From the desk of Pastor Ben

Children of God – Part 1

“Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me.”
(Matthew 18:5)

It is impossible to separate Jesus Christ from His people. Therefore, whatever affects believers affects Him. The context of this verse makes it clear that Jesus was not speaking of the particular toddler on His lap but was using the child to symbolize and describe the spiritual children of God. No matter how weak and unimpressive a believer may be, we must treat him as a precious child of God because there is a solidarity between God and saints and among all who share His life by the in-dwelling Spirit.

Jesus affirmed this truth to His apostles with these profound words, “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me” (Luke 10:16). When Saul of Tarsus (soon to be the apostle Paul) was persecuting Christians, Christ stopped him on the way to Damascus by asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Later, Paul rebuked the Corinthian believers for their sexual immorality with prostitutes: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! (1 Corinthians 6:15). Jesus is not personally contaminated by believers’ sins any more than sunlight is contaminated by shining on a garbage dump. But His name is stained and His work hindered when His children sin, just as He is blessed when they are received.

Ask Yourself:
How often do you find yourself getting annoyed with or at cross purposes to other believers? Though you may have valid grounds for being upset, how can you turn a potential clash into a potential site for unity and reconciliation? Why is it so important to avoid disunity in the body of Christ?