Title: Receive One Another
Contents
♡♥♡ You too receive each other. / Romans 15:1-7
*** Introduction
Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “One person will be defeated, but two will be able to overcome it. A threefold cord is not easily broken.” It teaches that communities must be united in order to be empowered. No matter what kind of community, if the members have one will and one heart, they can create great strength. However, as the saying goes, ‘When there are many sailors, a boat goes up a mountain.’ When each community raises their own voice, they have no power.
The choir doesn't often have singers. Because singers have their own unique timbre. A great choir is possible when the members do not raise their own voices, but when they enter each other's voices and create a harmonious sound. If one part makes a strong sound due to the number of parts, harmony cannot be achieved. It can be a great choir only when the sound is harmonized while considering the weak parts.
The Christian community is like an orchestra of many kinds of instruments or a choir of individual people. There is nothing unnecessary here. God can be glorified only when everyone takes care of each other and achieves harmony. Let's look at verses 5-6.
“Now the God of patience and comfort grants you to be like-minded toward one another in the imitation of Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and one mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, the Christian community must have the same purpose, one heart, and one word. This is the way to glorify God. In the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, the prayer book of Jesus, Jesus prayed earnestly that the Christian community might be united in Christ.
Verse 11 says, “Holy Father, preserve them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one as we are.” In verses 21-22, “As you are in me and I in you, so May we all be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you have given me, that they may be one, just as we are one.”
In fact, it must be very difficult for many people to become one. Although they are members of the congregation, the environment they grew up in is different, and it is a community of people who are different from their current home, workplace, and business. Therefore, in order to achieve unity, it is essential to be of the same mind, to be considerate of each other, to be tolerant, and to understand.
There was a family of shepherds raising sheep at the foot of the mountain. One late afternoon, it was time for the sheep to return to their pen. However, one seat was vacant. A father and daughter were looking for a lost sheep when they found the sheep caught in a thorn tree and struggling to get out. They carefully pulled the sheep out of the thorns, but the sheep had already been scratched and wounded in several places. The little daughter was so pitiful for the sheep that she cried to her father,
“Dad, I hate that tree. I will cut that tree down.”
Said. The next day, father and daughter went to cut down the thorns with axes. However, there was a small bird flying to and fro on the thorn tree, collecting with its beak the hair that the sheep had plucked from the thorn yesterday. Moments later, the little bird flew away with its beak full of wool. The little daughter, who was watching this closely, said to her father,
“Dad, I think I can understand why God makes thorns grow here. The thorns in the trees seem to be collecting soft fur so that little birds can build nests.”
Said. Thanks to the little bird, the thorn was spared the axe.
Even in the natural world created by God, nothing was created without meaning. All creation is working in harmony with one another to accomplish God's purpose.
The Church of God is a great community of love that is specially set apart among the creatures of the world. The purpose of this community is to glorify God by praising God for what He is doing. Verse 6 says, “To the glory of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” For this to work, the Christian community must be united.
This text presents a way for the Christian community to become one. The way is to receive each and every member of the Christian community as they are. In verses 1 and 2, “We who are strong ought to bear the weakness of the weak, and not please ourselves. Let each one of us please our neighbor, but do it for good and build it up.” “Weak people” refer to “saints who lack maturity as Christians,” and “strong ones” mean “saints with strong faith who can understand everything.” In other words, it means that believers with strong faith must patiently endure and lead the weak points of those who are not yet spiritually immature and cannot accept the faith well.
Verse 7 tells us why we should do this. “Receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” That is, because the Lord did it to me.
In the church of Rome, the recipient of this letter, there were Jews, but there were also many converts as Gentiles. Therefore, there were many parts that we did not understand each other. The Jewish believers, who were accustomed to Judaism, insisted on the laws and rules of the Old Testament in everything. On the other hand, Christians who were converted as Gentiles tried to break free from the Old Testament laws and regulations, claiming that they were free in Jesus Christ.
In today's terms, it is said that believers with long years of faith should have godly faith while insisting on church feasts and various church laws. On the other hand, a member with a short life of faith wants to be relatively free without being bound by the law of faith. On the other hand, they claim to be right about differences in the time and form of worship, and the form and quality of service and service.
God tells us not to criticize these differences, but to lead and follow each other with patience and to achieve one. This may sound easy in words, but it is not so easy to put into practice. However, since this is the will of God, it is the foundation of faith that we must follow. In order for us to become one like this, it will be easier if we seek the Lord's will for the matter rather than arguing with each other.
"Jesus is Here!"
That's right. If we have a firm belief that ‘the Lord is here now,’ it will be much easier for us to become one. What the Lord requires of this unity is to prepare in advance for life in the kingdom of God. So we have to practice doing this.
Now, even if we have different thoughts, let's unite our will because we have one faith in the Lord. And let's put our hearts together. This requires understanding, tolerating, and caring for each other as they are. So, I pray that you will be able to form a community of love and happiness that unites in the Lord as He pleases the most.