Friday 1 August 2008

Embracing Christ - How ?

If you were to ask a person that claims to be a Christian if they "embraced Christ" I would suspect that they would answer in the affirmative. I heard the following quote from one of our denominational leaders: "If you have embraced Christ but have not embraced his mission, you have not embraced Christ." The obvious question is then; what was and is Christ's mission? I have heard people say that Christ came for one purpose (mission) to seek and to save the lost. That may have been his ultimate sacrifice/goal but I think there was more. Matthew 20:28 states;"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Christ came to teach us how to serve not how to go to church and be served. We embrace Christ when we allow ourselves to be his servants in what ever ways he asks us to serve. Failure to serve is failure to embrace Christ. His mission again is two fold, for us to find him and then to go and serve. We need to help others find Christ, we do that by service.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen!!

Janis

Indian Lake Papa said...

Janis - Amen for sure!

CrossView said...

Good thoughts!

Too many times Christians "expect" so much. Look at the restaurants on Sunday afternoons. And talk to the staff. Tehy'll tell you that the "church crowd" are the worst tippers and the ones who complain the most.

CrossView said...

The little one drew your name! =D

Could you e-mail me your address so I can put it in the mail?

I can't wait to see with the new stuff you'll be inspired to write after you read it!

Robin said...

Amen! I talked about service - actions - faith with action on Wednesday night and used the book of James.

Indian Lake Papa said...

Robin - The book of James is one of my favorites - not just because of the name, but I think it defines our Christian "mission" quite well!

Crossview - bingo! I am appalled by the way "Christians" treat those that 'serve' them at times. I hope that when we had lunch that day my behavior was appropriate - I love people and I want to leave a Christian influence wherever I go.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm! Here was my wonderful dining experience yesterday noon:

I ordered salad with dressing on the side, chopped sirloin stk well done and baked potato.

salad came with the dressing already on, brought regular sirloin instead of chopped and it wasn't well done and the baked potato was rotten on one end and brownish colored on the "good" end. (not waitress's fault) The waitress also spilled my water and then turned around and walked away. I thought she was going after a towel to wipe up the water but she never came back. We had to hail a busboy to clean up the water. It was a horrible experience, but I acted like a Christian, tipped her and didn't complain to the owner even though I was very upset.
Everyone said I should have complained!!!

Janis

Sharon said...

You havd much wisdom Papa, Amen to your post

Indian Lake Papa said...

Janis - its always easy to be a "Christian' to those who serve us well - but the real test comes when things are all screwed up - we need to really put Christ first. I think you handled it well - I would talk to the waitress first - then management if necessary. I have done both, plus written one letter.

Indian Lake Papa said...

Sharon - thanks for stopping by - I pray that you have embraced Christ and his mission.

Life Adapted said...

Good post Papa. I think our mission is to grow His Kingdom. How do we do that? I think it's by showing the love of Christ in our lives. We show our love by serving others happily, drawing them close to Jesus. I may post a list of ways we can serve others in our communities. Be blessed.

Indian Lake Papa said...

LA - if i looked at your comments correctly you used the word "Love" twice and the word "serve" twice - do you think there is a connection? :o)

Robin said...

Yep, I think there is a connection between loving and serving...

Today as I was walking in the lazy river at the water park, I started thinking about a post I'm going to do soon (part of me chuckled because how many crazy people work through their next post in the lazy river??) and it has to do with service...

I too am partial to the book of James. I'm thinking about doing a study on it again...soon.

Indian Lake Papa said...

Robin - lazy River ?? lol I am curious what that post will be about - service ??? are we too lazy to serve ?? i will watch closely! My next post - Monday Am - will be "Prayer requests" with a different twist!

b4d6uy said...

Technically speaking, we can't find him - he finds us. Aside from that, well...John the Baptist asked Jesus from prison if he was "the one". Jesus' response was simply: "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."

I'd say that about sums up Jesus' ministry!

Unknown said...

we serve. yes. that is an action. and im afraid too many go sit in church each weekend, put in their time, and call it serving. i apologize if that sounds judgmental. it is not my intent. but i think there is truth to it.

we have to get out there and serve. sacrifice. i am finally just learning that. NO. i am finally just now embracing what ive always known.

Indian Lake Papa said...

B4 - Oh we seek him alright, no question about that - but at some point He comes to us with arms opened wide to embrace us - the question is, do we embrace him? We can reject him and then we have to ask his forgiveness.

Tam - are you saying we shouldn't be sitting in the rocking chair, reading our bible, praising our savior? Why I have neighbors that do that very well! I think a couple of times I have seen Jesus jerk the chair out from under them and they just crawl back into it! They usually just fade away - they need a little spiritual exercise. Now I need to get out of my chair and get busy!

Anonymous said...

Our district church family is hurting right now. Our District Supt. 58 yrs old died unexpectedly yesterday. We are also in camp meeting this week. Howie and I had planned on going for camp meeting but we didn't get there. Speaking of serving, Dr. Fairbanks, was one of the most loving, caring, serving Christians I have known. He truly embraced Christ.

Janis

Indian Lake Papa said...

Good morning Janis - that is sad - we will keep you and the district in our prayers as they await new leadership. Remember, God is in control.

Char said...

I think people frequently confuse "service" with "volunteer work." I think serving Christ is more of an attitude and a life-style. It's being Christ-like when we're around others - like that "after church crowd" mentioned in an earlier post. ;^)

Char said...

Papa, next time you visit Keetha look for my link. She put it on her side-bar, in disguise of course!

Carol said...

Very good sermon material here, Papa! Love how you turned a message into a blog and are making people aware of what it means to embrace Christ.

Reading through comments I see the one from Janis about the DS dying...and I gather it was Dr. Fairbanks. Have to check that one out!! Headed to Naz website now.

Indian Lake Papa said...

Char - you hit it right - service is really an attitude of worship! we ned to check our attitude - can I serve? Will look for your link!

carol - Janis is in the very northeast part of Ohio.In fact she mentioned Dr. Fairbanks.

Indian Lake Papa said...

Char - i can't find your blog - Keetha has my email address - can you have her link me i promise not to get too weird!

Keetha Broyles said...

Over at my new blog, in the comment section under the microscope post my M-I-L is making a fun little conversation - - - you have now entered it. Interested??? Go see.

Anonymous said...

Oh, papa. I live in Northwest Ohio not Northeast like you told Carol!!! How could you misplace me??????? Gotya!!

Got Carol too because I did mention Dr. Fairbanks name. He will be missed, but he is in a better place today!!

Janis

Indian Lake Papa said...

Janis - I at least had the north part right - I was just checking to see if you were still lurking out there.

Indian Lake Papa said...

Keetha - there is only one blogging papa - I have been referred to as the "Patriarch of the blogging world"! lol I did stop by!

Robin said...

I haven't done my lazy river post yet, but the lazy river had absolutely nothing to do with my thoughts at the moment. I was walking (I can't just float in the lazy river) and thinking... How many people get out of the lazy river run back to their chair - pull out pen and paper and write their thoughts down... I may title the post - I am strange - not sure yet...

Heather said...

What an awesome post. You are sooo right. Jesus came for many reasons. AND...all of them are a byproduct of LOVE:)

Love you, PAPA and MAMA

Indian Lake Papa said...

Heather - I cannot get over his love for me. We need to be embracing him so we can embrace others.