The Incarnation and Its Presence

In John, chapter 1, there exists what is the most important verse in the Bible about the incarnation  of Christ – God becoming flesh, and subsequent to that the mission of Christ – God dwelling among us. John 1:14 presents the incarnation and mission as a process with three key components to it:  Jesus tabernacling with us, Jesus being full of grace, and Jesus being full of truth.  In Christ, the incarnation and mission are lived out beautifully, seamlessly, and perfectly.  They are interconnected and inextricable from one another.  It is Christ’s presence, truth, and grace that make, if you will, a three-legged stool that brings both the glory of the incarnation—Christ being present with us, and the purpose of the mission – how He lived among us, together.  Jesus came and provided wholeness and stability. 

 The incarnation quiets three profound questions…is God there for me…does He understand me,  and…if He understands me, would He actually want to be near me?  The incarnation promises…yes.  God gave us Himself, no longer as a seemingly distant Spirit Being, but a flesh and blood brother and friend.  As a response to those who were lost, who did not look to Him, who had either dismissed or refused Him, God gave His presence, truth, and grace.  As we try to follow Christ, embodying the incarnation and the mission as He did, we tend to either forsake altogether one leg of the stool, or live unbalanced and wobbly, and then wonder why we’re not able to bring glory to God, why we don’t enjoy the value of being with Him and serving Him.

Historically Speaking

Everyone I know at Terra Nova has some story of how they came to Terra Nova.  In recent membership classes, it’s been the question that I lead with and as people begin to share their stories, there tends to be three common backgrounds from which they come.  There is a group of people who have no church background whatsoever and Terra is their first real church experience.  These people are often open or unsure.  They haven’t learned any patterns as far as “churchworld” and sometimes it’s a bit unnerving for them, but they are open to asking questions and learning more. The other two-thirds of people come from some church background.  Some come from a church background that was very conservative and disconnected from culture at the same time.  In other words, it was full of doctrinal truth, but very little grace.  Holiness was held in high esteem to the point where Christians were afraid to connect with sinners anymore.  There had begun an insulation, a sort of bunker fundamentalism that left the church full of truth on the inside, but so slim on grace that there was little connection to the outside.

Others come from a church background where there was great grace.  Anyone was given access to the church, to people, to care, to provisions.  However, truth maintained an anorexic profile.  While grace was represented in corporate actions, like supplying a food pantry or a participating in an AIDS walk, truth was kept at bay so as not to offend, crash a party, or stomp on a parade. The only truth was that they were present.   Either one of these two extremes present a problem for people who are now seeking to fully live out their faith.

On Sunday we read and heard from John chapter 4 concerning the woman at the well.  She was a woman who followed what we commonly call the Discipleship Spiral, a pattern found in the New Testament.  In the gospel of John, it’s presented most broadly as a “come see, follow Me/abide in Me, and go in My name.”  It represents the two phases of the church – gathered and scattered – but it also represents an ever-growing personal relationship with Christ when it is seen not as a complete cycle, but an ever-widening spiral [insert graphic 1].  It means that we are constantly working through a process of experiencing more of God, being able to embrace that or abide in that, and then reflect that, or go in His name.  The opposite holds true too.  If we are experiencing less of God, rejecting Him, and therefore not reflecting Him to others, then we are in a downward spiral. 

There were three questions presented at the end of the sermon.  The question that seemed to get the most feedback was the last…How do we connect?

At Terra, the grid that we’ve created has to do with justice, compassion, and culture.  Being present or tabernacleing in culture, that there is something shared when we walk in the same time and space and give the same language queues and information, is a way we can live among others and not isolate.  Secondly, there is a place where we reflect truth, where injustice has to be confronted and efforts to heal it are made because it is simply right.  Also, we reflect grace corporately through compassion.  Where others, often by no fault of their own, are found in hard situations by circumstances larger than themselves such as genetic flaws or poverty.  Even when it is of their own fault, poor choices, whether its with finances, family, or drugs, we reach out in compassion to serve.

Those are wonderful projects of mission.  But a lifestyle of mission calls for something more.  It calls for a constant depth of relationship to Christ that is then reflected in our relationships with other people.  For some, it will be people that you know within the church or in a New Tribe, and you spur each other on in your discipleship spirals.  But there should also be people with whom you are real outside of your church community, who are receiving the reflections of Christ in your life.

A Missional Life Detector

You may be in a Christian bunker if you have no friend, no person with whom you walk on life’s journey, who isn’t a Christ follower.   Make room for at least one person in your life who is connected to you through some common thread.  Avoid making the person a project. Have no goal or agenda, and be prepared that you need to work to create a seat at the table of shared ideas and conversations with that person.  Once, however, it is created, fears and bigotries can be addressed.  People can often have a dialogue about things that really matter. It’s part of friendship.

The detector for an anorexic Christian is this – the spiritual life has not been difficult for them.  They haven’t reached out for anything in particular.  They may find life discomforting and difficult and rail against it, but they haven’t found chasing God to be more challenging and satisfying.  They haven’t pursued Him to the point where they have glimpses of something more than before. To have something to say, you must say what you know. In other words, reflect the truth that you’ve embraced.  To embrace more deeply means to be challenged more.  It is from this depth, combined with the presence and constancy of a friend, that the truth of Christ is often given a seat at a table without agenda and without traps.

It’s up to you how you connect missionaly in a larger sense. Whether you’re one of the many people who have gone on short-term mission trips, or those who work at the gallery, show their art about town, or play music, or a countless variety of ways to build relationships, only you can figure out how to build those connections corporately and individually.  But the reality of a missional church is that the incarnation, the presence of Christ, is smuggled, exclusively, uniquely as you. And at the end of the day, if we as a church are not missional, it’s because you’re not missional.

For further dialogue, post comments and I’ll try to answer, or email me HERE.