"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."
John 13:20
This idea is one that we have a hard time processing sometimes I think. Christ tells us that receiving those he sends is receiving him, but we still have a large mental gap between the things that God tells us and the things that his prophets tell us. On one hand, this is completely understandable since God is infallible and his servants are not. On the other hand, infallible God has told us that we should receive a prophet's words "as if from mine own mouth" (D&C 21:5). I very much doubt that we would argue and justify as much if we heard the same things from God.
One reason why I really like the idea here is that it seems to be about community and education, two things that I love. God works through his servants (often ourselves, if we choose to be), so that we can grow and learn and be part of the amazingness which is God's work and kingdom. If he did it all himself, and stood in front of us every time we needed to do something, not only would that be the most extreme form of micromanagement ever, but it would also leave us with little freedom or choice--something that God firmly advocates. If we want heaven, or anything else that God offers, he insists that we choose it freely. He will not force it on us. On the other hand, of course, he will bend over backwards to help us get there if it is something that we freely choose and are committed to working for.
As we learn to be good servants of God, we learn to care about the people around us and to take our obligation to God seriously, to be like him, and to be worthy of other people's trust in us. This is taken to an extreme with prophets, who speak in the stead of God, but it applies to all of us to some extent because we are all examples to and teachers of the people around us, whether that is happening in a formal setting or not. And because all of us are learning to take the name of Christ upon us in this way, it is all part of building a Christlike community, where we can all learn to trust each other to do and say the good and kind thing, and to help rather than to harm.
Of course, as we are learning, we are going to run into a lot of imperfection in that regard... in others and in ourselves. That imperfection isn't a reason to stop and give up and never trust though. It is a byproduct of God's education program, and all it means is the same thing that it means when a little kid lies to his parents... we all need some more time to grow up, and to learn to be better than we are.
Receiving others doesn't always mean taking everything they say as if God spoke them. God reserves the direction of his church to the president of the church, for example, and we all have individual stewardships that limit our influence. However, Christ tells us "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40) and "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me" (Matthew 25:45) as well, strengthening that tie to all of us, not just to one man, or even only to the prophets and apostles. We are all connected as a community, and the way we react to and treat one another *is* related to the way that we react to and treat God.
Today, let's work on receiving God's servants. If their position warrants it, we should listen to the prophets and apostles as though it were the voice of God. There are also a lot of other people that God sends into our lives though that are his servants in other ways... helping us learn and grow, overcome biases, or just build friendships and community. These people (including ourselves) are not perfect, and some of them might not resemble our mental picture of God in any way. Nevertheless, let's work to receive and love them as his children, and as we do, we will receive God in a way that we will never be able to otherwise.
John 13:20
This idea is one that we have a hard time processing sometimes I think. Christ tells us that receiving those he sends is receiving him, but we still have a large mental gap between the things that God tells us and the things that his prophets tell us. On one hand, this is completely understandable since God is infallible and his servants are not. On the other hand, infallible God has told us that we should receive a prophet's words "as if from mine own mouth" (D&C 21:5). I very much doubt that we would argue and justify as much if we heard the same things from God.
One reason why I really like the idea here is that it seems to be about community and education, two things that I love. God works through his servants (often ourselves, if we choose to be), so that we can grow and learn and be part of the amazingness which is God's work and kingdom. If he did it all himself, and stood in front of us every time we needed to do something, not only would that be the most extreme form of micromanagement ever, but it would also leave us with little freedom or choice--something that God firmly advocates. If we want heaven, or anything else that God offers, he insists that we choose it freely. He will not force it on us. On the other hand, of course, he will bend over backwards to help us get there if it is something that we freely choose and are committed to working for.
As we learn to be good servants of God, we learn to care about the people around us and to take our obligation to God seriously, to be like him, and to be worthy of other people's trust in us. This is taken to an extreme with prophets, who speak in the stead of God, but it applies to all of us to some extent because we are all examples to and teachers of the people around us, whether that is happening in a formal setting or not. And because all of us are learning to take the name of Christ upon us in this way, it is all part of building a Christlike community, where we can all learn to trust each other to do and say the good and kind thing, and to help rather than to harm.
Of course, as we are learning, we are going to run into a lot of imperfection in that regard... in others and in ourselves. That imperfection isn't a reason to stop and give up and never trust though. It is a byproduct of God's education program, and all it means is the same thing that it means when a little kid lies to his parents... we all need some more time to grow up, and to learn to be better than we are.
Receiving others doesn't always mean taking everything they say as if God spoke them. God reserves the direction of his church to the president of the church, for example, and we all have individual stewardships that limit our influence. However, Christ tells us "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40) and "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me" (Matthew 25:45) as well, strengthening that tie to all of us, not just to one man, or even only to the prophets and apostles. We are all connected as a community, and the way we react to and treat one another *is* related to the way that we react to and treat God.
Today, let's work on receiving God's servants. If their position warrants it, we should listen to the prophets and apostles as though it were the voice of God. There are also a lot of other people that God sends into our lives though that are his servants in other ways... helping us learn and grow, overcome biases, or just build friendships and community. These people (including ourselves) are not perfect, and some of them might not resemble our mental picture of God in any way. Nevertheless, let's work to receive and love them as his children, and as we do, we will receive God in a way that we will never be able to otherwise.
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