Incarnational Living Pt1

Incarnational Living Pt1

The incarnation is one of the most important tenants of the Christian faith. In that one must in order to begin to grasp the concepts of our faith, we must have a good idea of who Jesus was and is. There are many good books on the topic, yet in the end one must return to the Bible. This is not saying we have left the Bible… rather that with all the books and teachings we must return to what the Bible simply states.


The idea of the incarnation was is not one that is just a Christian idea. Hinduism teaches of the 10 incarnations of Vishnu and even now we have some that teach they are the incarnation of God. Yet, within that we are the only ones that teach that God became a man and was still fully God. In other words we believe that God became a mere man. He became one of us to complete a mission.

There are some that teach of a God/man version of Jesus… in this Jesus is mistakenly taken more like Hercules who was fathered by a god and a human mother. This is a mistake as Jesus was not part of both. We are not dualists...

I see the Trinity as more organic and holistic. I see it like this:

The Speaker = The Father
The Word/words spoken by God = Jesus The Son
The Breath = The Holy Spirit

With that model I see that Jesus was the literal word of Creation… the “Let there be…” for nothing was created that was not created through Jesus. All the words spoken were “in the Father/Speaker”.

Our words our in essence who we are. They come out of our character and very being. One who lies has the character of a liar, one who speaks truth must have truth in him to speak it. This is very much a quick overview, but I hope it lays the foundation for what I am saying next.

This Word, the “Let there be...” that was spoken, became flesh according to John 1:1. This word was God… that cannot be debated. Yet, words, or in this case The Word/Logos, are dependant on the One Who Speaks. In that Jesus was limited by what the Father said and was doing…

Jesus at times knew things beyond normal human “knowings” and at times also did not know things… like the time of His Return… or the person that touched the hem of His robe.

So Jesus was also very much a mere man… a human being like us… yet had a ordained vocation. To suffer on a cross and die for the sins of the world.

N.T. Wright is a great author and I recommend highly reading any of his writings. I really recommend downloading his teachings on MP3 is you can. I agree with much he says, yet I also disagree with him… even so his is one of the most profound theologians of our day and has man great insights. He goes as far as to say he does not believe that Jesus may have known He was literally God incarnate, I think I disagree… as I see that Jesus would have to know that type of relationship He had in order to realize that equality was not something He would grasp for. He understood fully that His vocation was to be the suffering servant.

In that the incarnation was given for the sole purpose of reconciling all creation back to God. It is not just about redeeming humans… as we are part of the creation that is redeemed. We are part of a much bigger story than our own salvation.

Incarnational living is about just that. Being a part of the bigger story that God is doing. It is acknowledging we are taking part of this story. Jesus after fulfilling this vocation, having died and learning obedience even unto death, rose from the dead. How, because of Who He was… He was the Word that gave life and light to all creation… so in the end though Jesus was obedient… to death, overcame death itself by His Life…

We walk in that same life as a follower of Jesus. We walk in that same resurrected power… the power of the Creator’s very Word.

This is our calling now, to share that Word to others. To live that Life now… as if on borrowed time from the future when all things reach their fulfillment… (Don’t confuse the bible stating that when things reach their end that means they are done away with… it means from the biblical view, that the things have reached their fulfillment. Man will not be done away with as he meets his end, but rather just be starting as the corruptible seed will die, and the incorruptible seed will sprout.)

Incarnational Living is living the Life of Christ in us now. We are living now as new creations… in the age of the New Creation. The first Christians were not excited that they lived in the end times, but rather that they lived in the beginning of the New Age. (Not the Age of Aquarius but the New Age of the New Creation.)


The way that it is lived out… I will be stating in the next post to come…

Blessings,
iggy

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