All right, team, shall we begin?
Well, the subject of our inquiry this morning is Jesus as our model for mission.
! And the question before us is, how does Jesus serve as a model for imitation in our mission?
That is the mission upon which he himself sends us.
That is the mission to declare the good news of God's saving action in Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
Now, it may seem natural, maybe even obvious, that we would take Jesus as our model for mission.
For much of his call upon us is expressed in, follow me.
Tread the path that I have marked out for you.
And that we, his followers, would follow him seems a large part of what it simply means to be a Christian.
But, if we were to ask, is there a clear statement that Jesus' mission is to be the model for us,
I know of no better place to begin than Jesus' own statement in his high priestly prayer in John 17,
where, addressing the Father and referring to his disciples, he prays,
As you, Father, have sent me into the world, so I have sent them, disciples, into the world.
Verse 18.
This very parallel formula Jesus reaffirmed to his disciples upon his resurrection when he appeared among them.
Peace be with you.
It comes from the Latin, missio, I send.
Now, we might legitimately ask, what is the comparison Jesus is making or directing us to observe?
See, whenever we make a comparison and say, this thing is like or is to be like another,
we rightly ask, in what way?
What is the relevant point of comparison?
So, when Isaiah tells us, all flesh is like grass, we ask, in what particular way?
Is it that we flourish better, like grass, in summer than in winter?
Or that we both enjoy a good shower regularly?
You know, what does Isaiah have in mind?
We need to press and try to discern what the point of comparison is.
So, when Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, so send I you, we legitimately ponder,
in what way is it to be the same or similar?
Is the parallel simply in the fact of being sent and no more?
The Father sent me, and I send you.
Well, besides this being somewhat trivial in observation, what might make us think Jesus is saying more?
Something thicker.
Something deeper.
That his parallel is more substantive than superficial.
Is the parallel simply the fact of being sent?
Like someone might say, close the door as I close the door.
Meaning, simply, close it.
Without any bearing on the manner in which it's closed, as long as it just keeps the cat out.
Or in.
Or is it thicker and fuller?
Imitate the manner in which I close it.
First the latch.
Then the key.
Then the deadbolt.
Finally the chain.
What might make us think Jesus is similarly saying more?
That contained in his statement is something deeper and richer.
Not merely that we have the commonality of being sent.
But beyond that.
Where the as.
In as the Father sent me.
Means in the same manner in which I was sent by the Father.
Reflecting those same contours I send you.
Your sending should reflect the same or similar features as mine.
It should exhibit the same character.
That we are on solid ground here with this further claim is suggested by the way Jesus explicitly grounds and applies this parallel.
Consider how he often characterizes the relation between the Father, the sender, and himself, the sent one.
Jesus asserts explicitly a congruity and correspondence between the sender, the Father, and the Son, the sent one.
The Father pulses through the Son.
The Son is never energized by anyone else.
I can do nothing on my own.
John 5.30
The works that the Father has given me to accomplish.
The very works that I am doing.
Bear witness about me.
That it is the Father who has sent me.
John 5.36
That is, there is a characteristic sent of the Father upon all the Son's words and works.
Indeed, the Father has, quote, set his seal upon them.
John 6.27
Thus, Jesus can assert, I have come in my Father's name.
John 5.43
He, the Son, represents or re-presents.
He makes it as if the Father is present.
He acts and speaks for the Father by acting and speaking as the Father would were he there.
So it is that Jesus can say,
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.
And then conclude, since he was present and so presenting the Father,
from now on you do know him and have seen him.
John 14.7
Failing to grasp what Jesus was saying, Philip responds,
Oh, well, just show us the Father and it is enough for us.
And Jesus responds,
Have I been with you so long and still do you not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, show us the Father?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?
The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority,
but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
John 14.10
In other words, the words that I speak and the works that I do
are the Father's works for, because, the Father indwells me.
This, then, is the thick, deep, intimate connection between the sending Father and the sent Son.
Notice, it's more than imitation.
It is unindwelling.
And then, follows a stunning revelation that Jesus makes to his disciples.
So stunning that he prefaces it with his double truly.
Truly, truly, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do,
and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
And how does his going to the Father explain how we will do his works?
As Jesus explains,
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper,
even the Spirit who will dwell within you.
So here is the parallel explicated and explained.
The Father sends the Son.
The Son reflects and re-presents the Father,
because the Father indwells the Son.
But so it is with us, his disciples.
Jesus sends us.
And we can and do reflect and re-present Jesus,
because his Spirit dwells in us.
As the Father to me, so I to you.
As the Father sent me, so send I you.
Yes, Jesus is our model for mission.
Yes, we strive to imitate Jesus.
We walk after him missionally.
The apostle uses that very word.
I imitate Christ, 1 Corinthians 11.
But, and is this not thrilling?
But, we have something more.
Ours.
Every disciple's is an indwelling of Christ
by his Spirit, which energizes and affects this imitation,
this re-presentation of Jesus.
The indwelling Spirit bends us to the model of Christ.
The indwelling Spirit replicates that pattern.
The indwelling Spirit causes to spring up
that fountain of the Christ life in us.
Does that make sense?
Well, it's a critical foundation.
Okay, now comes the, some even more exciting part, perhaps.
I don't know.
Some also exciting part.
So, what is the pattern to which we disciples are to conform?
As the Father sent me, so I send you.
So, we naturally ask,
how did the Father send the Son?
Now, there are no doubt,
multiple and marvelous answers to this question.
But, I want us to focus our attention
on the, perhaps, most fundamental
and astonishing answer.
And, surely, it is this.
How did the Father send the Son?
As a human being.
He took on our flesh, John 1,
and dwelt among us,
like unto us.
And, this is the rich vein that we want to mine.
That the Father sent the Son
incarnationally.
Incarnationally.
We want to ask what it meant.
What it involved for the Son.
And, what it might mean and involve for us
in imitative pattern.
So, here we go.
The incarnation of the Son
meant first and foremost that
one,
he came himself
personally.
He didn't send an angelic embassy.
He didn't dispatch a prophet
who bore his message.
He didn't convey to us a text,
even inscribing it, perhaps,
with his own divine finger
on two tablets.
He came himself
in person
as Emmanuel,
God with us.
So, here's our question.
And, we can kick it around together
a little bit here.
What implications
might this feature
of the incarnation hold
that he came himself
personally
for us
in our missionary activity?
Could this aspect
be part
of the relevant model for us?
that the shepherd
himself
goes out
in search
of the sheep?
So, non-rhetorical.
So, let's
kick this around.
What could this mean for us?
What if we were to take this
as a parallel?
Yes?
So, one of the things
that was fascinating
to me about
Jesus' conversations
is that he
knew
where to take them.
I mean,
you know,
he knew how to
he knew the trajectory
in people's lives.
And, I don't know it.
And, it takes so much
listening
and learning
and getting to know
someone
before you
maybe suspect.
Maybe this is where
the consensus
is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and in order,
and insofar as
to do that well,
you wonder
if that can be done
remotely?
Probably not as effectively.
So, maybe there's
the significance
in actually,
you know,
personally showing up
among the people
that we're trying to reach.
I think that's,
that's,
that's true.
Yeah, yeah.
Anything else?
Yeah?
Yeah, I think it
highlights the importance
of, like,
the particular
and the personal
relative to the universal.
Yeah.
of their own role,
but, like,
Jesus didn't just
show up everywhere
to everyone
and heal everyone
immediately.
Yeah, yeah.
Because people
in particular,
it involves showing up
in a particular place
at a particular time.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Richard?
So,
coming in person
would,
to me,
at least suggest
that,
as Jesus came
as a patrufer,
so we
must come
as
Christophers.
Uh-huh.
A God
carrier,
we must go,
a patrufer,
a God carrier,
he carries God
to them,
and we carry Christ
to him,
a Christopher.
Yes, yes.
We can't do that
unless we do it
in person,
is my point.
Yeah, yeah,
the personal nature.
Yeah.
I think,
yeah, I mean,
does this model
not encourage us
to just,
to go,
to go out,
to seek out?
I mean,
it's interesting
to contrast this
with largely
the Old Testament
pattern.
You remember
how God says,
look,
I want you
Israel,
to obey my laws,
and that's,
then display
a culture
and a flourishing
so enviable
that the surrounding
nations would be
attracted,
and to say,
wow,
they must have
a pretty amazing
God.
Let's serve him.
Deuteronomy 4,
5 through 7
talks about this.
There are many
places.
We might call it
centripetal.
That is,
it draws
from the outside
toward
the inner center.
center,
a centripetal
model of missions,
if you will.
Is that what we have
in the New Testament?
Maybe something
of that,
but is there
not a contrast
here?
Where we're told,
go,
we're sent out,
go into all
the world.
It's a centrifugal,
not a centripetal,
a centrifugal,
out from the center,
going out.
The pattern
of the incarnation
is to go out,
to seek
and to save
the lost.
We go to them.
We don't expect
them to come to us.
I mean,
it would be nice
if they do,
and maybe some might.
Queen of Sheba.
But,
are we a going
out people
here at Trinity?
Are we a going
out people?
such
imitates
the incarnation
most
fundamentally.
Let me ask also,
could this feature
of the incarnation
that the Son
came himself
in person
also
maybe have
an implication
of the necessity
or at least
the desirability
of more than
simply
a proclamation
of the message?
It's never any
less than a
proclamation,
but could it be
involved
something more
than just
proclamation
thoughts?
Yeah,
I was thinking
Jesus came
embodying the
Father.
We come
embodying Christ,
whether we
memorize a
certain way
of presenting
the gospel
glory.
It's not
solely in
those words
or in
the
out of
traffic
programs
or whatever.
It's who
we are.
Yes.
It requires
more of us.
Yeah,
that's so
helpful.
So,
we certainly
want to
declare
the gospel,
but then
let's also
display it
perhaps
enacted in
our lives.
John
Stott
that says
in order
for the
gospel to
be credible,
it must
be visible
as well as
audible.
Matt,
yeah,
yeah.
Oh,
sure.
Go ahead,
Matt.
Smith.
Matt Smith.
So,
little
missionary
story.
Yeah,
yeah,
we like
missionary
stories.
In the
1950s,
people
were being,
missionaries
were going
to people
along a
river,
and the
traditional
way was,
you know,
canoe,
and then
they go
in,
you know,
to the
village and
talk with
them,
and then
some other
missionaries
came along
and said,
well,
that's
inefficient,
so they
got a
bigger river
boat.
Yeah.
So,
they didn't
have to,
you know,
camp out
with the
people.
Yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
But the
people said,
in reflecting
on it,
those people,
they don't
love us,
they don't
like us,
you know,
they stay
up by
themselves,
coming to
be with
us.
Yeah,
yeah,
absolutely.
Did you
answer
something?
Yeah,
I think
it has
some
interesting
implications
if we
view our
cast as,
if everyone
has heard
the message,
it seems
that God
is far
more
inefficient
than we
want him
to be.
Oh,
yeah,
that's
great.
He
accomplishes
his purposes.
And I
think we
need to be
careful because
we could
swing too
far and
over-condemn
mass
communication,
technology,
21st century,
lots of,
you know,
I think we
could condemn
that.
Right,
right,
right.
But I
do think
there's a
gravitational
center here.
Yeah,
yeah.
That we
need to
keep
thinking.
God
intended it
to be
personal.
Yeah,
yeah.
To be
people,
not just.
Yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
Yeah,
yeah.
Yeah,
that's
certainly
conspicuous.
I mean,
he ate
with people,
he enters
into their
homes,
he attends
their weddings,
he touches
lepers,
he weeps
at their
graves,
he cooks
meals for
people.
Yeah,
yeah.
So perhaps
Christian mission
should strive
not merely
to be
proclamation,
it's never
less than
that,
but to
strive to
extend
presence also
along with
that
proclamation.
Yeah,
please,
please.
I think
for those
going,
as Jesus
has
dependence
on the
Father,
in our
weaknesses
and
imperfections,
you know,
imperfect
loving,
imperfect
doing
of things,
we learn
to depend
on
the
Lord.
Yes,
yes.
As he
depended
on the
Father.
And then
part of
that
expression
to those
that we
are serving
is
there will
be suffering
involved.
And
that's
part of
the
humanity
of
going
where
I think
for those
that go,
when people
see them
have problems
and suffering,
it speaks
to them.
Yes,
yes,
yes.
Well,
I'm going to
come to that
in just a
moment because
I think that
that's something
very central
implication.
That's right.
so,
the incarnation
of the
son also
meant that
he came
to as
a human
person,
a human
person.
That is,
he took on
all the
concrete
particularities
of those
that he
sought to
reach.
He became
like us
in all that
our humanity
entailed,
apart from
sin.
Technically,
humanity
doesn't
entail sin.
It can be
genuinely
human.
But he
took on
all the
particularities,
all that
our humanity
entailed.
This meant,
for one,
that he took
on a body
and a soul.
And with it,
just as we've
been reminded,
he,
with it,
all of its
vulnerabilities
in a fallen
world.
to be
with us
was to
be with
us in
our
griefs,
afflictions,
sorrows,
and sighs.
He bore
them with
us.
Surely,
he has
borne our
griefs.
He bore
them with
us,
even before
he bore
them for
us.
Like us,
he was a
man of
sorrows,
acquainted
with grief.
He was
like us,
hungry and
thirsty,
wounded and
weary.
He knew
what it is
to weep
and to
bleed.
He knew
betrayal,
mockery,
and
abandonment.
It's
amidst the
horrors of
Buchenwald,
the Nazi
extermination
camp,
some Jewish
prisoners
decided to
put God
on trial
for
neglecting
his people.
Witnesses
were produced
for both
the prosecution
and the
defense,
different
rabbis
that were
there.
But they
found the
case for
the prosecution
was overwhelming
and they
found God
guilty of
abandonment
of them
and condemned
him.
But
the
incarnation
was
in our
suffering.
But he
came into
the worst
of it.
It is
here that
Edward
Shilito,
shattered by
the carnage
of the
First World
War,
was able to
find deep
comfort.
He wrote a
poem entitled
Jesus of the
Scars,
which ends
like this.
The other
gods were
strong,
but thou
wast weak.
They
rode,
but thou
didst
stumble
to a
throne.
But to
our wounds
only God's
wounds can
speak.
And not
a god
has wounds,
but thou
alone.
So how
might this
be a model
for us
in our
missions?
What might
this look
like for
us at
Trinity?
And what
might happen
if we
forget or
neglect this
feature of
incarnational
missions?
Thoughts?
It seems
like if we
don't pursue
this,
it means
really our
identity
is true
beings that
we no
longer
represent
God.
no longer
living in
this world,
this universe
with true
humanity
that we
abandon
the issue
of self-sacrifice
and motivated
because of
his sacrifice,
but if we
didn't deny
that,
we're not
really
thinking
that we
were called
to lie
and we
have not
wanted to
that.
so it
seems like
there's
something
about
truth
that God
is trying
to bring
for life
in Jesus.
to Jesus.
Yeah.
I think if we do not,
there's some words
like adapting culturally.
It reminds me of Paul
from the Southern Corinthians.
I became all thanks to all people
and I might live some.
It's an advertisement for next week
where we'll talk about Paul
as the missionary model.
Fantastic.
Thank you.
To be continued.
Go ahead.
But when we are incarnate
into communities
or groups of people,
we eat and drink like them.
We try to be part of their community as well.
Yeah.
But in certain cases
where Christianity is,
there's a certain culture
that's like enforced
or pressed upon the people
and it becomes just...
Yeah.
That's dominant.
Sure.
As Westerners,
I think we can appear
to come with everything.
Like from the eyes
of those that we may go to serve,
we may seem like Ubermensch.
Yeah.
Right.
But we have finances
and they don't always maybe understand
like people come and have this
if you're not working there.
And if you appear like you don't have sickness
and you're fine financially and physically,
it feels like somebody that they cannot touch.
Right.
They can't reach.
Yeah.
There certainly has been a history oftentimes
of missionaries
and I'm sure the issues were very complicated
and challenging.
but to go and to have a missionary compound
and walled
so you were immured
against a lot of the dangers
and threats
and very vulnerabilities
that the people outside are exposed to
that you are actually seeking to reach
and your unwillingness
to make yourself vulnerable
in the same ways that they are,
I think you're right.
It can become a real barrier
and maybe even a stumbling block
to those.
Yeah.
And then there was, of course,
a reaction to that.
It's not as if all missionaries.
The Lottie Moon Fund that we have,
her story is remarkable.
You know, there was a woman
who the Chinese knew
she loved them so much
that she would give anything for them.
And when she finally came home,
she pretty much died of hunger
on the way home
and when,
because there was famine in China at the time
and when they opened up her steamer trunk,
they found it completely empty.
She had given everything away.
Everything.
She had not kept herself
from any of the vulnerabilities
that those who she was seeking to reach
were exposed to.
Yeah.
Well, that the Son came as a human person
and became like us
in all our humanity entailed
also meant
that he took on a human culture.
Jesus communicated his message
in a particular language,
for example,
Aramaic.
He used the local vernacular,
translating the divine words
into the cultural forms
of first century Palestine.
He took up their questions
and inflected his message
through their cultural consciousness
and their categories,
their traditions,
their figures of speech.
The incarnation shows us
the astonishing truth
that the divine person
and message
can be expressed
in human form.
that human cultures
actually have
a carrying capacity.
They are capable
of bearing the divine.
Just as Mary,
the mother of our Lord,
is called Theotokos,
the bearer of God,
as Richard has reminded us,
so also human culture
can be the bearer
of the divine word.
God can speak
his divine words
in Aramaic
with a Nazarene accent,
I suppose.
And indeed,
any and every culture
can be the bearer
of the divine word,
a Logotokos,
or a bearer of the word,
a carrier,
Logokristos.
This is what
the great missiologist
Andrew Walls,
probably the greatest missiologist
of the 20th century.
I think he just died
quite recently.
What he has called
the indigenizing principle.
The indigenizing principle.
That is to say
that the gospel
can make its home
in any and every culture.
Now, later we're going to talk about
it's never completely at home
in any culture.
There's also a pilgrimizing principle
that's going to call us
to another place,
but it can,
nonetheless,
make its home
in any and every culture.
The indigenizing principle.
And that the gospel,
indeed,
seeks embodiment
within every culture.
And this recognition
of the implication
of the incarnation,
has made for Christian readiness
to translate the scriptures
into every language.
That's just the first impulse,
and it's a good, right impulse
for Christians.
And this in contrast
to Islam's view
of the exclusivity
of Arabic
as the sacramental language
of Muslims.
Kenneth Craig talks a lot about this.
And this is one of the emphases
of the late Yale missiologist,
Laman Sané,
grew up as a Muslim,
who argues that Islam
is structurally tied
to Arabic revelation,
whereas Christianity
is structurally committed
to translation
because of the incarnation.
Andrew Walsh writes,
incarnation is translation.
When God and Christ
became man,
divinity was translated
into humanity
as though humanity
were the receptor language.
See how natural that it is
for us to seek
to translate the scriptures?
So,
what might be some implications
for this,
of this,
for how we do missions?
How might it make us,
let's think of this
for a little bit,
how might it make us
think
of the receptor cultures
we seek to reach
with the gospel?
Any thoughts?
If they have a caring capacity
for the gospel,
how might it make us
think about these receptor cultures
and regard them?
Yeah.
One interesting thing
is it seems like
there are in different cultures
that even in our experience
we don't give analogies
within the culture
that can carry the message
in a way to the heart
that you can't find
intellectual or
by individual.
Yes, yes, yes.
that there are,
within each culture there are these resonances that will be there.
It's as if somehow God allowed something to grow up in the culture
that would be such a perfect receptor of the gospel
that when the gospel comes in,
the gospel illuminates this aspect,
but also this aspect illuminates the gospel itself.
So we go in with the expectation of cultures
that there are going to be some things in this culture
that will illuminate the gospel in a way that we might not have seen before,
almost certainly have not, because it's a very different culture.
So since the gospel can be at home, make its home,
sorry, never at home, but never completely at home,
since it can make its home in every culture,
what we want to do is we want to come in and seed the gospel into each culture
in their vernacular, maybe translating the scriptures,
translate the scriptures into the indigenous languages
and see how the gospel then germinates
and bears its native fruits in that particular soil.
And there will be expressions and embodiments of the gospel
that springing up from that particular cultural soil
will be new to the missionary.
There will be fresh discoveries of the applications of the gospel.
And this should give us a real openness to discovery.
And think about this.
It will take the whole people of God,
drawn from every tongue, tribe, and nation,
to discover, display, and delight in
the whole glory of Christ in his gospel.
It will take the whole people of God
to discover, display, and delight in
the whole glory of Christ.
So we come in seeking to plant the seeds,
but so eager to see what color is the flower
going to come up out of this soil?
What will it be like?
Andrew Walls.
I mean, this keeps us from being too paternalistic
about these things.
Andrew Walls has a wonderful image.
He says, imagine a great concert hall.
And we all, as Christians, we all have our seats
from all these different cultures,
and we're watching the same drama, and that's the gospel.
But some of us, depending upon where you're seated,
you're going to have a slightly different view.
Someone might be right up close to the orchestra pit,
so they pick up right away that little light pizzicato,
indicating that the villain is making an appearance soon,
and they notice.
Maybe, maybe you have a seat way up
in the nosebleed seats,
but you kind of have a nice, broad,
bird's-eye view of the whole thing.
Maybe you're sitting through your night,
so you see, just from your view,
the dagger of the assassin
before anyone else,
and you're attentive to that.
You get the picture.
And everybody has a slightly different take on this thing,
and then when the intermission comes,
you all get there, and over your tee,
you're talking about how exciting it was.
Did you, oh no, I missed that.
I hadn't seen that.
That's fantastic.
Oh, I see how that fits together with this.
I mean, what a wonderful, wonderful collective experience
to see how the gospel shimmers and shines
and is radiant from all these different angles.
So it's a great image.
So one other question.
What happens in our mission
when we forget that particular implication?
What can happen?
Yeah, my back.
Well, it's great to me,
just picking up on that,
that this dynamic makes,
hopefully, makes us more self-reflective
and aware that our own,
the thing that we've grown up in,
and this is such a danger for Western culture,
Christendom is to think,
well, we, our Christianity is acultural.
Exactly.
Acultural, not cultural.
Yeah, it doesn't reflect,
excellent.
Yes, yes, yes.
It's universal.
Yeah.
Rather than saying,
no, this is a Western expression of this,
and we need to continue to have the humility
to reflect on our own culture
and where we're culturally captive,
where we shouldn't be.
Yeah.
And, as you were saying,
then learn, because, yeah,
and then learn from others
and just grow in our richness of understanding
by having that humility.
And there are lots of tricky things
in the youth of that.
Yeah.
No, I think that's key.
It's really important.
Yeah.
It's interesting that,
so the Puritan,
the early Puritan missions in New England
thought that, you know,
just illustrating how, you know,
if we think that our culture is not a culture,
it's just normative,
and we prefer our culture,
perhaps even impose it,
our cultural forms on those we seek to reach,
really that's just kind of cultural imperialism.
And the Puritans,
and I love the Puritans,
the early Puritans in New England
where they were trying to reach the natives,
they expressed again and again
the need to,
I'll use their term,
to civilize the natives
before they gospelize.
That's also their term,
gospelize the natives.
They said, we gotta get them,
first, before we can give them the gospel,
we gotta get them to, you know,
to wear the right clothing
and to settle down,
not be nomadic,
settle down in a proper way
in villages with picket fences.
You know,
we can't do this church thing
off the back of a horse.
It just doesn't work.
We gotta civilize them
before we can gospelize them.
And they really believe that.
I mean, we kind of laugh,
but they really believe this.
This shaped the missionary enterprise
until David Brainerd
goes down,
and he's at the Forks of the Delaware
and cross Wixong,
and he's preaching to these
as yet uncivilized Native Americans.
And, I mean, the description's fantastic,
but it's just like a Pentecost.
You know, and he hears this mighty rushing wind,
and they're starting to rejoice in the Lord,
and they're soundly converted.
And they are still savages,
as they're described as.
But they are obviously regenerated.
And this just completely shook
the categories of the Puritans.
And they finally,
and kudos on them,
they shifted.
They said,
oh my goodness,
we never realized.
We don't need to civilize the Natives
before we gospelize them.
God can make Christians of them
without making fine Englishmen of them.
And maybe some of the clues in this
would have been from Acts 15
and the Jerusalem Council,
where do the Gentiles need to become Jews first
before they can become Christians?
They need to become culturally Jewish?
And the answer that they concluded was,
no, no.
So this is so important.
Well, finally,
and it's just going to be finally for us this morning,
for we're far from exhausting this topic
of the implications of the incarnation.
But finally for us,
the incarnation of the Son
meant an emptying that was costly.
An emptying that was costly.
As Paul writes to the Philippians,
though he was in the form of God,
he did not count equality with God
a thing to be grasped or hung onto,
but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of humanity.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on the cross.
Or as Paul expresses the incarnation
to the Corinthians,
though he was rich,
yet for your sakes,
he became poor
so that you,
by his poverty,
might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8 and 9.
When Jesus,
on the eve of his death,
wrapped himself in a servant's towel
and washed his disciples' feet,
that stunning act of self-abasement
was no isolated gesture,
but emblematic of his whole incarnate life.
I have come not to be served,
he explained,
but to serve and to give my life.
Mark 10.45.
When the Father sent the Son,
he gave him a cup.
Contained in that cup
was a life of pouring himself out
in sacrificial service,
even unto death.
Regarding his mission,
he said,
shall I not drink the cup
that the Father has given me?
John 18.11.
And as the Father sent me,
so I send you.
Jesus gives a cup
to each disciple.
As Jesus solemnly asked
the sons of Zebedee,
are you able to drink the cup?
They rather naively responded
with breezy confidence,
oh, we're able.
Matthew 20.22.
But the cup we are each given
is one of taking up a cross
and dying daily in our mission.
It involves,
as with the master
whom we follow,
a costly,
self-emptying sacrifice.
Unless a grain of wheat
fall to the ground and die,
it remains alone.
But if it dies,
it bears much fruit.
Whoever seeks to preserve her life
shall lose it,
but whoever gives up her life
shall gain it.
Well, the sons of Zebedee
did drink the cup
that Jesus gave them.
James, it seems,
was the first martyr
of the apostles.
He was beheaded by Herod Agrippa
as related in Acts 12.
For his brother John,
the cup was different.
His was a suffering
of a long endurance.
He was the only one of the 12
to die naturally
after a lifetime
of costly faithfulness.
We are each sent out
in mission
with a cup to drink
given to us by Christ.
And his own
self-emptying incarnate life
gives us some indication
of the nature of that cup.
So, finally, our question,
what might be some
of the implications
of this feature
of the incarnation
for our thinking
about and living out
our mission?
Any thoughts?
I've just been reflecting
really for all of these aspects.
Yeah, yeah.
It has to come out of love
because you can't,
like, you can't, like,
look for those touch points
in the culture
that you despise.
Yeah.
You can't seek to, you know,
enter into it
if you hate it.
Yeah, yeah.
It's so inventive.
But you have to love these people.
And that's true for, I mean,
suffering and giving stuff up.
If you don't do that,
unless there's love.
Yeah, yeah.
I think that's so key.
And this is what kind of goes back
to that first foundation
where if we're just called
to imitate,
here, be like Christ
in these ways,
who could do it
but for the fact
of the indwelling spirit
who,
and we're going to see this
a little bit
maybe next week,
causes to, you know,
so death works in me
but life in you.
Paul is able to pour himself out
for the benefit
of the spiritual life
of those he's seeking
because the spirit
wells up the life
of Christ in us,
the character of Christ in us.
Supreme part of which
is love,
is self-giving love.
Yeah.
I mean, it's,
yeah,
and only for love's sake
are you willing
to take on these hard things.
And, you know,
the history of missions,
I mean,
I wish I had another hour
to illustrate this.
You think of the Moravians
that are trying desperately
to get to the slaves,
to reach the slaves
in the Caribbean
and they found no way.
so they sold themselves
into slavery
so they could be beside
the slaves they were seeking
to reach.
Or other Moravian missionaries
that would go into
leper colonies
two by two,
every year they would go in
to preach the good news there
knowing that they would
never come out.
They'd just be replaced
every two,
every year
by the next two
and the next two.
And it went on
for about a century.
Yeah,
it's,
it's remarkable.
Yeah.
Any other observations
or implications for us?
Thoughts?
Yeah,
yeah,
Matt.
An application for me
is this.
I felt about six months ago
God saying to me,
Matt,
evangelize your neighborhood
and various things
have happened since then.
Uh-huh.
But just today,
I think an application is,
Matt,
when you take the dog
for a walk,
instead of listening
to a book,
which,
you know,
isolates you
from interaction
with people
as you go through
the neighborhood,
uh,
you know,
pray for them
and,
uh,
be ready to make
the most of every
opportunity,
uh,
you have to pray for
and interact with
the community.
That's excellent.
I mean,
that's incarnational.
Wanting to put yourself
in terms of a presence
in their space
that's shared
rather than isolate yourself.
That's fantastic,
Matt.
I,
I did the,
I decided to do
the same thing
in the gym
where just not use this
because I want to be
attentive to God's
providences
and just see
what sort of
conversations can come up
and,
and this is,
usually communicates,
don't bother me,
I'm doing something.
Uh,
yeah.
I mean,
there'd be so much more
so I just,
I just commend to you
the incarnation
as,
as a model.
You know,
there,
there's a,
it seems also to shape
the tone of our mission.
He came in humility
as we've said.
So how could we be
arrogant and triumphalistic?
It's excluded.
You know,
when he,
he,
he comes,
he,
he heals bodies.
He feeds the hungry.
So this seems like
the whole person matters.
The mission is hopeful
for us
because of the incarnation.
we know God has not
abandoned this world.
It's not simply
rescuing souls
from a doomed
material reality.
Rather,
participating in God's
renewal of all things.
It's holistic.
I mean,
there's so many aspects
that are,
um,
bound up in
the incarnation.
Well,
let's,
uh,
conclude then
with,
uh,
this remark
by John Stott
where he writes,
all authentic
mission
is incarnational
mission.
All authentic
mission
is incarnational
mission.
Uh,
well,
let's conclude
there.
And,
uh,
next week,
Lord willing,
we will,
uh,
take up a little
companion study
looking at the
apostle Paul
as a model
for our
missions
and missionary
activity.
So,
uh,
thank you
and hopefully
see you
next week.
Thank you.