Incarnational Ministry
- Jerry Witham
- May 21, 2008
- Series: The Church
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Our philosophy deals with our mindset, our system of values and principles that we have as a church. Where do we find our philosophy? We find it from Jesus and His Word. He is our source. One element of our philosophy is found in John 1.14.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1.14
This speaks of the incarnation (in-fleshing) of the Eternal Son of God, Jesus becoming a human being, not forsaking His divine nature. We see here that divinity and humanity are not mutually exclusive. Jesus could be both at the same time. The eternal Word became a true man. Jesus is God-Expressing-Himself.
Within this verse we find that God desires incarnational ministry. It was His mindset for moving forth His aim and focus of spreading a passion for His glory to all peoples and nations. If this was Jesus’ way of doing things should we not have the same mindset?
There are two different paths we can take. The first, is the path of incarnational ministry. The second, is the path of attraction ministry. Incarnational ministry is about going and telling, while attraction ministry is about coming and seeing. Our desire at The Ridge is to be an incarnational ministry.
Paul says in Ephesians 1.23, And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The Word of God takes on flesh today when one is saved by grace through faith. They are called the church, the body of Jesus and they are to fill every nook and cranny on the earth with the glory of God.
How does this happen? Jesus did it by dwelling among. He came down from heaven to earth and literally tabernacled among us. Jesus wants us to model our ministry after His incarnation. Incarnational ministry is the idea that you and I are truly being the church, the body of Jesus, in our homes with our families, spouse and children; in our neighborhoods; at work; at the park; at the soccer field; at school; or at the gym. Whatever your sphere of influence is and that is wherever you are is where ministry is to be happening. That was Jesus’ philosophy and so shall it be ours.
Who is the us? It is the world, the culture and the community we live in. The world is messy and ministering to it will not be easy. In fact, incarnational ministry has promised to it persecution. We will encounter people of all types just like Jesus did. From the prostitute to the woman caught in adultery to the demon possessed. He came to dwell among sinners, which we all are and He wants us to do the same.
John says when Jesus dwelt among them they saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. So, as we minister we are to display the glory of the Father in our life, meaning who God is, just as Jesus did by the power and work of the Holy Spirit. There is a quote that goes something like this, Share the gospel and if you have to, use words. This can be a passive cop-out mentality. Yes, we are to display the glory of God in our life through the way we live, but we are to also speak of His glory, telling of His gospel often.
And we do this full of grace and truth. Jesus came as the Benefactor of Grace looking for sick people, to heal them, so He could work in and through them for His glory. As we minister incarnationally we are to be grace-filled. Jesus also came in truth, as the truth (John 14.6). He is the author of truth and everything about Him is true. We are to minister representing the person of truth sharing the truth of Him.
