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Origins - Part 2 from crosspt media on Vimeo.

A CALL TO PREACH
A few months ago Pastor Matt asked me if I would be willing to give the message on the 5th of July. He doesn’t know this, but my emotions split in two directions. Part of me jumped up and down with excitement, I went to school 25 years ago to study the Bible and to someday be a pastor/teacher. The desire to stand up in front of a group of people and tell them about Jesus and God’s word has been burning in me for a long time, probably since I was twelve years old. However, another part of me was filled with dread, like I just found out that I would be having major surgery - in front of 1200 people. Pastor Matt and Pastor Bill set the bar really high and the thought of being measured by their standard is daunting. I told him that I would love to give it a shot.

It was a while before the series and topics were solidified. We settled on a series called ORIGINS, a series that would look at several of the stories of people in the Bible and retell their stories with an emphasis on the big theological ideas that they teach us. Once I found out that I was going to be speaking on the subject of Abraham and the covenant I started thinking about how to prepare.

I’m writing this article as a sort of “bonus feature” to the sermon that I delivered on July 5th.

WRITING THE SERMON
The first thing I did was a search the Bible for the word Abraham. I wanted to read every passage in the Bible that mentioned him. He is in a lot of them. I prefer to listen to the Bible, and I have a few audio versions, so I collected all of the passages where he was mentioned and made an iPod playlist. The playlist was about 3 hours long.I would listen to God’s word and make notes. Anything that I found to be interesting. I wasn’t looking for order, I was just writing anything that jumped out at me or occurred to me. Little notes like, “Sarai must have been really beautiful,” and “Abraham never saw much of the promise that God spoke to him.”I had several pages of notes.Then I searched through some blogs and sermon databases of preacher/teachers that I am fond of. I’ll admit it, I listen to sermons on my iPod all the time for fun. Some of my favorites are Doug Wilson, Kemper Crabb, Mark Driscol, Matt Chandler, and Ravi Zacharius. I looked for some messages where they had talked about Abraham and found a few. Pastor Matt also sent me a sermon that he had given on Abraham a few years ago.

By this time I had far more information that I could ever use in one message, and it was time to figure out what I was actually going to say. I asked God to guide me. I thought about our congregation and our community. The message started to take shape. I was going to concentrate on believing God’s promises as we wait in the space between. I was also going to show how the promises given to Abraham were fulfilled in Jesus, and how all Christians are heirs to that promise.

The first draft of the sermon was far too long. I had to simplify, get to the essential center of the message. This meant that some really cool stuff was left on the editing room floor. A sermon is like a short story, you don’t introduce any ideas that are not vital to the big point. A sermon is not a novel, where you can develop sub-plots, minor characters, intricate foreshadowing, etc. Those kind of things are best saved for a Bible study/teaching format.

I had to lose most of the literary exegetical components, even though they were really cool.Here is an example of the kind of things I had to cut. Although they are fascinating and cool, they are not essential to the bottom line of the message I was delivering. Moses wrote the book of Genesis to encourage and instruct the children of Israel while they were wandering in the desert preparing to enter the Promised Land. They followed the presence of God as he appeared to them as a cloud by day and a fire by night. When God appeared to Abraham as a smoking pot - cloud, and a flaming torch - fire, the original audience knew right away that it was God. They saw Him take a similar form every day. In the message I simple say that God appeared to Abraham and passed through the animals to “sign” the covenant for both of them. As soon as you mention the “smoking pot and flaming torch” you have to add ten minutes of explanation, and you run the risk of side-tracking the message.

I also had to condense Abraham’s story. The name change from Abram (Exalted Father) to Abraham (Father of Many/Multitudes) is mostly missing. I mention that Abraham’s name meant “Exalted Father” but that is misleading. The purpose of this message was not to give a chronological account of his life.

In my original draft I didn’t have any personal stories. I’m not saying that every sermon has to have personal stories, but maybe they should. God gives us our lives, and He expects us to share what He gives us with others. On Saturday (before I gave the message on Sunday) I added the portion about my conversion. I think it set up the message and made it stronger, by adding some personal testimony.I went over the message with Pastor Matt Popovits, my friend Rob Camper (Creative Director at CrossPoint), my wife Kim Hart, they helped me find the center of the message and say it clearly. They also helped me know what needed more explanation, what was funny and what was just confusing. I sent the draft to Pastor Bill, and he helped me reword a few places to articulate CrossPoint’s mission more clearly.

PREPARATION TO DELIVER
Finally, I had to prepare to deliver the message. Writing the message is one thing, but in an attractional ministry like ours, the way the message is delivered is half the point. The message has to be delivered in a way that truly engages the congregation. I can’t just stand up there and read my message.I recorded myself reading the sermon. I tried to do it the way I actually wanted it to be “performed.” It took several attempts. I would record it, listen back, make notes about what I thought was terrible, and try again. I came up with some humorous voices and worked on timing.

Eventually, I had a recording that I thought was passable. I listened to this recording until I could say the message word for word along with the recording. I videotaped myself giving the message and tried to think about body language, what to do with my hands, etc. I’m not an expert on these things, I just didn’t want to get in the way of what God wanted to say through me.I formatted by manuscript in blocks with big bold headings. I indented scriptures and highlighted them, anything that I could give myself permission to simply read, so that it was easy to find. I worked with Rob and we came up with some interesting visuals and captions to accentuate what I was saying on the screens. We used images from Bible comic books.

So there you have it. That was my process. Does it seem like a lot for a 30 minute sermon? Maybe it seems like I left something out. I’d be interested in hearing about any techniques that you do (or have heard of) that I didn’t employ.

Q2: How to combat the current events attacking Christianity and conservatism in today’s society? Can you truly be “liberal” as today’s society defines it and an obedient righteous Christian?

CONSERVATIVE? 

Christianity and conservatism are not the same thing.  Jesus is not a Republican, and He is not a conservative.  If a conservative is a person who is resistant to change, then clearly Jesus (and His followers) are not conservative.  Jesus calls for a total change in anyone who would follow Him, and this is to overflow into all areas of life.  They are to no longer put family, friends, nation, politics or any self-interests before Him.  Following Jesus means applying His standards to all areas of life.  This changes everything.

Consider, how does Jesus want us to view family?  What is God’s purpose for marriage and what standards does He give us for it?  When does a human life begin and how are we to protect the weak?  These are all issues that God speaks about in His word with great passion and clarity.  We are not to simply do what is right in our own eyes.

However, there are other issues that are typically seen as part of the conservative position that may look very different when seen through God’s Word.  How should the government involve itself in matters of charity and humanitarian aid, how aggressive and powerful should the national defense be?  How should we view our borders and how should we treat refugees?  God’s Word has much to say about compassion, mercy and kindness.

LIBERAL? 

But, Jesus is not a Democrat either, and He is not a political liberal.  The liberal sees individual liberty and rights to be the most important driver of political action.  In other words, they think the highest standard for truth and the foundational building block of culture should be the desires of the individual human heart.  God’s Word contradicts this notion saying that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked¹,” and Jesus takes it further saying, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander².”  It doesn’t seem to me that Jesus would support “follow your heart” as the highest aspirations of a culture.

Those who would follow Jesus must not follow any political ideas without first looking at those ideas through the lens of scripture.  We must not trust even our own heart, but instead put our faith in Him.

1.      Jeremiah 17:9

2.      Matthew 15:9

It was at the apex of my teenage narcissism that I sat before my mother and father and confessed the latest and greatest disaster of my adolescence.  I knew this one was different though.  There would be no talking my way out of this problem, indeed, my mother and father and even the rest of my family would this time be effected by my choices.  It was going to be bad.

My dad was a big guy and a tough guy and as he silently came to the boil I remember my mother saying to him, “Tom, he needs our forgiveness”.  I was stunned, but it was the moment in which I grew up.  My mother’s forgiveness changed the course of my life and since that moment I have tried to pay the two of them back by trying to be someone they could be proud of and glad they had forgiven.  Strange that I had experienced the power of forgiveness before I understood why it was so powerful.  It would take a few years and a Christian conversion to work that out.

Today, my mother has Alzheimer’s disease.  If you have watched the movie “The Notebook” you have seen the romantic version of the story.  In the movie a great love story is retold and in the telling a woman is released from the prison of her mind to remember her husband and family.  It is cruel to see the movie end with mother retreating back into the world of dementia not knowing who is in the room or what that story is about.  Gena Rowlands played the mother in the movie and did justice to dilemma of families affected by the disease.  The real notebook though is different.  My mother waits in a hospital ward with other older women waiting for a place in a care home for those who have the disease.  It is a sad Victorian hospital that has seen better days.

I never had a close relationship to my mother.  In fact, I often had the thought she was more than slightly mad.  I am ashamed of that thought today.  Dad worked of course, and being paid by the hour, he worked every hour he could (especially time and a half for Saturdays and double time for Sundays).  Mum looked after the house.  In that house - one bathroom and about 2o00 square ft. - lived ten people.  My grandfather, my older sister and her two kids (married at sixteen and home again by nineteen), my younger brother, two younger sisters, and mum and dad.  That, I suppose, is the reason why my mum was slightly mad.  I don’t remember her smiling much and don’t really remember her having fun.  Always cleaning and cooking and doing “piece work” to help make money for the family.  What does live with me though is the memory of my mum and dad taking a mattress out and laying it on the floor of our family room to make their bed up each night.  There was just not enough room. 

Today, lying in the hospital bed, my mother knows who I am but doesn’t remember my children.  Or that I am married.  She asked my brother once, “How is your mother?”.  My father visits every day and chats with my mother whether she recognises him or not.  There is no notebook to read and no magic to make her return to who she once was.  And yet “The Notebook” isn’t completely off the mark.  For on occasion the disease shows the relationship that was once there between mum and dad.  My own formative years were at a time that was full of struggle for my parents as they tried to just make ends meet - I can hardly remember them having fun together.  But mum now occasionally seems to regress to a time when it was just her and Tom and sometimes, just sometimes, you see in her eyes the love they had together 50 years ago. 

 When I write this blog I sometimes wonder, what’s the point.  But seeing my mother in the grips of this disease has made me realise that even the most trivial things in life can be glorious and significant.  Take away the power to know your spouse or your son or your grandchildren and what is left?  Not much.  Thinking again about my mother also has made me realise that parenting can all boil down to a moment’s decision.  That’s an unforgiving test which my mum passed but I fear I will not.  Who knows when that moment will come and if so, will I be ready?  Are you ready?