Another warning: If you are planning on seeing Rob Bell on his current tour, you may NOT want to read this as it summarizes his teaching.
I went to see Rob Bell speak at the Electric Factory on Monday night as part of his “the gods aren’t angry” tour. First off, I should note that all the net proceeds of this speaking tour are going to the microfinance program that Mars Hill is supporting in Burundi. So, the first thing that impressed me is that there was no fluff on this speaking tour. It was stripped down and raw. It was basically Rob on a stage with a headset microphone and a small stone altar set. No high tech video or music. This all equals more money for Burundi.
Rob is an amazing communicator. He held the sold out audience’s attention without any distractions for about an hour and forty-five minutes without any notes. Some music prefaced Rob’s stage entrance, but the music was quickly silenced as he immediately began teaching.
I came to this event having heard Rob teach at Mars Hill numerous times as well as having watched most of his NOOMA DVD’s. Rob catches a fair amount of criticism in many Christian circles for not presenting the whole gospel message clearly; particularly for emphasizing too heavily social justice and not enough of Jesus. I respectfully disagree (I can say that since this is my blog). What I know is this: God has used and continues to use Rob in amazing ways and unconventional methods to reach those who would not otherwise know Jesus. Rob’s teachings in the NOOMA series along with his books, Velvet Elvis and Sex God have influenced me heavily in my walk and have drawn me closer to God by kindling my passion for God and His Word. God has shown me, through Rob, the value of historical and cultural context and the layers that it peels away from God’s Word when understood more fully.
Back to Rob’s teaching…he began speaking about the early caveman and cavewoman and how through plants growing, hunting animals for food and their own reproduction, they recognized that there was some force at work behind everything. He continued to explain that humans began to associate this force or power with gods. He went through a rather thorough explanation of gods in various cultures (Sumerian and Greek to name a few) and how humans began to offer sacrifices to these gods in order to please them. The idea was that this would ensure the gods were happy. When there was no rain, they offered sacrifices to please the gods to bring rain, when there was an abundant season of crops, three times as much as usual, they would offer more sacrifices to the gods. Since they never really knew what would appease the gods, they kept offering more and more. Rob tracked this process through its development into worshippers of Baal cutting themselves to show their devotion, the sacrifice of children to Molech, etc.
It was at this point that Rob made a great statement about the Bible. He stressed how the early Jewish Torah grew out of oral tales from the people. It did not just mysteriously drop out of the sky. He went on to explain how Abram (or Abraham) grew up in the midst of Sumerian culture and was exposed to this process of worshipping many gods. He is approached by the One True God who tells him to leave his family and his land and go into the land that God will show him (Genesis 12). Rob talked about the significance of this in that Abraham was not only being called out of his culture and land, but out of his world view into a new way, a new world view with a God who is intimately involved with His people, not distant. The previous cultures had always reacted to the effects of their gods, whereas in the case of this God, He walked with and among His people.
Rob went on to explain how the Jewish people were given Torah and directions for offering sacrifices to God. Rob suggested that God did not institute the sacrifice for His sake, quoting various passages from Psalm 50, Micah and Hebrews, but for the people so they could deal with the guilt that grew out of their sin and disobedience. It was as if God knew they had this tendency to work to please Him, so He instituted this sacrificial system to deal with it, so they could make the sacrifice and walk away forgiven. The problem was that this did not work to remove their guilt.
He talked about God’s command to Abraham to “take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you,” Genesis 22:2. Rob suggested that Abraham was not shocked by this request because this is what other gods at the time would have been given. It would not have been unusual for a god to expect someone to sacrifice their child. However, this God is different. He does not accept the sacrifice. At the last minute, with Abraham’s hand raised with the knife to slaughter his son, God commands him to stop and provides a ram to be sacrificed on Isaac’s behalf. God proves that He is different and we see again that he does not need the sacrifice and we sense that he is looking for more; trust and faith.
Rob talked about how when the Sadducees came on the scene and began to corrupt the sacrificial system by using it to get rich and elevate themselves, God speaks out against this corrupted system through Jesus. Up until Jesus’ coming, the focus of the Jewish people is on the Temple worship and the sacrifices. But Jesus arrives and says, “I tell you something greater than the temple is here.” Matthew 12:6 and he uses whip cords to drive the money changers out of the temple, John 2:15 and says “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” John 2:19. Rob said that this was symbolic of Jesus leading and drawing the people into a new world view, into a new way.
Rob talked about how the author of Hebrews says “Jesus appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26. Rob explained that God reconciled all of creation back to Himself through Jesus and we can trust in Him and therefore be confident that God is not angry but God is love. He talked about how we are told that the entire sacrificial system in Torah was a shadowy example or picture of what was to come in the true sacrifice that Jesus made once for all.
Rob then told some powerful modern stories of people who still, in our technologically advanced world and society, live to please God by doing this and that, the same way people thousands of years ago were making sacrifices to appease the gods, not certain of what would work, and constantly offering more and more. He also mentioned a person he knew who was going to church to fulfill a quota again to appease God.
He then went back to the subject of sacrifice and spoke about how just when we think that Jesus has completely eliminated the need for sacrifice, Paul calls us to be living sacrifices. Rob spoke about how this calls us to live out in flesh and blood our trust in the reconciliation and hope of Jesus so we can be an example for those with so much hurt and despair that they just cannot believe in this idea of hope in Jesus.
Rob closed amazingly and powerfully with three stories of hope and love in an attempt to further display and communicate God’s love for us.
I had prayed before I went to the event that God would use Rob mightily and boldly to proclaim the gospel and that He would speak through Rob to me. God faithfully and graciously answered those prayers. As I mentioned earlier, I have heard and seen many criticisms of Rob regarding not preaching the blood of Jesus enough or not presenting the whole gospel. I think Rob counters those claims with this tour. What I love about Rob’s teaching method is that he uses a down-to-earth, humble style backed with thorough research and training which makes people more and more curious about this Jesus and what it means to trust and follow Him. I like that he has chosen venues that would not be used on a typical teaching tour. This goes back to Craig Groeschel’s quote from my earlier post, “If we are going to reach the unreached, we are going to have to do things that have not been done before.”
So while I have been disappointed to see the negative criticisms of Rob and his teachings, some going so far as to label him a heretic, I was encouraged to witness first hand those reached through the Holy Spirit as God uses Rob. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Looking back through the history of the Church, many who paved the way were called heretics in their day. I do, however, encourage everyone not to follow teachings blindly and to always check them against God’s Word. I pray that more will come to know the One True God through His Son, Jesus Christ as a result of this teaching tour.
Thanks for taking the time to read this (if you made it all the way through). While I did not touch on every ounce of Rob’s teaching, I tried pretty hard. This was as much for me to remember it by as it is for you.
By the way, I laugh every time I see the photo below. With the shadows and the looks on our faces, it’s a classic.
