Rejection and Reception

  

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:10 – 13.

 

While the world rejected Jesus Christ, while “His own” rejected Jesus Christ, there were those who received Him. At any given time there is rejection and reception happening around us. In another sense this is also happening within us, we are either receiving or rejecting the Word of God.

 

As we see in both the Gospels and Epistles, “His own” were not all “His own” and those who were not “His own” were “His own.” Hence we have Jesus Christ “declaring the Name of the Father to His brethren,” whether Jew or Gentile (Hebrews 2:10 – 13; Ephesians 2:10 – 22; Romans 9:6 – 8).

 

Are we receiving Jesus Christ? Are we receiving His Word? There is more to this idea of “receiving” than we might think. In the Parable of the Sower the good soil “hears the word and understands it” (Matthew 13:23), are those who “hear the word and accept it” (Mark 4:20), and “are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast” (Luke 8:15).

 

Then the idea of birth is introduced “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” In the next verse the image of birth is continued, but this time it is not our birth from God that is spoken of, but rather the eternal generation of the Only Begotten from the Father that we see.

 

Peter writes that, “…you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

 

That which Jesus Christ has, Light and Life, He gives to us through a new birth, a wonderful and mysterious miracle in which the Life of God comes into earth, the earth of our bodies, our souls, our spirits - joining us to the Holy Trinity (1 Cor. 6:17; Hebrews 2:11; Ephesians 5:31 – 32; John chapters 14 – 17).

 

We are as utterly and totally dependent upon God for this birth as we were dependent upon our parents for our first birth. This second birth is “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” As Jesus teaches Nicodemus in John Chapter 3, we must be born again of the Spirit of God.

 

In our receiving Him we also receive our birthright, our coinheritance in Jesus Christ, and this inheritance is that of the children of God, the sons and daughters of the Living God (Romans 8:12ff; Galatians 3:23 – 4:7; Ephesians 1:3 – 14).

 

Well now, what do you know of your birthright in Jesus Christ? Are you living in that birthright?

 

Are you receiving Jesus Christ as your daily source of life?

 

Have you experienced the miracle of being born of God in Jesus Christ? Is the life of the Trinity abiding in you?

 

Looking at the characteristics of the good soil (see above), what do those characteristics look like in your life? In the life of your congregation?

 

How are you cultivating the soil of your soul?

 

If you know the glory and mystery of new birth in God in Christ, are you growing and maturing in Jesus Christ, is His image being progressively displayed in you? In the life of your congregation?

 

I think these are things worth pondering and speaking about with one another.

 

What do you think?