BRANCHES December 2015

SOUTHWOOD
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INCARNATIONAL MINISTRY by Sarah Niemitz
Every Christmas we celebrate the incarnation of Christ—the
wondrous fact that the king and creator of the universe would
take on flesh and be born into a “low-income family,” live as a
displaced refugee in Egypt, and eventually lay down His life on the
cross. Christ’s earthly ministry was one of sacrifice. Isaiah describes
Him as “a man of sorrows acquainted with suffering,” who “bore
our grief and carried our burdens” (Isaiah 53:3-4).
Nothing about Christ’s earthly ministry protected His status as Son
of God and creator of the universe. In fact, as Philippians 2 says,
“though He was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking
the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being
found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient
to death, even death on a cross.” The incarnation of Christ meant
taking on the appearance and the sufferings of a hurting people. It
meant abandoning the comforts and privileges that were rightfully
His in order to demonstrate God’s love not just for hurting people,
but for GOD’S ENEMY.
Christians, as Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), must
realize our lives and ministry ought to reflect the truths we preach
about our Savior’s incarnation. Obviously none of us is leaving our
heavenly throne to live among mortals, so what does it look like
for us “already mortal people” to show a watching world the lifechanging
reality of Christ’s incarnation?
In Philippians 2 Paul says it ought to look like this:
“If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, and
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete
my joy be being of the same mind [....] Do nothing from rivalry
or conceit, but in humility consider others more significant than
yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but
also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves,
which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the very form
of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but made Himself nothing, ....”
It is important to note that Paul does not call us to BE Christ—He
calls us to “have this mind among ourselves which is ours IN Christ
Jesus.” We are never called to be saviors; we are only called to
point to our Savior, and He is the one who gives us the mind to
do so.
Having this mind among us first means that we lay
down our privilege and our position for the sake of
others. Instead of defensively trying to protect our
safety, power, comfort, or wealth, we are willing to lay those things
down for the sake of another. If this sounds dangerous or countercultural,
then you are hearing it correctly. This is not a call to liberal
politics; it is an exhortation toward Christ-likeness. It is important
that as Christians we constantly examine our hearts for places where
we have idolized our personal comfort, space, money, culture, or
rights. Our Savior, the one with the most rights of anyone, willingly
laid them all down so that sinners like you and me might have the
“right to be called children of God” (John 1:12).
Second, it means that we willingly enter other people’s pain as
reflections of a Savior who took all of our burdens and knows
all of our suffering. Paul exhorts the Galatian church to “bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).
This means listening to and walking with others even when their
pain makes us uncomfortable. Often our quick attempts to fix
people or situations come from the instinct to avoid pain. We use
“helpfulness” as a protective distance—dispensing band-aids
rather than carrying burdens. On the other hand, “entering in”
requires that we first feel the hurt of someone else before offering
solutions. It asks us to walk in their shoes before we try to give them
new ones, and it usually leaves us crying out to our Heavenly Father
to heal wounds too big for us to handle.
Have you ever considered listening to someone who has
experienced the hurt and oppression of racism in America—not
entering into a debate, but actually seeking to help them bear the
burden of that pain? Or have you considered applying the biblical
concept of gleaning in your life—intentionally not reaping all of the
profit that is “rightfully yours” so that others might find work and
dignity on the margins? Maybe your family is called to use your
vacation time and money to go on a mission trip to learn from and
encourage our brothers and sisters in another part of the world.
While reflecting the incarnation of Christ will look different for
each one of us, we know that whatever form it takes,
it will look like radical self-sacrifice as we
lay down our “rights” for the
sake of others.
10 DECEMBER 2015 | SOUTHWOOD.ORG