Jesus In Our Daily Living

JESUS IN OUR DAILY LIVING: The Incarnational Tradition
Sermon by Judy Turner
John 1:14,18; I John 1:1-3

Separating Our Lives Into Compartments

We tend to separate our lives into compartments. There is our Christian life we live at church on Sunday morning and maybe even with our families or Christian friends throughout the day on Sunday. But then comes Monday morning, and it’s back to the “real world”. Or, maybe we have times in our day we set aside for God, maybe 15 minutes in the morning or over the lunch hour, or before bed – time to read the Bible and pray. And that’s a very good practice. But does that time set apart with God seem disconnected with the rest of the day? A Christian businessman said, “During my lunch hour, I shut the door on the ‘dog-eat-dog’ world for a few minutes to pray, before I have to face the world again.” Praying during his day is a good thing the businessman does. But how much better it would be if he could find Jesus, present and real in the midst of the dog-eat-dog world? How much better to experience Jesus working through him in the way he responds to challenges, the way he relates to people, Jesus guiding his goals and influencing everything he does. If the businessman discovered that his life as a Christian was the presence and activity of God throughout every hour of every day of his everyday life, he would discover the joy and power of what we call the Incarnational Stream.

The Incarnational Stream Means Living Every Day So God is Made Visible

Today and next Sunday we conclude our sermons on the 6 Streams of Living Water. We have learned how a prayer-filled life lays the foundation for both the virtuous life and the Spirit-empowered life, and how these in turn give us the ability to engage in social justice and the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom. The one element remaining is to understand how all of these components function in ordinary life, which is the task of the Incarnational stream. Incarnation is God coming to earth and taking human form and living the life we live in a body like ours. That’s what Jesus did when He was born of Mary, lived as a child and a teenager in a family, learned the work of a carpenter, enjoyed the pleasure of a good meal with friends, developed a deep, intimate relationship with His heavenly Father through the practice of spiritual disciplines, discerned His personal mission and unique calling. In fulfilling that calling He saw bodies healed, crowds fed, people set free from all kinds of bondage. Yet Jesus suffered every difficulty and pain that we suffer. Although He attended synagogue and observed the religious rituals of the Jewish faith, His life was not compartmentalized into the sacred and the secular. Every moment of every day was about making the Kingdom of God, the loving rule of God, real for people, so they could live the same life He was living. He described that life as abundant and eternal. Jesus talked about something invisible, the Kingdom of God, but He lived every day in such a way that the character and love of God were made visible and real for people.

The Text

John, the beloved disciple, begins his account of the life of Jesus by trying to put into words the wonder of the incarnation. John 1:14, 18 : “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”
John also wrote letters to the followers of Jesus, instructing them on how to live in the love of Jesus. He establishes at the beginning of his First letter to the churches that he is not just talking about ethereal spiritual stuff that has nothing to do with our material lives. He wants to establish that Divine Love was made visible and tangible in Jesus, and can also be made visible and tangible in our lives:
I John 1:1-3: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and our hands have touched- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared: we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”
Just as Jesus, a person of the invisible God from all eternity, took on flesh in the incarnation and lived an everyday human life, so Jesus continues to live now in the bodily, everyday lives of His followers. And thus God remains visible in our world. Our job description as Christians is nothing less than making Jesus real and visible, devoting ourselves to Jesus living His life in our particular circumstances. In our marriage and family life the love of Jesus is made visible. In our daily activity, the character, the holiness and justice of God, is made visible.

Contemporary Example

But who today is living that kind of life? Many followers of Jesus in this community and around the world are living every day in such a way that the character and love of God are made real and visible. And many of these disciples are ordinary people, living what they would consider ordinary life. But God-ness is just all over them and shines through them. John and I have some amazing neighbors. We watched their house being built, with the upstairs as the living space for the older couple and the downstairs for their adult daughter. When they moved in, we got to know them. The daughter readily tells about the transformation and healing Jesus has brought about in her life. She was a successful attorney, operating in a law firm with many unethical practices. She was aggressively devoted to whatever would make the most money. She worked long hours and was ruthless. And she did make lots of money. But it was at the expense of her soul and her health. She had a breakdown and sunk into a deep depression. In the darkness of that time, she really met Jesus and turned the control of her life over to him. Her daily life now is so different than before she came to Christ. She delights in God’s creation and cares for her little corner of it. Then she goes to work in the motel her family owns in Eureka Springs. It’s called a motel, but I call it a Kingdom Hospitality Station. I have never seen strangers welcomed in such a way as this woman and her mother welcome. They pray continually that the love of Jesus will flow from them to the guests. They go out of their way to provide what will make their guests comfortable. Guests often come to the office and just talk. And often the conversation turns to questions of faith. These two women are bold in sharing the Love and Truth of Jesus, even as they listen with compassion to the stories of their guests. The dad is a new Christian, and he participates in this ministry as he maintains everything well at the motel, so it will be a good environment for the guests. His love for God and people is expressed as he does his maintenance work. Their hospitality continues after their working hours. We see a steady stream of cars and motorcycles at our neighbors’ house, and people of every description coming in and out of their home. Can you believe that those are guests from the motel? They have invited these people to their home so they can share the love of God some more. Who does anything like that? Only people who are powerfully experiencing the love of God and are compelled to share it. In seeing the welcoming of strangers that they do, I see the compassion and outreaching love of God. The invisible God becomes visible as I see the lives of my neighbors.
How We Live the Life of Jesus
So, let’s get down to how Jesus lives out his life in our circumstances, with our family and friends, with our jobs and recreating, and how Jesus makes the Reality of His love and truth visible through us. Ultimately, that is something Jesus does and not us. We can’t make ourselves into Jesus. And what we’re talking about is not just trying to be a nicer person. We’re not just talking about a worm pasting on wings and saying, “Now I’m a butterfly.” We’re talking metanoia, transformation, change at the very core of our being. That’s something only God can do. But we have a part to play in Jesus incarnating in our lives. What is our part?

1. Ask for the desire to more fully live the life of Jesus
We have to want the transformation. God does not force anything. We often have to start with asking for the desire, because truthfully, we’re not sure we want transformation. We’d prefer to say, “Jesus, you can have my Sundays and maybe my Wednesday nights, but my work life, how I enjoy myself when I’m not working, that’s mine.” Or, “You can influence how I am with people at work and when I’m out in the community”, but how I am at home, well, I have to be selfish sometime.” Selfishness is a basic human right, isn’t it? Often, what God has to change first is our desire. We may be pretty satisfied with our lives just as they are. We may not want to let go of whatever needs to change in our lives. But just maybe there is a nagging feeling that there just might be more, and we may be missing something really important or even really wonderful. So we start by asking for the desire to fully live the life of Jesus.
“Where the heart is willing it will find a thousand ways, but where it is unwilling, it will find a thousand excuses.” We have to want it.

2. Decide to make changes
Then we decide to do what it takes to start living more fully the life of Jesus. I know a couple who want to live closer to God and to each other and their children. They made a decision this week to turn off the tv in the evenings, to help the kids with homework, then to have a Bible study together. That’s a decision that will move them forward in their discipleship and help fulfill their desire to live the life of Jesus more fully.

3. Devote our Work to God
“Work” is what we do to produce good in our world. Your work right now may be your studies. Your work may be your job, your work may be what you do with your retirement years. In my growing up years in the church, I heard the phrase “Full time Christian service”, and those called into “full time Christian service” were the pastors. They were a different level of Christian than the rest of us. But, “full time Christian service is not just a clergy vocation, but any vocation. As Richard Foster says, “The really crucial decision comes, not when we decide to be a pastor rather than a biologist, (or a priest rather than a plumber, or a chaplain rather than a computer technician) but when we decide to allow our entire life to be a channel of divine love. “ You may have heard that the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach penned at the beginning of his compositions the initials JJ, representing the Latin words, “Jesu Juva, Jesus, help!” and at the end, SDG, which represent the Latin words “Soli Deo Gloria, to the glory of God alone. “ When we undertake any work, we ask for Jesus to help us, guide us, direct us, empower us. At the end of the day, or the end of the project, we rejoice in whatever good has come into the world through the effort, and we say, “May this work enhance your reputation, God. May more people come to know how great and loving and good and just you are. It’s not about me. It’s all about you, God.”

Richard Foster describes a Christian spirituality of work: “We have a sense of calling, a God-given ability to do a job linked with a God-given enjoyment in doing it. We have a sense of responsibility to do something in our own time that has value. We have a sense of freedom from the burden of the workaholic, for we are not asked to do more than we can. We have a sense of creativity that enables us to place the autograph of our souls on the work of our hands. We have a sense of dignity, for we value people over efficiency. We have a sense of community, for we know that our life together is more important than the end product. We have a sense of solidarity with the poor to empower them to do what they cannot do by themselves. And we have a sense of meaning and purpose, for we know that we are working in cooperation with God to bring the world one step closer to completion. “

4. Ask for opportunities to make the love of God real for the people around us.
I was really struck last Sunday when Teresa came for the first time and participated in the Christian Basics Sunday School class. I was so glad she felt at home enough to participate. And then there was something she said which I’ve continued to think about through this week. Teresa said, “Just drive around Berryville on Sunday morning. Look at all the cars in the church parking lots. If all those people just influenced the people around them, this would be a transformed community!” A year ago in this congregation we started our small group conversations, prayerfully seeking God’s vision for the future of this church. It became apparent that as we looked at the needs of this community- the low incomes and high stress people live with, the forces that tear families apart, the numbers of children being raised by single parents, the unemployment – this is a community that needs hope! We stated our mission as “Building a Community of Hope Through Jesus Christ, drawing people to Jesus, becoming more like Jesus, doing the work of Jesus.” We envision making an impact on the Berryville area and the whole of Carroll County by addressing the needs of families (parents, children, youth) and encouraging local, community-based economic development with job creation and income enhancement. I find that vision so exciting, but it’s big. And this little group of people are stretched and tired. So, how in the world are we going to become God’s force for transforming our community? But maybe I’m trying to make it harder than it is. Maybe the way is for each of us to pray every day that we can make the love of Jesus real for the people around us, in our homes, at school, at work, at Wal Mart, wherever we are. We can make the invisible Jesus real and visible to the people in our circle of influence. What a difference it would it make if just the people whose cars are parked outside FCC and are sitting in this sanctuary devoted ourselves to influencing our circle with the love of Jesus!

5. Trust God for the transformation
Stuart Briscoe tells of his own experience of coming to Christ, as he heard the message of grace and forgiveness of sins. At first he thought, “This is easy.” Then, as he found that being Jesus’ follower meant living the life of Jesus each day, he thought, “This is difficult.” Then, when he found that he couldn’t follow perfectly even in one day, he thought, “This is impossible.” Then, when he discovered what Christ could do in him, he said, “This is exciting!”
A father once made footprints in the snow with wide strides and challenged his children to walk in them. They couldn’t do it. Then he took the littlest child, and put the child’s feet on his. He held the child’s hands and together they did it!