Cultural Exegesis
I just did an article for Ministries Today. Here's a draft.
Carpe Culture: Redeeming Cultural Lingo without Diluting the Gospel
Mark Batterson
Can I be brutally honest?
Too many pastors are getting "A's" in Biblical exegesis and "D's" in cultural exegesis.
We know Scripture, but we're out of touch with the times. The end result is a gap between theology and reality called irrelevance. We've withdrawn to the comfortable confines of our Christian sub-culture so we're out of touch with the very people we're trying to reach-the unchurched and dechurched. We've got to exegete our culture so we can close the gap. That's what incarnation is all about.
According to Anthony Mayo and Nitin Nohria, there is one common denominator amongst all great leaders regardless of age or industry: "They possessed acute sensitivity to the social, political, technological, and demographic contexts that came to define their eras." Mayo and Nohria call it "contextual intelligence." After studying 1,000 leaders they came to the conclusion that contextual intelligence is "an underappreciated but all-encompassing differentiator between success and failure"
Let me put it in biblical terms.
I Chronicles 12:32 references the men of Issachar. It says they "understood the times and knew what Israel should do." The men of Issachar were the eyes of Israel.
They had tremendous insight-"hey understood the times."And they had tremendous foresight-"They knew what Israel should do." Here's another way of saying it: they had foresight because they had insight. They were visionary leaders because they were experts in cultural exegesis.
Cultural Exegesis
I'll be the first person to admit that there is a fine line between redeeming culture and compromising truth. But it's a line we must be willing to walk.
God is omni-relevant. He speaks more than six billion languages. Redeeming culture doesn't mean watering-down or dumbing-down the gospel. It means translating the gospel into a language that people can understand. It means using culturally relevant metaphors so that people can grasp spiritual truths.
Isn't that what Jesus did? He used agrarian metaphors to communicate spiritual truths. We call them parables.
Every generation needs to redeem cultural lingo and use it to communicate timeless truth. The only alternative is irrelevance. And irrelevance is irreverence! The key to unforgettable preaching is packaging truth in ways that are biblically sound and culturally relevant. Let me borrow from the parable of the wineskins. Think of biblical exegesis as the wine. Think of cultural relevance as the wineskin. If you have one without the other, you're not going to quench anybody's thirst. You need the substance (biblical exegesis) and the container (cultural relevance).
If we divorce Biblical exegesis and cultural exegesis we end up with dysfunctional truth. It doesn't do anybody any good. Either we answer questions no one is asking. Or we give the wrong answers.
God @ the Billboards
Every year, National Community Church does two sermon series that redeem culture: God @ the Box Office and God @ the Billboards. Here's why: the 60% of Americans who don't attend church get their theology from movies and music. For better or for worse, musicians and movie makers are the chief theologians in our culture.
The 18th century Scottish thinker, Andrew Fletcher, said, "Give me the making of the songs of a nation and I care not who writes its laws." Our culture is shaped, even more than we know, by the movies we watch and the music we listen to. God @ the Box Office and God @ the Billboards are attempts to exegete the movies and music that are shaping the cultural consciousness of 175 million unchurched Americans. Then we juxtapose them with Scripture.
Those two series are two of the hardest hitting series we do all year. The reason is simple: movies and music are brutally honest about the human condition. They may not contain the truth, but they are in touch with reality. Ravi Zacharias says, "I credit them with a greater degree of honesty and unmasked vulnerability in recognizing the anguish within the human heart than the academician, who often conceals such a struggle behind a facade of self-assurance."
Sermon Radar
So how do we get better grades in cultural exegesis?
It starts with doing our cultural homework. That is what Paul did in Athens. He not only studied the Athenian altars, he even cited one of their poets. That gave him grounds to contend for the truth in the Areopagus.
The way I keep a pulse on the culture is by strategically reading magazines and watching television programs. I'm obviously not recommending you ingest high doses of morally objectionable content. But we can't afford to bury our head in the sand either.
There are illustrations everywhere. All we have to do is have our sermon radar on so we can redeem them. I was watching Punk'd on MTV a few years ago and we decided to redeem that idea and turn it into Praiz'd. Instead of pulling off a prank, we decided to do surprise celebrations for our leaders who were going the extra mile. I think we one-upped MTV. If you want to watch an episode of Praiz'd, check out the "eye candy" @ http://www.theaterchurch.com/.
Perceived Relevance
Here is a lesson I've learned pastoring a church that is 75% unchurched and dechurched. When you use biblical illustrations it gives you credibility with Christians. When you use cultural illustrations it gives you credibility with the unchurched and dechurched. Who are you catering to? We need to reach both/and.
The most important thing in preaching isn't what you say. It's what people hear. And people only hear things they perceive as relevant to their lives. Perceived relevance will make or break you as a preacher.
The way to increase the level of perceived relevance is to talk about things people are thinking about. That's what Jesus did in Luke 13:4. He references the tower of Siloam that killed eighteen Galileans. Why? Because it was on the frontal lobes of everyone listening to him!
Let's not just talk. Let's be heard. Biblical exegesis is half the battle. Cultural exegesis is the other half.
Carpe culture.
Carpe Culture: Redeeming Cultural Lingo without Diluting the Gospel
Mark Batterson
Can I be brutally honest?
Too many pastors are getting "A's" in Biblical exegesis and "D's" in cultural exegesis.
We know Scripture, but we're out of touch with the times. The end result is a gap between theology and reality called irrelevance. We've withdrawn to the comfortable confines of our Christian sub-culture so we're out of touch with the very people we're trying to reach-the unchurched and dechurched. We've got to exegete our culture so we can close the gap. That's what incarnation is all about.
According to Anthony Mayo and Nitin Nohria, there is one common denominator amongst all great leaders regardless of age or industry: "They possessed acute sensitivity to the social, political, technological, and demographic contexts that came to define their eras." Mayo and Nohria call it "contextual intelligence." After studying 1,000 leaders they came to the conclusion that contextual intelligence is "an underappreciated but all-encompassing differentiator between success and failure"
Let me put it in biblical terms.
I Chronicles 12:32 references the men of Issachar. It says they "understood the times and knew what Israel should do." The men of Issachar were the eyes of Israel.
They had tremendous insight-"hey understood the times."And they had tremendous foresight-"They knew what Israel should do." Here's another way of saying it: they had foresight because they had insight. They were visionary leaders because they were experts in cultural exegesis.
Cultural Exegesis
I'll be the first person to admit that there is a fine line between redeeming culture and compromising truth. But it's a line we must be willing to walk.
God is omni-relevant. He speaks more than six billion languages. Redeeming culture doesn't mean watering-down or dumbing-down the gospel. It means translating the gospel into a language that people can understand. It means using culturally relevant metaphors so that people can grasp spiritual truths.
Isn't that what Jesus did? He used agrarian metaphors to communicate spiritual truths. We call them parables.
Every generation needs to redeem cultural lingo and use it to communicate timeless truth. The only alternative is irrelevance. And irrelevance is irreverence! The key to unforgettable preaching is packaging truth in ways that are biblically sound and culturally relevant. Let me borrow from the parable of the wineskins. Think of biblical exegesis as the wine. Think of cultural relevance as the wineskin. If you have one without the other, you're not going to quench anybody's thirst. You need the substance (biblical exegesis) and the container (cultural relevance).
If we divorce Biblical exegesis and cultural exegesis we end up with dysfunctional truth. It doesn't do anybody any good. Either we answer questions no one is asking. Or we give the wrong answers.
God @ the Billboards
Every year, National Community Church does two sermon series that redeem culture: God @ the Box Office and God @ the Billboards. Here's why: the 60% of Americans who don't attend church get their theology from movies and music. For better or for worse, musicians and movie makers are the chief theologians in our culture.
The 18th century Scottish thinker, Andrew Fletcher, said, "Give me the making of the songs of a nation and I care not who writes its laws." Our culture is shaped, even more than we know, by the movies we watch and the music we listen to. God @ the Box Office and God @ the Billboards are attempts to exegete the movies and music that are shaping the cultural consciousness of 175 million unchurched Americans. Then we juxtapose them with Scripture.
Those two series are two of the hardest hitting series we do all year. The reason is simple: movies and music are brutally honest about the human condition. They may not contain the truth, but they are in touch with reality. Ravi Zacharias says, "I credit them with a greater degree of honesty and unmasked vulnerability in recognizing the anguish within the human heart than the academician, who often conceals such a struggle behind a facade of self-assurance."
Sermon Radar
So how do we get better grades in cultural exegesis?
It starts with doing our cultural homework. That is what Paul did in Athens. He not only studied the Athenian altars, he even cited one of their poets. That gave him grounds to contend for the truth in the Areopagus.
The way I keep a pulse on the culture is by strategically reading magazines and watching television programs. I'm obviously not recommending you ingest high doses of morally objectionable content. But we can't afford to bury our head in the sand either.
There are illustrations everywhere. All we have to do is have our sermon radar on so we can redeem them. I was watching Punk'd on MTV a few years ago and we decided to redeem that idea and turn it into Praiz'd. Instead of pulling off a prank, we decided to do surprise celebrations for our leaders who were going the extra mile. I think we one-upped MTV. If you want to watch an episode of Praiz'd, check out the "eye candy" @ http://www.theaterchurch.com/.
Perceived Relevance
Here is a lesson I've learned pastoring a church that is 75% unchurched and dechurched. When you use biblical illustrations it gives you credibility with Christians. When you use cultural illustrations it gives you credibility with the unchurched and dechurched. Who are you catering to? We need to reach both/and.
The most important thing in preaching isn't what you say. It's what people hear. And people only hear things they perceive as relevant to their lives. Perceived relevance will make or break you as a preacher.
The way to increase the level of perceived relevance is to talk about things people are thinking about. That's what Jesus did in Luke 13:4. He references the tower of Siloam that killed eighteen Galileans. Why? Because it was on the frontal lobes of everyone listening to him!
Let's not just talk. Let's be heard. Biblical exegesis is half the battle. Cultural exegesis is the other half.
Carpe culture.
4 Comments:
Mark,
That is good stuff. I am a firm believer that you have to exegete the culture as well as the text. However I believe they must run parallel and be tied at specific crossbars much like a railraod track. The interesting thing in parallel study is that it flows back and forth in both directions. Knowing both the text and the culture allows you to have either as a starting point for sermons while both allowing you to be true to the text and the culture.
The problem with most preachers and their sermons is they either know the text too well and not the culture so their application is faulty or they know culture too well and not the text. This makes for unrelevant application because it is not grounded in the text.
A great exegete has a firm grip on the text and the culture and either can start the process of sermon preparation. When you have one without the other something will suffer.
Great insight
later,
Henry
Hey Mark,
Just wanted to say you rock man and that God is certainly using you to impact a culture hungry and thirsty for purpose and genuine authentic love. I just want to thank you for all that you post and share with the world. Also thank you for spuring me on to getting involved in podcasting. You guys and gals at NCC have shown that podcasting is a great tool to get your info out there. Thanks from a radio man in Anderson, SC. Oh and big shout out to Newsrping.cc.
Peace and Love,
Brent Sears
Wow Mark! You continue to blow me away. Can I just come over to your house and hang out? Just let some of this rub off on me. A five minute read that nails what we need to do... and WHY! Awesome.
Thanks for you.
Kirk
o wow...i just got into a huge debate with another believe about understanding the culture we live in as we preach the gospel...mark, thanks for writing this..it is MUCH needed in the body of Christ today...i used to attend your church when i was a student in washington dc...still great stuff, dude...peace
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