Ministers, ordained and lay, have always known that shorter sermons are generally more difficult to craft than longer ones. I should have been the wiser in agreeing to present, in 1,000 words or so, one of the most beckoning challenges of Christianity: “How do we witness God through Christ?” For starters, I began by ‘editing’ – with no disrespect to the Record‘s editor – the initial proposal: “Witnessing God in Christ.” I took the liberty of modifying the title somewhat by adding the phrase, “Christ in Us.” This in turn beckoned the fundamental question as to where then in our lives is Christ? In one sitting with his disciples, Jesus once told them these words: “I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:27b) These are certainly comforting words for our context wherein people are all around us who might not be able to help themselves.
Behind these comforting words exist some of the most profound foundations of the ministry in the church. It is first an acknowledgement that Jesus came to earth to ‘serve’ (Gr. diakoneo); we are challenged to be ever so like or emulate Jesus, imago Christi as it is sometimes known. That is, to witness ‘God in Christ: Christ in Us,’ we begin at the profound truth that Jesus Christ is “the fullest expression of what God intends humanity to be.”i And this human being, according to Scripture (2 Cor.4:4) is the “image of God.” The life, death and the resurrection of Jesus, in other words, is the decisive norm of both true divinity and humanity. So we must testify to this truth, witness this truth to the ends of the world. But in what ways? Jesus realized for us an enviable form of relationship with God. At the same time, Jesus was a human being in solidarity with the needy, the outcasts of our world, etc. We remember well Paul’s commentary on this, that there are no more hierarchical orderings of Jews and Greeks, masters and slaves, males and females, but all are brothers and sisters in Christ. (Gal.3:28) So let us consider carefully the implications of emulating Christ, imago Christi.
Such implications provide some of the key foundations behind our faith and must form the basis from which we endeavour our task of ‘witnessing God in Christ: Christ in God.’ By themselves, of course, they come across as being dry knowledge, things typically found in ‘Systematic Theology’ text books. I have not forgotten the fact that the readers of the Record have found ‘theology’ to be interesting but would prefer to read about our faith in more meaningful, true to life words. So the next point that I have been dying to write is that the knowledge of Jesus Christ which Christians are anxious to witness is far from being academic or historical in nature. Our willingness to witness Jesus Christ stems from the fact that we hunger for the future which God promised in him. We trust that this new destiny, a new ‘humanity,’ will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
A lot can and must be said about the activity of ‘witnessing God in Christ: Christ in us.’ It tells us, and certainly others, that our identity is shaped by our relationship with God and one another. In this sense, ‘witnessing’ is an act which stems from a ‘community’ and is about a ‘community.’ A common theological term for ‘community’ is the word, koinonia, which is readily used throughout the New Testament. It is a word that speaks of our love of God and our love of neighbour. Witnessing, in this sense, has something to do with this koinonia. Michelle J. Bartel notes that God in Christ first bestowed a generous gift to us ii: … Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. (Phil. 2:6-8) Our response to our neighbours is, then, a response to God’s lover for us. So one form of ‘witnessing’ may be to respond to God’s graciousness toward us with hope. As we respond to this overwhelming generosity, however, we are always mindful that we do not hold the last word in the destiny of humanity. We are confident that God’s promises will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
One of the things that we come to realize in light of God’s generosity towards us in Christ is that “God called us into existence and created us in the blessedness of true relationship with God and others.”iii We are connected to God and to one another. When we understand ourselves in this way, as imago Dei, we are called to mutually give ourselves to other persons for the benefit of others. This of course can only occur in a community. We do so with the confidence of knowing that each person has been called to serve another and is cherished by God. Being called to serve one another in the name of witnessing God in Christ is, of course, a tall order in the world in which we live. This, after all, is a world that defines a ‘person’ as self-sufficient in the ‘I’ and not in a community. Kudos to Michelle Bartel for reminding us of Mother Teresa, about whose work we can never hear enough: serving the rejected, the poor and the sick! The wonder of her sacrifice has in turn attracted others to come forth and serve the less fortunate. Collectively, they have come together to make up what God intended and made possible by the love of God in Jesus Christ, and sealed on our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit … a caring community.
Further scouring of the Gospel lessons, of course, will reveal stories of people who have gone to extraordinary lengths to seek Christ’s healing either for him/herself or for their loved ones. Christ lauds such kind of service from the faithful in all areas of our lives. In our day-to-day lives, however, ‘service — where it exists’ looks much less dramatic. Granted, some spectacular contexts do confront us from time to time, be it the earthquake tragedy in Haiti, or the Tsunami disaster from several years back. We are only called to respond, as followers of God, to what is going on around us here and now. The only thing happening in our neighbourhood may be that a family of refugees has settled into a low-income housing development. That said, there are needs to be met in things varying from communication to financial shortages. Service here may entail being patient and kind, willing to be their neighbours. Most important of all, service here is not driven out of a sense of duty, but a response to God’s graciousness encountered.
Any discussions concerning our witnessing of ‘God in Christ: Christ in Us’ compels us to examine God’s gracious generosity toward us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We realize that we are loved so that we may love God and our neighbour. The ebb and flow of ‘receiving and giving’ was meant to be part of our lives. In the words of Anthony Robinson, “We need one who teaches us the pattern of the life God intends, and we need an inspiring example of selfless love.” Sunday school children are taught that Jesus is our example in all we do, in noticing people all around us who might not be able to help themselves. They are also taught Jesus’ own words: “I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:27b) Dear Jesus, thank you for coming to earth to serve. Help us be like you. Help us notice people who need our help and reach out to them. We do all this in your holy name. Amen.
i. Daniel L. Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991), 123.
ii. Michelle J. Bartell, What It Means to Be Human: Living with Others before God (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001), 9.
iii. Bartell, What It Mean to Be Human, 21.
iv. Anthony B. Robinson, What’s Theology got to do with it? Convictions, Vitality, and the Church (Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2006), 125.
May 2010, Theology 101: Study Guide
Recommended Readings:
Bartel, Michelle J.
What It Means to Be Human: Living with Others before God.
Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001.
Migliore, Daniel L.
Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology.
Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991.
Robinson, Anthony B.
What’s Theology got to do with it? Convictions, Vitality, and the Church.
Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2006.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Take a look at some of the hymns about Jesus that your congregation sings most often. Read carefully the words in the absence of tunes that carry us away. What kind of understanding of the work of Christ do they convey?
- The thesis of this paper is that witnessing is an act of response to the God’s graciousness toward us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is, we are moved to love God and our neighbour equally. Is it too radical a jump to think of witnessing as an act of sharing what we have received from God?
- What approaches have you carried out in ‘witnessing God in Christ: Christ in Us?’ How are they similar or different from this paper’s thesis (i.e. witnessing as responding to God’s graciousness toward us)?
- We are all familiar with Jesus’ great commissioning of his disciples to go forth and baptize the nations in his name. The other great commandment is found in John 15:9-12: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Does this passage help or hinder your present understanding of ‘witnessing God in Christ: Christ in Us?’
- Where does the practice of ‘witnessing’ stand in the life of the present day church, present day Christians? If it is something shunned, what do you think are some of the causes?
