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Grace and Culture Building I

Joe Harby on December 30, 2012

Introduction

As a community of Christians we were all called and shaped by radical grace. One of the things that grace does (and which law cannot do) is build a culture with standards – which then presents a potent threat to grace. We are called to understand this dynamic because if we don’t, we will be continually frustrated.

The Text

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1-4).

Summary of the Text

For those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who walk after the Spirit and not the flesh, there is no condemnation (v. 1). The Spirit’s law of life sets us free from the law of sin and death (v. 2). The law was unable to fix us, because it was undone by our weakness. The law and the flesh are – to use the jargon – codependent. Law fails when flesh does. But what the law could not do, God did by sending His own Son to be condemned on the cross (v. 3). And why? The reason is so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the law (v. 4).

Stated Another Way

By not calculating on the basis of standards, grace enables us to fulfill the standard. And by insisting that every molecule of the standards be honored, the legal approach collapses in a heap of self-contradictory lusts. In other words, grace keeps the law, and the law is a lawbreaker.

But grace does not just “keep the law” in matters related to a person’s private ethical conduct. Grace enables men and women to marry and to bring up children properly. Grace enables people to build schools with genuine academic standards. Grace enables us to learn to love work, and to enjoy the consequent prosperity. Grace, in short, has a tendency to create subcultures within the culture of grace called the church, and a result creates a thorny theological and pastoral problem. Let’s tackle it now.

By Grace Through Faith

You cannot flunk out of the Christian faith. You can be expelled for high rebellion (which is what excommunication is), but you cannot be kicked out for being slow or lazy. You cannot even be kicked out for being sinful. How many times will God accept you back to this Table? More than 70 times 7? The church then is tailor-made for misfits. Robert Frost once defined home as that place where, “if you have to go, they have to take you in.” And this is why, in a fundamental way, the church is your home. You might be the king of screw-ups, but you are always most welcome here. Own your sin, and you are never on your own.

But at the same time, it is right and proper that a sluggard supreme be able to flunk out of a Christian school. It is right and proper that a profane child not be allowed to play with your kid anymore. Suppose you couldn’t carry a tune with a forklift – it is right and proper that you be denied the solo part in the church choir. In fact, it may be right and proper that you be frog-marched out of the church choir entirely. Suppose one of you gets a farm job this summer for your teenaged boy, the point to teach him the value of hard work. After two weeks, your farmer friend lets him go, and you go to inquire into the reasons. He gives his reasoning in this way: “If that boy had another hand, he would need a third pocket to put it in.” It is right and proper that he be fired. But how does all this with grace? Do you get the problem?

Fellowship and Leadership

The qualifications for fellowship are quite simple – faith in Jesus and sorrow over sin. The qualifications for leadership are different – and if disqualification has occurred, sorrow doesn’t address it in the same way. If a bank president embezzles a couple hundred thousand dollars, he doesn’t get his job back just because he feels really sorry about it.

Confusion over these two different kinds of qualification has led to a great deal of mayhem. Suppose a pastor disgraces his office, is defrocked, and when he wants to be reinstalled three months later and is refused, he then says something like, “where’s the forgiveness?” But the forgiveness is plainly seen in his access to the Table from that side of the Table.

Formal and Informal Leadership

So there is the grace-based standard of fellowship. But there are also the grace-created standards associated with the office. Once we have this down, there is the additional complication of seeing how the standards of office can be layered and hierarchical (husband, boss, owner, etc.), as well as being informal and not just formal (friends, role models, etc.).

Grace and Elitism

The church generally is like the militia, and it is like a militia where you pretty much have to take in anybody who shows up with a gun. Then there are the “parachurch” developments which wind up creating (at least initially) our Navy Seals-Knights Templar, or monasteries, or seminaries, or colleges, or Bible societies, or mission agencies, and so on. The Puritan experiment in New England began as an attempt to turn the militia into the Delta Force.

Strong and Weak

This problem manifested itself in the very first years of the Christian churches experience. This is why Paul had to distinguish between the “strong” and the “weak” (Rom. 15:1), and this is why he had to tell the strong to bear the weak.

There is a temptation to resentment that works in two directions. The strong get something going, and those who need that strength (for whatever reason) are attracted to it, and attach themselves. The strong resent “the drag.” Then the weak begin to resent the strong out of envy. Who do they think they are?

Strong and weak both are called to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God – and He will lift them up.

Grace and Culture Building II

Joe Harby on January 6, 2012

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Introduction

Last week we considered the important distinction between the qualifications for fellowship (sheer grace) and the qualifications for the various forms that leadership takes (grace manifested in and through performance). Not surprisingly, it is a topic that takes a good bit of careful thought, and hence another message on it.

The Text

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).

Summary of the Text

Paul says that nothing should be done (in our midst) through strife and vainglory (v. 3). These are sins which require the presence of other people, and the presence of others is sure to bring this temptation. The alternative to strife and vainglory is esteeming others “better than” ourselves (v. 4). Don’t hover over your “own things,” like a hen with one chick. Give a thought to how others are doing. Give a thought to the things of others. In the next verse, Paul ties the whole thing in with the express imitation of Christ. Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ (v. 5).

Now a lot rides on what it means to esteem others “better than” ourselves. Does this mean that LeBron James has to sincerely believe that an eight-year-old boy with pride problems is better at dunking than he is? Does it mean that B.B. King has to honestly think that some blues hack with sausages for fingers is better at a sweet blues lick than he is? Not at all – I believe the sense here is captured better by phrases like “more significant” (ESV), or “more important” (NASB). Remember that we are imitating Jesus here, and Jesus was not delusional.

Looking Out Your Own Eyes

Every man always thinks he is right, but the wise man knows that he is not always right. Thinking you are right is what it means to think at all. But a wise man is capable of stepping out of the immediate moment, and considering the trajectory of his life. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Prov. 12:15).

In Orthodoxy, Chesterton put it this way. “Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth: this has been exactly reversed.”

Mimetic Envy, Mimetic Learning

The word vainglory here is a very good transfer of the word Paul uses – kendoxia, or literally, “empty glory.” Vainglory is driven by the sly, sidelong glance – the comparison that eats away at your insides. Like a snake eating its own tail, envy tries simultaneously to imitate and deface. It is fundamentally an imitative gesture, but one that is dislocated at the center. Destructive envy tries to caress and punch at the same time.

We avoid this, not by avoiding imitation. We cannot avoid imitation – God has built an imitative race. We are all reflective mirrors, and the only choice we have is that of reflecting glory or reflecting vainglory. We are told to imitate. As dearly loved children, be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1). Imitation is consistently urged and praised (1 Cor. 4:16, 11:1, 1 Thess. 2:14, Heb. 6:12).

“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good” (3 John 11). It is not whether you imitate, but which thing you imitate.

Fellowship and Leadership

So then, returning to the issue of the strong and weak, how do we decide who is who? Rock, paper, scissors? Who’s the weaker brother here? One, two, three, not it! No, the Lord shows us a more excellent way . . . “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”(Rom. 12:1-3).

The Way of Strength

The weaker brother is one who thinks too highly of himself, or too little of himself, and, not infrequently, both at the same time. Weakness is a mass of contradictions, and strength (the real kind) is the way of liberty. It is the path of freedom out of all that.

The way to biblical strength is to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, to take your minds away from the world’s mind-press and offer them to Christ, and to think accurately in accordance with the measure of faith that God has given. This is the track – physical holiness, worldview discipleship, and then . . . a right to your own opinions, including your opinions of yourself and your abilities.

No Short Cuts

Now suppose you are no good at all at any of this. Suppose you’re an amateur porn junkie, and the only thing you know about postmodernism is that it lets you put way too much hipster gel in your hair, and so you kind of like it. Suppose you get your worldview analysis from supermarket tabloids. Suppose your soul is all tangled up in that worldliness-gunk, and you have a hard time getting through a week without getting even more on you. Are you welcome here? You are as welcome as it gets. Repent all the sins you see, and ask Jesus to deal with any other ones (1 John 1:9). Welcome. But do you want to start writing movie reviews for the church newsletter? Don’t hold your breath.

Growing Up Into Faith

Secular democracy says that you have a right to your opinion simply by having one. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. The lazy man (including someone who is intellectually slack) is wiser in his own conceits than seven men who can offer a reason (Prov. 26:16).

But in Christ, in the church, we are called to grow up into imitative wisdom. We grow up into having a right to our views by imitating those, without envy, who clearly have a right to theirs. Consider the outcome of their way of life (Heb. 13:7), and imitate their faith. Stop attributing it to “luck.” Their garden is not free of weeds because they are “fortunate.”

Parish Life

Joe Harby on February 6, 2011

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Introduction

Over the years, we have seen many believers move here to the Palouse, and we have been greatly blessed by this. The reasons have obviously varied, but in countless conversations I have been a part of, the word that comes up over and over and over again is the word community. There is a reason for that, and it is a biblical reason.

The Text

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from?? house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

Summary of the Text

As with many texts of Scripture, there is much more here than we can possibly address. But there is a key theme that we can take away from this passage, and if we do, our love for one another will only flourish and grow. In the aftermath of the great events of Pentecost, the church in Jerusalem was blessed in multiple ways. They continued steadfastly in four things—the apostolic teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers (v. 42). Fellowship is italicized here because that is what we want to focus on this morning. The revival provoked a response of godly fear, and the apostles performed many wonders (v. 43). The believers were knit together by the Spirit, and shared their goods freely, as any had need (vv. 44-45). They continued with one another on a daily basis in the Temple, and from house to house. They were in God’s house, but we also see that God was in their houses. They would
eat together with gladness and singleness of heart (v. 46). They praised the Lord, and the outsiders praised them (v. 47). As a consequence, there were converts on a daily basis (v. 47). When the church catches fire, the world will come to watch it burn—and often the fire will spread to them.

Setting Aside a Distraction

This passage has been grossly abused over the years, with utopians and idealists urging us to adopt some form of communism. But this was an outbreak of sharing, not an outbreak of confiscation. The Spirit enables a man to give. The devil enables a man to see that somebody else isn’t giving enough. When, a few chapters later, Ananias and Sapphira were struck down dead (Acts 5:4), it was for their lie, and not because they hadn’t met the commune’s draconian quotas. There are always liars in the church who, like Ananias and Sapphira, want to look more generous than they actually are. Today this lie in the church is perpetuated by those who confound generosity and the violence of confiscation.

And remember the circumstance. Jesus had taught His disciples that within one generation, real estate prices in Jerusalem were going to approach zero. A number of faithful Christians had thoughtfully begun to liquidate their assets (wouldn’t you?), and they were in a position to use those assets to benefit their brothers and sisters in the great revival.

The Koinonia Blessing

The word here rendered as fellowship is koinonia. It is a remarkable word, encompassing a great deal. It refers, for example, to our partaking of the Lord’s Supper together (1 Cor. 10:16). It refers to coffee and donuts time (Acts 2:46). And it refers to our time together in the rough and tumble of daily covenant life (Philemon 17). Paul argues in a restitution/runaway slave case on the basis of koinonia. As the water flows from Ezekiel’s temple, out into the world, so koinonia fellowship flows out from our worship here, until it inundates your Fourth of July barbeque get togethers.

The worship of God proper occurs on the Lord’s Day here. This is the church. What we do on Monday and Thursday afternoons represents the kingdom. The worship of God at His appointed time, in His appointed manner, is the cathedral. The rest of the week is the surrounding parish.

Strengths and Weaknesses

A number of years ago, we divided our community up into different parishes, naming them after great men in the history of the Reformation. We did this, not because we think that lines on a map create koinonia, but because we wanted to facilitate the flow of that fellowship—we wanted to build channels for it to flow in. Overall, we have been pleased with what has happened as a result of this, but we still have a lot to learn.

Some strengths: We have seen many gifted meals, van-unloading parties, shower gifts, and kirkerbay helps. Some parishes have had a thriving social/governmental experience. Good levels of elder awareness of how folks in their parish are doing. We have seen a lot of pent-up energy for works of service (more than our current structures can accommodate).

Some weaknesses: Attendance at our parish HOH meetings is frequently thin. Some of the first zeal that attended our discovery of psalm-singing is diminished. As new folks come into the church, we have the problem of pre- requisites and “shared assumptions.” We sometimes have seen parish envy (“why can’t our parish…”). Church officers are sometimes stretched thin. We need to do something that will coordinate women’s ministry. More Bible studies would be a blessing.

Three Companions

As we grow, we need to make adjustments. But we do not want to make adjustments just for the sake of making them. Rearranging the furniture is not the same thing as ongoing reformation and revival. The life of the Spirit always brings koinonia, but that life always has three companions—apostolic doctrine, breaking of bread, and prayers. Community, however it is created, is the sort of place where you can go and get propped up by others, making it look like you are more of a player than you are. All of these things are from the hands of the Lord. We rely on Him for them. We cannot generate them ourselves. We must look to Him, and to His means of grace. But this kind of proclamation is one of those means, and so our response should be to simply believe what He says about what He is doing among His people.

Romans 63: Phoebe Our Sister (16:1-16)

Joe Harby on August 1, 2010

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Introduction

In this last chapter of Romans, Paul says his farewells, gives various greetings, and does so in a way as to teach us many invaluable things. Some might wonder what kind of message we might get out of a passage in which Paul basically says hi to everyone the Roman church phone directory, but we have to remember that all Scripture is profitable.

The Text

“I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: 2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also . . .” (Rom. 16:1-16).

Summary of the Text

Paul commends to the Romans a woman named Phoebe, who was probably the messenger who carried the letter to the Romans. As valuable trusts go, this was probably one of the most important missions in the history of the church. She is called a sister, and is identified as a “servant” of the church at Cenchrea (v. 1). In the next verse, Paul urges them to give her a saints’ welcome, and to assist her in whatever business she might need to use them. She had been a great help to many, Paul included (v. 2). Greet Priscilla and Aquila, Paul’s helpers in Christ (v. 3), who risked their lives for Paul (v. 4). Greet their house church (v. 5), along with Epaenetus, the first convert in Achaia (v. 5). The greetings are then extended to Mary (v. 6), Andronicus and Junia (v. 7), Amplias (v. 8), Urbane and Stachys (v. 9), Apelles and the household of Aristobulus (v. 10), Herodian and the household of Narcissus (v. 11), Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis (v. 12), Rufus and his mother (v. 13), Ayncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes and the brothers with them (v. 14), Philogus and Julia, Hereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints with them (v. 15). Paul then tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss (v. 16), and says that the churches of Christ salute them (v. 16).

Some Details About the Names

Paul is greeting a number of the saints who are there at Rome, and it is striking how many of them he knows—and it appears a number of them quite well. I take v. 7 as saying “notable among the apostles” as opposed to “notable apostles,” as Junia is a woman’s name. These saints were converts out of paganism, as most had common names for that culture and others had the sorts of names that a Christian mom would not have given—such as Hermes or Olympas. Paul refers several times to kinsmen (vv. 7, 11), and that he and Rufus had the same (unnamed) mother. These are most likely like kin, and not actual relatives. But who knows? After all, a nephew shows up in Paul’s life around this time (Acts 23:16).

The Value of Labor

We can see how close Paul is to these people. We can also see how he got close to them—for Paul, labor and sacrifice were at the center of his value system. Phoebe was a great help to many (v. 2). Priscilla and Aquila put their necks on the line (v. 4). Mary was a hard worker (v. 6). Urbane was a helper in the Lord (v. 9). Tryphena and Tryphosa labored in the Lord (v. 12). Persis labored much in the Lord (v.12)

We were created for work. The fall into sin makes that work harder, true enough, but it also gives us more that we have to do. We should gather up the kind of friends that Paul had, and get to work.

The Church at Their House

The church at Rome was actually a cluster of churches. One of them met at the home of Priscilla and Aquila (v. 5). It is possible that a couple of others met at the homes of Narcissus and Aristobulus, who may have been unbelievers since there were not greet by name. Two other groups are mentioned in vv. 14-15. At this point in history, there were no church buildings, and so the singular church at Rome (which Paul could write one letter to) was actually a collection of churches. Paul could write to them, give a number of greetings to the saints in different gatherings, expecting them to be able to see one another in order to pass on those greetings. Geographical separation, whether or Paul across the ocean or the other Roman saints who were across town meeting at the Best Western, is not a separation in fellowship.

Phoebe Our Sister

Phoebe is called a number of things, from which we learn a great deal. She is “our sister” (v. 1), she is a servant (diakonos) of the church at Cenchrea, clearly serving that church in some sort of official capacity. She was the one who delivered the letter to the Romans, and Paul instructs them to help her out now that she is in Rome (v. 2). The word translated in the AV as “succourer” is a word that means benefactress or patronness. She was clearly wealthy, and came from the eastern port of Corinth (Cenchrea), a place that had been about six miles east of Corinth, and is now underwater. The word diakonos as it is used here can either denote a formal office, or it can simply mean a generic “helper” or servant. Given Phoebe’s prominance, and the importance of the help, it seems that the former is meant. But it does not follow from this that the church at Cenchrea had a deacon board, and that women were on it. To reason that way is anachronistic.

A Holy Kiss

Speaking of anachronism, some Christians take Paul’s reference to the kiss here to mean that Christians are required to greet each other in some special liturgical fashion, i.e. with a liturgical kiss, or a “holy” kiss. Others, like myself, would want to say that your greetings, such as they are and how they function, should be holy. Your kiss, or your handshake, or your Christian side hug, should be holy. They would want to point out that Paul has just finished a long list of ordinary greetings, and he then urges them to greet one another (using the same word)—and to do so in holiness. In other words, a woman could be eligible to be enrolled as a widow, even if she had never, ever washed any of the saints’ feet (1 Tim. 5:10). As we make cultural transpositions, we must always remember the difference between principles and methods.

Romans 59: True Likemindedness (15:1-7)

Joe Harby on July 4, 2010

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Introduction

The apostle Paul has been piling one argument on top of another in his attempt to urge these Christians to get along with each other. He has appealed to the judgment seat of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ bestowed on the one you are at odds with, and the folly of slandering the very thing that you think is so good. Here he points to the example of Jesus—He who was strong bore with us, though we were weak.

The Text

“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.7Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God” (Rom. 15:1-7).

Summary of the Text

Strength should be used for the weak (v. 1), not on the weak. Strength is not a gift that was given to you in order that you might waste it on yourself (v. 1). Every one of us (and not just some of us) should therefore use whatever strength we have in order to please our neighbor, such that he is edified (v. 2). Why? We are Christians, and we follow the example of Jesus Christ. Christ did not please Himself (v. 3). Paul then quotes Ps. 69:9, making the point that Jesus was willing to suffer insult for the sake of God (v. 3), and of course for us as well. That which was written down beforehand in Scripture was written so that through patience and comfort in them we might have hope. Hope in what? Hope that we might learn this lesson, the thing Paul is talking about right now (v. 4). God is the God of patience and consolation and so He is the one to give us patience and comfort. The God of patience and consolation can bless us by making us likeminded toward one another (v. 5) “according to Christ Jesus.” This likemindedness is exhibited by means of one mind and one mouth in glorifying God, who is the Father of Jesus (v. 6). Receiving one another, as Christ received us, is therefore the way to tune up the orchestra, so that we might glorify God with it (v. 7).

Psalm 69

As already noted, Paul quotes Ps. 69 in the course of his discussion here. This psalm contains quite a cluster of references that are referenced in the New Testament. “They that hate me without cause” (Ps. 69:4; Jn. 15:25); “zeal for your house consumes me” (Ps. 69:9; Jn. 2:17); the reproaches of those who hate God fell on Christ (Ps. 69:9; Rom. 15:3); they gave the Lord vinegar for His thirst (Ps. 69:21; Jn. 19:29-30); the rebellious Jews will have backs that will be bent forever (Ps. 69:22-23; Rom. 11:9); and Judas would lose his position among the apostles (Ps. 69:25; Acts 1:20). Jesus is the Messiah, and the Messiah lives among His people. But people mean differences, and differences mean conflict, and what are we supposed to do?

True Likemindedness

As the Bible teaches us to work and live together, it tells us to make sure to strive for like-mindedness (Rom. 15:5; Phil. 2:2; 2:20). This, interestingly, is not what our culture tells us to do—it tells us not to drink the Kool-Aid, and tells us further that we should make sure to stack every committee with divergent opinions. That is because we have come to believe that determining truth is a matter of taking averages, or of statistical analysis. But it isn’t. If we consider Paul’s teaching on the body, and the members of the body, this like-mindedness is not the same thing as birds-of-a-feather-ness. Christians are to have a like mind the same way that knees, and elbows, and tendons do— they express a common desire by doing completely different things, to the same end.

Think of different instruments in the same orchestra. You could have different instruments playing different songs entirely—cacophony. You could have the same instruments playing different music entirely—cacaphony of a different timbre. You could have the same instruments playing the same music—boring. Or you could have different instruments playing the same music—glory.

And so two counterfeits we have to deal with is commonality without distinction and distinction without commonality. But the Spirit unites disparate elements. So if we have a duty to be likeminded, and we do, and we have another duty to pull in various directions, according to our various gifts, and we do, then what could go wrong? If we are to be striving toward the same goal, and we are to do so differently, then what problems might arise? The most obvious thing would be counterfeits of each duty. The counterfeit of likemindedness is being a yes man, and the counterfeit of exhibiting different gifts is being a contrarian. And each counterfeit is poised to denounce the genuine article across the way as a counterfeit.

Reading Scripture to the Same End

Think endurance and encouragement. God gave us the Scriptures so that we might have hope. God has created us in such a way as to be able to draw strength and comfort from examples that are recorded in a story. The culmination of all such stories, of course, is the victory of Christ over sin and death. And in addition, the God who wrote those stories down is the same God who is called the God of endurance and encouragement. What He wrote into the stories He is in the process of writing into us. And what does the God who is called by these attributes do exactly? Well, He grants likemindedness.

Imitation of Christ

This is a narrative, a story. Imitate the Christ of the narrative, not the Christ of a snapshot. We serve the living Christ, and not a frozen Christ. As Christ received you, receive the others. As Christ continues to receive you, so you also—receive them. You receiving them is part of the story.