesis 2:24 (for this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh). The created purpose of marriage, it would seem, is in order that God would have demonstrated on earth a living, breathing illustration of his divine purposes, subsequently to be fully revealed in Christ’ relationship with the Church. Christians will find purpose in their marriage when they see the way in which God expects it to perform for the Gospel’s sake. My own debt to Peter O’Brien is acknowledged in The Diamond Marriage. Have Ultimate Purpose in your Marriage. (Christian Focus 2005) which explores many similar themes.

 4)      The mission of marriage of to have God’s sanctifying work on display for the benefit of others too.  The goal of Christian marriage is much the same as the goal for the Christian life: to be like Jesus.  Here, issues of complementarity come into play.  Headship is defined as “servant leadership” and submission as being a “strong helper”. Of course, not everyone buys into the complementarian theology which pervades much of this book, but there is great insight here and the Kellers carefully warn about sins of overbearing dominance, and passive surrender; and I hope persuade others of the biblical wisdom in the complementary way in which the sexes are made.

 There is more to say.  But for now the wisest move would be buy the book, read it and give it away.  I highly commend it.

 Simon Vibert, January 2012

http://metamorphe.wordpress.com/

www.SimonVibert.com

 

resources for training preachers in Osijek, Croatia

Uploaded on www.simonvibert.com are all the powerpoint slides for the seminars taught this week:-

 Lecture 1: The case for preaching: What makes for good preaching and how do we know when it is done well?

 Lecture 2: Christian Communication in a postmodern age: biblical words which define the task of preaching today.

 Lecture 3: Introduction to the Exegetical task

 Lecture 4: Introduction to the Homiletical Task

 Lecture 5: From text to Sermon

 Lecture 6: Beginnings, endings, applications and illustrations

 Lecture 7: The preacher’s life and integrity

 Abbreviated Bibliography

Chapell, Bryan Christ Centred Preaching (Baker 1994) 

Jensen, P. & Grimmond, P. The Archer and the Arrow (Matthias Media 2010)

Robinson, Haddon Expository Preaching: Principles and Practice (IVP 1986)

Vibert, Simon Excellence in Preaching.  Learning from the Best (IVP 2011)

with great thankfulness to John Stott

This post is inspired by three unrelated events, but each of which are influenced by John Stott:-

I am in Osijek, Croatia, and about to begin teaching a one week Langham Preachers seminar.  It is nothing other than John Stott’s vision to train a new generation of preachers who will faithfully expound the word of God that has brought me here. Dick Lucas and the Proclamation Trust have probably had the greatest influence on expository preaching in the UK. But in terms of world-wide impact, none surpasses the spread of influence of John Stott. Those who heard him preach noted his disciplined, almost dogged, determination to bring out the meaning of the biblical text such that the hearer really felt as if they had heard the last word about it. But it was not dry or academic because it was heart warming and always Christ and cross focussed.

Secondly, over the Christmas break I have been reading “John Stott: A portrait by his friends”, Chris Wright (ed, IVP, 2011).  I have already reviewed Roger Steer’s excellent biography of Stott, but this portrait intends to be different. For some readers it will be the first time they see the humanity of our evangelical luminary.  Key themes reoccur throughout the book: his mischievous sense of humour; his deep humility; his rigorous self-discipline; and above all, his Christ-likeness. Indeed, how fitting that his last platform message should be on precisely this topic (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qGHSBZph3g)

Thirdly, from 11th – 15th June 2012, Wycliffe Hall will be hosting an exciting conference on “Charles Simeon, John Stott and the Expository Method”.  We shall be looking at the legacy of these two great british preachers and consider the benefits of their preaching for a contemporary audience.  In particular, I am keen that we answer the question: “is expository preaching a transferable method and can it be done well by the average preacher?”  If you are a preacher, I hope that you can come.  More at SoP leaflet 2 and www.wycliffe.ox.ac.uk.

So, I am truly am grateful to God for this remarkable man of God who, through his wit, wisdom and winsomeness has influenced many for good.  But, as John Stott would be the first to remark: all glory and thanks goes to God.

Straining forward to the year ahead

How do you review your year?

 We begin 2012 with a sense of straining forward: what will this New Year hold for us?  There is a sense of new beginnings. But in order to go forward we also look back. My personal evaluation of the past year is probably different to yours: I tend to ask questions such as: What did I read? What did I publish?  What did I teach? Where did I go? Who has been added to the family?  Let’s start there.

 What did I read?

Reading is both a pleasure and an occupational necessity!  Under the topic of “reading for pleasure/personal edification” I would recommend: Two excellent Tim Keller books: his commentary on Mark’s Gospel “King’s Cross” and “The Meaning of Marriage” (Tim Keller’s excellent article on the dangers of ministry is also well worth reading); “Subversive Obedience” by Walter Brueggemann for good observations on OT text; “The Cross and the Prodigal” by Kenneth Bailey for his amazing insight on reading the Gospels with a Palestinian mindset; “Think” by John Piper, which, er, encouraged me to think and “John Stott” by Chris Wright (Ed) as a great overview of a godly, humane and simply Christ-like man .  I don’t read much fiction (other than student essays – juuuuust kidding J).  I have enjoyed “A Prayer for Owen Meaney” by John Irving, very perceptive observations on humankind with some penetrating questions about the meaning of life.

      

 What did I publish?

My book Excellence in Preaching. Learning from the Best  was published by IVP (UK) in September 2011 (due out January 2012 in USA).  Comments have been mainly positive with remarks on how helpful it can be to look at exactly what it is that preachers do when they preach and how we might do it better.  Criticisms have surrounding the selection of preachers and some anxieties over whether they also raise the bar too high (one person has asked for a second volume Learning from Mediocrity, and I take their point!).  I have done various interviews including http://reformedcast.com/2011/12/13/episode-65-excellence-in-preaching/ and  http://janetmefferd.com/

 

 I am hoping to write something of the ever present reality of Stress! later in the year and maybe take some of the lessons to heart!

 What did I teach?

My teaching is mainly in the area of homiletics (the “art” of preaching) and hermeneutics (biblical interpretation, the word is taken from the Greek god hermes whose role was to communicate the mind of the gods to the people).  I also look after the Focus Days at Wycliffe Hall which are the most integrative parts of the curriculum, combining academic learning with practical ministry skills as well as addressing personal and spiritual issues for the students.

 Where did I go?

It was a great privilege to take a small group of students to Tanzanian March (more on this at http://metamorphe.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/balancing-short-term-and-long-term-mission/).  As is quite typical in Africa we ended up doing things we had not exactly planned.  The result was a very challenging and stimulating visit to a Maasai tribe where we were asked to do “door-to-door” evangelism and train them in how they should do it.  Leaving aside the obvious problem of the lack of doors in their primitive accommodation (!), we wrestled with the cross-cultural implications of what we were being asked to do. In the end we taught them the brief evangelistic outline “Two Ways to Live”, we helped them commit to memory the bible verses and did some in-depth bible teaching in each of those passages.  My initial challenge to the students was “Prepare hard but be prepared to do anything, including that for which you are not prepared.” This turned out to be good advice!

 In August I spent a week in Singapore teaching at Adam Road Presbyterian Church.  It was a privilege to be asked to do bible expositions and also to do some training in the area of preaching.  They worked me hard but they also had a great appetite to learn!  The Pastor took me on a fascinating tour which culminated in a Japanese meal and a visit to a Buddhist temple. The discipline of the Monks in praying round the clock was challenging, but the lack of assurance of any answers to their prayers was not!  This was followed by a week in Sydney Australia visiting Churches, Colleges and friends.

 Who has been added to the family?

On September 10^th Naomi married Jonny Dennis at St Andrew’s Church in North Oxford.  It was a great day and a lovely chance to catch up with family and friends.  As well as being a Grandfather I am also seeking to come to terms with being a Father-in-law J.

 These are very “me” centred questions, and for those of you who follow this blog but don’t know me personally the detail may be of little interest. But I have also been challenged by another set of questions which I have been asking myself.  When it comes to reviewing 2011 and looking forward to 2012, I think I should ask:-

 What did I learn and in which areas did I grow?

I haven’t written the book on Stress yet but the reactions I get from people when I tell them that this is my next project are enough to make me realise that this is an important area for Christians to tackle.  Stress is not all bad.  After all, one of the highest achievers and most ambitious of men was the Apostle Paul (e.g. 1 Corinthians 9:27).

 One key realisation for me this year is: I should do less and but I should do it better.  In fact, to take this one stage further: I should learn less but learn it deeper. This lesson has partly arisen out of research in teaching and learning in higher education (and completing the PGDipLATHE in Oxford University). More particularly though: being mastered by convictions that flow from the truth of God; being a man of THE book; loving God with heart, soul, mind and strength and keeping the main things the main things in my thought-life and daily devotion, are all important.  How much of my energy in 2011 was wasted in superficial or trivial things? And how much of my time is stretched across a wide range of interests, pleasure, contacts and relationships?  Yes, this makes for a sociable, entertaining, connected world.  But I have concluded that if it stops me going deeper (rather than wider) then I have lost balance and focus in my Christian life.  That causes stress. So: I must not write lessons which I have not learnt deeply myself!

 Who did I disciple?

I should keep a smaller circle of friends.  I can’t possibly keep contact with, let alone help bring to maturity, the 700+ facebook friends I’m associated with.  “Liking” them, “poking” them, “friending” them is not enough!  Actually, I love the wider contacts which facebook and other social media brings.  To be in some kind of relationship with a broad cross section of people is a privilege.  But: I need to invest more time in a smaller group of people so that together we might grow in Christ-likeness.  Intimacy and community are at the heart of Christian “being”. Am I in an accountable Christian relationship with others? And am I growing with and through them?  Have the many circles of relationships I have found myself in during 2011 resulted in me – or anyone else – growing in their relationship with God?

 How much did I suffer?

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  (Philippians 3:1-11).

 Paul spoke about his desire to know Christ better.  My favourite verse, also in Philippians, is “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  Both these verses indicate that suffering is normal Christian living and the means that God most seems to use for Christians to grow in their faith.  I don’t think that I am alone in finding it hard to see suffering in this positive light.  But in reviewing the past year it is in times when I have not “got it all together”, and times when I am “not the most popular” or “got my own way” and the times when life is not all “plain sailing” that God is actually doing his most significant work in my life.  I need to revaluate 2011 with this heavenly check list!

 It is good to look back and reflect.  But it’s hard to measure progress. Who can see themselves grow? Perhaps we are not supposed to try to do so.  As we go into 2012 I want to echo Paul’s ambitions:

… one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:13-14).

 As John Piper has put it: I look back to say “thank-you” but I look forward with “faith in future grace”, i.e., with an expectancy that God will supply grace for the future as I step forward in faith.  So, onwards into 2012!

The 3 pages of the sermon

I have been teaching students at Wycliffe Hall about “homiletical form”.

I may have a particularly cluttered mind, but one area of preaching used to be troublesome for me.  As I poured over the passage I would end up with reams of jottings which included

• exegetical thoughts on the passage;
• possible central themes arising from the biblical passage;
• possible anecdotes/illustrations
• a “hook” into the sermon and possible applications;
• alliterative or numbered points for the sermon;

In order to declutter my thinking I have come up with “3 pages of the sermon”

• on one page I write down all my thoughts on the passage;
• on the second page I write down possible illustrations, applications, introductions and conclusions;
• on the third page I write down a tentative outline including an “exegetical theme” (single sentence summary of the biblical passage) and “homiletical theme” – sometimes called “the big idea” (single sentence summary of the sermon);

Then comes the time to try to distill the three pages into one.  For the sermon I preached on Luke 17:20-37 recently it ended up looking liks this http://www.simonvibert.com/Luke_1720_37_notes.pdf.  This is a detailed outline of the sermon.  After this it is a matter of taste as to whether a full text is then written (certainly a good discipline for new preachers) or whether these notes are used as the outline from which to preach the sermon.  An audio recording of the preached sermon may also be found on my website http://www.simonvibert.com/Luke1720_31.mp3.

Other’s may have a much more coherent and logic mind which enables a separation out of the discreet parts of sermon preparation, but it doesn’t work that way for me, hence this methodology.

To put the same principle another way round:

• First isolate the heart of the passage and locate the heartbeat;
• Secondly, overlay this heartbeat with a skeletal structure for the sermon;
• Thirdly, overlay this with the flesh or meat of the sermon;
• Fourthly, dress it up so it is ready to go (with illustration, application etc.)

I hope that this may help preachers arrive at clarity in the prepartion process.

Is Britian Broke?

Is Britain Broken?

There is, inevitably, much conversation and handwringing over the recent riots in the streets ofLondonand otherUKcities.

Diagnosis of the causes of the riots have been willingly offered by politicians and pundits. Answers differ across the political spectrum with David Cameron focussing on the “brokenness of society”, left wing politicians on “racial tensions”, and Tony Blair in today’s Observer indicating that the more immediate problem is family breakdown: we need to reform and intervene family by family. http://news.sky.com/home/article/16053854

All these issues are important, and evangelical Christians would do well to remember the political and social needs which the church is well placed to contribute towards meeting.

Others have spoken of the spiritual needs.  Mike Ovey is particularly helpful in pointing out the link between greedy bankers, corrupt MPs (0verclaiming expenses) and youths rampaging and looting shopping centres for trainers and designer clothes (see http://www.oakhill.ac.uk/commentary/11_summer/looters_them_or_us.html).

As I have spent the last week preaching inSingaporecountless numbers of the congregation have asked me: what is the matter inEngland? Why are people behaving as they are? Part of the answer, in addition the things mentioned by politicians listed above is that idolatry, covetousness, greed, anger: the breaking of God’s law (at least commandments, 1, 2, 8, and 10!) unites the sins of all social classes and means that I need first to look inwards for a correct diagnosis. As Paul says in Romans 7:20-21 I remain capable of every sin and am enslaved and entrapped “another law” until God delivers me.

Yes, Tony Blair is right, the cure must begin with the correct diagnosis and the right prescription. But failing to see the inherent sickness in the human heart which has personal, social and political ramifications must be the place to start fixing the “brokenness”.

Rob Bell and Love Wins, Article by Simon Vibert

Rob Bell’s Love Wins – taking its toll among evangelicals?

 Rob Bell could be characterised as a young, hip and trendy preacher, media savvy and culturally alert.  He is the founding Pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids Michigan which since its beginning’s in 1999 now has a Sunday congregation of over 10,000.   

He is best known for high quality DVD’s entitled Nooma (a phonetic transliteration of the Greek word for “spirit”).  These are 12-14 minute teaching resources.  They are intended to be “visually stunning and emotionally compelling”. 

Much ink has already been spilt over Rob Bell’s recent book Love Wins.  The advanced publicity caused quite a stir, but I think that was the point.  I have refrained from making comment on the book until I have read it, and I have also read quite a bit of blog comment subsequently.

Up until now I have been pretty positive about Rob Bell and commend him in a forthcoming book on preaching (“Excellence in Preaching”, IVP 2011).  He is a great communicator.  But, like many others, I was taken aback by the advance publicity in mid March (see HarperCollins http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Love-Wins-Rob-Bell/?isbn=9780062049636).  Now, with the book on the market, it is sure to be a bestseller: not least because there must be many others who, like me, have bought it to see what he really says.

Some generally positive comments:

He asks good questions.  This is one feature of the Nooma DVDs.  Asking difficult questions elicits empathy from the hearer and also shows due self-awareness that teachers don’t necessarily have all the answers.

He is a good verbal communicator.  His style is engaging, relaxed and humorous; thousands flock to Mars Hill Church every week to hear him preach.

He is keen to win those who may have been disenfranchised by the Church. He is convinced that many have heard a wrong view of the Christian faith, namely, that in this short life-span on earth a decision made for or against Jesus Christ determines whether they spend eternity in hell or eternity in heaven. 

[God’s} love compels us to question some of the dominant stories that are being told as the Jesus story.  A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better.  It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus.  This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’s message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear (p.viii).

 He demonstrates the power of story to change lives.  The Gospel is God’s story, which has the ability to transform your story and reconnect you with the author.  And the story of the Bible is bigger than rescuing people from hell (see p.134).

 He is keen to emphasise the positive message about the love of God.

Love does indeed win, (see Rev 21:5-7).  I am with him when he says we need fresh and engaging ways to communicate this message:

I want to rescue preaching. I believe it's an art form and I want to rescue it back from the scientists and the analysts. I want to see the poets and the prophets and the artists grab the microphone and say great things about God and the revolution. I think a whole art form has been lost that needs to be recaptured, a grand ambition for the art of preaching.  (The Subversive Art Leadership Journal January 2004).

 Some genuine concerns:

 He does not always give clear answers where clear answers are available.  He claims: this isn’t a book of questions.  It’s a book of responses to these questions.  But is it?  Chapter after chapter is full of questions.  If Bell is not clear in his mind on these matters should he not keep his questions to himself?  And, as Job learned, not all questions are good ones to ask; indeed God asks the most searching questions of us (Gen 3:9; Job 38).

He is a better speaker than writer. I do not think that Bell is a great writer.  It is partly because the written word does not enable the same kind of engagement that the spoken word does: inflection, nuance, eye contact, non-verbal and para-verbal issues; all these come across well in his speaking.  But there is more:

He is in danger of knocking down straw men/ being disingenuous

One of the better chapters is “The Good News is better than that” (Chapter 7).  Here he emphasises the fact that both sons in Luke 15 had misunderstood God; they had a skewed idea of the Father’s love and goodness.  Is he charging Evangelicals of being too Older Brother/Pharisaic?  Is he saying that the Church generally does not preach enough the message that “Love wins”?  

His questions have prompted a few questions of my own: what is the target at which Love Wins is aimed?

Is this a debate about legalism?

So when we hear that a certain person has “rejected Christ,” we should first ask, “Which Christ?” (p.9). In Chapter 9 he cites websites which are, quite frankly harsh, off putting and hardly the most winsome in welcoming non-Christians into Church!  His worry is that the “Turn or Burn” placard is toxic and inherently dangerous to the Church.

His corrective is to emphasise that God “gets what he wants” and “love will win.”

Of course there are religious fundamentalists who give the Christ of Christianity a very bad name (note Louis Theroux’s recent TV exposé of some of the worst extremes).  Richard Mouw argues that this book is about the gap between “generous orthodoxy” and “stingy orthodoxy.”  But Bell’s problem is not with a fanatical fringe, but rather he seems to be suggesting that mainline churches have been mistaken over the biblical teaching of hell and have got the message wrong.

Is the issue over Universalism or Annihilationism?

There is a legitimate evangelical debate over whether the Bible envisages unending torment for the wicked in hell. 

John Stott argues that the biblical language of “destruction” and “fire” (as consuming) implies that hell will not be unending.  The nature of God’s justice questions whether “eternal conscious torment” is compatible with biblical revelation of divine justice (Evangelical Essentials, p.319).  Universalism is an unbiblical concept, he states, not least because of the repeated warnings of the Bible about judgment.  Nevertheless Stott pleads that ‘the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment’ (p.320).

Evangelical contemporary, Jim Packer, responds saying that the Scriptural language of “destruction, death and punishment” point to the ruin of unbelievers, not necessarily their non existence.  Human beings have an eternity: either to intimate relationship with God or eternal distance from God.  References to “eternal punishment” following judgment (see Matt 25:46) need to be taken seriously. (See: The Problem of Eternal Punishment, Fellowship of Word and Spirit, Orthos 10).

Some of Bell’s concerns relate to this issue of “the eternity of hell.”  But he goes much further.  He asks: what does it means when Jesus says he will draw all people to himself (John 12:32)?

At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence.  The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most “depraved sinners” will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God (p.107).

 God’s goal in all things is restoration and reconciliation: Which is stronger and more powerful, the hardness of the human heart or God’s unrelenting, infinite, expansive love? But a few pages later he asks: So will those who have said no to God’s love in this life continue to say no in the next? Love demands freedom, and freedom provides that possibility.  People take that option now, and we can assume it will be taken in the future (p.114).

There is a conundrum here: Bell argues that love can not be coerced and we get the hell (or heaven) we choose.   But, he argues: in the end, “love wins.”

Is the issue over penal substitution?

Considerable controversy was raised in the evangelical world over Steve Chalke’s book The Lost Message of Jesus.  In this book Chalke likens penal substitution to “cosmic child abuse.”   Some of what Bell writes sounds similarly concerned:

However true or untrue [that Jesus paid the price for sin] is technically or theologically, what it can do is subtly teach people that Jesus rescues us from God (p.182).

 So, what happened at the cross?  Is the cross about the end of the sacrificial system or a broken relationship that’s been reconciled or a guilty defendant who’s been set free or a battle that’s been won or the redeeming of something that was lost?  Which is it? (p.127).

The traditional evangelical answer has been: God is holy; there is sin; there will be a judgement; and that is why we need a cross to rescue us.  As with the Steve Chalke debate, we do well to remember that the cross is more than penal substitution (which Bell helpfully points out in chapter 5), but, we say too little if we don’t put at the heart of the Gospel Christ’s “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world” (as the Book of Common Prayer so eloquently puts it).

 

Is the issue over the nature of the new heaven and the new earth?

Is heaven and hell to do with the eternal life hereafter?  Bell’s corrective is spot on: it starts with “life eternal.”  This is reflected in the prayer Jesus taught: “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

Bell’s thoughts about the new heaven and the new earth clearly have been influenced by Tom Wright’s Surprised by Hope which he cites for further reading.

He is right to say:

Heaven, for Jesus, was deeply connected with what he called “this age” and “the age to come.” (p.30).

Equally, discussions about “eternal life” have as much to do with life “now” as life “then” (e.g. p.41).  Heaven is dwelling with God; and when we dwell with God the future is dragged into the present (p.45).

 Do I believe in a literal hell?  Of course. (p.71) – so that settles it?  Well no, because for the most part, Hell is what is experienced now on earth when people reject God: if we want to say “no” to God, we can, and that is hell.

He notes the way in which Jesus speaks about Hell to religious leaders of his day as a place of purifying.  Then he concludes: the punishment of hell is for chastening, rebuking and purifying.  God is in the business of restoration: Failure, we see again, isn’t final; judgment has a point, and consequences are for correction (p.88).

It certainly seems that Bell doubts the eternity of hell:  Hell is distance from God and hell is lived on earth.  But, I was also left asking: does he believe in an eternal heaven?  I think he does but the book is not clear on this point: for him, heaven should be read as synonymous with “God.”  As he rightly corrects errors in popular views about heaven, I wonder whether he has lost any sense of the hereafter.

Conclusion

Unhelpful advanced publicity

The short video promotional focused on a response he records in chapter one of the book: “Gandhi’s in hell.  Really? … Has God created millions of people over tens of thousands of years who are going to spend eternity in anguish?”  Surely this served no other purpose than to stir up an unholy ferment ahead of publication.

 Unhelpful reactions

Following the initial publicity some initial comments, including from high profile speakers, were quite sharp.  I do not think that it helps to respond in this hasty way before the book was published and available for careful review.

Better was the debate between John Stott and David Edwards in Essentials which is a great model of how to disagree agreeably! See also chapter 6 of their book for extended discussion on Judgement and Hell.

Ultimately an unhelpful book

Bell begins with a key question:

Have billions of people been created only to spend eternity in conscious punishment and torment, suffering infinitely for the finite sins they committed in the few years they spent on earth?

 I think the Bible seems to say: quite probably; Bell thinks no.  Surely the point is God never made me the Judge!

 Of course we do not know the answer to every question.  But some things are very clear: God will judge the wicked and the only way to be saved is through faith in the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.  James 3 instruction to teachers sounds a sharp warning, Bell!

 * Further blogs/resources

Ben Witherington: chapter by chapter analysis of the book http://www.patheos.com/community/bibleandculture/2011/04/03/for-whom-the-bell-tolls%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-chapter-eight-coda/

Richard Mouw: a more positive review http://www.christianpost.com/news/the-orthodoxy-of-rob-bell-49500/

Christianity Today http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/april/lovewins.html and http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2011/02/rob_bells_book.html

A measure and helpful response: EA and Derek Tidball http://www.eauk.org/articles/love-wins-response.cfm

Best title: Michael Horton “Bell’s Hell” http://wscal.edu/blog/entry/bells-hell-a-review-by-michael-horton-part-1

Tim Challies http://www.challies.com/articles/at-the-speed-of-the-web?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+challies/XhEt+(Challies+Dot+Com)

Michael Yousseff http://michaelyoussef.squarespace.com/michaels-blogs/love-has-already-won.html with retort from Virtue online http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=14160

For fun: Don Miller http://emergingbracken.blogspot.com/2011/04/don-miller-on-rob-bells-new-book-love.html

Some important resources from recent Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/

Summary of the very helpful Q&A session between Tim Keller and Don Carson at the Desiringgod website http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/god-abounding-in-love-punishing-the-guilty

Simon Vibert is Vice Principal at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.  An abbreviated version of this article is published in the Church of England Newspaper (15^th April 2011).  See also www.simonvibert.com.