METHODIST CHURCH NIGERIA - Online Study Bible

The doctrine of the Incarnation describes the mystery of God becoming flesh,
taking on human form and experiencing life as a person (John 1:14). In the
wisdom of God, which so often appears to us as mystery, God chose to
experience humanity fully. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, was both fully human
and fully divine. In Christ, God experienced what it means to be human (2
Cor 5:19). He felt joy, hardship, temptation, pain, anxiety, frustration and
humiliation. Jesus Christ was also fully divine. In Jesus Christ, we see, though
difficult to comprehend fully, perfect humanity and divinity. Jesus Christ was
God/human.
That should not surprise us, for God foreshadowed that plan in the life of
Jesus Christ. God worked in the world through his own Son. Jesus, with his
life and ministry, brought the presence of God from heaven to earth. The
Incarnation reminds us that God is not a distant landlord, uninterested in the
world. In Jesus Christ, God became a human player in human history. When
we minister on behalf of Jesus Christ, we, through the power of the Holy
Spirit, continue what God began in him (John 20:21).
Where do we see evidence of this divine-human partnership in our ministry?
Take a typical part of a pastor's ministry: hospital visitation. What happens
when we go to the hospital and hold the hand of a sick church member, and
he or she is comforted? Someone might say that the caring touch and
compassion of another human being comforts the patient. An incarnational
understanding of ministry, however, will not let us stop the explanation
there. We believe that we mediate the presence of God. We don't understand
how it takes place, but God's Holy Spirit comforts the patient through our
presence (Matt 18:20), a divine-human encounter.
Evangelism, being an aspect of ministry, demonstrates this divine-human
character. Evangelism begins with, is sustained by and ultimately ends with
God. We do not convert people. We do not "win" anyone to the Lord. We do
not make Christians. God does. Therefore, evangelism is a divine task, though
it has a human dimension. We are workers with God (1 Cor 3:9); God
chooses to work through the gifts of people. We do not merely report events
that took place two thousand years ago. We are recipients of the gospel and
heralds of good news that is available now. We have experienced and we
celebrate God's grace, and we long for others to join our celebration.
Preaching is a divine-human endeavour. The Holy Spirit works with the
preacher as sermons are prayed about, planned, composed and preached.
The Holy Spirit also works in the lives of our hearers. Sunday after Sunday, a
faith community gathers to encounter the presence of God. People come to
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