“The imperatives are based on the indicatives and the order is not reversible”

In June 2009, Bryan Chapell, the President of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis and the author of Christ-Centered Preaching, gave a lecture at the Advance09 conference in Durham, North Carolina titled “Communicating the Gospel through Preaching.” Regarding preaching (which also applies to sharing and teaching the Bible), Chapell said, “The imperatives are based on the indicatives and the order is not reversible.”

What does this mean?: To those who have not heard this before, it might not be readily apparent. Very briefly, imperatives in the Bible express commands which Christians must do, while indicatives are the basis of the imperatives in the Bible. A closely related statement would be: “What you do is based on who you are and the order is not reversible.”

Some biblical imperatives: Just randomly, some common biblical imperatives are: love God [youversion](Dt 6:5)[/youversion], love your neighbor [youversion](Lev 19:18)[/youversion], fear God and keep his commandments [youversion](Ecc 12:13)[/youversion], preach the gospel [youversion](Mk 16:15)[/youversion], preach the word [youversion](2 Ti 4:2)[/youversion], make disciples [youversion] (Mt 28:19)[/youversion], deny yourself and take up your cross [youversion](Mt 16:24, Mk 8:34, Lk 9:23)[/youversion], feed my sheep [youversion](Jn 21:15-17)[/youversion], ask, seek, knock [youversion](Mt 7:7)[/youversion], the ten commandments [youversion](Ex 20:1-17)[/youversion], repent and believe [youversion](Mk 1:15)[/youversion], give thanks [youversion](1 Th 5:18)[/youversion], look after orphans and widows [youversion](Jas 1:27)[/youversion] , etc, etc.

Biblical imperatives are wonderful but … Incidentally, all of these biblical imperatives are wonderful. But they are not primary. These imperatives are always based on the indicatives, according to the flow, and pattern, and stories through out the Bible, although the indicatives are often not readily obvious. For example, when God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments, God did not say, “Obey them or you’re dead!” Instead, God prefaced the 10 Commandments (imperatives) with an indicative, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” [youversion](Ex 20:2)[/youversion]. God did not say, “Obey the 10 commandments, and then I will deliver you from slavery in Egypt.” Rather, God said, “I delivered you from slavery (the indicative), therefore, obey the 10 commandments (the imperative).”

Imperatives are primary in all religions of the world except Christianity: As I thought about imperatives and indicatives, I realized that Christians often communicate imperatives rather than indicatives, while thinking that they are being quite faithful to the teachings of the Bible. But if we communicate imperatives rather than indicatives, then we’re really no different from any other religion in the world, which all communicate imperatives as the way to be righteous before God, for all religions in the world teach their adherents to be good, to be kind, to be selfless, to be loving and forgiving, to not take revenge, to be morally upright and not be a drunkard, liar, cheat, adulterer, murderer, etc. Only in Christianity is a man not righteous by what he does (or doesn’t do), for in the Bible man is saved and is righteous only by faith alone, by grace alone, by Scripture alone, by Christ alone, and for the glory of God alone (The Five Solas). [youversion]Titus 3:5[/youversion] says, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy…” [youversion]Ephesians 2:8,9[/youversion] says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Our default is always toward imperatives: So how might we communicate imperatives when sharing the Bible? We might say or think, “If you don’t shape up, how can God ever bless you?” Or, “If you don’t repent, how can God forgive you?” Or, “Unless you obey God, God will punish you.” Whether we’re consciously aware of this or not, we have just communicated that God’s blessings for us is up to us and on what we do (imperatives), and not on God (indicative).

We might even think on the basis of imperatives. We think, “God did not bless me day today, because I did not pray and read the Bible this morning.” Or, “I better not give in to sin, so that God will bless my finals and give me an A.” Or, “I better pray more and purify my heart more, so that I can preach better.” Even if these thoughts seem to play out accordingly, we’re still thinking and reasoning in terms of imperatives, and not indicatives.

The difference between the gospel and religion: Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian church in New York, says it best in this way: Religion says, “If I obey, then I’ll be accepted by God.” But the gospel says, “You’re accepted by God, therefore I obey.” On the surface, both religion and the gospel look alike, because both believe in Jesus, both read the Bible, both want to obey the 10 commandments, both want to live by the “rules” of the Bible, both want to go to church and Christian fellowship, both want to serve the needy and the poor, etc. But in their hearts, their attitude is quite different. One does so in order to receive God’s blessing and approval (religion); while the other does the same thing because they know that they have already received God’s blessing and approval (gospel).

Conclusion: Religion, is what we do (or the imperatives we follow and live by), while the gospel is what God has already done for us in Christ (or the indicative). As Bill Hybels said, “The gospel is done, not do.”

If we regard what we do (imperatives) as primary, I will either become proud because I think I’m living up to it (and look down on those who are not), or I will despair because I’m failing to live up to it. So I will either become confident and not humble (because I think I’m doing well), or I will become humble and not confident (because I think I’m not doing well).

But when we base our Christian lives on the indicative, which is what God has done for us in Christ, then our entire lives will simply be an expression of what Jesus has done for me in spite of all my sins. When Jesus is our indicative, we can always be confident and humble at the same time, confident because it’s not up to me but up to Christ, and humble because Jesus loves me in spite of all my sins.

We do not love in order to be loved by God or others. But [youversion]1 John 4:19 [/youversion] says, “We love because he first loved us.”

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Dr. Ben Toh is a medical doctor in the city of Chicago.  He and his wife are leaders of West Loop Church, a faith community connected to the Underground Church Network.

David Watson, a internationally-known author and missiologist, has helped plant tens of thousands of house churches in India, and has helped create an indigenous church planting movement in that region.  He has released his very simple bible study method that he used to help spur people on toward more spiritually-formed lives.  Over the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing his documents on this site (they are free to download for yourself or for a house church or small group).

He calls them “Discovery Bible Studies” because there is little “from the front” lecturing or even teaching.  There is gentle guidance from a facilitator, who might even rotate around the group.  Generally a passage is selected, read aloud several times from different people.  Then another person retells the scripture in his/her own words, followed by a discussion from the whole group on what the text is saying.  Finally, there is a few moments of silence as each person in the group decides what God is asking them to do about the text – how to be obedient not just to the words of the text, but to God who is speaking to each heart in the group.  Each person says and/or writes down an “I will…” statement committing to do one thing within the next 48 hours of the group’s gathering (if it doesn’t happen within a short time of the commitment, many times it is sifted through life’s other demands.)  It has brought life and transformation to a group in Rogers Park – may it bring life to your group as well!

2008 Obedience Based Discipleship v1.5 (PDF)

Any form of worship that can be uploaded is appropriate here as long as it is an expression of the creativity that God has instilled in you. Where there is genuine worship there is joy. This is meant to be an inspiring encouragement to one another as well as an alter to our creative Lord!  Maybe you come to the Community Garden for personal inspiration, or fresh ideas for your faith community.  Maybe you come to contribute you or your faith community has recently offered the Lord in the form of worship and you’re ready to pass it along!

Give us ideas (ways you worship the Lord), give us videos or audio files of worship in action, give us written or spoken word, even prophecy and preaching is welcome.  Let this be a wild and diverse garden where the Body of Christ can grow and share the fruits of our imaginative Spirit.

This “Community Garden” is still being fertilized; cultivated.  We’re working on the best plot of land to begin (this website?  a nearby wiki space?) and we’ll send out the word when its ready to begin tilling!

In the meen time you can Post Comments to this page with links to things that you find inspirational or worshipful.