TEACHING

Daryl Wood (www.DarylWood.net)

RECEIVE ONE ANOTHER

 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God (Rom. 15:5-7, NKJV).”

Prerequisite to glorifying God with one mind and voice (a profound picture of unity), members of Christ’s body must receive one another.  While this may start with a smile and a handshake, it is intuitively clear that much more is required.  In fact, it is even commonplace, under the guise of political correctness, for those who are open enemies to engage in some manner of ritualized greeting.  When cordial platitudes, a hug, a handshake, or kiss are exchanged, they may reflect nothing about the true nature of the relationship between the parties.   Yet, these typical expressions of human contact equate to “receiving” one another, in the minds of many.  Obviously, to get to the heart of what it means to actually receive another, one must dig deeper.  Here are some specific points to draw this subject into clearer focus:

Some receive others . . . just far enough to make judgments about them.  Armed with the predetermined conclusion that few, if any, are worthy of their attention, love, or respect, some people merely go through the motions of receiving another so that they can find a confirmation for their prejudices.  This is the epitome of arrogance.  Unfortunately, it is the rule of practice for some, who blindly count themselves to be among a choice handful that is truly mature and free.

Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions . . . . But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God (Rom. 14:1, 10, NASB).

To live in meekness toward all, especially those whom we might judge to be less enlightened or knowledgeable, is a mainstay for all who walk in grace and genuine maturity.  Less than this is evidence that one thinks more highly of himself than he ought (Rom. 12:3).  This strikes to the essence of what it means to really receive another, as Christ received us.  Since we stand before Him as those who see dimly through a badly marred mirror, we owe the same patience and receptivity toward others who might be holding a mirror with a scratch or two more than our own.

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.  Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words.  And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church (3 John 1:9-11, NKJV).

The taproot of elitism is pride and self-exaltation.  Diotrephes serves as a negative stereotype, and his spirit still moves among the church today.

Receiving another entails seeing beyond a flesh suit.  A failure to see past the surface kept those among whom the Lord lived and grew from recognizing Him.

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11, NKJV).

“Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?  And are not His sisters here with us?”  And they were offended at Him (Mark 6:3, NKJV).

Remarkable as it was, some of the very people who sought God most diligently missed Him as He grew up right under their very noses.  “Familiarity breeds contempt,” says one common cliché.  There is always a tendency to overlook God in the flesh, especially when He comes packaged in surroundings with which we have become very well accustomed.  Not only are we inclined to suppose that others do not change, but we can be equally remiss in assuming that our previous assessments of others are accurate.  Both of these propensities are potential limitations that can prevent us from receiving the grace of God afresh through others.  It is yet another way in which man judges after appearance. 

Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust we are well known in your consciences.  For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to glory on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who glory in appearance and not in heart.  For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.  For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.  Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new (2 Cor. 5: 11-17, NKJV).

Paul penned these words a full two decades after Christ was resurrected and had ascended.  Perhaps he was addressing only those who had been privileged to live near Jesus when He walked the earth, in speaking of those who had known Him according to the flesh.  Perhaps he was also referring to the fact that it was possible for contemporary believers to miss the full impart of knowing Him after the Spirit.  In either case, the necessity of viewing one another as a new creation was strongly emphasized.  Those who gloried in appearance could never receive Paul, for by that standard he was considered weak and of contemptible speech (2 Cor. 10:10).  To receive Paul was to no longer see Saul of Tarsus, but rather the new man in Christ Jesus.  The same is no less true of every child of God today.

To fully receive another is to open oneself to the grace of God through him.  Each of us has been entrusted with unique abilities or graces that serve as gifts, not for one’s self-consumption, but for the body of Christ.  By divine design these giftings vary from individual to individual—in multiplicity, strength, and specificity.  The collage created by the whole fosters mutual interdependence, as we constructively draw from one another, offsetting our own distinctive areas of weakness.  Together we are much stronger than the sum of our individual parts.  In this manner, we comprise a whole body and find ourselves complete in Christ.   

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of god.  If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.  If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.  Amen (1 Pet. 4:11, NKJV).

Those possessing both the discernment to recognize particular graces upon others and the humility to receive the same are blessed to overflowing.  It is as if all of heaven is open before them.  For example, though I have rarely been used of the Lord in the working of miracles, I have a friend named Bob who has not missed an occasion to draw off of the grace of God through me.  Because we enjoy a relationship of intense trust and openness, through my contribution he has been the benefactor of numerous outright miracles in his physical body.  I have, likewise, been touched through him, though in entirely different ways.

“He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.  And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward (Matt. 10:41, NKJV).

What can this promise mean, if not that through recognizing, valuing, and receiving the grace of God in others we become recipients of Christ’s blessing?  These rewards that we attain are directly tied to the specific “grace sets” in those whom we receive.  Conversely, to miss His grace in another can be to miss a visitation from the Lord.  Hence, even a sinner can find Christ through receiving one of His ambassadors, who carries with him the good news of redemption and deliverance.

In conclusion, receiving another should not be an automatic response apart from the witness or evidence of Christ in him.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine (the doctrine of Christ), do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds (3 John 1:10, 11, NKJV, clarification mine). 

Those who are naive and undiscerning in their relationships open themselves to every foul spirit and every wind of false teaching.  To do so is both foolish and perilous.

At the same time, receiving one another after the same manner that Christ received us brings glory to God (Rom. 15:7).  The spill-over benefits produce in us the authentic unity for which Christ prayed, and for which the world yearns.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as you Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me (John 17:20-23, NKJV).”