The Incarnation and Mission-Mindedness

When I learned that I would need to write some material to fill in the remaining time for tonight’s service, I began searching through several passages of Scripture to attempt to find one that would present a passionate call for mission-mindedness. During my preparation, I landed upon John 20:21 which is our text for this evening and immediately knew that this would be the text for us to consider. The reason being is that we have officially entered the Christmas season and as we wind down our focus on missions, I examined this text by asking myself, “How does the incarnation of Jesus Christ influence the heart of the Church toward missions?”

You see, in the greater context, Christ has risen victoriously from the grave and has presented Himself to His disciples in His physical body. As He addresses them, He greets them with a soothing greeting of peace two times followed by the charge that we will find ourselves examining here tonight. In this assignment, it is made clear that Jesus is commissioning His followers as the Father sent Him and that their task would be to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world and that it is through this Spirit empowered gospel mission that souls would find the forgiveness of sins. This is what is fleshed out in verses 21-23. Now, with this in mind, I want us to fall back to verse 21 where we will spend our time exploring how the incarnation, or the bodily assumption of Jesus Christ influences our own burden for the souls of men around us. This question stems from the statement that Christ makes concerning the Father sending Him.

So, why exactly did the Father send Jesus? In short, the Son of God came into the world to redeem men from their sins. This is summarized in John 1:12-13 and John 3:16

John 1:12–13 NKJV

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

You see, in the beginning God created mankind for His glory. Adam was to obey the commands of God, subdue the Earth, and reflect the glory of God into the world. But as we all know, Adam fell and with him all of humanity. With this, we were hopelessly separated from God, bound for eternal separation beneath the wrath of God, and eternally lost in our sins. But in Genesis 3:15, God promises a deliverer who would crush Satan. And this all foreshadows Christ. The eternal, unending, Son of God stepped into time and added to Himself a human nature that He could come and face the life that we face, conquer where we could only fail, and give Himself up as a sacrifice for our redemption. Through the incarnation, mankind is seated in heaven with Christ even know and will one day rule and reign with Him forevermore. 1 John 3:1-3 promises us that one day we will see Him and be like He is. But what does this mean for us in regards to missions? This question leads us to our first point:

The Incarnation Calls Us to Assume Our Identity as Partakers in His Mission.

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus is walking beside the Sea of Galilee when He sees two men, Simon Peter and Andrew and He says to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Now, what is intriguing to me is that if we aren’t careful we can read right over this without catching the thrust of this passage. These are men who are professional fisherman by trade and Jesus says, “If you will follow me, I’ll make you something you’re not. I’ll make you fishers of men.” As I was looking into this, it struck me that “fishers” isn’t used as though it were a verb communicating an action that is preformed and not preformed. But it’s used here as noun as though to say, “If you will follow me, you yourself will be something new.” To put it plainly, in following Christ our very identities are changed and from that relationship flows a ministry defined as fishermen of men.

What I am getting at is this: In Hebrews 2:9 we read “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” From this we understand that Jesus assumed a human nature for our redemption. And since that is the case, I am arguing that as we meditate on the incarnation of Jesus Christ this Christmas season, I think we should be reminded that since Jesus assumed a human nature for my redemption, I should likewise assume my identity as a fisher of men as one of His followers.

This isn’t just a stale, passionless command given as though Jesus is a stern ruler saying, “I’ve done my part, now you do yours!”. But remember that the thing that Jesus repeats to His disciples in John 20 is, “Peace be to you.” Jesus is concerned about His people and all throughout His farewells in the gospels, He supports them with grace, with peace, and with assurance of His presence and power being with them. He understands the difficulty of this task, but girds such difficulty with His peace.

The Incarnation Reminds Us That We Are Victorious

Earlier I made mention of the physical resurrection of Jesus. From that, we come away with a few things. We understand the importance of God’s view of the human body and that it’s not some worthless meat bag. We learn that the resurrection of the dead will be physical and that our brothers and sisters in heaven tonight have that reunion to look forward to. Another thing that is important to highlight is that in His resurrection, Jesus conquered death, sin, and Satan. And since He is alive, so is His mission. When it looked like the cause of Christ was over, His followers and friends forsook Him. But remember what He said to Peter in Matthew 16:18 “18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Since Jesus is alive and has ascended into the Heavens and rules at the right hand of the Father tonight, we are to be assured that the cause of Christ is alive and well and that we will not be stopped. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus uses the word, “gates” and “prevail” to describe the efforts of evil. This is defensive and offensive language. From this, I gather that Christ is teaching us that the retaliation of the kingdom of darkness will not stop us, but that we will succeed and the Church will never be destroyed.

What the incarnation should call us to consider tonight is why are we so prone to being ashamed of the gospel? Do we doubt our effectiveness or whether we’re qualified? If so, remember tonight that the same Spirit that qualified Prophets, Priests and Kings in the Old Testament is the Spirit that Jesus gave to the Church at Pentecost. Do we doubt the effectiveness of the gospel? God forbid! That is the very power of God unto salvation! Are we paralyzed by the fear of rejection? Christ said that if they hate us it is because they hated Him first. Beloved, tonight we must remember that when we give the gospel, we give it with a one hundred percent success rate because it is God who brings the results, our job is to be faithful which leads us to our final observation.

The Incarnation Calls Us To Go Into The World

In the Old Testament, God commands the wandering Jews to build a tabernacle that His presence may be seen with them wherever they go. That same language is used in John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt (TABERNACLED) among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Well, He has ascended into Heaven, but that isn’t to insinuate that He is gone. In John 20:22 we read, “22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This was a foreshadowing of Pentecost and what this is signifying is the permanent, Temple-like, dwelling of God on the Earth in His people.

In Matthew 28:18–20 we read, “18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

One of the saddest indictments upon the Church is that we have often forgotten how to be a friend of sinners. Much of Christianity has fallen into hiding in our Christian bubbles and complaining about how lost sinners are acting like lost sinners. Beloved, since we became followers of Christ our whole lives are mission trips. We must go out into the world to share the gospel, to minister to the broken and needy, to show them the love of Christ and pray that Christ might show them saving grace. This is our job, this is who we are. It would be a delightful and otherwordly thing if the Lord allowed our little congregation in Burlington, NC to get a hold of this reality that Alamance might know that Christ is Lord.

I know that it isn’t easy, I know that there is difficulty and hardship involved in this, but I have good news for you. In Hebrews 2:17–18 we read, “17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

That phrase merciful and faithful, according to John Owen, means that Christ is ready to take our cares to heart and to seek to soothe them on His own and that His faithfulness is His precious, unwavering commitment to us as His people. Verse 18 gives ever sweeter peace as it shows us that in His incarnation, Christ suffered like we did but He didn’t fail. He can sympathize with you in your hurt and He can provide deliverance in temptation.

It is my prayer for our church family that God would allow us to be a mission-minded people. That He might be pleased to call men and women from our church to pursue missions, that He might see fit to gift men in our church for pastoral ministry and that Beacon might be revolutionized as we consider our purpose as a people sent out on mission for God’s glory and the good of our neighbor.