Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
One of our favorite vacation spots is in Muddy Pond, Tennessee. Jane and I have rented a cabin “Two’s Company” (picture) there a few times. Muddy Pond is a Mennonite Community. The owners have become dear friends. If you’re familiar with Mennonites (picture), you know that they’re fairly strict. They’re moderate in their use of technology and the women wear dresses and head coverings.
The last time we were there, we asked about a vegetable stand to purchase some fresh vegetables. It was an interesting conversation. We were told that there was one a few miles down the road in another Mennonite Community but they were “stricter” Mennonites. We did go but I have no idea what “stricter” means because they all looked very strict to me.
Mennonites believe that being a Christian is evidenced in how you dress, your entertainment choices and the use of technology. As a result, their evangelistic outreach is limited. Their culture is a barrier.
The Bible teaches we’re to be in the world, yet not of the world. To reach our lost world, we’re to be Jesus in this world. It means Being Incarnational. It was Paul’s approach, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (p. 957).
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
God is sovereign and uses varied means to reach people with the gospel. Is it possible that one type of evangelism more effectively utilizes and maximizes the power of the Spirit in the life of the individual believer more than any other? Joe Aldrich asked this question in his book, Lifestyle Evangelism (pictures). When we study the life of Jesus, not only do we see the Incarnation, He models for us Being Incarnational.
Incarnational/Relational Evangelism recognizes evangelism is a process of friendship building. A relationship is first built. It fits with that Jesus was known as “the friend of sinners.” God has called us to relational evangelism. It’s why you’re in that family, neighborhood or workplace.
Most Christians think that the best way to evangelize unsaved people is to invite them to church to hear the gospel. If they’re not interested in church, we’re off the hook. God is more interested in YOU as a gospel witness in their lives than He is in getting them into church. You’re the salt, you’re the light God has placed in their world.
Os Guinness (picture) insightfully writes: “Our age is quite simply the greatest opportunity for Christian witness since the time of Jesus and the apostles, and our response should be to seize the opportunity with bold and imaginative enterprise. If ever the ‘wide and effective door” that St. Paul wrote of has been reopened for the gospel, it is now.” This morning we want to unpack what Being Incarnational means. If you’re taking notes…
1. God has a purpose for your life…to be His witness. One day a man visited his doctor because he was in excruciating pain. The doctor asked him, “Where does it hurt?” The man answered, “All over.” The doctor told the man to touch his shoulder. The man touched his shoulder and cried out in pain. Next, the doctor told the man to touch his forehead. The man touched his forehead and cried out in pain again. The doctor told the man to touch his knee. The man touched his knee and winced in pain. He said, “Doctor, everywhere I touch, I’m in pain.” The doctor thoroughly examined the man and concluded, “No wonder you are in pain everywhere you touch – you have a dislocated finger!”
While we laugh at the silliness of this man’s situation, many Christians do something very similar. Many of us feel like everything in our lives is wrong, yet in fact just one thing in our lives is wrong. This one thing affects everything. It’s that many are living a life without purpose. We’re going through the motions – existing day by day, weighed down by the emptiness of a life without meaning. A Christian’s main purpose, their over-arching purpose is to glorify God. A vital part of that is being a witness for Christ. It’s sharing the gospel.
Do you know how young parents are when they’re holding their new baby? There’s a glow, a deep joy. That’s what a church is like that’s committed to making more disciples. There’s a glow and you can feel it!
The Bible says that every believer must share the gospel. 1 Peter 2:9-10: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Peter reminds these 1st century Christians who’ve been dispersed by heavy persecution that they’re the people of God, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession.”
There’s a purpose in having received these blessings: “that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” The excellencies of Christ can’t be adequately communicated apart from the gospel. Every Christian must understand that God has called them to be His witness. That’s our purpose! Every believer must concern themselves with communicating the gospel.
If what comes out of one’s mouth is indicative of what’s in your heart and if our hearts are full of love for Jesus, how can we not continually talk about the One who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light?
2. Sharing the gospel means being incarnational. It means that we seek to live out the values of the gospel in our humanity. At the incarnation God (Jesus) came in human flesh and the gospel continues to come in human skin. It’s simply Christ living in me and through me.
In being incarnational we become “friends of sinners” and immersed in the culture. We believe that if incarnational gospel values are being developed in us, we have no fear of part of the culture.
It’s living out Philippians 2:5-8: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Jesus’ life means that we won’t feel at home in this world. In fact, the more we’re like Jesus, the more we’ll find ourselves at odds with the elements of the culture which resist God’s Kingdom and redemptive actions.
Being incarnational is first about inner transformation before external living. It’s not about where I am, it’s about who I am. When we begin with external conformity before inner transformation, it’s easy to be a hypocrite. Incarnation is first about who I am becoming, rather than what I’m doing.
The call to being incarnational as an internal value is expressed in verse 5, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Our minds and hearts are to be growing more like Christ. It comes from being in God’s Word, from reflecting on His death and His resurrection.
Being incarnational, we deny ourselves certain rights so that we can identify with others in their suffering. Jesus didn’t “count” equality with God as something to cling to. Jesus never said, “I see the need of the world, but I can’t give up my form of existence. I must hold it tightly.”
A few years ago Jane and I attended a conference in Fort Lauderdale in February. It was brutal when we flew out of O’Hare. We went to 80 degree weather, palm trees and beach. It was brutal when we had to come back. Who wants to leave Florida in February? What are some places you never want to live? New York? L.A.? Chicago? Multiply that beyond our imagination and that’s what Jesus did when He left heaven to come to earth. While Jesus could never cease to be who He is, He left His throne of glory to descend to a manger and a cross. It’s what Jesus did and it’s what we’re called to do, but we do this without surrendering who we are in Christ. We do this out of love for the Lord and love for others.
It’s the call of every believer. It’s how we meet the world in its pain. It means we may have to deny ourselves some of the comfort of the “American Dream” in order to minister in a broken and suffering world.
2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.” Being incarnational is surrendering my rights in bringing who I am in Christ into identity with those who suffer because they don’t know Jesus. 1 Corinthians 9:19, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”
If you’ve visited another country, you know different cultures have different expectations. We often don’t think about our cultural norms because they’re our norm or are second nature to us. But our norms may differ radically from those of other countries.
Before Jesus left the earth, He commanded us to go into the world proclaiming the gospel. That doesn’t mean that we have to go to a foreign country. We start right where we are. Even though we live in America, we find ourselves in different cultures as we attempt to share the gospel. In order for people to listen to what we have to say, we will have to fit in. We will have to be seen as something other than an outsider.
For example, if you visit someone’s house, you attempt to abide by their customs. We’re showing respect for them. It gives us the opportunity to build a relationship. It shows that we care. It opens up our conversation and gives us a chance to connect with each other.
Did you know that it’s estimated that 40% of guests will snoop if they visit your home? If this 40% has to use the facilities, they will look through your bathroom cabinet. It’s disrespectful. And we can be sure if they know about it, they won’t make the mistake of inviting those people again.
Paul’s point is that we must show respect to people and make it our responsibility to open doors for a deeper relationship. We set aside our rights. We’re to be a beacon of Christ’s love to all the different classes of people we encounter regardless of their culture.
God has called you to a neighborhood and workplace where there are Republicans and Democrats and everything in between. There is union and non-union. sports fans and non-sports fans. Those who enjoy playing cards, those who like to watch movies or prefer to bowl. Those who work day shift and those who are home during the day. We are surrounded by a seemingly infinite number of different classes of people. In nearly every case we can respect and accommodate them, earning the right to be heard. We have the freedom to serve them, to meet them where they are, build relationships, and earn the right to be heard. It’s why we need to ask: Do I view the lost as the enemy to be fought or as those whom I need to serve? Do I look for opportunities to serve my neighbors or co-workers? If an unbeliever is rude toward me, do I react with anger or with kindness?
Being incarnational is to stop looking at the people we deal with every day in terms of what they have to offer to us. We shouldn’t assign value to people based on what they can do for us. Instead, we must see those we encounter as Imago Dei, those who Jesus died for. We need to see a person who needs the forgiveness Jesus can give. Rather than saying, “what can they give me,” we need to say, “I have something I can give them—I can share with them the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.” When we view people this way, we’ll listen, we work to understand them, to know what they like and what they don’t like, to see the concerns they have and obstacles between them and Christ. Then we can begin to move away the barriers, forge relationships and help them to understand the gospel
God placed you where you are for a reason. There are people who you come in contact with who need to hear and grasp the love of Christ. We need to view our encounters with them as a chance to learn more about them, understand them, and learn how best we can show them God’s love.
Most of us need to start small. Pick a few, two or three that you want to make a conscious effort to reach. Maybe it’s a co-worker or neighbor. Maybe it’s someone who’s a friend, or just someone who sits near you during the basketball or baseball game. Whoever it is, respect them by learning about them and seeking to understand where they are. Begin to build that relationship and start to look for ways you can show Christ’s love to them. Look for ways to break down barriers they have to God.
Look for the opportunity to share with them the greatest gift of all—the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. As you work to accommodate them and begin to build relationships with them, you’ll start to understand them, and begin to see them change. They’ll open up to you, and may begin to open up to God. When you see how God can work through your relationships, you’ll realize, as Paul did, that it’s worth giving up a little of our own freedom to give others the ultimate freedom.
Being incarnational, we come with a desire to serve, not to dominate. The desire to dominate is an Americanism. Sadly, it’s contaminated Christians in the culture. Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.
Often Christians are good at words. Technology makes it possible for us to multiply our words. Often we’re little more than “talking heads.” Our world needs the Word of God and it needs God’s Word embodied in human flesh. Jesus did not simply say, “I love you.” He said “I love you,” then came from heaven, took on the form of a servant, and gave His life for us. What are we doing besides talking?
Dawson Trotman (picture), founder of The Navigators, was visiting Taiwan on one of his overseas trips. During the visit he hiked with a Taiwanese pastor back into one of the mountain villages to meet with national Christians. The trails were wet and their shoes became very muddy. Later, someone asked this Taiwanese pastor what he remembered most about Trotman. Without hesitation this pastor replied, “He cleaned my shoes.” How surprised this national pastor must have been to arise the next morning and to realize that the Christian leader from America had gotten up before him and cleaned the mud from his shoes. Such a spirit of servanthood marked Dawson Trotman throughout his Christian life.
In being incarnational, we come with humility not superiority. Jesus humbled Himself. Jesus will come in power and glory someday, but He first came in humility. He made himself low.
Sometimes our approach to those outside of the gospel comes across as arrogant. We know the Bible. We go to church. We live moral lives. Too often we approach non-believers as if we’re smarter because we grasp the content and implications of the gospel. Charles Simeon (picture) summed up real Christianity, “Humility, humility, humility.”
Think about it, why do you believe what you believe? Is there such incontrovertible evidence that’s so persuasive that any reasonable person should accept it? Or is there something so distorted about our ability to understand the things of God it takes a supernatural work of the Spirit to open our eyes and minds? We come to those who need Jesus with humility. We know that God in His grace and through the work of His Spirit allowed us to have ears to hear and eyes to see. “I once was blind now I see.”
As Augustine (picture) wrote: “Grasp the truth of God by using the way He Himself provides, since He sees the weakness of our footsteps. That way consists first, of humility, second, of humility, and third, of humility.”
Being incarnational, we come to identify with others in their weakness. Jesus came in the likeness of man. He knew the joys and sorrow, laughter and tears, the pain and comfort humans experience. We can’t be incarnational without identifying and experiencing the “human condition” of those we seek to love in Jesus’ name. We can’t do this from a distance.
Her name was Dorothy. During the first day of speech class, the teacher was going around the room, having the students introduce themselves. Each student was to respond to the questions “What do I like about myself?” and “What don’t I like about myself?” But nearly hiding at the back of the room was Dorothy. Her long, red hair hung down around her face, almost obscuring it from view. When it was Dorothy’s turn to introduce herself, there was only silence in the room. Thinking perhaps she’d not heard the question, the teacher moved his chair over near hers and gently repeated the question. Again, there was only silence.
Finally, with a deep sigh, Dorothy sat up in her chair, pulled back her hair, and in the process revealed her face. Covering nearly all of one side of her face was a large, irregularly shaped birthmark – nearly as red as her hair. “That,” she said, “should show you what I don’t like about myself.”
Here was a young lady devastated by her hideous birthmark. She was desperate for meaningful touch. Dorothy revealed to others the one thing she didn’t like about herself – her large, irregularly shaped birthmark that covered nearly all of one side of her face.
Moved with compassion, the godly teacher leaned over and gave her a hug. Then he kissed her on her cheek where the birthmark was and said, “That’s OK, Honey, God and I still think you’re beautiful.” Dorothy cried uncontrollably for almost twenty minutes. Soon other students gathered around her and were offering their comfort as well. When she finally could talk, as she dabbed the tears from her eyes she said to the teacher, “I’ve wanted so much for someone to hug me and say what you said. Why couldn’t my parents do that? My mother won’t even touch my face.”
Dorothy was desperate for a healing touch from someone identifying with her weakness. That’s what God has called us to do – to love and care for our world. Our world is desperate to see the love of Jesus in us!
Conclusion: Being Incarnational is the commitment to be with people, to live out the good news we share and through the Spirit to live out His presence. As the body of Christ, we’re the continuation of His ministry. We’re Jesus on this earth. Let’s tie this up with some Take Home Truths:
To be incarnational, Christians should be a dynamic counter-culture in the community. It’s not enough for Christians to simply live as individuals in the community. They must live as a particular kind of community. The society God wants is based on service not selfishness. It’s on bringing peace and joy to our world because we have His peace and joy.
Jesus probably had Psalm 48:2 in mind when He told His disciples that they were “a city on a hill” whose life and action showed God’s glory to the world (Matt 5:14-17).
Christians are called to be an alternate community within every earthly community, an alternate culture within every human culture, to show how sex, money, and power can be used in non-destructive ways; to show how classes and races who can’t get along outside of Christ can have unity in Christ; and to show how it’s possible to bring hope rather than despair
To be incarnational, Christians should be a community radically committed to the good of the community as a whole. We must with the resources of our faith and life, sacrificially serve the good of the whole community. Christians work for the peace, security, justice, and prosperity of their neighbors, loving them whether they believe what we do or not.
In Jeremiah 29:7 the Jews were called not just to live in the city but to love it and work for its peace, its economic, social, and spiritual flourishing. Christians are citizens of God’s heavenly city. As citizens of God’s city, we must always be the best possible citizens of our earthly city. We must be the best neighbors, the best employees. We walk in the steps of the One who laid down His life for His enemies.
Christians aren’t to try to win the culture through power plays. We’re to seek to win the culture through sacrificial service to others regardless of their beliefs. We don’t live here simply to increase the prosperity of our own group, but for the good of all in our community.
To be incarnational, Christians should be a people who integrate their faith with their everyday life. There is a crucial component to our plan for relating Christians to culture. All of life proceeds from beliefs about the “big questions” regarding what life means, what human beings are, and what are the most important things in life. We call the answers to these big questions a worldview. Even as we seek to have these values instilled in us and these values expressed in day to day life that touches the lives of others, we make no mistake in thinking that our being incarnational is the answer for the world’s ultimate need. The world’s greatest need, your neighborhood’s greatest need, you workplace’s greatest need, our community’s greatest need is the gospel!
One additional point – To be incarnational, Christians must give others their time. This is probably the most difficult part for many of us. We hoard our time for ourselves. It’s “my” time. Aren’t you thankful Jesus didn’t do that? As Christians, we belong to Him – it’s not our time. It’s His time. It takes time and some planning to build relationships with others.
The purpose of Being Incarnational is to always point to the One who alone embodies the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you incarnational? Do those around you see Jesus in you?