The culture has a pulpit. A place where it preaches and proclaims its message.

The pulpit of the culture is Hollywood.
It is sometimes subversive, sneaking its morality into the lips of the heroes. Other times it is overt, as the actors take on the role of modern-day prophets, touting their beliefs on Twitter and Facebook and interview shows.
The culture has an effective pulpit. It preaches in commercials. It preaches in ads. It preaches in news programs. It tells stories every week in our favorite shows (preaching in the subtext of the protagonists' actions). It guides our minds in film.
The culture spends billions of dollars to preach.
And we spend billions of dollars to hear it.

What, then, should be the response of the Church? Certainly some of what the culture says we would support. But not all. Never all.

So, what do we do? Make counter-cultural films? Start a Christian news network? Blog? Write fiction from a Christian worldview?

No.
I think not.

The pulpit of the culture is indeed powerful. Yet the Church has something much greater: Incarnational Preaching of the Word of God.

I know.
On the face of it, this simply doesn't make sense. Films are more entertaining. TV shows have a bigger budget than your local church. Commercials often make us cry more than our pastor's sermons.
So how can incarnational preaching compete?
The Avengers is fun.
The Hunger Games  is challenging.
Game of Thrones features attractive people.
Fox News is culturally relevant.

Yet, preaching wins. Preaching is more powerful. Preaching has a greater impact. Preaching is more effective at transforming hearts, minds and souls.
It's true that the Hollywood-pulpit has more money, prettier faces, and better distribution. But preaching has the living and active Word of God. Preaching is empowered by the Spirit of the Living God. Preaching carries with it a promise to always have an effect.

The preacher who preaches from the text will have a bigger impact in the lives of the congregation than Guardians of the Galaxy, Frozen, and Modern Family.

The pulpit of the Church, that is - preaching, is more powerful than the pulpit of the culture - Hollywood.
This reality will, of course, confound the culture.

This isn't to say that Hollywood is not effective. It is very effective. And I think we Christians often feel like we need to compete by making similar ideological films and shows that communicate our worldview.

But this is condescending. This is trading in a tactical nuke for a rocket launcher. It's a downgrade.

Nothing, nothing, nothing will transform lives more than the Word of God. And nothing, nothing, nothing unleashes the Word of God more than preaching it. (And preaching it live, in person, face to face, in the presence of the congregation.)

So does that mean we should abandon all Christian film making and pursuits in the arts? Absolutely not. But it should free content creators from feeling they need to leverage their stories to change people. Instead, they can tell deeper stories, where the worldview is embedding in the scenes, and dripping from the subtext. The message moment doesn't need to be pressed. Better products can emerge.

On the surface, the Church-pulpit is rather unimpressive. A man with an old book talking for an hour.
On the surface, the culture-pulpit is utterly incredible. Actors, sets, design, CGI, explosions, drama, and a soundtrack!

And yet, for all these centuries... from the days of Noah, through the prophets, to now, preaching endures. It will endure, until the glorious appearance of The One Who Dwells in Unapproachable Light.

Summary: Robert B. Chrisholm provides an exegetical and homiletical analysis of the books of Judges and Ruth.


Review: Kregel continues to raise the bar in quality and useful commentaries. Chrisholms' is no exception to the growing library of commentaries the publisher has been putting out.

The author understands narrative structures, which is often neglected in commentaries. Judges contains big, epic, long-form stories. Chrisholm recognizes this and divides the book into eleven stories. He discusses these sections as stories and outlines them as stories. He follows the tension and the themes as they unfold in the text.

The exposition is detailed, but not bogged down in minutia. Chrisholm focuses on the main issues, and resists going down too many rabbit trails.

The commentary also seeks to provide "big ideas" for the text. The reader is given an exegetical idea, theological idea and a preaching idea. Being a "big idea" preacher myself I find this rather useful. My only criticism in the whole book, though, is that these ideas are often clunky and unfocused. A good "big idea" is very simple. A "big idea" should have no, or very few conjunctions. Chrisholm has many. However, his big ideas are useful and function as good sounding boards for the ideas I've devised from the narrative.

His work on Ruth is also quite wonderful. I won't go into detail, but his analysis of Ruth and Boaz at the threshing floor is masterful. He rightly rejects traditional and progressive interpretations and understands the text on its own terms. In literary terms.

I have no plans on preaching through either of these books anytime soon, but Chrisholm's treatment of the text makes me want to scrap my other plans and work my way through these books.

Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It!)

Find it at Kregel here.
Find it on Amazon here.

This sermon wrecked me.
It ripped me apart, broke me in half and had me in tears during most of the prep work.

And I needed it.

You can listen to it at the Orchard Church.
You can also listen to a slightly better produced version on the Untold Podcast.
(Video is hopefully coming soon!)


*Spoilers after this*

The text was from Genesis 22. Yes. I preached "The Sacrifice of Isaac" on Easter Sunday. I'm going to share some insights from the first-person sermon, but I also want to share some personal things first.

Two weeks ago, I was furious at God. I seethed at him. From about my birthday, and through last week's sermon. I was so angry at him I didn't want to preach. I didn't want to step foot in church. I most certainly didn't even want to pray to him.

One day I will be at liberty to share the source of my anger. All I can say for now, is my anger stemmed from circumstances involving my family and my children. In this circumstance, I am absolutely powerless. There is nothing, nothing, nothing I can do to protect those who need to be protected. I have never felt so powerless in my life.

And God did nothing.

He has not intervened. He has not put a stop to it.

So I was furious. Fuming. Beyond rage.

And then I came to Genesis 22. We're preaching through Genesis this year at the Orchard Church. I had intended to take a break from the text for Holy Week. But months ago when I saw this text, I thought it would be perfect to relate this story to the story of the sacrifice and resurrection.

I knew it would be challenging to do a first-person sermon based on this text, but I knew if I could pull it off, the sermon would be incredibly emotional. So back in December I committed myself to the text.

But now I was angry with God. I'm not using hyperbole when I say I was (and still am) absolutely powerless in this situation. The only person who can help is God Almighty. And it's one thing to trust him with my own suffering. It's an entirely different thing to trust him with the suffering of someone else.

I started working on this text. Almost immediately I realized it was about my dilemma. I resented God for it.

But as I worked through the emotionality of Abraham, as I experienced his horror, his pain, and his utter powerlessness I was completely broke. From Tuesday on I wept. Often. I closed my office door working on this sermon and weeping. My notes are stained with tear marks. I closed the blinds in my office I wept so often.

And then I practiced the script.

At one point during practice on Friday, I came to the point when Abraham realized he was sacrificing the ram in Isaac's place and I wept on stage. I wept for five minutes straight. It's important to note, I was not emotional because God had intervened. He hadn't. (Not yet anyway). Nor was I given a prophetic vision of the future where everything turns out okay. No. My emotins poured out because like Abraham, God had placed me in an impossible situation, and the only thing I could do is trust him.

I'm no longer angry at God. Not right now anyway.The situation is still dire. Nothing has changed. Except... except my heart. My inner being.

The big idea of the text is: You should trust God when life is impossible because he has provided a ram. Because he has provided Jesus Christ. I don't think I changed because I heard that... or even chose to believe it. I think my heart has changed because the Holy Spirit used the living Word of God to change it with this timeless truth.

The onstage tears weren't a performance. They exposed my heart.

Insights

One of the reasons I love preaching first-person sermons is that it forces me to engage the text using my imagination. What did God's voice sound like? Why did Abraham haul wood on a three day journey? What did the Angel of Yahweh look like? How did Abraham bind Isaac? How did Isaac respond?

Here's a few of the "Easter Eggs" from the sermon:

1. I described the voice of God in the terms of contradictions. Sound and no sound. Fierce and calm.  I'd imagine something like this is completely unmistakable from some of the thoughts that idly run through our heads.
2. Traditionally Moriah is thought to be the mountain of Jerusalem. I took it a step further and described white stones coming out of the ground in a few places because Golgotha is thought to have been an abandoned white stone quarry. So I thought the subtle hint of sparing Isaac where Christ was crucified was poignant.
3. I have Abraham bring firewood along, almost as a stall tactic, but for a deeper reason too. He doesn't understand God. He's angry. And so he vents his frustration by chopping wood they would probably be able to find almost anywhere.
4. Abraham's speech is tricky. Some interpret him expressing faith that Yahweh would come through. Others see his statements as lies. Since I've been preaching through Genesis, if there's one thing I know about Abraham, it's that he's a liar. But I also saw a glimmer of faith (a mustard seed if you will), so I added both into the mix.
5. Hebrews 11 says Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead. So that got mixed in there too.
6. I interpreted the text to mean that they had arrived in Moriah as the sun set. I was basing this on the Jewish understanding of the day, which begins at sundown. This would also explain why they walked with fire/a touch, and why Isaac called out to his father on the journey up the mountain.
7. I tend to think of "The Angel of Yahweh" in the Old Testament as the pre-incarnate Christ. The Second person of the Trinity. Because of this, I decided to describe him in terms of Revelation 1:12ff.
8. I owe popular atheist Richard Dawkins a debt of gratitude. I recalled him criticizing this story because of the kind of trauma Isaac would have experienced because of this incident. He's right! So I incorporated it into the sermon. Thank you Richard Dawkins for helping me preach the Word of God better!
   
   

There were plenty of other little gems in here, but I wanted to share some of my thought process that went into creating this dramatic sermon.

In the end, I hope lives were transformed through the preaching of the Word.

Summary: Boyd Seevers explores the weapons, organizations, tactics and motivations of Ancient Near East cultures in Warfare in the Old Testament.

Review: Warfare in the Old Testament is an absolutely useful reference for ancient warfare as depicted in the Bible. While the Old Testament often reports what happened, it often leaves out how it happened in terms of the battles. This, of course, is just fine. We have all the data we need to follow and know God.

But Seevers' book helps stoke the modern imagination with historical data on how warfare was carried out. We are given in-depth looks at the tactics of Israel, Egypt, Philistia, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. There's plenty illustrations of weapons, soldiers and war machines to give the reader an idea of how these battles were carried out.

Additionally, and one of my favorite features, Seevers writes a historical fictive story from the perspective of a soldier from each of these nations to introduce the peoples. These stories are invaluable insights into the psychology and motivation of the cultures explored.

I also found myself enjoying the many end notes Seevers included in this book . He is a to-the-point writer, but is simultaneously highly detailed.

As a pastor, I will be returning to this book when I'm preaching narratives dealing with warfare amongst these nations. I am particularly excited to be able to use the knowledge I've learned to more accurately portray the drama of the biblical narratives in my first-person sermons.

As a modern reader, Warfare in the Old Testament this book has given my imagination greater depth, which in turn, will enhance my reading experience.

Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It)

Find it at Kregel here.
Find it on Amazon here.

Last week I shared some general comments about the "Big Idea" of the biblical Noah story, and the limitations of any Bible adaptation (good or bad).

This week I saw Darren Aronofsky's movie and wanted to compare and contrast his "Big Idea" with the "Big Idea" of the original text. (Warning Spoilers below!)

I don't want to go into a full blown review. Paeter Frandsen has some great thoughts on his podcast.
In short, from a film standpoint, it was very well done. The animal CG was a little weak, but the plot, pacing, cinematography, and acting were all superb. I didn't care for the film score because it tried too hard to sound like it wasn't trying too hard.

But let's move to the Big Idea.

I propose that the Big Idea of the biblical story is as follows:

Exegetical Idea: When humanity became so wicked Yahweh annihilated them with a flood, Yahweh preserved righteous Noah's family to begin anew.

            Subject:          
                        What happened when humanity became so wicked Yahweh annihilated them                                   with a flood?
            Complement:  
                        Yahweh preserved righteous Noah’s family to begin anew.

The Darren Aronofsky film also has a big idea:

Exegetical Idea: When the creator saved Noah's family from the flood that annihilated wicked humanity, Noah decided to let humanity begin anew when he only saw love in his granddaughter's eyes.

            Subject:          
                        What happened when the creator saved Noah's family from the flood that annihilated                                 wicked humanity?
            Complement:  
                        Noah decided to let humanity begin anew when he only saw love in his
                                   granddaughters eyes.

So, it's a bit different in some significant ways.

Now before anyone starts to argue the big ideas I've proposed, let me point out that the Big Idea of any story is found at the surprise twist. The point in the story where the major tension is resolved. In the newly released film, the tension is resolved when Noah decides to not kill his newly born granddaughters (the soundtrack says so)!

The homiletic (take-away) idea in the biblical story is:
We should walk with God when no one else is because only believers will be saved from judgment.
(I lost an attender over this!)

The homiletic idea in the Aronofsky film is something along the lines of:
When we see the wickedness inside every human being we should try to find the goodness in people.
(Aronofsky made millions with this!)

The film's big idea, as you can see, is very much off kilter with the biblical narrative.

But I don't want to poo-poo the whole film. I enjoyed the first two-thirds very much. As a whole I liked the film. I also appreciated a number of themes and accomplishments in the movie:
1. Total Depravity is affirmed. No one understands Original Sin as much as Noah in the film.
2. Aronofsky gave us a believable, working model for the Ark.
3. We see a couple of instances of God's undeserved favor (a.k.a. grace).

So, there you go. The Big Idea is wrong. The film is entertaining. And it got a few theological themes correct.

But let me once again write... even if the Big Idea was correct, no film or adaptation can ever, ever, ever carry the same transformational power as the Word of God.

(Shameless sermon plug here).

There's tons of chatter about the release of Noah coming out today. Because of my schedule I will be unable to have a chance to see the film until next week . . . that is if I even bother to see the movie at all.

If you want to get a review of the film from a co-laborer in Christ that I trust, be sure to keep an eye on Christian Geek Central's front page. Paeter Frandsen should be posting his review later today.

Let me offer some thoughts:

1. Good or bad, theologically sound or heterodox, this movie isn't going to change society. Do you remember how The DaVinci Code was going to demolish Christianity? Or before that, how The Passion of The Christ was going to lead to revival? Neither happened. I doubt much will happen after this one.

2. Films have limited power to transform. Now, before anyone jumps all over me, I do believe stories are very influential and can shape our intellect and emotions. However, despite the amount of money and talent that go into a motion picture, or adaptation (even a faithful one), the biblical stories read and preached carry exponentially more transformation power because they are the Word of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit. There will never be a film, comic, book, audio drama or television show that can even come close to the transforming power of the Bible.

3. The biblical text gives us very limited information on Noah and the flood narrative. But we have enough to see an archetype, foreshadowing the salvation from God's correct judgment through Jesus Christ. Even though the film must make a number of creative and philosophical decisions... if the "Big Idea" of the story is intact, I would be personally satisfied.  

4. I find it ironic that a number of creative types (many Christians) who have also adapted the Noah material and are critical of this film, have stories that don't reflect the "Big Idea" of the Noah narrative.

So what's the "Big Idea" of the Noah narrative (Genesis 5-8)?

Exegetical Idea:

            Subject:          
                        What happened when humanity became so wicked Yahweh annihilated them                                   with a flood?
            Complement:  
                        Yahweh preserved righteous Noah’s family to begin anew.

Homiletical Idea:

            Subject:          
                        Why should we walk with God when no one else is?

            Complement:  
                        Because only believers will be saved from judgment.

I've been doing ministry now for just about fourteen years.

I have been preaching at least once a week for eight years.

I thought after all this time, the art and craft of preaching would have gotten easier. But it hasn't. It has become incredibly harder. There's probably a variety of reasons for that, but here's a few that have come to mind.

1. Senior Pastor Preaching - While I took my years in youth ministry very seriously, there is a higher expectation when preaching to an "adult" congregation. The last two and a half years at the Orchard Church have been wonderful, but I've also experienced the weight of responsibility declaring the Word of the God.

2. Martin Luther - The great reformer once wrote "the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God." (Actually he wrote it in German from what I understand.) Luther is absolutely correct, and I unfortunately had to go and read that quote. When I stand I am literally "incarnating" the biblical text, and like the Old Testament prophets declaring, "Thus says Yahweh!" This is indeed a weighty responsibility. (See also James 3:1ff).

3. Personal Stuff - It seems a gaggle of difficulties materialized the second we moved to Michigan. Financial, family, housing, transportation and bookkeeping issues have been non-stop. Non-stop. As soon as one problem gets resolved, another one pops up. These haven't been minor, either. They've been consistent and massive. This, of course, has a large effect on my preaching prep time, and even on occasion my demeanor on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings.

4. Spiritual Warfare - Spiritual warfare happens every single time I preach. Scratch that. Spiritual warfare happens during sermon prep. I am a man who is far from perfect. And in the midst of struggles, I need to sit down, study the Holy Word of God and do the hard work of communicating it to others. What's harder, though, is that every week I have to let the text confront me. Sometimes it is sweet and reassuring. But there are weeks that I'd rather skip that part. There are times I want to take a break from God. And this is just during the prep work! When I am preaching there are times I can perceive a battle: the True Words of God versus the lies of sin, Satan and the world. People have left the church because of this warfare. "I don't like what you said. I want to follow a god who will just let me do whatever I want." It can be rather exhausting.

5. Cultural Shifts - Because of the massive cultural shift in morality happening right now, there are additional pressures on preaching. The temptation for me, an expository preacher, is to spend all my time talking about these "topic of the week" questions. But if i really believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God wherein God has revealed Himself to humanity... then I think the best thing to do with the Bible is to preach it. Not the "topic of the week." Sometimes I want to start with a hard topic, then fill in understanding with Scripture. But if fourteen years of teaching have taught me anything, it's that the big ideas of the text are far better than my ideas. And if I teach those ideas, they are far more penetrating than my own.

So, those are some of my ideas. Regardless of the struggle, I know I am called to this ministry

Pastor friends, or those who preach, what would you add?
Non-preaching friends, pray for and support those who do preach for you!

A friend of mine who goes by the handle Hawkman once told me he'd rather hear testimonies than sermons in church!

He was saying there is a particular power in hearing a person's transformation story.

Here are a few that I have run across that have particularly resonated with me, convicted me and humbled me. 

1. Born dead and handicapped for life...

2. Abandoned by his mother and became a terrorist...

3. His mother was raped and told to have an abortion...

4. The most unlikely of converts...

5. God didn't take his same-sex attraction away...