“The Incarnation”
“An Incarnational Witness: Just Do It!”

(Part 4)

During the four weeks of Advent we have been thinking about the meaning of the Incarnation – God taking on human flesh in the person of Jesus. In Jesus God revealed His will and purposes for our salvation. Because God became one of us, God is approachable.

In the last two sermons I have been saying how the church is the incarnation of Christ and the extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world, and how the church is a mix of both the divine and the human: God is present in a special way, but the church is made up of very human individuals. Today, let’s take it a step further. If the church is the incarnation of Christ and the extension of Jesus in the world, how will the world be able to see Christ in us? I think what is needed is what we may call an “incarnational witness”.

If our witness is to be effective, it has to be embodied in loving deeds. Words are not enough!

(Show slide of woodcut). This artist’s sketch is a bit unnerving to me as a preacher! But it could represent the church and Christians today, not just those who stand behind a pulpit. For so often, we are long on words, and short on deeds!

If the world could be won for Christ by talk and discussion, churches would be full and there would hardly be any pagans left! I can’t imagine the number of hours I have spent in church meetings where we have sat around and talked about ministry. We have discussed reaching out to hurting people and to the poor and truly needy; we have talked about how to win people to Christ. But so many times, very little was done about it!

Now talking about Jesus is important! An increasing number of people today know little or nothing about Jesus – what He said and did, who He claimed to be. And I confess that one of the ways we in leadership have failed in the church is by not spending more time teaching practical ways of communicating our faith to others. Words are important. But words are not enough!

Consider several verses in the Book of James: “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” (James 2:15-16).

There is an incredible parable that Jesus told about how important it is to reach out to others in practical, self-forgetful, loving deeds. It is in Matthew 25, and it is often called the parable of the last judgment. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left” (Matthew 25:31-33).

There are some who receive words of blessing and inherit God’s kingdom. Who are they?
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35-36). These people did good to Jesus! Their reply when they were told this? “When?” they said. Jesus’ answer: When you did it to the least.

They gave food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty. They welcomed the stranger, and clothed the naked. They took care of the sick, and visited those in prison.

Then the story goes on to describe those condemned to eternal punishment, and why. It was not because they didn’t believe in God, or had the wrong theology, or went to the wrong church. They failed to do practical, loving deeds to those who needed help and encouragement, and thus failed to do it to Jesus.

In their astonishment they also ask the same question as those who received the kingdom. When? When did we withhold this from you, Lord?

Did you pick up on the strange twist here that relates to our topic of the incarnation? Jesus is incarnated - Jesus Himself is physically present - in people around us and their needs! Jesus is embodied in believers, in His body called the church. But Jesus is also embodied in people around us who need to be cared for.

How do any of us show our love for Jesus? Have you ever thought of that? There is only one way, and that is to extend our love to people.

Jesus is incarnated in people who are hungry and thirsty. I read just the other day that there are 500 million people on the verge of starvation at this very moment. 100 million persons are surviving by eating garbage. These statistics are hard to fathom. There are people in Lancaster County (mostly elderly persons), who have to decide whether to spend what little they have on food, or on medicine. They cannot afford both.

Praise God for food banks, soup kitchens, and individuals who get food to people who need it. The Meals On Wheels program is a wonderful ministry providing meals to persons who probably would not eat a nutritious meal.

Jesus is incarnated in the stranger who needs to be welcomed.

This is one of the reasons why our hospitality ministry, HUGS, is so important. A pastor received a letter one day from some people who had moved from another town and attended his congregation. The letter said, “When my wife and I moved here three years ago, we felt the need to make contact with a local church. We hoped to make new friends. When we went to church we heard good sermons but our hope that we would make real contact with our fellow Christians in the same pew came to nothing. We often left church as lonely as when we came in.”

Jesus is incarnated in people who need clothing. Our “Friends Connection” small group clothing giveaway in the Fall is a good example of one way to fulfill this need. The “Matthew 25” store in Lititz ministers not just to people who need reasonably priced clothing, but to Jesus. I read a recent newspaper article stating that half of all the children born in the world are born into poverty. Jesus is in those children.

Jesus is incarnated in sick people. I believe it is a good thing that we’ve expanded this church’s ministry to the sick and shut-ins by having lay people serving as parish visitors, and not just relying on the pastors to do that. You lay caregivers, you are doing this to Jesus! I am so thankful for you who cook meals and take them to families where someone’s just gotten out of the hospital, or is unable to provide meals. When these meals were brought to our home following my surgery last year I appreciated more than ever before this practical expression of love. You are doing it to Jesus!

Jesus is incarnated in people in prison. We might think it difficult that Jesus would be in them! Thank God for Christian outreach to inmates and their families. For a few years now several people from this church have conducted the Alpha Course at the Lancaster County Prison. I know this is a ministry close to Pastor Charlie’s heart. Jeff Weit has served in this way, and Bob Shaubach is currently involved in this ministry. Perhaps others of you would be willing to do this.

For years the battle lines have been drawn between Christians in two different camps. There are the “liberals” who tend to focus more on social action, addressing the needs of people in society, and working for social justice. On the other hand, there are “conservatives” or “evangelicals” who stress our personal relationship with God, and winning individuals to Christ. Of course, such a division is not found in the Biblical message. Both are part of the mandates of Scripture for God’s people. Thankfully, we are seeing a greater realization of this today!

Rick Warren is the head pastor of the dynamic Saddleback Church in California. Over the years that church has won literally hundreds to Christ. But he also encourages members to get involved in their community. He has recently become a national celebrity because of the stupendous success of his book The Purpose Driven Life, and the millions of copies it has sold. He tells how he prayed and asked God how to use his newfound notoriety. God impressed upon him that the purpose of influence is to help those who have no influence. In keeping with this theme, his huge congregation recently committed to feeding all 38,000 homeless people in Orange County, California for 40 days.

Tony Campolo is an evangelical leader who also has won many to a personal relationship with Christ. Yet years ago he established a ministry in the heart of Philadelphia and other American cities, and a mission effort to the poorest of the poor in Haiti, helping native Haitians to establish small businesses through which they can become self-supporting.

I once heard him preach in the Allentown area. When he gave the invitation to follow Christ, it was not just to “give your heart to Jesus”, but it was to commit to being involved in something that would address the real needs of people in today’s society.

If our witness for Christ is to be effective in today’s world, it needs to be incarnated in loving deeds to people. Reggie McNeal is a church consultant and a futurist who talks about what evangelism will look like in the 21st century. He illustrates it by telling about the time his wife Kathy went with a group of Christians to New York City after 9/11. Their purpose for going there was to help clean apartments that overlooked ground zero.
He said that ashes were piled two feet high in many apartments. Ashes were found inside closed file cabinets. People were paying anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 to have their apartments cleaned; this group did it at no cost.

As members of the group traveled throughout the city in their disaster relief uniforms people asked them three questions: Where are you from? What are you doing here? And, why?

His wife would say, “I’m Kathy, from South Carolina.” “I’m here to clean apartments
for free. Reggie McNeal says that by the time people got to the third question, his wife could have told them anything. But she answered the question, “Why?” by saying, “We have come in the name of Jesus.”

McNeal goes on to say how Christians have been very adept at giving out the truth without love. But Scripture says we are to present the truth with love!

Christ is not only incarnated in His people, the body of Christ. Christ is also fleshed out in people around us in need. Our witness must be an “incarnational witness”. Or, to put it another way, just DO it!

Harry L. Kaufhold, Jr.
Preached at Lititz United Methodist Church, December 19, 2004

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