The Incarnation and Missional Enterprise

As we approach the celebration of Christmas, we hope you are enjoying the Advent season and finding time to fill your hearts and minds with the wonder of our Savior’s coming into the world!

Advent is a season to reflect not only on Jesus’ arrival in Bethlehem but also on His mission — one He now invites us to share.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus prayed to his Father: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”1 Later, when Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, he told them: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”2 Reflecting on the profound truth that we are sent by Jesus, what can we learn about mission from the story of His coming into the world?

Heavenly Host and Feeding Troughs

Let’s pause a moment and reflect on the amazing combination of both extraordinary and commonplace elements in the Christmas account. For instance, neither Joseph nor Mary were noteworthy people at that time, but God chose them to be the central characters in a world-changing event. And on the night of Jesus’ birth, we read of “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,”3 heralding the birth of a child who will be found lying in a manger – a commonplace feeding trough for animals.

As ones sent by Jesus, we take an extraordinary message to ordinary places and through ordinary means. Missional enterprise is one of many means by which Jesus sends everyday people into the world – the commonplace work environment of the enterprise becomes the “manger” for the powerful message of the incarnation.

Joyfully Carry The Message

Finally, even as we focus on the important elements of the particular mission places God has entrusted to us, let’s remember that the high calling we’ve received is a motivation not to focus primarily on our own mission, but joyfully to carry the message of His. In his article, “Sent into the World: Jesus’ Mission and Ours,” pastor and author David Mathis points out that :

Such a sending should be awe-inspiring, whether our particular sending includes a change in geography and culture, or simply a fresh realization and missional orientation on our lives and labors among our native people. But what are we “sent ones” sent for? What is this sending about anyways? . . .

This is where the Advent reminder is so essential. We are sent as representatives of the one born in Bethlehem and crucified at Calvary. We are sent to announce with all we are — with mouth and mind and heart and hands — that the Father sent the Son.4

During this next week, let’s rejoice even more fully in the blessing of the incarnation, and ask for grace to proclaim the beauty and goodness of that message “with mouth and mind and heart and hands” in the places he’s sent us.

Verse of the Week:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (ESV)

May we all grow in awe and reverence of the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us!5