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Monday, September 07, 2009

Becoming by Grace what Jesus is by Nature

I love this quote that I first read from blogger (The Off Ramp) and Pastor, Jason Zahariades (not sure it is original with him, a Google search shows it use in some other places as well). Zahariades used it in the context of describing what it means to live as God's mission agents in this world: Spiritual Identity, What is a Misisonal Community. In the context he uses it, Zahariades is describing what a missional church body would value and begin to look like. He writes:
"A missional community is a group of Jesus’ apprentices who so trust his brilliance and mastery of life, that they learn from him how to be like him for the sake of the world. Through this apprentice/master relationship, the community journeys together to become the fullness of God and thereby become a finite earthly expression of the infinite Tri-Community just as Jesus was in his earthly life. A missional community is about becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. As the community experiences this, wherever the community members live their daily lives, they are learning how to easily, naturally, and routinely embody, demonstrate and announce God’s life and reign for the sake of the world around them."

You can read the netire article here >>

There are two points of emphasis that strike me in his description:

1) "Becoming by Grace" ..... It is not probable, or even possible, without God's gracious work in our lives; indeed, it is God working in us and through us.

2) "what Jesus is by nature" ..... This very aptly describes the challenge and goal of the Christian life.

This phrase, "Becoming by grace what Jesus is by nature," is well worth meditating on, for a long while.

Blessings
3 John 8
Bill H.

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