Giving & Receiving

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. (Philippians 4:14-16)   Yesterday we talked about the necessity of learning to receive in order to live the Christian life.  If we feel we can do everything ourselves, we're unlikely to feel the need of receiving a saviour—because, what would we need to be saved from?  And if, on the other side, we feel guilty when we receive or when we have to admit our need, we're less likely to receive the gift of God's grace that's on offer.  So: to receive the life and salvation that Jesus gives, we need to know how to receive! We love, because we have first received the love of God.  Receiving the good gifts that God has initiated is where it all starts.  But here's the trick: a true and healthy relationship does not only flow in one direction.   You might disagree.  Parental relationships are largely one way.  God's relationship with us too.  Yes and no though.  Parents DO get something out of raising kids.  Is it imbalanced?  Of course!  But parents do also receive the cuteness, the smiles, the gifts made, and the joy of watching a little one grow and learn and respond.  Parents do all sorts of odd things to get their newborn to respond to them so that they have something they can receive.  Relationships are two ways.  And when they aren't, we label those relationships as cold, distant, overbearing, or even abusive.  When we are treated like a number instead of like a person, we baulk at that.  It happens when we are only able to receive instructions, but not able to give feedback—a totally one-way relationship in which we are not heard.  So, God may be infinitely more powerful than we are, but in Jesus Christ, he has stooped down to our humanity to become a person with whom we can share a mutuality: a relationship of giving and receiving.  When Jesus came in the flesh among us, he was not firstly the giver of life, but was the receiver of care as an infant.  He received the hospitality of dinner hosts.  He received a drink from the woman at the well when he was thirsty.  For Jesus: relationships were not one-way, top-down things—relationships shared a healthy mutuality: a back and forth, a giving and a receiving.  Though, there was one time when Jesus did have a one-way relationship. It was with the religious leaders—they came to the point where they stopped listening or responding to him at all.  The disagreement was so sharp that they silenced him altogether by crucifixion.  They would receive from him nothing, and give him everything—their sin and death.  He received it.  The new life we now have in Christ ensures that our relationship with him will never again be killed by a one-way flattening.  A mutuality now flows.  We receive from him gifts, wealth, life, health, forgiveness, and salvation.  We respond with prayers, gifts, confession, service, obedience, worship, and a sharing of our hearts. This mutuality spills over into our Christian relationships with one another.  We learn what it is to be content, but also the importance of continuing to humbly receive and to gratefully give.  Not everyone catches the implications of this gospel logic right away.  Some churches were content only to receive, but not respond.  And others wanted only perhaps to give, as a form of running up their account so to speak—a form of gaining leverage, influence, and control.  The Philippians were different.  They immediately caught this implication of the gospel—that it demanded healthy, loving, mutual relationships from the start—the very thing that Christ had established with them.  And so they immediately begin sharing with Paul in the matter of giving and receiving.     How about you? Do your relationships flow both ways?  With God?  With others? Examine them and lay them before God to determine how you might best share in the practice of giving and receiving.