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Preaching Both a Bad Example and Christ from the Wicked City of Gibeah in Judges 19

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In these posts I am working my way through the book of Judges to provide a strategy for preaching difficult narratives.

Whenever you preach through the book of Judges–a very brave thing to do, by the way–you will discover that there are no judges. But there are lots of people doing what was right in their own eyes. The theological reason is provided in 19:1 “In those days, when there was no king in Israel…” What could a king do?

Well, a certain kind of king could teach and enforce the ways of God among the people of God. That would put a stop to the terrible wickedness that we read about in the city of Gibeah. And, of all things, Gibeah was home of God’s people, not a “city of foreigners” (cf. 19:12). They were “Benjaminites” (v. 16). None of us readers are prepared for how wicked God’s people have become.

The story revolves around a Levite and his concubine. Davis says that “he was heading for Sodom-in-the-land-of-Israel.” The parallels between Judges 19:22-28 and Genesis 19’s famous story are numerous. What starts off with no hospitality (Judges 19:15) ends up in what might be the worst scene in all the Bible (spoiler alert: except for the Cross, of course!).

The Levite gives his concubine to “the men of the city, worthless fellows” and she is raped and killed (v. 22, 25). His insensitivity is unbelievable (v. 28). And then, the Levite follows that up with the unthinkable: “he took a knife…divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel” (v. 29).

The chapter closes with the people’s reaction: “consider it, take counsel, and speak” (v. 30).

If you ever preached this chapter, one challenge is to help a church realize that it could get this bad. This is how bad things can get when God is not worshiped, when American individualism fills the hearts of people in the pews. Bad example? Yes.

A bigger challenge is to see the grace of God-in Christ in this narrative. That happens when we point out that the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a worst crime than anything Sodom or Gibeah experienced. And, of course, it is Christ’s broken body that makes it possible for Believers to experience the kingship of God in the power of His Spirit. Preach Christ? Yes.

Preach well for the sake of His glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. I read the post and wanted to draw attention to the preaching strategy, how the narrative conveys theology for the Church.

First, the theological statement that drives the entire book is found in v. 1 (“no king”).

Second, the whole story revolves around God’s people, not pagans.

Third, the varied sins of God’s people are on display, including the most heinous ones.

Fourth, there is a clear reference to redemption in v. 30 (“the people of Israel that came up out of the land of Egypt”).

Finally, if you are inclined as I am to show how such a ghastly narrative points to Christ, look to the parallel between the concubine and the Cross.

Hope that helps.

 

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Preaching the Chapters in Judges That Have No Judges

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When you arrive at Judges 17 you encounter a lengthy narrative that has no judge. What it contains is a mixture of spirituality and idolatry. Like oil and water, the two don’t mix. But, evidently, mixing the two is very tempting.

A recent example were the defeat speeches of both presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton, and her running mate, Timothy Kaine. I was surprised that both speeches contained quotes from the Bible.

Ancient examples are found in Judges 17-18 and the personal story revolving around Micah, his mom, his idols, and their priest.

A theological, interpretative key can be found in 17:6 (also 18:1) “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” That’s the general problem. The specific problem must be identified from the narrative. The specific problem in this case is the religious confusion, the mixture of the spiritual and the idolatrous.

How’s this for a strange mixture: “his mother said, ‘I dedicate the silver to the Lord…to make a carved image and a metal image” (17:3). Those idols end up in Micah’s house. And Micah is very interested in spiritual things, like having a priest (vv. 7-13). The chapter ends with Micah stating, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

One way to preach the theology of these chapters is to point out the other ways in which key characters create their own brand of worship. Davis asks, “Does this not parallel the contemporary mood…that worship is…a very individual affair, a matter of sheer personal preference, and like your toothbrush–a very personal thing?”

You’ll find more of the same in chapter 18 when Micah’s priest gets kidnapped and more idols are highlighted.

These chapters provide an opportunity for us to challenge each other to make sure we check our tendency to worship God and coddle our idols. And you’ll have to spend time, of course, on the remedy found in 17:6 and 18:1, our need for a King and what it is about King Jesus that creates a people who do what’s right in God’s eyes, instead of their own.

I hope this helps you make sense of a couple of difficult chapters in Judges. Preach them well so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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One Last Angle on Preaching the Samson Narrative

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In my series on Judges, The Salvation of Stubborn Hearts, I titled my final message on the Samson narrative: Samson, the Judge Who Shows Us Our Spiritual Struggles.

Webb describes Samson as “a testosterone-charged male behaving badly.” You can see that in the repetition of key phrases and also from Samson’s un-judgelike actions in these chapters.

First, look at the repetition in 14:3, 7 “right in my eyes,” a phrase that will become very important at the end of Judges. This is not good.

Second, look at the repetition of “their god…our god…their god…our god” found in the victory celebration of Israel’s enemies (cf. 16:23-24).

Then, the entire section is filled with un-judgelike actions. For a long time we see no evidence of Samson fulfilling his duties as a judge who would deliver Israel from the Philistines. Webb says, “He has wined and dined with the Philistines and tried to intermarry with them instead of ridding Israel of their rule.”

And, then, there’s all this playfulness in chapter 14 between Samson, his first wife, and the men of the city.

And what about Samson’s tryst with a “prostitute” in 16:1 or loving Delilah in 16:4.

All that tells us he forgot the fight. All that functions like a mirror so we can look at ourselves and make sure we’re not like Samson.

Thankfully, the Samson narrative also shows us our God will not allow Samson’s foolishness, stubbornness, or rebellion to thwart His plan for delivering His people (see previous post).

Samson, the Nazarite, broke his vows. Israel, of course, also a holy people, followed suit. But not our Savior, the Holy One of God (cf. Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34). And, by faith in Him, we continue to experience cleansing and sanctification from our own stubbornness.

I hope these last few posts have helped you make sense of how the lengthy Samson narrative functions for God’s glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Preach well!

Randal

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Preaching the Unique Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Samson

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about the preaching the unique circumstances of Samson’s birth. This week I’m focusing on the end of his life. The Samson narrative in Judges is very important to the theology of the book. When I preached through the book of Judges I chose to devote two messages to his life.

If you read the first Samson narrative post, you saw the parallels between Samson’s birth and Jesus’ birth (both involving prenatal instructions about the unique children). When you come to the end of Samson’s life, more parallels exist and this is a critical observation for the Christ-centered expositor.

For instance, Webb writes,

“rejected by his own people, arrested and handed over to their enemies, tortured and made a spectacle…until at last his calling is consummated in his death. But in dying he destroys Dagon, the god of Israel’s enemies.”

Amazing isn’t it.

What I like about that quote is not just the listing of all the parallels, but the fact that everything focuses on the plot of Judges: how God rescues His people from their enemies.

Several weeks ago while teaching for a day in Lancaster Bible College/Capital Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program, I selected a narrative from Judges (the infamous, Jephthah’s Tragic Vow). I asked the class to identify the subject of the narrative. Then, I pointed out the tendency to overlook the primary action of the book and individual judge narratives.

What do we learn about our salvation from the death of Samson? That’s the focus of theological interpretation. And the answer? Our salvation was secured through the death of our Judge Jesus. Judges 13:7 states, “for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.” And it was Samson’s and Jesus’ death that won the victory for the people of God.

Next time, I’ll list some of the ways Samson shows us our spiritual struggles. He does function as an exemplar at times, but most importantly, Samson shows us a picture of our Savior’s victory-through-death.

Preach that message so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Becoming a Critic of the Human Condition

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If we’ve studied together or if you’ve interacted with some of my material it will come as no surprise that Tim Keller has mentored me in the area of reading and preaching the Bible. Over the next few posts I intend to summarize my best takeaways from his book, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism.

First, let me tell you what I believe Keller’s best contributions have been. Keller is a master of Christ-centered preaching that is not afraid of making creative connections to the Cross. This separates him from well-known proponents of the method such as Sidney Greidanus and Bryan Chapell. Keller is also a master critic of the human condition (both the Christian and non-Christian).

On page 110 Keller writes,

“The Christian preacher must be a critic of nonbelievers….Christian communicators must show that they remember (or at least understand) very well what it is like not to believe.”

If you’re like me and have been a Christian since your youth, this is not easy to do. Another thing that makes this difficult is, due to the nature of most pastorates, we spend virtually all of our time with Christians. Add to that what we constantly read–Christian material.

But I’ve listened to Keller for almost as long as he’s been at Redeemer in NYC. He knows the human condition very well. Therefore, he is in a position every weekend to critique the human heart. And it adds quality and depth to his sermons.

So, here’s what I try to do in order to become more skillful in this area.

First, I try hard to pay attention to my own thinking, the struggles that go on in my head as I fight temptation. I will sometimes say to folks on Sunday, “I know you because I’m like you.”

Second, I try hard to listen carefully to what Christians say to me when they are honest enough to let things slip out (they say things when their guard was down and they were very exercised about something).

Those two cover the Christian condition.

Finally, and this comes harder for me, I try to read reputable blogs such as Church & Culture, and scan media coverage to become familiar with how people think about themselves and their world.

Then it’s a matter of learning how to strategically place those insights into the exposition of Scripture.

Long before Sunday I am trying to see how my preaching portion contains theology that includes some look into our human condition. That requires me to be a critic of Christians and non-Christians.

Preaching well so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Preaching the Unique Circumstances Surrounding Samson’s Birth

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One of the highlights of preaching through the book of Judges is reaching the Samson narrative.

[If you haven’t seen Sight & Sound’s production of Samson, you would enjoy it thoroughly. Their imaginative exposition is always insightful.]

Two things are unique about the Samson birth narrative:

(1) God’s people are incapacitated. Judges 13:2 says, “And his wife was barren and had no children.” There was no courageous judge on the horizon. God’s plan for redeeming His world often included couples who could not conceive children. Think of these famous names: Sarai, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, and Elizabeth. In his excellent little commentary, Davis writes,

“hopelessness…where there is no human energy or ability to serve as a starter.”

Samson is going to be a miracle baby. God would miraculously place him on history’s stage and use him to deliver His people from the Philistines. Our situation is so dire that we can never achieve deliverance in our own strength and ability.

(2) God demanded a special (read, holy) judge. Verses 4-7, 12-14, and 24-25 record instructions delivered to Samson’s mother about what she was to eat and drink during her pregnancy. All because Samson would “be a Nazarite to God from the womb” (v. 5). Those instructions are restated three times in the chapter to signal their importance.

Added to the miracle is a strong dose of holiness. The savior of God’s people would be set apart to God throughout his life, “a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death” (v. 7).

This is the kind of savior God sent for His people; this is the kind of Savior, of course, that He ultimately provided in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s no surprise that when the angel arrives in another nativity scene such as Luke’s gospel, we have similar circumstances.

These prenatal instructions guide our worship. We don’t encourage, “Be like Samson,” or “Don’t be like Samson” in these early scenes. Maybe later in the chapter. For now it’s simply telling God how much we love Him for rescuing us from our tendency to leave Him for other loves.

Preach well for the sake of His reputation in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Preaching Repentance From Judges 10

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One of the benefits of preaching through the book of Judges is that chapter 10 provides a glimpse into the doctrine of repentance. Repentance is not a doctrine that gets much press these days. You probably are aware that it is a critical doctrine that greatly affects one’s justification and sanctification. Judges, however, is not the place you would likely look to find teaching on repentance.

Actually two kinds of repentance are mentioned. The first one is readily acknowledge: the repentance of God’s people. The second one is hotly debated: the repentance of God.

First, after committing more idolatry, God’s people finally say in vv. 15-16 “‘We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.’ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord…” God’s people finally repent of their idolatry.

Notice two parts of their repentance: (1) they stopped worshiping “the foreign gods”; (2) they started (re-started?) serving “the Lord.” They stopped sinning and started serving. It’s a pretty simple definition of repentance.

Second, after severely judging His people, God finally responds to Israel’s repentance. The omniscient narrator tells us: “and [the Lord] became impatient over the misery of Israel” (v. 16). The Lord stopped punishing and started saving even though He said back in v. 13, “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.”

I don’t claim to understand what was happening in the mind of God. Neither arguments for or against God being able to repent have been completely satisfying.

I am convinced, however, that our congregants need to hear the importance of confessing their sins, turning from their sins, and replacing their sins with righteousness.

Preach repentance and our Lord will continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Some Challenges of Using the Big Idea Method for Preaching

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This is the second of two posts devoted to encouraging readers to consider making the big idea hermeneutic/homiletic a part of their weekly study routine. The contents of the post come from the paper Jeff Arthurs (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary preaching prof) and I presented A couple of weeks ago at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Homiletics society held in Fort Worth, TX.

The paper was titled: The Rewards and Challenges of Teaching Robinson’s Big Idea Method.

Last week I wrote about the rewards; this week I’ll list some challenges. And, yes, the difficulties are well worth the effort.

  • It takes some time to learn and to be able to use the genre clues that lead to the subject of preaching portions. This starting point does not always comes easily. Would-be big ideas are coiled, ready to spring out like a Jack-in-the-Box. It takes discipline to let the Text dictate dominant meaning.
  • Not all brains are wired for this. Over the years we’ve discovered that some students learn this method very quickly while others struggle. It’s not because of intellect or training. Some simply don’t think in ways that lend themselves to this kind of analysis.
  • You will need to continue to work on your exegesis skills. The big idea method is hard work because it is the result of rigorous exegesis of ideas (how phrases and clauses form meaning), not fragments (e.g., word studies). We’re better at micro-exegesis than we are at macro-exegesis. We find there’s still a gap between hermeneutics classes and homiletics classes.
  • Prepare yourself for repetition. If you’re preaching through large portions of the Old Testament, you will encounter many preaching portions contain similar big ideas. That is true in the Joseph narrative in Genesis. You will find the same in Psalms and Proverbs. Resist the urge to find new ideas in every section. Only by doing your big idea analysis early on in your study can you map out a sermon series that takes into account such repetition/restatement.

But these challenges are well worth it. So I hope you will consider making the big idea method the focus of your Monday morning hours and add to God’s glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Why You Should Consider Using the Big Idea Method to Guide the First Hours of Each Week’s Study Time

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Michele and I just returned from attending the annual Evangelical Homiletics Society conference held on the beautiful facilities of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. I had the privilege of co-authoring and presenting a paper with my Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary teaching colleague, Dr. Jeffrey D. Arthurs.  The paper was titled, The Rewards and Challenges of Teaching Robinson’s Big Idea Method.

Shameless promotion alert: our presentation won the Keith Willhite Award for best paper of the conference.

Here’s a summary of our work. I’m including this because I hope you will consider making the big idea method a part of your weekly sermon preparation. The summary might help move you in that direction if you aren’t already a disciple.

Rewards…

  • Pre-exegesis. The method helps guide my study time at the beginning of every week. I don’t start with micro-exegesis (word studies), but with macro-exegesis or pre-exegesis (learning how meaning is being made through the relationship of ideas within the preaching portion).
  • Discovering the interrelationship between ideas. The method excels at identifying how various sized ideas create meaning in a pericope. Not to mention, this is the time to locate dominant and subordinate thoughts in the passage.
  • Preserves Authorial Intention. This method helps me learn what the writer of Scripture meant and keeps me from reading into or over what he has written. If you preach or teach the Bible then you use some method. I really like this one.
  • Sermon Structure. While you are doing your pre-exegesis according to this fashion, you are beginning to see the author’s structure emerge. The process of finding the big idea leads to the identification of the main points or logical moves of the author and this leads to initial sermon form.
  • Big Idea By-Products. If your analysis is correct within the first few hours of study, you have gained significant sermon by-products. You have your theme or big idea. That means you have direction for both your introduction and conclusions. You also have a sense of what the sermon is supposed to do to the listeners (sermonic purpose).
  • Aids Listener Comprehension and Retention. As your sermon stays locked into the big idea, sermon unity and clarity will help listeners  understand and remember the sermon.

That’s the rewards you can expect if you try the method. If you’re not sure how to put this method into practice, please read or reread my book, Preaching With Accuracy: Finding Christ-Centered Big Ideas for Biblical Preaching (Kregel, 2014).

Preach well so God receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

P.S. Next time I’ll list some of the challenges that go along with the method.

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Preaching the Highly-Offensive Jephthah Narrative

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Our God revealed in Scripture could very easily be credited with this quote. If you’ve read the Bible, especially the Old Testament, then you know there is plenty of God’s Word that is offensive to our modern and post-modern sensibilities. That is especially true in the Judges 10 and 11 narrative often referred to as, Jephthah’s Tragic Vow.

You probably know the gist of the story: Jephthah vows that if the Lord gives him a military victory over the Ammonites, then he would give as a burnt offering whatever (whomever?) comes out of his front door to greet him upon his return from battle (cf. 11:30-31).

Horror of horrors, we discover in v. 34 that Jephthah’s only daughter is the one that comes out to greet him!

In the middle of expressing to her the great trouble that is happening he says, “…and I cannot take back my vow” (v. 35).

I remember screaming at Jeph’: “What do you mean you can’t take back your vow?!?! Of course you can and you should!!!!” And because he didn’t take back his vow, we receive one of the most offensive looks at the extreme cost of our salvation.

And that angle is very important if you are going to preach this narrative beyond the moralizing that goes something like: “Christians are careful about making rash vows to the Lord unless they cause tremendous heartache…”

Along with being careful whenever we make deals with God, this narrative is an opportunity for us all to express our gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice of God’s only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The parallels in the story are telling: Jephthah is a picture of…

  • our despised and rejected Savior (vv. 10:17–11:11)
  • our Savior who wins the victory for us (vv. 11:12-29)
  • the extreme cost of that victory (vv. 11:30-40 and the sacrifice of Jephthah’s only child).

It doesn’t solve all the problems of the offensive narrative, but maybe this angle will help you help your listeners give thanks for God’s costly free gift.

Preach well for the sake of His glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal