[Portions of this material were presented at Freed Hardeman University on February 10, 2012]

What is Inductive Preaching?

Inductive Preaching refers to a sermon which unfolds in an inductive way.  Generally speaking there are deductive and inductive sermons based on deductive and inductive thinking.

How We Think

Inductive preaching uses the process of inductive thinking to guide the unfolding of the sermon.  Deductive preaching employs the procedures of deductive thinking to map the presentation of the lesson.  In order to understand inductive or deductive preaching, it is necessary to understand inductive and deductive thinking.

The distinction between inductive and deductive thinking goes back as far as Plato.   Inductive thinking begins with specifics and moves to the general.  Deductive thinking starts with the general and moves to the specific.  All people use both methods of thinking.

Examples of Deductive and Inductive Thinking

For example, suppose Don knows that Bus 859 on Central Avenue stops at 4^th Street every hour on the half hour.   That is a general rule.   Then Don sees by his watch that it is 9:26 A.M.  Since he knows the general rule, he then deduces the bus should arrive in about four minutes.  He takes the general rule and comes to a specific conclusion.  His deductive reasoning is confirmed when the bus stops at 9:30 A.M.

Mary recently moved into an apartment near 4^th and Central.  While she reads by the front window she notices that Bus 859 stops in front of her apartment.  One morning she decides to keep track of when the bus comes.  It arrived at 8:30 A.M. then again at 9:30 and 10:30.   Perhaps she notices it is sometimes a minute earlier or later, but generally it is half past the hour.  She concludes that the schedule calls for the bus to stop in front of her apartment every hour on the half hour.  Mary reasons inductively by taking specific cases of the bus stopping to draw a general conclusion about its schedule.

Perhaps the scientific method serves as the classic example of inductive reasoning.  The scientist goes into the lab to mix two chemicals together and carefully records the results.  She collects specific data.   After analyzing the data certain patterns develop permitting her to propose a hypothesis.   She returns to the lab to test her theory.  When it is confirmed by constant results in specific experiments, she draws a general conclusion.

The syllogism serves as the classic example of deductive reasoning.  Consider the three parts of the commonly expressed syllogism.

• All men are mortal.
• Socrates is a man.
• Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

The syllogism begins with a general principle and then moves to the specific.

Culture and Thinking

Our cultural conditioning prompts the use of one or the other.  It would seem odd for us to hear this deductive announcement on Sunday:  “All men are mortal.  Jim Smith is a man.  Jim Smith is mortal.  Jim died Saturday.”   We would expect this inductive announcement: “Jim Smith died Saturday.  We express our sympathy to the family.  Life is short and we all face death.”   The first announcement unfolded deductively while the second came inductively.

As we dress in the morning we may think inductively.  After checking the thermometer we see it is 27 degrees.  We think, since it is cold, I’ll wear my sweater and winter coat.  Cold weather makes me uncomfortable unless I’m dressed warmly.   We started with the specific (the current temperature) and moved to the general (how we dress in cold weather).   However, we might have thought deductively:  Cold weather makes me dress differently.  When it’s cold I wear my winter coat.   I’ll check the temperature.  Since I see it is 27 degrees, I’ll wear my winter coat.   In the second case we first thought about our general practice, and then checked the specifics to see how the principle applied that day.

Biblical Examples of Inductive and Deductive Thinking

We find the same alternation between inductive and deductive thinking in the Bible.  Paul is inductive in Philemon:

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home:  3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… 8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul– an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus–  10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.

Note that Paul begins by mentioning specific people.  The letter does not begin in a general way (see an example of a general introduction in Galatians 1:1-2: “Paul an apostle — not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — 2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia”), but with specific mention of Philemon, Apphia and Archippus.  But beyond that he begins his argument in Philemon not in a deductive way by saying, “I want to take up the issue of slavery and make three points.”   Instead he begins, “Let me talk to you about Onesimus.”   Paul reasons inductively.

Yet, in Philippians 2, Paul reasons deductively:

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Paul uses a long “if-then” sequence to provide motivation before stating his general principle in vv 3-4: selflessness.  He unfolds the premise of his material in several ways in vv 3-4.  Then in the rest of the chapter he gives three specific examples of selflessness: Jesus, Timothy and Epaphroditus.   Paul reasons deductively.

Inductive Bible Study

Generally speaking, our Bible study should be inductive.   We consider the Bible the source of our doctrine.  We do not find doctrine elsewhere and then import it into Scripture.  Our understanding of truth emerges from our examination of the specific cases of truth in Scripture.  We do not decide what is generally true and then go to the Bible to illustrate it or support what we have previously decided.

Alexander Campbell makes this exact point.  Bible truths should be taught “not as abstract speculative truths, as in our human creeds or catechisms, but as other true sciences are taught—inductively.”  He continues by noting, “The inductive style of inquiring and reasoning, is to be as rigidly carried out in reading and teaching the Bible facts and documents as in the analysis and synthesis of physical nature” [Alexander Campbell, “How to Teach the Bible,” Millennial Harbinger, Series 3, VII (1950), 171-74].   Campbell opposed starting with a creed book as general premise and then going to scripture to support it in a deductive manner.  He urged an inductive approach to Bible study.

Exegesis and Eisegesis

The terms exegesis (from a Greek word meaning “to draw out”) and eisegesis (from a Greek word meaning “to draw in”) generally reflect these two processes.  Exegesis describes the process of reading the Bible inductively by drawing out of the text the principles of the faith.  Exegesis begins with an open minded reading of the text seeking to find the intention of the original author.   Meaning and truth exists within the Biblical text.  Our task is to uncover it by study.   Exegesis comes to an understanding (conclusion) of what it meant by searching in the text for clues (specifics) about its meaning.   Exegesis calls for reading and studying the Bible before reading commentaries or sermon outline books.

Eisegesis reflects the process of reading into the text.   This approach truncates real Bible study by approaching the biblical material with a conclusion in mind that the text must support without gathering data to see if the passage is actually teaching that doctrine.

A former professor of mine, Jack Lewis, used to cite Genesis 32:48-49 as a case of eisegesis.  He noted that many married couples put the line from verse 49 on their wedding rings:  “The LORD watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other.”   At first glance it appears that the Biblical text offers a promise about husbands and wives who are absent from each other.   However, the context takes these words in a different direction:

48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, 49 and the pillar Mizpah, for he said, “The LORD watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other.”

Laban and Jacob at odds with one another agree to separate.  To insure that no further injustices take place, Laban calls on God to keep track of them so that they do not harm each other again.   An exegesis of the passage (inductive) leads to a different conclusion than the eisegesis (deductive) of the material.

Key Elements of Inductive Preaching

Inductive preaching thus uses the inductive thinking method to guide how a sermon unfolds.   In general, there are several key qualities of an inductive sermon:

• An inductive sermon begins with specifics and moves to general principles.
• Inductive sermons often do not verbalize a conclusion.
• Sermons preached inductively generally have only one point.
• Inductive sermons often include stories to illustrate the point.
• Inductive preaching often uses narrative and on occasion can be totally narrative.
• Most inductive sermons mix both inductive and deductive thinking.

Sources on Structures of Inductive Preaching

Those who use inductive preaching find different ways of structuring a sermon inductively.  This treatment of inductive preaching uses one method to illustrate the larger point.   Consult these books for other kinds of inductive structures in sermons:

• Ralph & Gregg Lewis, Inductive Preaching (Crossway, 1983).
• Chris Altrock, Preaching to Pluralists (Chalice Press, 2004).
• Chris Altrock, Rebuilding Relationships (Chalice Press, 2008).
• Ronald Allen, Patterns of Preaching (Chalice Press, 1998).

Inductive Sermons in the Bible: Old Testament

The Bible itself contains inductive sermons.  Two are presented here:

Isaiah 40:12-31 is an inductive sermon.  To explain how this sermon is inductive, exegesis is necessary. Begin by isolating a unit of text.  Most agree that Isaiah 39 completes a major section of the book.   The trial passage at the beginning of Isaiah 41 also begins a new section.  That isolates Isaiah 40 as a possible unit.  Isa 40:1-11 revolves around the three voices who speak in the presence of God.   The remaining portion, Isa 40:12-31 appears to be a sermon Isaiah preaches about God.   It unfolds inductively.

This presentation divides Isaiah’s sermon into three movements (not points in a deductive sense).   Observe how Isaiah presents a series of 19 specific examples in this first movement:

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?  13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has instructed him?  14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?  15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.  16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.  17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

Note in vv 12-17 a concentration of verbs of thinking and evaluation: measure, marked, enclosed, weighed, directed, counsel, instructed, consult, enlighten, taught, showed, understanding, accounted, and accounted.   Isaiah uses a series of specific questions that raise the issue of thinking or evaluation.  He offers 19 comparisons but only tells us once whom he is comparing (see v 13).   Yet in this lesson, Isaiah never states his point.  Yet the point is clear: no one thinks or evaluates like God.

The material could just as easily be presented deductively.  Isaiah might have begun by saying, “God is incomprehensible, that is, he is beyond our understanding.  For example, who can understand the process of measuring the oceans with the palm of one’s hand?  We can’t do that, but God can.”

But Isaiah’s lesson is not finished.  Note the use of the words “compare” or “like” in the second segment of the overall sermon, Isaiah 40:28-26:

18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?  19 The idol! a workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.  20 He who is impoverished chooses for an offering wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an image that will not move.  21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.  24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.  25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.  26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

Isaiah uses like or compare 5 times.  God is mentioned at the beginning in v 18 and then He is compared to four other entities: idols, humans, earthly rulers and the heavenly hosts.  Although Isaiah never states it directly, he finds no suitable entity to which God compares.   His unstated point is no one is like God.

One could use Isaiah’s material in a deductive fashion:  He might have said, “God is incomparable.  For example, the comparison between God and idols fail.  Idols are human constructions that tip over and say nothing.  An idol does not help us understand God.”

Isaiah concludes his lesson in Isaiah 40:27-31:

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?  28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.  29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;  31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Note the concentration of verbs about energy or capability: hid, disregarded, everlasting, faint, weary, unsearchable, power, exhaustion, fall, wait, renew, run, and walk.    Israel does not hear, know, walk or run.  In contrast God knows all, hears all and never wears out.   Isaiah makes bold deductive statements about God:  the LORD is the everlasting God and the LORD is the Creator of the ends of the earth.  However, his point is not a deductive sermon on God’s eternal or creative nature.  He uses these deductive statements as specific examples of his larger unstated point:  God’s energy exceeds that of humans.

The same material could have been presented deductively.  “God is inexhaustible.  He never wears out unlike humans who wear out all the time.  God’s inexhaustible nature is illustrated by the eagle that from a human point of view seems to never wear out.

This sermon by Isaiah is largely a series of specific questions and concrete images    He clusters the questions and images around certain thoughts.  His unstated sub issues are:

• God is incomprehensible.
• God is incomparable.
• God is inexhaustible.

However, those doctrinal points are not the focus of the lesson.  In this inductive sermon, Isaiah seems to have a larger point in mind.  He writes to exiles who doubt God because He seems to have lost the last war and out of His weakness allowed them to go into captivity.  The exiles think they have God figured out, compare Him unfavorably with Babylonian idols and political power and think He just got tired and quit.  Isaiah instead presents a lesson of a vastly different God who is interested enough in their situation to take action and is strong enough to succeed.  God can do what you need Him to do!

Inductive Sermons in the Bible: New Testament

Lk 15:1-3 provides the context for an inductive sermon of Jesus that follows a brief interchange between Jesus and the religious authorities:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.  2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”  3 So he told them this parable.

V 1 reports that Jesus eats with sinners.  V 2 tells the response of the religious leaders to Jesus’ actions in v 1.   Jesus then responds with a parable, which actually turns into three stories: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the father and the two sons.  The third parable (Lk 15:11-32) unfolds this way:

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them.  13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living.  14 And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want.  15 So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine.  16 And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything.  17 But when he came to himself he said, `How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger!  18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;  19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.”‘  20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  21 And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  22 But the father said to his servants, `Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet;  23 and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry;  24 for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry.  25 “Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  26 And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant.  27 And he said to him, `Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.’  28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,  29 but he answered his father, `Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.  30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’  31 And he said to him, `Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  32 It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Jesus tells a story about a father and two sons, a parable rich in meaning.   The identity of the three key figures in the story seems clear in light of the context of Lk15:1-3.  The father represents God or Jesus.   The younger son takes the role of the sinners of v 1 while the elder brother represents the religious leaders of v 2.   Given that all three parables are about something lost (a sheep, a coin, two sons) and that Jesus was ministering to the lost at the time of the critique of the religious leaders, the unstated point of the sermon is: Lost people matter to God.  The story is specific telling about three individuals, but the point is a general teaching, indeed a universal one, about God’s love for the lost.

The individuals in the story make some deductive statements: the lost are found, the dead are alive, but Jesus never states his point verbally in this inductive sermon.

Nine Steps in Preparing an Inductive Sermon

No two preachers will prepare a sermon in the same way, but some general parameters might serve to guide the process of producing an inductive sermon.

1—Exegete the Biblical Text

The first step in preparing an inductive sermon revolves around the biblical text.   There are many guides available on “how to exegete a text.”   Douglas Stuart’s, Old Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors [Westminster John Knox; 4th edition, 2009] can readily serve students of both testaments.    In short, determine the unit of the text (see the above discussion on determining what to include in Isaiah’s sermon in Isa 40).  Read and reread the passage in different versions and if possible in the original language.  Seek to answer the questions: What is the point?  What is the message?  What truth is taught?

If preaching from Isa 40, the exegete concludes that Isaiah’s sermon tells people that God both cares about their predicament and has power to solve it.  If the sermon arises out of Luke 15, the point of Jesus’ third parable connects with God’s love of lost people.

2—Exegete the Audience

Think about the congregation or the group that will hear this sermon:  What bothers them?  What struggles do they have?  What questions do they ponder?  What doubts plague them?

If preaching from Isa 40, ask what does the audience think about God?  Are they reading the host of books being published that probe deep questions about the divine being?  What do the young people think about God?  Is their view of God linked to their leaving the church?  Are there people who think God has deserted them?

If speaking on Luke 15, think about questions that people in the audience have about lost people?  Do they know lost people?  Do they tell lost people about God?  Do they behave like the religious leaders?  What do they think about their own loved ones that leave the faith just as the younger son in the parable left the family?

3—Find Great Intersection

Find the question the audience is asking that the Biblical text is answering.   Call this “the great intersection.”  Somewhere the people have an issue that Scripture addresses.  Find that intersection.  That intersection becomes the point of the lesson.

If speaking from Isa 40, the intersection might be found in young people who reject the God they heard about at church.  They think He does not care and is powerless to solve their problems.

If preaching from Luke 15, the intersection might be to take up family members that were once faithful, but have wondered from the faith.  Everybody in the pew knows loved ones who have given up on Christianity.

4—Find an opening story that expresses the audience’s question.

These stories can be from the Bible, from life or from movies or books.   For example, for the sermon on Isa 40, Will Willimon tells of talking to a coed at his college. She claimed to be an atheist.  He asked her to tell him about the God she didn’t believe in. She did.  Willimon listened to her description of God and said, “I don’t believe in that God either.”   The story echoes the questions that the young people (and their parents) in the congregation are asking about God.

If preaching from Luke 15 tell about a young person from the congregation’s past who was faithful during the high school years and then left God and the church.   That story captures the questions people are asking about loved ones who have drifted away.

5—Interpret the story by verbalizing the questions raised by the story.

After telling the story, transition with the line “That story raises some questions.”  Then list several questions.  What did that coed believe about God that was so different from the Bible?  Do people end up with the wrong impression of God?  Are some of us misinformed?   Why do we not understand God clearly?    After telling about a prodigal from the congregation, list several questions:  Are we supposed to give up on young people like that?  Do they ever come back?  What can we do?

6—Point to Scripture as the answer to the questions.

After raising the questions, transition to Scripture with lines such as, “Here is a passage that may help” or “Luke seems to take up that issue in chapter 15.”    The transition might also be done by a brief personal story of why the preacher started reading this text:  “These questions came to mind as I was reading through Isaiah or Luke.”

7—Present the relevant results of the exegesis.

The sermon now takes a tour of the Biblical text.  The preacher serves as a tour guide helping the group make their own discovery.   The preacher provides background and context.   The preacher leads in such a way that listeners see what the preacher saw in his study.

A sermon on Isaiah 40 might describe the discouraged exiles who witnessed the destruction of their way of life and their journey into captivity.  All around them were idols of the Babylonian religion and symbols of Babylonian power.  Their God paled in comparison.   Isaiah responds by a striking series of comparisons.   A sermon on Isa 40 could not cover all of Isaiah’s points in detail, but the preacher takes the audience by several so that they begin to see how Isaiah responded to the same issue raised in the opening story.  Somewhere in the sermon the listener concludes: God both cares about us and has power to help us.

A sermon on Luke 15 might retell the first part of the story about the younger son leaving home providing enough background to describe his state.   Verse 20 might become a critical turning point in the lesson as the father waited for the younger son’s return and models how those who have drifted away should be treated upon their return.  Verse 28 would also be important as the father recognizes that the son who never left the house has never really been at home.   The father seeks to restore the two brothers to each other and the family just as God desires to do that with the ones who have drifted away and those who have stayed.  Somewhere in the sermon the listener concludes: My lost loved one matters to God and He joins me in wanting the lost one home.

8—Use illustrations with the same point as the Biblical text.

These life experiences show that the passage does respond to the questions people are asking.  Tell about a college student who ended up in a Bible study on God.  One night she suddenly realized that God was not who she thought He was.   He cared about her.  He willingly used His power to help her face the issues of life.  That young woman caught the message of Isaiah.    Or tell about a prodigal who came home.  In the story find ways in which that return echoed the issues raised in Luke 15.

9—Decide how to end.

Inductive sermons can end either deductively or inductively.  Since the biblical text has a point, the sermon must lead the listeners to fully comprehend that meaning.

On some occasions the sermon may need a deductive ending to make sure the point is received.  The Isa 40 sermon might end with a line about how we are often like the exiles who think God is dead or unconcerned, when he is out measuring the ocean size in the palm of his hand and lifting up the weak like an eagle soars into the air.   The Luke 15 story may need a few deductive suggestions:  What can we do to respond like this father in Luke 15?   Make three suggestions:  1—Leave the light on.  Somehow make sure that when that prodigal hits bottom, they know you are waiting at the door with the light on.  2—Be ready.  Do enough soul searching about the past that when the prodigal comes home you are prepared to give the robe and party not a frown and lecture.   3—Pray.  There is nothing in the story about prayer, but in a sense the whole story is about what matters to God.  How does he know what matters to us?  Prayer.  Pray for your prodigal.

On other occasions the tour through the biblical text and the parallel stories make the point so clear that nobody could miss it.  It might be helpful to restate the questions knowing that now the people know the biblical answer.  In some cases if the opening story has an unknown ending, now is the time to complete the story.  The sermon might end this way:  At the beginning I mentioned that a young person grew up in this church and then left God.  I never told you who that was.  But you all know him.  He is one of our deacons.  The audience will get the point inductively: lost people matter to God and God calls us to rejoice when they come home.

FAQ:  Frequently Asked Questions about Inductive Preaching

Q:  What is the difference between expository preaching and inductive preaching?

A:  They belong to two separate categories.  One category includes expository or textual or topical preaching.  This category reflects the sermon’s relationship to the Bible.  Expository sermons take large sections of text and preach the point of that section. Textual sermons take a verse and preach the point of the verse.  Topical sermons gather up scattered passages on a topic and preach them.  Inductive and deductive refer to the way the sermon unfolds.  One could do an inductive expository sermon (such as the ones from Isa 40 and Luke 15) or an inductive textual sermon or an inductive topical sermon.

Q:  Is inductive preaching less clear?  Does each person get their own individual message?

A:  Deductive preaching offers more clarity if the sermon seeks to inform or perhaps convince the listener.  Inductive preaching offers more clarity if the sermon seeks to stimulate or motivate the listener.  In inductive preaching the goal is for each listener to get the biblical point.  However, instead of being told what the biblical point is, they see the biblical point on their own.  Biblical inductive preaching does not allow listeners to make up their own doctrine, but allows them to see for themselves what the Bible is saying.

Q:  Is inductive preaching just a way of letting culture drive the sermon?

A:  Culture is a complex word used in different ways.  Often it is associated with language so we talk about the Greek culture or the Russian culture.  Those cultures revolve around their language.  The Bible is translated into the cultural languages of the world because the truth transcends culture and can be carried by any language.  So if the sermon is addressed to the Russian culture, it should be in Russian and thus the culture does drive the sermon.

Many people use the word culture to refer to the consumer culture that demands choice and resists any attempt to dictate behavior.  Clearly, Christianity goes in a vastly different direction.   “Take up your cross and follow me” does not fare well in the consumer culture.  That culture must never drive the sermon.

Q:  If inductive sermons often do not state the point, how can the preacher be sure that the listeners get the core of the message?

A:  The biblical message when properly stated and explored makes its own point.  The inductive sermon through its emphasis on exegesis takes the listener to the biblical text within the proper context and says, “Don’t you see what I see.”  If in doubt, end deductively.

Q:  What are the most prominent needs addressed by inductive preaching?

A:  Inductive preaching responds to the questions people ask.  Inductive preaching models good exegetical Bible study so that the listener learns to study the Bible and not be dependent on the preacher for learning how to understand God’s word.

Q:  Must inductive preaching be used in narrative texts from the Bible?

A: Clearly narrative texts are inductive in their approach to truth, but they need not be handled inductively.  For example, the book of Esther is one long story.   The point of the book is easy to miss.  An inductive sermon might add to that dilemma.  It might be better to approach Esther deductively by beginning the sermon with the general premise: God works through providence.  Let’s look at how that unfolds in Esther.  Then the sermon finds 3-4 points about providence played out in the Esther story

Q:  Can the inductive preaching method be used with non-narrative passages, for example the epistles in the NT?

A: The epistles lend themselves to inductive preaching because there is often a central point to the entire letter.  For example, 1 Peter explains how to live as a resident alien, how to live as a Christian in a culture that opposes Christianity.  Start with a story about how difficult it is to be a teenager in many high schools.  How do you live as a Christian in that kind of environment?   Peter takes up that issue in 1 Peter.  Then exegete the book by showing how Peter responded to the issue in his time.

    I keep birthday cards in order to reread them four or so months later.  I just went through the stack from my last birthday.  I reviewed them all, including the one from my “friend” who sent a newspaper clipping on “getting older means getting better deals,” a step-by-step guide to all the senior discounts.

     Maybe I keep them because they represent the deep value we place on relationships.  Each friend carefully picked out an appropriate card, signed, stamped and sent it.  Maybe I hold on to them because I am by nature a “keeper.”  It’s hard to throw away the cards with their pictures suitable for framing and their wise advice.

      Whatever the real reason, as I revisited them this morning, I was struck by how the words never grow old.   People age and retire, but words seem to remain young and employed.  The words wishing me well, poking fun at the growing number representing my age, calling on God to bless me, affirming their friendship, expressing their admiration resonated in my heart today just as on my actual birthday. 

      We do well to attend to the words of our lives.  God himself knew the significance of words.  He used them to carry the message of his Bible.  He sent a book not a video.  He turned words into flesh.  Not a single word of God has retired or ceased to have value.  

      Birthdays are so important. I just threw the cards away, but not the words.  Words!  What would we do without them?

In his remarks, he noted the common occurrence of people complaining about “today’s young people.”   Indeed we hear objections about their dress, hair styles, loud music, morals, tatoos, and a host of other items.  Sen. Roberts urged us to quite complaining and get involved with efforts to train young people in a different way.   If we are not part of raising up youth to respect authority, seek high standards, and do their jobs well, then on what basis can we complain?

As I listened I was struck by the simplicity of the rationale.  We can fret about the future of today’s upcoming generation or we can be at the front of helping them be all they can be.  We can moan about what we don’t like or pass on the qualities we do like.

That is the point of teaching in Sunday school, serving as a youth sponsor,  being kind to the neighbor kid, nurturing our children’s friends, and, yes, supporting Christian education.

Thanks, Sen. Roberts for drawing our attention to a simple plan.  All of us, especially our young people, will be better as a result.

When I was inagurated as president of OVU, I asked 16 preachers and elders and Sunday school teachers to walk in the processional with me. They represented the churches in the 16 states in the northeastern part of the nation, from Maine to Kentucky and from Virginia to Indiana.

There were two reasons for the Sweet 16.

First, as they marched in with their state flags I wanted them to know that Ohio Valley University is their school We exist to advance the kingdom around the world, but especially in these states.

Second, their presence reminded all of us at the university about our constituency. Our goal is to serve them. Instead of focusing only on our delightful environment in the Mid Ohio Valley, their flags keep us on a broader focus.

Who were those Sweet 16 representatives. We asked people who serve in those states who were able to make the journey to Vienna.

Here they are: Connecticut—Mike Landon Delaware—James Wilson Indiana—Richard Partezana Kentucky—Brian Auxier Maine—Tom Olbricht Maryland—Floyd Williamson Massachusetts—Aaron Tremblay New Hampshire—Paul Clark New Jersey—Dan Cooper New York—Jerry Hill Ohio—Scott Miller Pennsylvania—Wanda Krevel Rhode Island—Norm Seiders Vermont—Ken Nicholson Virginia—Barry Bryson West Virginia—Steve Fox.

I appreciate these men and women for serving in the Sweet 16!

                Bill Hewlett and David Packard became friends in graduate school.  After graduation they decided to work together.  They formed a company called Hewlett-Packard in 1937.  You probably own either a laptop or a printer made by that company.    Started in a garage in the thirties, in 2010 the firm earned $126 billion.  The company now operates in almost every nation on earth.

David Packard was one of the first billionaires in Silicon Valley.  When he retired he still lived in the same small house he built for his family in 1957 complete with kitchen with linoleum on the floor.  When he died in 1996 he gave his entire $5.6 billion estate to charity.   On the pamphlet at his funeral the biography said, “David Packard, 1912-1996, Rancher, etc.”  The flyer said nothing about the computer revolution, billionaires, or multinational corporations.

                At one point Packard made this remarkable comment: “Why are we here? I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists solely to make money. Money is an important part of a company’s existence, if the company is any good. But a result is not a cause. We have to go deeper and find the real reason for our being.”

                Packard noticed that many never decide their real reason for being.  Whether it’s a multinational company or a college freshman, whether it’s a congregation or a Christian university, we often fail to ask and answer the critical questions.

                Your presence here today indicates some involvement in Christian education or some connection with those who are involved.  We have honored guests from the community and beyond, representatives from other Christian universities, members of the Ohio Valley University Board of Trustees, alumni, and a cross-section of personal and institutional friends.   I am humbled and honored by your presence and take it as a measure of your support and encouragement.  

                Some time prior to this moment you may have asked yourself, “Why are we here?”   All of you have other places you could be, important tasks you could pursue, and other institutions that you could support.   You deserve an answer to the question, “Why are we here?”

                Packard said that many people assume that a company exists solely to make money.  He said they were wrong.  Many might assume that this university exists to educate students, give them a degree, and prepare them for a career.   All three of those purposes are an important part of our existence, but there is a deeper set of purposes, two of which I must mention.  Those deeper purposes are our real reason for being.

                Deeper Purpose Number One: Calling.   

Almost all schools focus on getting students ready for a career.  We do that well at Ohio Valley University, in fact, I think we do it exceptionally well.  But this school goes beyond career to calling.  

                It seems to me that many people settle for less in life than what they really want.  They become satisfied with what they call the “good life.”  If they have a coke and hamburger in front of the game, they think they have arrived. 

                But deep inside of us we all want to make a difference.  We want to leave some imprint.  We want a deeper sense of satisfaction.  Many people never find it.  Many do not know how to find it.

                Daniel and Nathan are my sons.  I am proud of both of them.  Every morning I pray for them.  I ask God to give them good careers, but I also ask the Father to help them achieve their dreams.  I pray that they will live lives of full satisfaction.  My hope is that they will find their calling.

                That is my prayer for all OVU students. 

                Some might think that the purpose of a college education is to get a job to make money.  At OVU we go further.  We think life is not about making money, but making a difference.  Our graduates will get jobs, often exceptional jobs, but the career will be a vehicle for following their calling.

                From what I’ve seen at OVU we prepare students not just to earn an income but to follow a dream, not just to get promoted but to make a difference, not just to get vested in retirement but to find real satisfaction.

At the core of calling is preparing our graduates to make a difference in the world.  Think about recent OVU graduate, Scott Johnson, who works with the Clifton Church of Christ in uptown Cincinnati.  Last year he baptized 15 students from two different universities.    An anthropology graduate student approached him recently.  As an atheist he decided to better understand what he was against.   A dialogue followed and Scott baptized the young man and his wife.  Scott has a job, but he’s following a calling.

Think about Kerry Roberts, an OVU student from the 80s.  He is now a Tennessee State Senator.  When issues of life and justice arise in those chambers, Senator Roberts takes a high road.  Kerry has a job, but he’s following a calling.

As we dig deeper at OVU, we go beyond career to calling.

Deeper Purpose Number Two: Character. 

All schools pass on information.  Education includes the mastery of a subject area.  OVU does that well, but we seek to go deeper. 

As a Christian university, we proceed out of a Christian world view.  We do not hesitate or equivocate on this matter.  We believe in one God, his son Jesus Christ, and his word the Bible.  We believe the Judeo-Christian moral ethic is not only ancient, but successful.  We seek not only to instill knowledge but Christian character. 

We transfer knowledge, but a knowledge driven by a deep respect for others and a recognition that it all comes from God.  For us, it’s not enough to produce knowledgeable graduates. We must send out graduates that are kind and respectful.  We send out students who know the law, who can even help make the laws, but our highest goal is graduates who honor and respect the law.   We produce graduates who know their mathematics and who understand chemistry, but our unique contribution is to send out students who multiply integrity and who compound trustworthiness. 

We want our students to understand showing appreciation as much as accounting, learn consistency as much as chemistry, value equity as much as education, pursue generosity as much as geography, practice justice as much as journalism, understand mercy as much as management, know punctuality as much as psychology. 

We want our students to have As in adaptability, attentiveness, and availability.  We seek high degrees of dependability, diligence and discretion.  We want graduates who walk across the stage dressed in humility, meekness and truth.   Our goal is not to mass produce the highest quantity of graduates, but the highest quality of graduate.  We don’t measure our success by how much money our graduates make, but how positive an influence our graduates have. 

Is there any business out there looking to hire people trained at a highly ranked academic university who have also been tutored in personal responsibility, who refuse to cheat and steal, who abhor falsehood, and whose goals in life are the noble, the upright and the good?   How many CEOs does a board have to hire who squander company money on corner offices and private jets while the company loses money before they realize that they need a person of integrity at the helm?   Does the public not want to elect people to office who will tell them the truth, who will treat them with respect and who will maintain purity and humility in the midst of graft and pride?   Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  There are people everywhere who are looking for what we do.  

Today is about going deeper.  Our gathering prompts exactly that.  I commit my leadership at OVU to keep this a Christian university, to make it a place of calling and character, to keep it focused on our deepest dreams.

I hesitate to say what many of you may be thinking.  As I wrote this speech Hewlett Packard, the giant computer company, faces a crises.  Both founders are gone.  As I’ve read the Wall Street Journal many say this company has lost its way.  I mean to add no pain to any who work for or are invested in that firm.  But it is a reminder that no person, no institution is safe from forgetting its purpose.  Occasions like this provide a reality check. Why are we here?  What do we hope to accomplish.

Let me close by recognizing that I stand on the shoulders of many people.  There are those here who have devoted their lives to this school.  I ask for no credit for what I have been given or the task for which I have been chosen.

I can only say I have found a treasure on this hilltop in West Virginia:  It is a community focused on its mission, a school set on transforming lives. 

This is a great time to be alive.  There’s no other time I’d rather live.  There’s no other place I’d rather be.

Ohio Valley University

 Note: This address was presented to the faculty and staff of Ohio Valley University at the opening session of the 2011-2012 school year on August 17, 2011.

O. P. Kretzmann became president of Valparaiso University, a Lutheran school, on Oct 6, 1940. The world was deep into war. America was doing all it could to stay out of the conflict. It was a dark time. The Great Depression haunted every business and affected every school. Supplies were flowing to the Allies across the north Atlantic.

As Kretzmann stood to give his inaugural address, he said it was like entering the world’s winter, not knowing when or if the springtime would come. The world seemed under the power of the barbarians. It was not a good time to become president of a Christian university. Then he said, “I can only say that I am persuaded that lost causes are the only ones that are finally never lost.”

During one of the initial interviews that I had with the search committee at OVU, the issue came up of why I would want to be president of this university. I forget now exactly what I said, but I can tell you the reason why I came. During that discussion, Professor David Hamm said something. My wife, Sally, and I have talked about his comment a great deal. As the discussion of that question wound down, David said, “Schools that struggle for their very existence depend more on God.”

That day almost 61 years ago, Kretzmann reminded his audience that God is not on the side of the strongest armies. He said, “He may not balance the scales of history every day, but when He does, the weight of the universe is on the side of truth and mercy and justice and faith and hope and love.” If God is with an institution, they cannot lose. If God is with us then no power on earth can hinder OVU from accomplishing its mission.

As I take the driver’s seat of this university, I promise to drive it on the road to our eternal destiny. I have absolute confidence in that destiny. There can be no other.

The task before us this fall is to transform lives. From the beginning to the end of Scripture that is God’s primary task. He wants it. He does it. He empowers it. He makes it happen.

We are a small school. In all the ways that count, our size makes absolutely no difference to our mission. We are not interested in quantity, but quality. There is no point in producing 100 mechanics who know how to use a screw driver if not one of them knows which way is the right way to turn it. It is one thing to train a thousand people to drive a car; it is another to train people to drive the car who know where it’s going. Because we are small does not mean we make no difference. We dream that the lives transformed here will be of the quality that they will exert more influence, make more progress, open more doors, and achieve greater heights than they might have otherwise done.

It is possible to hear this as overconfidence and prideful. I apologize for that improper impression. OVU is not the light; at best we are a mirror. OVU is not the water of life; at best we are a pipe. OVU is not the bread; at best we are the plastic bag in which it is delivered to the world’s kitchen.

We send out students with a respect for truth. We give the world men and women who value integrity, respect, hard work, and responsibility. We seek to train young adults who admire diversity, who have experienced the work place under an well-trained guiding hand, and who value the worth of all human beings.

Speaking about mission can lead to over simplification and even sentimentality. We know our task is difficult. In the thoughts of Kretzmann, how do we produce people who are committed to truth and still open minded, who are deeply spiritual but highly intellectual, who are not of this world, but know every inch of it. Many would say we are an oxymoron for thinking such poles can meet, but we believe they can, see that they do, and promise that they will.

One of my teachers, E.H. Ijams said that ideas are more powerful than bombs. Bombs destroy a building, maim a body, and tear up a road. But ideas can destroy a civilization, cripple a soul, and block the road to any good future. We have no explosives at OVU, but what we do can empower a new world. We have no power as the world sees power, but what we do can transform a nation.

Despite the secular nature of our culture and the irreligious approach of our educational industry, the biggest and most discussed questions of our day continue to be the spiritual ones. What is the nature of God and can we continue to believe? What does it mean to be human? What do I do with these spiritual questions that continually come to mind? Those are not the add on things we debate in this university, but the core issues we discuss.

Some would say that the greatest concerns this university faces are finances and enrollment. Those are critical issues. They could spell the end to this or any school. Yet if we set ourselves to the task of saying we are on a quest to integrate faith and learning, to do it within a high quality academic environment and within a strong Christian community, that we are owned by and exist for the fellowship of Churches of Christ, I believe that there are people who believe in that dream, who will join us at our side, who will write the checks, send their children, and pray to the God of heaven that OVU must succeed in its dream.

All Christian schools debate the intersection of Athens & Jerusalem. How do we maintain integrity with our chosen discipline in Athens, keep our professional memberships, accurately reflect the academic requirements of the land and yet be people of faith in our Jerusalem, honor our religious heritage, and worship God? Why is it that we are here? What makes us distinctive? What is our vision?

Let me propose the following as the immediate vision for this university. It need not be our vision forever, but it is one we can achieve, it is one we must achieve, it is one that we are well on the road to achieving.

Our vision is to do integration of faith and learning better than anybody else. We all know some of the schools who do it so well. Let’s do it better than they do. Let’s do it better than Calvin College. Let’s do it better than Wheaton and Abilene. Let’s excel beyond Baylor and Valparaiso. Let’s be the best school in the nation that integrates faith and learning.

We may not be big, we as faculty and staff may not have gone to what world considers best schools, we may not have best campus, we may not have most majors, we may not draw the top SAT scholars, but we can be a fully integrated Christian university better than anybody else.

All universities deal with words. This university deals with the 1,010,649 words in the English language. But we deal with them based on the Word become flesh. Hydrogen and Oxygen make water here just as they do at Marshall, but here we begin with the realization that all water is made by God. Botany and Zoology are part of our curriculum, but here we know that plants came on Tuesday and animals on Friday. There was a plaque outside the building that housed the Theology and Philosophy departments at the school where I took my doctorate. The inscription debated, “Is philosophy the mother of theology or is theology the mother of philosophy?” At that school philosophy was on the second floor and theology on the first floor. At OVU we don’t need a DNA test to determine maternity.

Transforming lives in an academic community that integrates higher learning with biblical faith and service to God and humanity is our mission. If we excel in staying on task, several things will happen.

First, students will be transformed. God will do his work. Incorporate faith and service into higher learning and God will add the increase. It works. Most of us can tell stories of our own personal transformation. We can regal each other with tales of former students who came in with a chip on their shoulder and left with Christ in their hearts. They arrived to cause trouble and they left to change the world. God will do his work.

Second, if we stay on task, people will notice. We will attract more students. People of means will want to partner with this institution. A fully integrated Christian university is like a magnet. It pulls in. It attracts. After all it’s our mission that bonds us to our constituency. Our Board of Trustees, our President’s club, our donors throughout the nation do not align themselves with us because we have the best buildings or the highest degrees, but because we are about transforming lives through the integration of faith and learning. Do it well. Do it better than you’ve ever done before. Let’s be the best school anywhere doing it. As the word spreads, so will the support.

Third, if we maintain our focus, if we take every opportunity in every single class, in each conversation with every student to fully connect faith and learning, we, too, will be transformed. Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great says the first task in building a great institution is to get the right people on the bus and make sure they are on the right seat in the bus. I believe we have the right people on the OVU bus. I’m glad you are here. I think we have the right people in the right seats. I’m delighted you do what you do. Once you have the right people on the bus and have them in the right seats, then the bus can move on to its destination. When we arrive there, and that arrival comes in stages as we witness this transformed coed and then this changed ball player and then this converted freshman, when we see that happen, we are filled with satisfaction, fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment.

Why is it so easy to misplace the mission of the university? Maybe it’s not so much misplaced but misappropriated. Meeting the demands of consumerist society and students raised in that environment constantly push us away from the road on which we were meant to travel.

The road we follow is the one less travelled. It is not the four lane super highway with roadside stops, and big green directional signs. The road we travel is often overgrown from lack of use, occasionally washed out from financial landsides, and sometimes filled with potholes from attacks made by the dominate culture.

Often our partners make demands on us that push us off our narrow dirt road. Driving the university down the big four lane makes better press, attracts more attention, seems more relevant and contemporary. Why not aim to have our school on American Idol program in order to enjoy a moment of nationwide attention? Why support a university that takes the back road through the rocky terrain when the bulldozers of modernism and the work crews of post modernism have cleared the way on the freeway.

We do well to remind ourselves of the pointed observation of Jesus that the broad roads continually beckon, fill with happy travellers, and offer fewer obstacles on the way. Most GPS systems don’t even have the narrow road, if one should happen to find it, it takes a steady hand to keep on course, and he says we encounter few fellow travelers.

Our goal is not to be effective. We will be effective. Our goal is to be faithful. Our mission is not to train young people to be qualified for the best jobs in the land. We will train young people for the highest level jobs. Our goal is to prepare their lives for eternity. This is not a monastery where students come to escape life. This is a launch pad from which students rocket out to change lives. This is not a market place where all goods are available for the lowest cost. This place is a store that offers only the genuine article. We have no $10 rolodexes and no $1 illegally copied DVDs. OVU is the real thing.

I want to spread the news about a hidden treasure I’ve found on this hilltop in the Ohio Valley. For me, there’s no better time to be alive and no better place to be than OVU.

The task before us is great. Our time is short. We must approach it with commitment. We must remain humble. We must trust God. We must single-mindedly and relentlessly drive toward the goals which we have set under the guidance of Almighty God.

The students are about to arrive. They bring with them all sorts of issues and concerns. I say bring them on to OVU. They are about to be transformed.

Part I: Hosea–A Biblical Book for Child Care Workers!

Hosea is a seldom-read, fourteen-chapter Minor Prophet that remains a remarkably relevant book. Those who work with hurting children will find the painful images and harsh descriptions all too familiar. Contemporary foster parents, today’s case workers, and those who serve the church’s most vulnerable children walk in Hosea’s footsteps. They hear what he heard. They wince at what he saw. They cry at what made him sad.

Context Parallels Our Own

Written to people who benefited from a half-century of economic expansion, government stability, and world peace, the people of Hosea’s day lived in a time remarkably similar to the life Americans have enjoyed for the last half-century. Unfortunately, their culture drifted into the same injustices faced in our time: Israel developed into a two-class society of the rich and poor, the nice side of town and the ghetto. Much of the population seemed obsessed with a popular, sexually-charged, imported religion. Attendance at religious events hit record levels, but worshipers paid scant attention to the God of Scripture. The social, religious and cultural observations one might draw from the Hosea’s eighth century B.C. world echo the way in which many Christians see their contemporary society.

Why Hosea Used Children

In order to get the people’s attention, to crack open their lives of denial, and to convey to them the intent of the Biblical God, Hosea used children. Jesus brought a child into the midst of the disciples to illustrate innocence and blessing. Hosea used children to tell the people of how their lives offended God and to provide insight into an increasingly dark future.

Understanding How Hosea, the Book, Unfolds

Hosea’s work revolves around two personal stories. From a close reading, we might recreate the stories in this way: In chapters 1-3, Hosea marries an adulterous woman named Gomer. After their son is born, she has two more children apparently by other men. Gomer returns to a life of promiscuity leaving Hosea to raise the kids. Finally, Hosea brings Gomer home. In chapter 11, Hosea finds himself a single parent with rebellious teenagers. After recalling tender moments from their childhood, Hosea anguishes over how to discipline them.

The prophet’s personal stories reflect God’s experience with Israel. As chapters 1-3 unfold, Hosea the husband becomes God the spouse seeking the return of his adulterous wife, Israel. In chapter 11, the story quickly turns to God as a father agonizing over the discipline he must impose on his wayward child, Israel.

The Old Testament prophet, Hosea, knew all about pain. We imagine that he could remember the moment when he found out the second and third children were not his. He recalled the day he found his wife with a neighbor man. Despite all his efforts and his love, she still moved out of his house, but never out of his heart.

Hosea uses the pain of life’s most intimate relationships to reveal God’s agony when humans reject his offer of relationship. By using the pain of children, Hosea hopes to blast through their massive denial and lead Israel back into a relationship with God. Despite his gallant effort of using some of life’s most painful images, few responded to Hosea’s invitation. In his own time, many would consider Hosea a failure since few changed after his preaching and he was unable to call the people to repentance.

What Hosea Says About Children

Although Hosea is not primarily about young people, there is considerable material in the book about them. Consider these insights into hurting children:

Adult Decisions Hurt Children. Key text: Hosea 1. Hosea’s three children bore revolting names given to them by God’s command in order to spread the message of the consequences of adult decisions. The effect of their names would be like naming a child “Ugly” or “Stupid.” Even without such revolting names, these children faced a stormy future. God hoped that such drastic names might prompt real change in Israelite society, a transformation that might give Hosea’s three children the hope of living in peace.

Children Live in a Painful World That They Did Not Create. Key text: Hosea 9. Throughout Hosea, the prophet announces that God will discipline the nation for its sins. The consequences of their wicked ways would fall most heavily on their children. The punishment comes because of the sins of the parents, but the children bear the pain of the consequences. In that context, God reveals “I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6). Just as Israel had intentionally rejected God despite the consequences for their own offspring, God must block the children out of his mind as he acts in tough love.

Chapter 9 deals with the “days of punishment” (9:7). Birth rates will drop, infant mortality will rise, and civilian deaths will involve large numbers of children (9:11-13). Obituaries will include an uncommon number of young people (9:14). Hosea’s words are not easy to hear, even more difficult to imagine, but reflect the ever-present consequences of a world gone mad with sin. Children did not create this world, but they endure the pain.

Rebellious Children Means Tough Love. Key text: Hosea 11. Just as parents agonize over invoking a policy of tough love on a wayward child, so Hosea describes how God ponders when and how to punish his disobedient people: “How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I hand you over, O Israel! …My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim” (Hosea 11:8-9). Hosea’s description of God reveals how the divine mind wavers between sending the discipline and giving them more time. Finally, God acts out of a deep love for his people. Just as a parent reluctantly invokes a policy of tough love, so God seeks their ultimate good through discipline.

God is the Only Hope for the World’s Hurting Children. Key text: Hosea 14. Hosea imagines a day when adult hearts respond to the invitation of God. So inept in matters of faith, Hosea gives them the words to say and the actions to do as they return to God. They are to ask for forgiveness, confess their sins, admit that they cannot live life on their own, reject all human alternatives and refuse all false gods. Then Hosea tells them one more thing to say, one final admission: They are to admit that God is the only hope for the world’s hurting children: “In you the orphan finds mercy” (Hos 14:3).

In a world before video, Hosea uses words that describe misery, pain, slaughter, and destruction. No contemporary film maker can out do the revolting images of Hosea. The close reader of Hosea sees war orphans, children who witness what no youngster should ever see, nine and ten year olds heading households, and young hands scavenging for food. Then in his final words, he describes new life that begins with the mercy of the Almighty falling on those left parentless in the painful consequences of their wicked lifestyles.

Articles to Use in Raising Biblical Awareness About Vulnerable Children.

The following short essays further develop the reflections on children in Hosea. Each piece is intended to stand on its own and can be used in printed material advocating for today’s hurting children.

Part II: It’s Got You Written All Over It

She hated her name. When she was little, she didn’t understand. But when she learned the whole story, her name became a burden. Some think it has a pretty sound: Lo-Ruhamah, accent on the last syllable. Children often dislike the names their parents give them, but Lo-Ruhamah had more reason than most.

Her name preached a sermon about her parents. Lo-Ruhamah’s mother had multiple sexual partners, seldom remained faithful to any one, and often disappeared from her life for long periods of time. Lo-Ruhamah lived with her step father, Hosea, who also had a name that preached a sermon.

But her name also described the shortcomings of her nation. Her name was meant to announce again and again the most negative aspect of the world where she grew up.

Not Loved. That’s what Lo-Ruhamah meant. Not that she grew up entirely unlovable or without love, although her mother’s promiscuity hung like a cloud over her life, but rather this little girl’s name pointed to a family and national disgrace.

Her story unfolds in the first chapters of Hosea. Gomer lived an adulterous life. Hosea tried to hold the family together even raising two of the children Gomer had to other men including Lo-Ruhamah.

In fact, all three of Hosea’s children had ugly names. Every trip to the market, each time he summoned them to supper, whenever they were called on in class, their names conjured up negative images, announced bad news, and reminded people of pain they tried to forget.

Most parents use more positive names, but parents still pass on to their children pain that they created. Lo-Ruhamah’s name had the sins of her parents and her nation written all over it. Children still grow up with the sins of their parents written on their lives. She’s a child of divorce. His father is an alcoholic. Son of an ex-con, child of the ghetto, foster child, infected with HIV at birth, illegitimate—the list goes on of how children live in the shadow of the sins of their parents and their nation.

We have many unanswered questions about this little girl who briefly walks across a couple of Old Testament chapters, but her name tells us that God knows all about how children grow up down stream from the pollution their parents and culture dump into the rivers of life. Incredibly this little girl’s name reveals how much God himself struggles with that polluted flow, how much he seeks to purify and clean even when we keep soiling it with our lives.

All who work on behalf of our world’s hurting children can find hope in little Lo-Ruhamah, hope in the fact that God knows and that God works to stop the hurt. He even asks Hosea to give this child a negative name to make it clear to all adults the pain and anguish they bring on children’s lives. Through this child’s name he hoped to convince people to live a different way so that their children would have a brighter future. They did not listen.

Despite their refusal, God did not give up. In fact, his dedication to rescue humanity from its continual decisions that put the next generation at risk is reflected in the name he gave his prophet, Hosea. Every time people called out the prophet’s name, they announced God’s great dream and intention for all people including the sadly named little girl.

Hosea means salvation.

Part III: A Terrible Prayer

Hosea started to pray, and then stopped. “Give them, O LORD—.” What he wanted to ask was so horrible. His prayer (Hosea 9:14) seemed so unacceptable. How could he ask God to do what he was about to ask?

“Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.”

There he prayed it. I want you to send miscarriages to Israel. Make it so Israel’s mothers can’t nurse. Increase the premature births. Raise the infant mortality rate. “Give them, O LORD—.”

Hosea spoke out of deep compassion. He wished for less pain. He spoke on behalf of children. He knew that the consequences of North Israel’s wicked society would fall most heavily on the children. Dedicated to sounding the alarm, the people regarded him as a fool. He preached and nobody came forward. Seldom has there been a preacher so unsuccessful as Hosea.

So his prayer. “Give them, O LORD—.”

It was the only way out of inflicting pain on the little ones. Ask God to spare them the pain of living through what was about to come. Let them die before they are born. Let them die in their mother’s arms while they still have a mother. Dark days prompted Hosea’s dark prayer.

Knowing Hosea, he likely prayed this prayer in a public forum. He didn’t like spreading doom. He was not a bitter old man. He was a prophet, one who warned, who spoke out on behalf of those who could not speak out for themselves.

His prayer was a sermon. Listen to my prayer, people. Do you really want me to pray this prayer? I don’t think so. Yet this prayer is more godly than the lives you live.

Maybe Hosea’s prayer is for our time, too. Maybe this prayer sermon needs preached in some of our churches. Perhaps this prayer should be on more Sunday night power point presentations to jar some of us out of our denial. But it’s so ugly. It’s so negative.

So is ignoring the children.

Part IV: A Forgotten God Remembers

God said it. He was talking about the Israel of the eighth century B.C. They lived in Samaria and Bethel and Gilgal. It’s a line so brief, most people likely miss it. Three words that give a glimpse into God’s heart. What did God say?

“They forgot me” (Hosea 13:6).

The Power who freed them from slavery, delivered them from oppressive domination, provided them a fruitful land, presented them with instruction for living, chose them out of all the nations on the earth, loved them, blessed them, and cared for them.

“They forgot me.”

There’s a related line in Hosea that might equally be missed. We remember the awful names Hosea gives to his children. We quote the line about there being no knowledge of God in the land. We love God’s clearly stated hope: I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings. But there’s one line we might miss.

“In you the orphan finds mercy” (Hosea 14:3). Our first thought might be that Hosea never says anything about orphans and that it seems out of place in the last chapter. We might read over it because the line seems to contribute little to the central themes of the book. But think again.

The one who was forgotten remembered the ones who were forgotten.

Hosea 13 describes the three year siege of Samaria. We imagine the shortages, the daily casualty reports, the death wagons in the streets, the disease. Most of us dare not read what really happened at such times anticipated in Deuteronomy 28:52-57 (don’t read it if you are at all squeamish).

Hosea 13 has orphans written all over it. Fathers dead from battle. Mothers taken by disease. Uncles among the captured. Older sister raped and mutilated. Somehow the enemy army entering the city for the final sweep cared little for the little ones.

The one who was forgotten remembered the ones who were forgotten. “In you the orphan finds mercy.”

The line is consistent with the heart of God who made care of orphans the core of real religion. The line fits with the notice in the Old Testament that God serves as the father of the fatherless. The words we read over are the reason Proverbs has to remind us to speak for those who have no voice (Prov 31:8).

Despite his own agony at being forgotten by his people, God did not forget the vulnerable children.

Have we forgotten the hurting children of our world?

Part V: Abandoned Children and Attachment Disorders

It was an international adoption. The abandoned boy came to the attention of a single parent in a neighboring nation. The paperwork was the easy part. The problems started when the youngster seemed unable to respond to the tenderness of his adopted father.

He taught him to walk, caught him when he fell, spoke to him with tenderness, wrapped him in bonds of love, but the boy did not respond. The child never acknowledged the affection of his adopted father and seemed intent on taking up the values and concerns that his father most abhorred. The harder the father tried to express his love, the more the boy rebelled.

Those who work with abandoned children commonly encounter attachment disorders, the difficulties that uncared for children have in responding to compassion. What may be uncommon about this particular story is its source.

The child’s name was Israel. Abandoned in Egypt, they cried out. God, the Father, responded to their cries and made Israel his son. The new father showed the child how to walk in the living room of Sinai, but young Israel seemed unable to fully comprehend the love that was offered and the beneficial instruction he had received. So he rebelled against his adopted father.

Hosea may tell the story out of his own anguish of being stepfather to teenage children of his promiscuous wife, Gomer. Jesus may have Hosea’s words in mind when he told about the Prodigal Son. Hosea’s touching words are in chapter 11 of his book where he finally cries out “How can I give you up….How can I hand you over?”

Hosea has two points in mind: First, we never give up on children because God never gives up on us. That takes attachment disorders out of the social work manual and frames them with the love of God. We have yet to meet a child who has more resistance to the adoptive parent than Israel had to the love of God.

Second, we never give up because we celebrate the smallest victories that love has over injustice. Hosea’s last chapter dreams of restless Israel taking root in the deep soil of God’s love just as we dream of the unsettled child at last finding home in the love we offer. At times, God seems to have planted and replanted the seedling Israel so many times that the soil would be worn out with the shoveling, but God takes each brief glimpse of growth as reason to go on.

The whole premise of Hosea’s book may be illogical: to go on loving those who seldom respond to that love. In that premise, a whole host of child care workers and foster or adoptive parents find hope, and like God, reason to go on.

God as a young lion “growls” (RSV) over his prey.  The Hebrew word for growl is hagah (accent on the second syllable: ha-GAH) which means to chew on, groan over, concentrate on, mutter over or meditate on.

Strikingly the Bible uses the same word to describe human activity for God.  Moses tells Joshua that his key duties before God include taking the word of God to hagah over it (Josh 1:8), that he should chew on it like the lion growls over dinner.  The Psalms begin with the grand description of righteous living:  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffer.”   After describing what not to do, the Psalm gives clear instruction:  Delight in the words God gives and hagah over them day and night.   The image conjures up mealtime.  Savor the Word of God.  Linger over a dinner of Gospels.  Take seconds on the Psalms.  Indulge in the Pauline epistles.

To extend the figure, training in Biblical studies amounts to kitchen work.  Survey classes compare to cooking.  Taking Greek and Hebrew means learning the recipes.  Text classes set the table.    But once in ministry, preachers spend a life time growling over the Word of God.   We hagah over what he sets before us.

Claus Westermann championed Old Testament studies a generation ago, but began life as a preacher.  Drafted into World War II, Westermann entered military service with his New Testament and Psalms in his pocket.  He reports that it sustained him in combat like nothing else.  Westermann ended up in a Russian P.O.W camp.  Westermann would sit on a block of wood, a board on his lap, writing his thoughts from reading his Bible.   Despite the deprivations of the camp, Westermann would sometimes trade a piece of bread for a piece of paper so he could continue his study.  He learned to growl over the Word of God.

E. H. Ijams mentored me as a young preacher.  President of Lipscomb, author of nine books, Ijams lived to be 96 years old of which he spent 75 years in ministry.  He could never get over the reality that thoughts that once flowed through the mind of God, through Scripture, could flow through his mind.  He learned to growl over the Word of God.

Let me share two thoughts about the menu of those who minister.   First, Churches must eat the full Word of God.  It must get on the inside.   Too many congregations exist on fast food: they eat Gospel Lite, partake of diet discipleship, consume junk spirituality, and devour pizza every Sunday.   God calls for consumption of the seven food groups:  Law, prophets, writings, Gospels, history, epistles, and Revelation.  Churches will not growl over the word unless the preacher has growled over the word.  Eat a balanced diet and serve complete meals.

Second, growling over God’s word should be more like a banquet than grabbing a sandwich on the run.   Hagah over it:  Meditate, chew, groan, growl over it.  The Word of God is not a hamburger and a Coke one gulps down, but a multiple course feast that is savored, chewed, and pondered.

The menus are prepared.  The ovens are hot.  The table is set.  You are invited to a banquet.  The main course is the Word of God.   Enjoy your dinner.

(Presented by Harold Shank at the OC Preacher’s Luncheon on April 19, 2011)

In his book Finding Our Fathers, psychologist Samuel Osherson tells about a forty-two-year-old doctor who came to him with a problem. His younger brother’s wedding had brought the entire family, including their divorced parents, together in St. Louis. The physician spent most of the time with his mother to the neglect of his father who seemed isolated and distant. As the weekend ended, his father gave him a ride back to the airport. Osherson reports that his client sobbed as he reported how they traveled in silence; a father and son with nothing to say to each other. The doctor said, “I was scared of what he thought about me. But what difference does it make? It does no good to try to talk to my father.” (Osherson, 1)

The doctor is not alone in his feelings. Hosts of men have awkward and damaged relationships with their own fathers which not only cloud their past, but also shadow the present. Osherson points out that the doctor’s distance from his own father damaged his internal image of what it means to be a father. He calls that damaged image “the wounded father” (Osherson, 9).

Yet the wounded father develops not simply because a father and son don’t get along, but rather today’s wounded father is a product of a society that has degraded fatherhood and put men at odds with their children.

The Disposable Parent

Many of today’s men, like Osherson’s doctor, have grown up in a culture that has shown little support for the role of their father. Fathers have become, in the words of William Haddad and Mel Roman, “the disposable parent” (Haddad and Roman, 16-21). The industrial revolution yanked the men out of their homes and defined a father solely as a wage earner. The sexual upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s which questioned whether one man needed to stay with one woman provided many men with an exit from the parenting process (Miller. 112-13)

Modern psychology inherited a legacy from Sigmund Freud saying that many emotional problems originate under paternal authoritarianism (Terrien, 63). University of Illinois psychology professor Ross D. Parke added, “Psychology has a long history of ignoring fathers. . . . We didn’t just forget fathers by accident; we ignored them on purpose because of our assumptions that they were less important than mothers in influencing the developing child” (Parke, 4).

Notions like anthropologist Margaret Mead’s widely quoted statement, “Fathers are a biological necessity but a social accident” push men further away from their offspring. Feminist Rosemary Ruether argued against male dominance (Ruether, 74-75). In attacking men as a source of oppression, feminists further contributed to the confusion over the nature of a father.

Even popular culture with television’s prejudice-filled, anger-driven Archie Bunker, Dean Young’s inept and party crazy Dagwood Bumstead, and Sylvester Stallone’s mumbling, half-crazed Rambo character suggest that little good can come from men.

A Generation of Wounded Images

So a generation has grown up in a culture that did not support our fathers. My father was not permitted in the delivery room when I was born. My father was not allowed to hold his firstborn son, but was forced to look at me through a window. When my father picked up a parenting magazine he found it addressed to mothers.

Current fathers draw on a troubled legacy. Our fathers lived in a time when fathers were thought to be unimportant. Our fathers were taught by a female-dominated educational system where children had room mothers, but never room fathers. Our fathers had fathers who were discouraged from talking on a deep level. We had fathers who were profoundly affected by a culture deeply cynical about their position as parents.

As a result, I am part of a generation that feels considerable anxiety about being a father. The voices that urge me to be a faithful parent to my sons clamor to be heard over the internal messages that it doesn’t matter.

Search for a New Image

But being a father is important. Despite all the past baggage that lingers into the present through the wounded images we carry inside that say that dads don’t matter, being the right kind of father may be the most important thing a man ever does.

The notion that fathers are unimportant finds flat contradiction in the teaching of Jesus. Jesus didn’t lecture a great deal on the family, but he applied the father-son imagery to the most intimate relationship he had.

Jesus could have drawn on a large number of names and descriptions of God. Yet the one that he uses almost exclusively is Father. No one in Scripture surpasses Jesus in calling God Father. By calling God Father, Jesus raised fathering to fundamental significance.

He used the notion of father with the highest regard. The father-son link was important to him. He relied on it. He often spoke of the unity and love relationship that they enjoyed. The Gospels record that he often talked with God his Father.

When life became most unbearable, it was to this father that he called, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (Lk 22:42). On the cross Jesus invoked his father twice: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34), and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 23:46).

Even casual readers of Jesus’ story notice how important the Father was to Jesus. Jesus, unlike us, was not troubled by a tainted image of fatherhood. By exposure to Jesus, our own wounded images of fathers can be healed by watching a perfect father minister to his children.

The Nurturing Father

The most crucial statement by Jesus on fathering is Luke 6:36, where Jesus underlined not only the importance of his heavenly parent, but also his most fundamental quality. Jesus said, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Throughout the Old Testament the people were told to “Be holy just as God is holy.” Jesus personalized God by calling him Father, and then pointed to his fundamental quality: mercy.

Jesus called him Father, not because he was a tyrant, not because he was master, not because he threw his weight around, but he used the name Father because of his mercy. He used father to convey the tenderness, the caring, the compassion, and the nurture of God.

Jesus drew on the Old Testament for this image of God. Perhaps he recalled God’s desperate plea, “When Israel was a child, I love him, and out of Egypt I called my son. . . I led them with compassion, with the bonds of love” (Hos. 11:1, 4). Surely Jesus remembered God’s words, “Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember his still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him” (Jer. 31:20).

In a society where “daddy” has become mother’s live-in boyfriend, where “father” has been a source of irritation and anger, and where men are “wounded fathers,” these texts give new importance to the male parent and offer deeper meaning to fathering.

Steps Toward Healing the Wounds

In light of these texts, what can heirs of the wounded father image do to overcome that legacy? Begin with these three suggestions:

1—Be a present father. Some fathers desert their families. God didn’t. As Father, he never deserted his people. Some fathers become preoccupied with careers or other issues. God didn’t. As Father, he never placed anything above his people.

Memphis physician Kenyon Rainer published his autobiographical story of the demanding life of a surgeon entitled First Do No Harm. He tells that after his wife and kids left him, he arrived home one night to read the mail. He opened a letter from his daughter Laura. It said, “Dear Daddy, I miss you. I went swimming today. I can jump off the high board now. Please come soon. I love you. Laura.”

Rainer knew he couldn’t make the trip, but he decided to write to his little girl. He found a pen and some paper and had written “My dearest Laura” when the phone rang. It was the emergency room nurse calling. Rainer makes it clear the unfinished letter was not the exception, but the rule.

He had children, but he never was a father.

A few years ago before I had children, I was with a friend at a major league baseball game. It was Children’s Day. The stadium was packed. We had free tickets just beyond the third base dugout. The right-hander at bat hit a foul drive toward our section. We all stood, hoping to catch the ball, but it landed several rows behind us. As the ball shot by, I could see it hit an eight-year-old boy in the face. His mouth started to bleed. Before anybody moved to help, his father picked him up and left immediately for the First Aid booth.

I felt sorry for the little guy. But I was sure glad he had a daddy.

Be a present father.

2—Be an active father. God was. He actively worked in the nation of Israel. Jesus appealed to his Father and received immediate response.

James Muilenburg, the well-known Old Testament scholar, wrote about the wonders of divine fatherhood and found a contrast in Israel’s king David. David had children: Tamar, Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah and Solomon. As king, David had many responsibilities to fulfill but one he neglected was his role as father to his own children.

At the death of his mid-directed son Absalom, David cried out in agony, “Absalom, my son, my son.” David’s concern was heartfelt, but too late (Muilenburg, 3).

He had sons, but he never was a father.

A good friend of mine is a modern day David who has a significant job with a prestigious organization in town. He could make more money by working longer hours. But there are three people that make him do otherwise: his wife and daughter and son. This David has caught a vision of parenting that the ancient David never saw. He has a notion of the merciful father that makes him play an important role in the life of his family.

Growing numbers of cultural voices call for an active father in every family. Edward Stein in Fathering: Fact or Fable? asserts. “Psychological fathering . . . is what the world is in need of more than ever in its history. There is a considerable body of scholarly evidence that civilization will stand or fall with whether such fathering is available in sufficient quantity” (Stein, 11).

Be an active father.

3—Be a nurturing father. God was. Even when God’s people alienated themselves from him, he sought to treat them with compassion and mercy. Jesus appealed to his Father in those times when he needed care and concern.

Children need fathers so badly that Harvard psychiatrist James Herzog calls it “father hunger” (Herzog, 163-74). Psychologists have recently decided that a nurturing father helps in three crucial ways: enabling the baby to become independent of the mother, helping the child to learn control, and aiding in positive gender development (Miller, 112-13).

Even feminists have called for the nurturing father. Dorothy Dinnerstein’s, The Mermaid and the Minotaur laments the way in which mothers have been left to nurture the family and calls for an active male role in parenting (Dinnerstein, 4-5, 208).

One father told about a time when his son didn’t want him to kiss him goodnight. The father wasn’t sure what to do, so he didn’t press the issue. Later he told his boy, “I’ve been thinking about you not wanting me to kiss you goodnight. I’m willing to go along with that, but I need a substitute action. Is there some way I can tell you that I love you? Would it be acceptable if I squeeze your shoulder?” The boy said okay.

From then on the father didn’t kiss him goodnight, but he always squeezed his shoulder. That went on for years. Then one night the father left the boy’s room without the usual gesture of affection. The boy asked, “What’s wrong, Dad?” The father responded, “What do you mean?” His son said, “You know, you didn’t grab my shoulder the way you always do.”

The father had learned to nurture his son and it made a difference to the boy.

Be a nurturing father.

Rebuilding a Culture

The voice of Scripture must be allowed to rebuild the image of father. Those of us with wounded images of fathering must recast the notion of father into a form that says love and compassion. We must be fathers who are there, who are active and who nurture our youth.

However imperfect our image of a father might have been, the Father offers a perfect image of what a father should be. In that formula is the way to healing.

Newsweek recently ran a story on fathering. One father told the reporter that when he takes care of his kids on weekends, his friend sometimes say, “Oh you’re babysitting.”

“No, I’m not,” he replies. “I’m being their father” (Jones, 6).

The wound has been healed!

References

Dinnerstein, Dorothy. The Mermaid and the Minataur (New York: Harper Colophon, 1977).

Haddad, Williams and Mel Roman, The Disposable Parent (New York: Penguin Books, 1979).

Herzog, James. “On Father Hunger,” in Father and Child: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives, ed. by Stanley Cath, et al, (Boston: Little, Brown, 1982) 163-74.

Jones, Timothy. “The Daddy Track, “ Christianity Today 33 (June 16, 1989) 6.

Mead, Margaret. “A Cultural Anthropologist’s Approach to Maternal Deprivation,” in Deprivation of Maternal Care: A Reassessment of Its Effects (Geneva: WHO, 1962).

Miller, John W. Biblical Faith and Fathering—Why We Call God “Father” (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist, 1989).

Muilenburg, James. “A Meditation on Divine Fatherhood,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review, 6 no 1 (1950) 3-5.

Osherson, Samuel. Finding Our Fathers—The Unfinished Business of Manhood (New York: Free Press, 1986).

Parke, Ross D. Fathers (Cambridge: Harvard, 1981).

Rainer, Kenyon. First Do No Harm (New York: Random House, 1987).

Ruether, Rosemary. New Woman-New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation (New York: Crossraoad, 1975).

Stein, Edward V. Fathering: Fact or Fable? (Nashville; Abingdon, 1977).

Terrien, Samuel. Till the Heart Sings—Biblical Theology of Manhood and Womanhood (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985).

But the four chapter prophet is not about the fish.  The book’s 48 verses refer to the fish four times in three different verses.  God is mentioned 38 times in 28 verses.  

Everything in the book does what God wants.  God speaks and the storm starts, intensifies and stops.  The fish swallows and vomits on God’s command.  When the Ninevites hear God’s word, they repent and fast.   The plant grows and shades exactly as God asks.  The worm eats and kills per the LORD’s instructions.   God tells the wind to blow and blister and it does just that.  Even Jonah who drags his feet ends up being the means by which a ship full of sailors worship the Lord and a city of wicked people believe in God.   God tells Jonah to go preach and he does.

While Jonah may lack in practice, he perfects in his theology.  He tells his struggling shipmates, ”I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land”  (Jon 1:9). 

Jonah tells us about God who rules over heaven and earth.

The world’s Jonahs distract us.   They push their own agenda (see Jonah 4:1f).  They seek their own comfort (see Jonah 1:2f).  They respond negatively when they don’t get their own way (See Jonah 4 again).  

 But God has his way, even with Jonah. 

The Book of Jonah is not about the great wicked city of Nineveh.  It is not about the plant that grows up over night as if it were nurtured in pure Miracle Grow.   It’s not about the worm that “smites” the plant like a Superworm.  It’s not about a fish that can swallow but not digest the praying prophet. 

It’s not about what we can’t do.  It’s not about the mission being too big, wickedness too entrenched, the dream too risky, the project too expensive.  The Jonahs around us remind us of all those things.

It’s not about the fish.

It’s about God.