Of course it’s difficult to think about Christmas without thinking about our missionary God. It’s the most obvious example of God’s missionary nature—he sent his Son to earth, to live among us. John 1 makes that very clear; “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” In the words of Eugene Peterson (The Message), Jesus took on “flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood”. This is what it means to be incarnate. Don’t let the fancy Latin name fool you —incarnation is a very real and earthy thing. And there are two elements about it that I think inform us about having a missionary spirit.

Jesus Came as a Baby.

That may sound simplistic and trivial, especially for those of us who have grown up seeing cute little dramas of the baby Jesus in the Sunday school program. It is not simplistic or trivial; it is profoundly revolutionary. God did not insert Jesus into a position of power on earth, but rather Jesus came as a helpless baby, born in a stinky barn, with an animal’s feeding trough as his crib. This should be our starting point as we look to engage our culture as missionaries: we come with humility. Paul explicitly said that Jesus should be our example in this regard, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Messiah Jesus, who did not consider equality with God something to hold on to." Instead of thinking, "What position of power could give me the most influence in sharing God's message?" think "What position of humility is God calling me towards, where it will be clear that he is using me for his purposes?

Jesus had to Learn About Culture.

God did not magically give him an understanding of language or culture; he had to learn to speak and relate to others just as any other child did. In fact, Jesus spent 30 years immersed in his culture before he began to publicly minister to them. To me, this gives me the freedom and the motivation to engage in deep cultural study. I can be open to learning the "culture" of my neighbours, just like a child learns language and culture. Learning the values and lifestyle patterns of my neighbours might be a time-consuming activity, but it will allow me to speak of Jesus in a way that my neighbours understand.