Like him, love him, hate him, disagree with him… think he’s right on, or think he’s off the rails, no matter what you think, Rob Bell is a prolific thinker in the world of Christianity today. From podcasts of his messages at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, to his NOOMA video series, and his best-selling books Velvet Elvis and SexGod, Rob is part of re-shaping the way our generation is approaching God and the Christian faith.
Tonight he kicked off a 22 city tour here in Chicago at The Vic to a sold-out crowd, and I was fortunate to get in… and get on the fourth row!
He did a similar tour a year or so ago… which you can catch on DVD from Zondervan… Everything Spiritual.
With a makeshift stone altar being the only prop, he preached in about an hour and a half what was probably one of the best message I’ve ever heard.
I know that might be extreme to say, but I’m for real. He (and what he had to say) totally blew me away.
I took some wild notes, so here is my late night processing of them…
If the tour is coming anywhere near you, if it’s not sold out, GO…and don’t read these notes!
He started way back in the beginning of time and how mankind and civilization (assuming we all started as caveman) began to recognizes the different forces of nature and of life… the cycles of the sun, moon, and stars, the cycle of life, and began to name the different forces. The forces became gods who were up in the sky, separate from mankind.
When things would go bad, men assumed the gods were angry, and so recognizing that the gods, the unseen forces, were behind the cycles, they established a system of offerings (or sacrifices) to appease the gods. To make them happy. And they made an altar, a place to offer their sacrifices to these gods.
If you had a good crop, you made a sacrifice to give thanks. If you had a bad crop, you sacrificed in hopes you’d appease the anger and in turn, get a good return.
If things were good, the gods must be happy… but if things were bad, something wasn’t right. You needed to offer more.
It was a vicious cycle that became deeply rooted in mankind. And it got extreme. When crops or animals weren’t enough men began offering their own blood, their own children, and in some cases their manhood (not joking). Nothing could satisfy… no sacrifice was good enough.
Then Abraham came along and introduced a God who spoke to him. It was an actual God, speaking to men. And this God wasn’t demanding of sacrifice – He was offering a promise and a blessing. It was revolutionary thinking. That a God would be involved in space in time, calling men into an actual relationship with Him.
The God of Abraham introduced a whole new sacrificial system… there were your normal offerings, your sacrifices for forgiveness of sin, but even sacrifices to bring peace between yourself God, and yourself and others.
The system worked for awhile, but then it became an institution. It was time for another revolution. That’s when Jesus came onto the scene.
He went into the Temple, into the very place where people were making their offerings, and said, “I’m here. I’m greater than the Temple. You can tear me down, and I’ll rebuild it in 3 days…”
He, in essence, said that there’s a greater way to know God than through ritual or sacrifice.
He asked the people what their God was like…
Rob shared stories of people he’s encountered in his ministry… a businessman who is a slave to work to prove his worth, to live up to the approval of his in-laws, wresting with the sense that he’s not good enough. Striving for validation, success, and approval. Then, young girls who are cutting themselves as a way to escape pain or emotional trauma. To overcome words of hurt and negativity.
In bringing up all of these he asked: “Do we have the same old gods, and we’ve just given them different names?”
In Hebrews, the author talks about the sacrifice Christ made by giving His life, and how His life was the final sacrifice to reconcile God and mankind. He did away with the old system and ushered in the culmination of the ages so everyone could understand the ultimate reality… that they could see God in a whole new way.
God made peace through Christ with all things on heaven and earth. He changed everything for everybody.
Then Rob talked about the whole point of sacrifices. Did we (and do we) sacrifice because God needs something from us?
According to Psalm 50, God isn’t pleased with our sacrifices…in Micah it says God isn’t pleased with 1,000 rams… the list could go on but the point is the sacrifices weren’t for God, they were for us.
We have a hard time trusting good things, so sacrifice area a reminder and ritual that keeps us knowing that God wants to bless us and not ask us for more.
There’s never been an effective religious deed in all of humanity.
What is repentance? It’s not “I repent and THEN God does THIS.” Repenting is not bargaining. God made peace with all things. He’s already done it. All that is left for us to do is celebrate. Repentance is acknowledging what God has done and living differently because of it.
A ritual is not something that you to get God to do something else – a ritual should be what you do to better celebrate what God has done. If a ritual doesn’t tap into the peace that’s already been made it’s not Christian. If it beats you up, asks for more, or brings you down, is not right.
The ‘altar’ was done with Jesus, but there’s one more sacrifice we need to make… ourselves. We need to live our entire lives in thankfulness to God for what He’s done. We need to put flesh and blood on it for others – we need to share it. We need to live the peace we’ve experienced and known.
He shared more stories…. One of a man who asked a woman who had been seeing visions of Jesus to ask him what sins he had committed…and the woman told him Jesus said, “I don’t remember.” He told a story of a woman who had been violently disfigured in an accident and her husband, when seeing her mangled face for the first time, kissed her and said, “I like it.” Telling a girl who had brought shame to her family, “You don’t embarrass me.” That’s Christ, that’s the nature of God.
He doesn’t remember. He likes you. He doesn’t hate you. The very air we breathe is His love for us. We have no need to impress, give more, improve, or perform. We don’t have to live the like that. He came. The sacrifice has been made. At the culmination of the ages, Christ stands… and God isn’t angry. God is love.
