Incarnational Living

I heard a message today by Jonathan Hewett about the need for incarnational evangelism. This got me thinking about an even more foundational need in the life of the church today -- incarnational living. I don't think we can have incarnational evangelism until we are living an incarnational life. Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11about Christ coming to earth and the things that He endured. Before our witnessing style or strategy becomes incarnational, our very lives must become like that of Christ. The church is called the body of Christ. When I look at my own body, the first thing is see is my flesh. The incarnation was about God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Today we, as the body of Christ, the church, are to be Jesus in the flesh. The life that Christ has given us through salvation must be so evident in our daily lives, in our flesh. Incarnational living is about being Jesus with skin on, as a friend of mine put it one time. That idea is rooted in the old saying that we might be the only Jesus some people ever see. What strikes me about this quote is how we might be misrepresenting Jesus by not living incarnationally. When Jesus came to earth, He emptied Himself of all of His heavenly glory and came in the form of a man. He came as a servant. The Savior came as a Servant. God, put on flesh, to serve His creation and provide for them salvation by suffering in the very flesh he donned. He came to serve by being the sacrifice that would take away the sin of the world. He gave His very life so that you and I could have the opportunity for forgiveness and salvation. It is that attitude that is at the heart of incarnational living. That whole idea of sacrifice. So often any more, we as Christians, are more concerned with how we will benefit or be served as opposed to what we are willing to give up for the glory of the King. Incarnational living is so radically different that anything that is being seen in the church today. Incarnational living, a life of submission and sacrifice, is what crashing into life is all about.