Rom. 14:19 So then let us pursue the things of peace and the things for building up one another. 15:7 Therefore receive one another...
Rom. 14:19 So then let us pursue the things of peace and the things for building up one another.
15:7 Therefore receive one another, as Christ also received you to the glory of God.
Salvation is redemption plus saving. Redemption is brought to us by the death of Christ, and saving is brought by the life of Christ...The salvation in life is to be enjoyed. Its taste is sweet. After we enjoy salvation in life, we can no longer be isolated and peculiar. Thus, we will be saved from the individualism of the natural life.
Without a unique view and a unique goal, it is impossible to have the genuine church life. We will be divided because of our different views and goals. Our fellowship should be both local and universal (Rom. 16:1, 22-23) We should fellowship not only with the brothers and sisters in our own locality, but also with the brothers and sisters in all the other localities. In this way our fellowship is universal...The church life is both local and universal. But it is universal to a greater extent than it is local.
We must receive the believers in the principle of love. Whatever we would do and say to other believers must be based on and controlled by the divine love that we have enjoyed and continue to enjoy all the time. This is according to the kingdom life...God's kingdom life is not a matter of diet, nor of the keeping of days, nor of any kind of formality and custom, but a matter of the reality of the divine life in the Spirit of God.
Our receiving of the believers should also be according to Christ (Rom. 15:5), who did not please Himself (Rom. 15:3). We should take Christ as our pattern, our center, and our everything in the practice of the church life...If Christ has received someone, we must receive him, as Christ also received us to the glory of God (Rom. 15:7)
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