Dear Trekker,
As we have walked together through person and pen over the years, you have consistently heard one recurring theme… “Christ in you the hope of glory”. I, like the apostle Paul and hopefully you too, seek to proclaim Him only, admonishing, teaching everyone with wisdom, encouraging so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end only, I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me. (Trekker, check out once againSt. Paul’s opening words to the Colossians, and weigh them carefully.)
A few days ago, upon reading the hard rebukes (Matthew 23) to the religious people of his day, the Pharisees, I was challenged to remember the weighty (more important) matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness, so as not to be a hypocrite in my day. Hypocrisy settles into our lives in multiply ways… e.g. spinning our words as well as our behavior!
Perhaps I need not remind you (but I must do so to make the point) that “incarnational thinking” is the foundation concept of all my philosophy; the foundation of life, the sine qua non of life itself. What is true must be embodied to be real, understood and effective. Hypocrisy is a turn-off because it isn’t real… it is not genuine, not sincere! Incarnational thinking rose to the fore in the modern era as a description of genuine faith! Ergo, as God is/does, we should be/do!
Colleagues in ministry on behalf of Christ over the years know me well for one of my convictions… ministry begins and ends with understanding the concept of being “Jesus with skin on”. Outcomes cannot be programmed. But we can be as Jesus would be today, i.e. a servant leader with impeccable integrity, a genuine reproduction/incarnation of the Father. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us to be His representatives, his ambassadors. To accomplish this over-arching tasking, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit. We do nothing in our own strength, trekker, ever. We have no strength but what we are given, both naturally and supernaturally. “Christ in you” is realized in the gifting to us of the Holy Spirit. Incarnational thinking rests solely on the foundation of the Spirit within, the Holy Spirit given to each person who believes “God’s story” of redemption/forgiveness in Christ, who grants us the ability to live as Him, with Him. (The initial announcement of this “essence of life” phenomena is John 20:19-23. Read it again, trekker, and let its significance soak in.)
Earnestly I insist that being “Jesus with skin on” is a theological understanding before it is a methodological concept of how we are to do ministry. Both reformers Martin Luther and C.S. Lewis in the last century reflect this truth by the phrase, “we are to be a race of little Christs.” Hence, all ministry literally begins with the ministry of presence, the Presence in our life of the Holy Spirit, our living then as Christ, and ministering in the name of Christ as we proclaim the historical fact and deeds of Christ, i.e. incarnation, teaching of truth, death once-and-for-all, and resurrection of the body, Jesus being first heir of the grace of God. Trekker, this I believe and as Luther said, “Here I stand!”
So you can imagine my chagrin when a current publication of wide influence, Christianity Today, presents an article in its current issue, “The Problem with Incarnational Ministry”, with the subtitle, “What if our mission is not to “be Jesus” to other cultures, but to join with the Holy Spirit?” Whew… talk about a strawman! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! Maybe the article is simply a trial balloon to get people to think? I hope so, but I fear it is not.
False dichotomies are ubiquitous and always “out there.” I think they abound because of the fallen nature of our minds. Our minds need to be renewed! (Romans 12:1, 2) Now let’s be clear… a dichotomy (a nice Greek word) is literally a division or separation of two things in contradiction or different from each other. A false dichotomy is such a statement of separation assumed in the premise as being true, when it is in fact, not! If anyone assumes one can “be Jesus with skin on” “without the Holy Spirit” he is “whistling Dixie”. It is not going to happen. The Holy Spirit first joins us, enters us by Divine initiative, then we willfully join Him in redemption, which begins and ends with our “being found in Christ”. This fact is both message and method. There is no separation of message and method in the nature of God, nor should there be in our lives or ministry. (This is a significant truth. Read such a seminal passage of scripture as Micah 6:8 in this light. What does God require…that we do justice, love mercy, and walk as a humble servant in the process.)
False dichotomies likely are the result of underdeveloped, non-comprehensive thinking, and are not worthy of serious scholarship nor do they birth effective ministry. The Lord, too, encountered them repeatedly in dialogue with the religious leaders of his day. One which immediately pops into my mind is found in John’s gospel, Chapter 9. “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” A man could not be born blind except for a specific sin, i.e. of his or of his parents. Wrong! False premise! “Neither this man nor his parents sinned”, said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Trekker, the essence of all true thought and ministry must be “the work of God displayed in our life.” This is best understood when we live changed lives (i.e. the blind see) and become “little Christs”! Like Christ! Incarnational thinking/ministry is a phrase which 1) embodies a presence (the Holy Spirit), 2) identifies performance “like another”, Jesus, 3) inculcates a methodology of service, and 4) is a blending of proclamation and practice, a missiology of “going to”. The incarnation in our body, a form, is the Holy Spirit, the force.
Religious leaders in any day must not countenance false dichotomies but by all means, ferret them out. What is the heart of any matter? The heart of ministry is Jesus, lived and proclaimed. He is “THE answer”, as the plaque in my “man cave” reminds me. We proclaim Him alone, by lip and life, crucified, risen and alive evermore! We know no man (or woman) except after this fact! Ministry on any other foundation is not… it is pure folly.
Trekker, be “Jesus with skin on”. It can be by Him coming alive in you. It is the mystery of the Gospel… and surely the genuine “weighty matter.”
Your friend and brother,
Jim Meredith
