Texas Baptists challenged to serve the ‘incognito Christ’

HOUSTON—What would happen if 1 million Texas Baptists did one act of kindness a day? That would result in 7 million acts of kindness in a week, 60 million acts in two months and 365 millions acts of kindness in a year.

If this were to happen, other Texans likely would take notice, and great things would occur, said Joel Gregory, who led a workshop on the Texas Hope “care” emphasis during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

Gregory focused on a text from Matthew 25 in his presentation, encouraging Texas Baptists to serve the “incognito Christ.”

He noted Jesus placed significant emphasis on serving people in need, mentioning it four times.

“To serve Jesus is to serve him through caring for others,” said Gregory, a professor of preaching at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

Jesus specifically singled out several categories of vulnerable people—the hungry, the thirsty, people in need of clothes, strangers, the sick and prisoners.

“If life has any moral quality at all,“ said Gregory, “there is going to be a discrimination based on this simple list of what do we do with the incognito Jesus—on the basis of these six categories it shows whether we have a relationship with Jesus or not.”

Gregory shared a personal experience as a student at Baylor University when he reached out to a hurting family in the community. The family lived in a home without any furniture and was struggling to feed their eight children.

“I never felt closer to Jesus than when I was sitting in that house on South 5th Street, talking about Jesus and helping that family,” he recalled.

Caring for others involves many small tasks that often are overlooked. Gregory suggested God will focus on exactly those acts when reviewing the lives of people at the final judgment. Regarding “the things we do not remember doing,” he said, Jesus will respond to those standing before his throne, “That was me—the incognito Christ.”