The Mystery of the Kingdom: Prepare the Way, but Which Way?
By Ken Wilson


Last Sunday biggest snowstorm in years. Almost cancelled, but for 9:30 kids Christmas extravaganza. Every child in program showed up, lines memorized. At 11am, 83 brave souls. Sermon touching issues that cut to chase of what it means to be a church in 21st century, faithful to Jesus & his mission. Today, a re-mix: What it means to be a centered set church, a.k.a., a real church in the Baptist mold…
Mark 1: 1-5 What people knew then, but we didn't know until 1947 when two men discovered some old scrolls in a cave from an unknown community called Qumran is this: there were two renewal movements out in that desert, representing two very different ways to prepare the way of the Lord.

Besides John, a group called Essenes. Many think John may have shared their life before beginning his ministry, adapting and revolutionizing their practice of baptism. Each preparing the way for the Lord, each involving repentance, but two very different movements. Raising the question: Prepare the Way, but Which Way?
Essenes first so we can see the contrast with John: The Essenes were an exclusive society, distinguished from the rest of the Jewish nation in Palestine by an organization peculiar to themselves, and by a theory of life in which a severe asceticism and a rare benevolence to one another and to mankind in general were the most striking characteristics. They had fixed rules for initiation, a succession of strictly separate grades within the limits of the society, and regulations for the conduct of their daily life even in its minutest details. Their membership could be recruited only from the outside, as marriage and all intercourse with women were absolutely renounced.
Essenes prepared way by separating from corruptions of Israel. With- drew from temple. Came up with own rituals practiced behind walls of own communities. Held to strict moral code carefully enforced (Controversy in Israel over divorce-remarriage--allowed for any cause? They said, let's ban marriage!) Weak willed or strongly sexed need not apply for membership in an Essene community.

There was a purity, a zeal, dedication about the Essenes that is hard to fault. One of the first human societies to have banned slavery. But ultimately it was a religion for the few, not the many.

John Baptist led a different kind of renewal. He wasn't out in desert behind walls of a well-ordered community. Wasn't raising up bulwark against rising tide of evil: "come in, be safe with righteous ones." He was out in open, raising his voice for all to hear, taking all comers…

Whereas in Essene communities, baptism reserved for those who had already submitted to disciplines of community, John was presiding over a free for all. Sinners streaming forward, confessing, plunging themselves into the water. We don't know if the confessions were general or specific, and if specific, how specific.

Doesn't seem to be have been a lot of what Dr. Sam Tickle calls sin sorting going on--serious sinners over here, garden variety sinners over there, thorough repenters here, partial repenters there.

What repentance meant to John: Luke 3: 11. Get started repent-ance." Not naval gazing self-improvement, a Christianized version of self help that is more like self absorption. A unique concept: repent-ance that does some good for others; other-help, not self-help.

Luke 3: 12-13: Luke reminding us how radical John's movement was, how different from Essene's approach to repentance. Tax collectors viewed as corrupt to core. Their identity as tax collectors--private contractors working for Rome, the pagan-enemy empire--constituted a sin category. But he just tells them to collect fair share.

Same with the soldiers--the enemy soldiers. Accepted for baptism and simply told to be honest soldiers. (See Luke 3:14)

Repentance isn't about how good you are on a scale of 1 to 10: > 6 righteous-insider; < 5 sinner-outsider. It isn't how far your are on the highway to heaven, but which way you are facing!

Essenes would've been offended by John giving away their cherished baptismal rites to all comers. Would've viewed John as compromiser, throwing their pearls before swine….

Out there in Judean wilderness: 2 ways to prepare way of the Lord. . Both involve repentance--turning one's life from the center of self to the center of God. Prepare the Way, but Which Way?
Anthropologist Paul Hiebert talked about 2 kinds of social groupings that pertain to this text: bounded set & centered set groups.
[Two poles on a continuum, not hard and fast types here, but groups that tend toward one end or the other: bounded set or centered set.]

Bounded set groups depend on building walls or fences to define who's in and who's out "based on a well-defined ideological-cultural boundary --usually moral and cultural codes as well as creedal definitions.. but it doesn't have much of a core definition beyond these boundaries. It is hard at the edges, soft at the center." nextreformation.com

In bounded set groups it's hard to get in and hard to get out. If exit is viewed as betrayal, it's bounded set. Bounded set groups lean toward culture war rather than bridge building.

In fact, their existence depends on having a clearly defined enemy. Fund raising letters are filled with what horrible things this group or that are doing to the society. Send money so we can stop them!

Centered set groups are modeled on the image of an open ranch out West with a watering hole at the center, drawing the thirsty. "It has very strong ideology at the center but no boundaries. It is hard at the center, soft at the edges. [And here's what some mission minded people are saying about centered set as a model for church life} We suggest that in the centered set lies a real clue to the structuring of missional communities in the emerging culture." nextreformation.com

Centered set groups work better for gathering cats and people who don't like to be told what to do. (Cats don't respond to herding, but will find their way to the milk pail.)
Essenes were a classic bounded set group. It looked radical, because those people were serious about their faith, but it was just another version of a well worn path: believe-behave-belong: Hear message, get your act together, bring your life up to code, then enjoy the benefits of full belonging.
John's movement, which truly cut to root of tree, was a centered set approach. A new way forward for sinners: belong-believe-behave: Come ye sinners as ye are, and take your place at the table of the kingdom, and there learn the heart of the king, and believing that you belong, let your lives progressively bear the fruits of belonging.
Belong-Believe-Behave is what got Jesus into trouble. The powers that be in the religious establishment were committed to believe-behave-belong. Not Jesus. "Now the tax collectors and the sinners were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'" (Lk. 15:1-2)
The way of Jesus will provoke criticism from the proponents of the other way. Because he is in the process of overturning the tables in the temple of religion as usual: from believe-behave-belong, to belong-believe-behave. Those without nerve need not apply.

Radical welcome: To welcome someone is to say: you belong.
If they would have Him, he would have them.
Gk. prosdechomai: receive, welcome, accept; wait for, anticipate
John Wimber, founder of Vineyard, talked about Vineyard as a "centered set movement." Be clear about your vision and your values, be busy about the work of the kingdom, and let people sort themselves by how close they want to get to the center.
"Why don't you speak out more against this or that sin?" Ask-er used to a bounded set system where boundaries are reinforced by regular warnings against one or two hot-button sins--ironically, ones not mentioned often in the Bible itself….

Answer is simple: We're a centered set church. Does this mean we never confront wrong? That anything goes? Of course not. As a pastor I've had many tough-love conversations with a husband or a wife in process of flushing marriage down the drain because they've forgotten to love steadfast love, and they love the feeling they have with another fresh face. I won't ask for a show of hands. But I've had that conversation MANY times. If I ever need that talking to, or Nancy does, I hope someone will have it with me.

It doesn't mean we never have the tough conversations.
It means: we're in this struggle together, as fellow pilgrims.
It's a conversation we have at the table of belonging.

Center-set: Like pilgrims on a pilgrimage from many different points of origin--fellow pilgrims by virtue of the pull to a common center.

The bounded set has a real appeal. It's an expression of sincere devotion. It seems costly and Christianity is costly.

But here's the problem: it's costly to the outsider, not the insider.
Exclusion comes naturally to human species. Plus, bounded set doesn't work. Believe me, I've tried it. But it can't be done with any consistency. One denomination excludes smokers & wine bibbers from their membership covenant. Others allow notorious mobsters but threaten to exclude pro-choice politicians.

In face of depth, breadth & sheer volume of human sin & folly, how can it be otherwise? As a practical matter, you end up cherry picking a few sins to draw the line in the sand. Sexual sins easy to target, while greed, gossip, slander get a pass. Aim for consistency and you only keep making the circle smaller and smaller until it's just the pastor and his wife, and they're not too sure about each other!

To be a centered set church means….

1. We have to be about the business of what we're for. It's easy to define yourself by what you're against. All it takes is talk. And it works. It provides group definition. But it's not the pail of milk the cats will come to.

Jesus is about being by doing good news to the poor. Jesus is about repairing the world, the kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven. That means there's work to be done.

There are certain things we have to DO. Care for young, because they are vulnerable and need a spiritual framework. Help the poor. Heal the sick. Love the widow & orphan: Single mom and her kids. Learn, in era of environmental abuse, to tend the garden as good stewards. To be good news in the face of bad times.

"He has shown you O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love steadfast love and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 4:6)

2. We have to trust that he who begins a good work in people will patiently bring it to completion. Transformation happens in fits & starts. Some habits drop away without effort. Others stick like a price tag you can't get off a new drinking glass. And there are 12 glasses in the set. And company's comin'!

Have you noticed how tolerant you can be with your own short-comings, and how exacting with the shortcomings of others?
[My indignation at cell phone drivers--forgetting my hitting curb]

Plus we have disagreements over what's acceptable and what's not.
Humanity is a messy state to be in. But Paul in Romans speaking to some believers who were frustrated with the progress of other believers said, "To his own master he will stand or fall…and the Lord is able to make him stand."(Ro. 14:4)

3. We have to believe that from the lame God will make a mighty nation. Bounded set groups are all about looking as good as you can as fast as you can. And with up front screening, you can look better sooner. Just insert a "no pre-existing conditions" clause.

Micah told what God is after: "I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcasts a mighty nation!" Micah 4:7

That means for a while, we're going to be mighty lame. We can expect many in need of rehab. Much limping along to the finish line.

I used to think everybody got themselves saved up, and then in short order shaped up. Chasing after one improvement program after the other, looking for measurable results. No child of God left behind.

And it's true: people change. God-influence is powerful. But the depth of human brokenness is EXTENSIVE. We will be messy. Even Lazarus bore stink of death after he got the grave clothes off.

But (and it's a BIG one) we get to follow the master in the meantime, do the things we're meant to do, help him redeem-repair-renew the world and make things ready for the Day when God is all in all.

So yes, there's change here on this side of eternity. But there's also change reserved for the twinkling of an eye when the last trumpet sounds and eternity breaks into time full stop for the full start.

Our job: get ready by turning our faces to morning star rising in night sky, which, for all it's darkness is receding…until the New Day dawns.