SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/5/2022 11:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Principle”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 18:5
Message of the verse: “And whoever received one such child in My name receives Me;”
It has been a week or so since we looked at the
introduction to this section which covers Matthew 18:5-9, but we will have to
pick up and go to this first sub-section this morning.
As we look at this verse we can see that the basic truth
of it is that it is impossible to separate Christ from His people and that,
consequently, whatever affects believers, affects Him. The specific truth here is that whoever
receives a child of God in Christ’s name receives Christ. This is a wonderful truth to behold as there
is nothing better in this world than for a person to receive Christ as their
Savior and Lord.
We can see clearly from this context, Jesus using a child
that He was probably holding in His arms or on His lap as He was teaching to
His disciples and perhaps others who were in the room. Using this child was only and
illustration. One such child identifies
the spefic child being referred to in this context. MacArthur writes “This can only mean the one
who spiritually becomes a little child, as described in verses 3-4. Jesus was not speaking of the toddler himself
but was using him to represent the children of God. The physical child symbolized the spiritual
child of God, who becomes childlike in his faith and who humbly accepts the
gospel and is converted (v. 3). Such
converted people are the ‘little ones who believe in Me,’ Jesus explained (v.
6). And no matter how lowly, unsophisticated, immature, or weak a
believer is, he must be treated as the precious child of God he truly is. There is solidarity and unity between the Lord
and all who share His life by the indwelling Holy Spirit.”
It is therefore important for us to see that Christianity
is not a system of religion but a redeemed people who are united with God, one
with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. We
as believers not only follow the teaching of Christ, but Christ Himself and are
totally and intimately identified with Him.
He is the Head and we are the body as seen in 1 Cor. 12:27); He is the
Vine and we are the branches as seen in John 15:5); He is the Bridegroom and we
are the bride (Rev. 21:2, 9).
We will end this SD with an important, rather long,
paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary. “In
profound terms, Jesus affirmed this amazing reality to His disciples, ‘The one
who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and
the one who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me’ (Luke 10:16; cf. John
13:20). When Saul was persecuting
Christians, the Lord confronted him on the Damascus Road with the words, ‘Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ (Acts
9:4). In his first letter to the
Corinthian church, Paul negatively confirmed the oneness between Christ and
each believer when he strongly rejected them for sexual immorality involving prostitutes. It was spiritually defiling in a unique way,
because it made Christ Himself a kind of participant in the sin. Because the believer is spiritually united
with Christ, when he sexually unites himself with a prostitute he involves the
Lord in his sin. ‘Do you not know that
your bodies are members of Christ?’ the apostle asked. ‘Shall I then take away the members of Christ
and make them members of a harlot? May
it never be!’ (1 Cor. 6:15). It is not
that Christ Himself is made impure by the impurity of His followers but that
His name is stained. He is not
personally contaminated by believers’ sin any more than sunlight is
contaminated by shining on a garbage dump.
But His name is maligned and His work is hindered when His people sin,
just as His heart is blessed when His people are received.”
Lord willing we will begin our next SD by looking at the
meaning of the word “receives.”
12/5/2022 11:39 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment