"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."
So many times we follow a preconceived notion of what God sends. We have the Bible, His word, and don't look any further than that. We believe that if we study enough and learn enough, we don't need anything (one) else. Lock us in a tower with the scriptures and we'll see you in heaven someday.
We're open to receiving the scriptures. "The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it." We might even be open to advice from someone else, but only if it is properly packaged around the right scripture verses and presented in a clear, logical way.
God didn't think this was enough.
See, people did this for thousands of years and they got really good at it. They knew every word of the scriptures and the hundreds of laws derived from them. They were called Pharisees. They knew the information, but not the application. They missed the point.
So, God sent something new. He didn't send more information, He sent incarnation. Jesus didn't bring the word, the logos, he WAS the word. It was time for imitation, not just information. He came and lived a life worth duplicating.
He said to his twelve guys, "Come, follow me." Not come and learn from me. Not come and listen to me. Not come and watch me. Follow me. Where I go, you go.
How I live, you live.
How I love, you love.
How I die, you die.
Many people couldn't receive this. They were down for more information, but not imitation. When the information got hard or confusing, those who weren't imitating were vacillating and then migrating.
But those who were imitating, those few guys, those disciples saw crazy things, incredible things, mind-bending things that changed them. They saw the Kingdom of God and what a life lived in the Kingdom was like.
And then they were sent. And some people received them. And those who received them received the one who sent them. And then they were sent and received.
And despite our predilection for information, God is sending someone to you for imitational purposes.
Will you receive them?
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