incarnation

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature[ God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” (Philippians 2:5-6)

The only proper response to the gospel of Christ is service. The trajectory of Christianity is incarnational- “God came down…” In Christ we see that God has become a humble servant as He emptied Himself of His glorious splendor in order to lay down His life for many. This is a reality that changes the direction of our passions from self to sacrifice, from selfishness to compassion. It was His glory to serve us and therefore we find His glory as we empty ourselves, as He has given His life for us.

Consider the story from the book of John in which Jesus, shortly before His execution, gathered the disciples around Him in order to teach them how to live and to serve others:

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. (John 13:3-5)

At first glance this passage looks like a non-sequitur attaching two disconnected thoughts into the same sentence. Jesus knew He was from God, so what was His response? He washed the Disciples’ feet. One of the mysteries of the spiritual life is that the more you give your life away, the more you gain.

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt. 16:25)

Every follower of Christ will be drawn naturally into service as his or her life reflects the nature of Christ and is drawn by His Spirit. If you are not giving your life away, you are losing it. The more we give, the more we receive, and the more health and life we have. The most unhappy people in the world are those who are living only for themselves. The dichotomous effect of the gospel is that the more I drain my life of self, the more energized I become with life. The more I grasp at life, the less of life I will receive, but the more I give my life away, the more life I attain.

In his book “The Jesus I Never Knew”, Phillip Yancey contrasts the worlds “stars” with the world’s “servants”. He reflects on his life as a journalist in which he has interviewed and met some of the world’s biggest celebrities - the idols of American popular culture:

I have also spent time with people I call “servants”. Doctors and nurses who work among the ultimate outcast, leprosy patients in rural India. A Princeton graduate who runs a hotel for the homeless in Chicago. Health workers who have left high paying jobs to work in backwater towns in rural Mississippi. Relief workers in Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and other repositories of human suffering. The PHDs I met in Arizona, who are now scattered throughout the jungles in South America translating Bibles into native languages. I was prepared to honor and admire these servants. I was not prepared to envy them. Yet as I now reflect on the two groups side by side, the servants clearly emerge as the favored ones, the graced ones. Without question I would rather spend time among the servants than among the stars: they possess qualities of depth and richness and even joy that I have not found elsewhere. Servants works for low pay, long hours and no applause, “wasting” their talents and skills among the worlds poor and uneducated. Somehow, though, in the process of losing their lives, they find them.

Thus the essence of Christianity is the incarnation event- and the essence of who we are in Christ is in the same direction. To find life, we must be willing to give it away.

the first joseph

I normally don't do this, but this Sunday's sermon is totally last minute. We plan our teaching out about a year in advance around here- so it's somewhat unusual for me to do something different from the prescribed plan.

But that is what happened this week.

The old plan has been thrown out and a new one has emerged. Stop the presses and don't tell Norman- we're changin the plan.

And it happened as a result of a conversation I had with one of our church members last Sunday.

She said, "Pastor, I have enjoyed our study of Jacob- but I'm a little disappointed that we aren't getting to Joseph. I really like Joseph."

I was a little dumbfounded by that statement. It struck me as odd because I didn't remember saying that I wasn't covering Joseph. She must have deduced it because I have said that I was planning to talk about Jacob to the end of the book of Genesis. But certainly, Joseph is tied very closely to Jacob. I had in fact planned on dealing with Joseph for at least one lesson before finishing Genesis. But not this next Sunday.

This next Sunday I had put just one word in the slot for our teaching calendar- "Christmas".

My plan was to cover the Christmas story in the way I have every other year- from the angle of the gospel text covering the doctrine of incarnation. It's pretty cut and dry. Most pastors can cover the Christmas story with their Bible's tied behind their backs.

It's a no brainer.

So on Monday as I began to pray about and meditate on the text I would use for my usual Christmas sermon- will it be Matthew or Luke this year? Or maybe John 1?- I just couldn't get Barbara's words to me out of my head. "I really like Joseph," she said.

"I'm disappointed that we aren't covering Joseph".

I kinda smiled to myself- how on earth do you get through Christmas without covering Joseph? I mean, the story of Christmas has a Joseph too.

Hmmmm- I thought, a connection maybe?

Well, as it turns out- yes.

As my mind began to move in the direction of the Genesis account of the first Joseph, it all started pouring out of the text like a flood. I sat up straight and leaned into the Bible as the realization hit me. Of course! How on earth could I have missed it.

Joseph...

the man born of a barren woman under miraculous circumstances,
the favored son,
the coat of splendor bestowed upon him,
the jealous older brothers
cast into a pit
struck down
sold for pieces of silver
losing his status as favored son
his coat removed
becomes a slave
falsely accused
betrayed
rejected
forgotten
by a miracle brought out
responsible for the salvation of many from famine and death
forgiving his brothers and bringing them in
redeems God's chosen
restored to his father.

THAT Joseph. The one who, you know, points to incarnation!

So, anyway, when I use Genesis 37 as my text for this Sunday's Christmas sermon- just pretend that I planned it that way all along.

choice

For a reminder of how impactful our choices can be, read the following story that recently came out in a Florida newspaper about one of our former Southern Baptist IMB missionaries to the Philippines:

Just before her pregnancy, Pam fell into a coma after contracting amoebic dysentery, a bacteria transmitted through contaminated drinking water. During her recovery, she received a series of strong medications. And even though she discontinued the regimen when she discovered the pregnancy, doctors told Pam the fetus had been damaged. Doctors later told Pam that her placenta had detached from the uterine wall, a condition known as placental abruption, which can deprive the fetus of oxygen and nutrients. Doctors expected a stillbirth, Pam said, and they encouraged her to terminate the pregnancy "They thought I should have an abortion to save my life from the beginning all the way through the seventh month," she recalled. Pam said her decision to sustain the pregnancy was a simple one - because of her faith. "We were grieved," she said. "And so my husband just prayed that if the Lord would give us a son, that he would let us raise him." In her seventh month of pregnancy, Pam traveled to the country´s capital, Manila, where she received around-the-clock care from an American-trained physician. For the next two months, Pam - steadfastly praying for a healthy child - remained on bed rest. And on her due date - Aug. 14, 1987 - Pam gave birth to a son , who she described as "skinny, but rather long." "We were concerned at first because he was so malnourished, but he definitely made up for it," she said, between laughs. Today her son, now 20, stands at a solid 6´3" and 235 pounds....

His name is Timothy Richard Tebow, the new Heisman trophy winner who Lee Corso from ESPN has described as the best spread offense quarterback who has ever played the game.

But even more important that his football prowess, though substantial, is his walk with Christ. Read below from Tim's own words:

…learning humility: “When I was very young and in T-ball, my parents would never let me tell anyone how many home runs I’d hit. At that age, I wanted to be like, ‘I just hit three home runs!’ But I wasn’t allowed to say that until the other person asked me. Then, when I was older, I learned that God blessed me with athletic ability and that He can take it away in an instant. I’m thankful for it. Just because I play football doesn’t make me more special than anyone else.”

…football as a ministry: “I think anything can be a ministry, especially football when you have a platform. You have 100 guys in the locker room with you every day. But more importantly than that, you have 1,000 kids looking up to you and even more people all across the country. You have the opportunity and the platform, and to not take advantage of that would be a big mistake.”

…what he wants others to take away from watching you on the field: “First, that I am not out there playing for myself. I love the game but I am playing for the Lord Jesus Christ. I am going out there, loving the game and giving everything I’ve got, and hopefully they can see through me the love of Christ.”

…how Christ’s example plays a role in how he leads his team: “Christ was the best leader; so you can learn everything about leadership from Him, seeing how He died on the cross and applying it to your life in every aspect. Also, not just in leadership, but how you interact with people. Teammates don’t just see you as someone who is getting on them, but as someone who loves and cares about them on and off the field.”

loving the church, warts and all

I really enjoyed our Sunday night worship.

I thought it was great on a number of levels- I especially enjoyed the testimonies and baptisms- the clusters of people gathered in prayer before the Lord's Supper- I thought the videos and preparation were all great. I enjoyed our children's singing. I particularly enjoyed not hearing me preach. How great to see one of our key leaders, Benny Becht0l, baptize a couple he has known for years. It doesn't get much better than that.

I enjoyed the visual demonstrations of Christ at work in our fellowship.

One of my favorite moments was when Ray Sanders asked everyone who had been on a mission trip to come on to the stage and stand in front of the particular station that represented their mission partnership.

It was very meaningful to see so many standing on the stage.

The whole night was a great visual picture of how effectively our missional strategy is taking hold in people's hearts. But as great as the picture was for us, the reality of what the pictures demonstrated is so much greater than what we could possibly visualize.

One cannot walk away from an experience like last night without a sense that God's work in the local church is dynamic and effective. Despite the diagnosis of some that the church is on life support, barely breathing and close to it's last breath, what we experienced together yesterday says to us that the local church still works, and that younger generations are embracing it.

I'm not saying that we are not flawed. At times the church (not ours of course, wink wink, but the church in general- all those other churches) is ugly- short-sighted, self-infatuated and sinfully inflicted. Scripture is replete with examples of how God uses flawed people. Over and over again, we learn about soiled saints and pitiful prophets and patriarchs whose irredeemable qualities make us blush. They don't ask for His grace, look for it, deserve it of seem appreciative when they receive it. For the person who is looking for the Bible to be a book of virtues with heroes to emulate-it will fall way short and only be disappointing.

The Bride of Christ is not always Rachel, sometimes she is homely Leah.

Some will correctly point to the mistakes of the church. Some will see that the church has been an embarrassment- judgmental and narrow, listless and petty.

To all of those complaints we say "guilty as charged."

But we must also remember the important point that God uses the ugly and unattractive. He uses the poor and foolish to confound the wealthy and wise. He chose the unimpressive Able instead of Cain., Isaac and not first born Ishmael. He used the lying stealing, cheating mamma's boy Jacob and not the man's man Esau. The outcast cripple Mephibosheth was brought in and blessed, the other more impressive sons of Saul were torn to pieces.

Don't forget that it was through Leah and not radiant Rachel that the Lord brought the tribe of Judah. He used the spoiled Joseph and not Rueban- the younger and weaker are often used effectively and not the strong and well-connected. Isaiah tells us that there was nothing attractive about the crucified Christ. All of this simply to drive home the important point that it is because of His grace that we stand. It is not about how great or beautiful or attractive the church is, but how incredible His grace. The church is not the hero. Jesus is the hero.

It's not about how great and wonderful and attractive we are. It is about how deep His grace is.

"Nothing in my hands I bring...
"Simply to the cross I cling."

If scripture teaches us anything, it teaches us that God uses the broken vessels, the dispossessed and second born. I love the story by Brennan Manning about the valley girl who reads the New Testament for the first time:

"Wow, Jesus is like really into ragamuffins!"

Some say they don't like church. Others have just walked away, given up. "The church is ugly and irrelevant," they say.

Yes- but that's the whole point.

This way we can't get the glory.