Celebrate Recovery

Recently, I’ve been focussing my personal study time on the Incarnation of Christ.  No matter how hard I try, or how many books I read, I can never fully grasp the magnatude of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the creator of everything we see, feel, touch, hear and smell, becoming a man. The Creator becoming that which was created. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords brought to life in a womb, taking on the nature and DNA of man, and yet complete in Deity. “This ‘enfleshing’ of God is so radical and total that it is the bedrock upon which rests all subsequent acts of God in his world.” (Michael Frost, The Shaping of Things to Come)

As I reflect on this truth, I cannot help but think that we, as Christians, get so focused on the death, burial, and resurrection of Chirst, that we forget about the Incarnation. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead are tremendous in their implications for our salvation, eternal security, and for our hope of new life in Christ. However, if we only focus on the cross, we miss out on a huge portion of the Gospel. The Gospel is not only that Jesus died for our sins so we could be set free and have eternal life. The Gospel is so much more. The Gospel is that the eternally begotten Son of God left the splendor and majesty of heaven to become intimately aquainted with us so that we might share in His righteousness before the Father. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

So what does this mean for us today? If we are called to be like Jesus, then this means we must be incarnational in the way we live our lives.  To be incarnational includes the following:

Identificaiton:  Just as Jesus identified with us in our humanity, the ultimate act of humility and love.  We must take great care to identify with those around us.  This will require great humility, patience and love.

Abiding Presence:  As Jesus did not merely swoop in and out of the world in a hurry, but rather “dwelt among us,” we must invest our lives for the good of others. 

Sent and Sending Mentality:  Jesus was sent by the Father, the Spirit was sent by Jesus and flows forth from the Father, and the Church is empowered and sent by the Spirit.  This missional or sending activity by God is a model for us.  Therefore, we are the sent ones, and we must go.  This will require giving up our lives and our dreams for the sake of the Gospel and the good of others.

What I love about CR is that we have a Divine invitation to be incarnational in this ministry.  In CR we have been invited to identify with the hurting through our vulnerability and authenticity.  We have been given the time and ability to dwell with others and walk with them through their hurts, habits and hangups.  We are sent by God to live out steps 10, 11, and 12 and take this message to our world as we find strength and healing from Him. 

My prayer is that we would be motivated and encouraged by the Incarnation in such a way that we would continually give our lives for the good of others and the glory of God.