TEACHING

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SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
10:30 AM (in-person + kids + communion)
Telos - A Series on Becoming Centred
04 - Constructive Truth
​​To understand the commands, ethics... the “rules” of the New Testament, requires knowing that Love comes first. The facts on the ground have been changed by Jesus, and he attacks religion head-on. The Centred-Set Community learns to speak the language of gift, of grace, of curiosity before speaking about new ways of living. Our vision must be corrected before we see change in our lives and world.​

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Online Notes:

OPENING THE MAP

REVIEW:  Ways to build community: Bounded, Fuzzy, or Centred

• Bounded
• Fuzzy
• Centred​

THE DRIVE A centred community still calls people to change by focusing their lives on the centre. The centre matters. However, this does not mean we do it in a “bounded” way. “You should do X to demonstrate to God and others that you are a good Christian” (101).

Imperatives and Indicatives

Imperative: something that is imperative (see imperative entry 1): such as  (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperative)

• a : command, order
• b : rule, guide
• c : an obligatory act or duty
• d : an obligatory judgment or proposition

• Imperatives can be toxic in the church. We can use them to see God as a harsh list-maker and see God’s love as conditional. “He will only love you IF you do X.”

• It’s not good enough for a church to be “Biblical,” it needs to be Christlike; Christ focused and Cross-shaped in its love.

Paul was never answering the question of what we should do [‘where's the line?!’] by saying something first about what God has done -Robert Hill (CSC, 103).

Paul’s imperatives flow from his indicatives. -Mark Baker, (CSC,103).

Indicative: Proclaimed; declared; public; showing, signifying, or pointing out; expressive or suggestive. State a reality.

Change the messaging

• Love comes first. Grace goes before. Thomas Oden of Drew University  defines prevenient grace as “the grace that begins to enable one to choose further to cooperate with saving grace. By offering the will the  restored capacity to respond to grace, the person then may freely and increasingly become an active, willing participant in receiving the conditions for justification.”[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevenient_grace 

“Seasoning our speech with indicatives that undermine bounded-church religiosity by proclaiming God’s unconditional love will help people experience commands in a more centered way, but the wording of the imperatives themselves is also important” (Baker, 104).

• The Indicatives Change the Nature of the Commands
  • Indicatives linked to Imperatives
  • Empowering Indicatives
  • “Should” and “Ought” should and ought to die (in most cases), but replaced...
    • Vision/Imagination - Prophetic Imagination
    • Curiosity “what if...”
    • Directional language ...Pilgrimage, etc.

• Talking about Sin

FINAL LIST Exhorting without binding... [asdf...]=[leave blank on paper outline, answers on screen]
1. include _______________________________
2. include words of _______________________________
3. use more _______________________________
4. link imperatives with indicatives about _______________________________
5. include _______________________________ indicatives
6. avoid using the words _______________________________
7. invite people to _______________________________
8. use directional _______________________________ language
9. use alternative _______________________________
​10. connect sin and repentance with _______________________________

Discussion Questions:

• ​Watch Video #2 in Centered-Set Church Mark Baker Series: The Fruit of Bounded and Fuzzy Churches

Questions from Video discussion guide:

1. What are some of the other bad fruits of bounded and fuzzy approaches? 
2. ​How does the centered approach address the weaknesses of both bounded and fuzzy?

These videos present three types of churches as pure and distinct categories. The reality is more mixed. Many churches or ministries are a mix of bounded and centered,  fuzzy and centered, or even a mix of bounded and fuzzy—many fuzzy churches are often bounded about one thing—judgmental of those that are bounded! For the   purposes of explanation, I will keep the categories clear and distinct, but as you reflect a  good question is:

3. What are ways we are bounded, fuzzy, or centered?

The point is not to put yourself in a category, the point is to become more centered.  The key question, applicable to all, regardless of how you answered the previous question is:

​4. How can we become more centered?