When Jesus Christ Is Fully Received | The Meaning of Bethany (Part 1)

I sincerely say this. I am not sure that I can deliver this burden this morning, but let me begin by saying that in verse 2, Paul said something that I suddenly realized had everything to do with this passage. He commended them for being receptive. He commended them for having already received the precept that he delivered to them.

This chapter, at least the first half, is not a criticism of the church in Corinth. It is a commendation. It is a praise. Whatever there is in this passage about head covering and headship, it is a praise to the church which is in Corinth. Unfortunately, in the last half of the same chapter, Paul finally takes off his gloves and really begins to swing hard. But at the beginning of the chapter, he tells the church, “You have kept the precepts.” Then in the middle of the chapter, he says, “You’re fouled up on the details.”

There has been a lot of criticism of the church in Corinth. Brothers and sisters, the church in Corinth kept the precepts. Now, I have also read to you a passage in 2 Samuel about Brother David leaving the city of Jerusalem. We have also read passages in Luke, Matthew, and John about the city of Bethany. We have also read three passages in Acts. In Acts 2, it says… They quickly received the apostles’ doctrines and their fellowship. And then in Acts 16, it says. And they received them into their home. It was Lydia who said, “Come, stay in my home. We receive you.” And then in Acts 18:9, the Lord says, ” Stay in Corinth. You’re being received here. There are many people in this city.” I have a real longing to deal with you about headship, but that’s right where it begins. Right there.

Paul said, “Praise the Lord, Corinth. You have already received…” The word precepts means literally ‘a hand to you’ or ‘a hand to me.’ The hands of Corinth were already out, and they said, ‘We take.’ And Paul said, ‘Your hands are out; I have given.”

What had Corinth received? And what had Paul given? Well, it’s no small thing that he gave, and they received, but it had become a great bother to them. What had they received? More than this even. They had received from Paul the very centrality of Jesus Christ within the assembly. Within the church, they had received a very certain matter. They had received Christ himself. You say, why, brother, of course they had received Christ himself. Don’t be so sure that all brothers everywhere, even those who meet together, have utterly received Christ himself. Brethren, I praise you for what you have done. You have received the very Christ into your midst. Him alone you have received, and Him you have made at home.

We are going to deal with the most imponderable, the most serious thing that a church can deal with. As far as that goes, the whole restoration hangs on this. The first proper thing is the receiving of the Lord totally into their midst, and this they had done.

I commend you, Corinth. You have first of all received the Lord. That next verse, verse 4, says, you’ve done it. And you sisters have done it. You brothers have done it. As Christ is in His relationship to God, so is your relationship to the Lord Jesus, and so is the sisters’ relationship to their husbands. It is a commendation. It isn’t until you get to the end of the passage where he says, “I’ve got something against you. This I cannot praise you for. For this you did not receive, but the precepts that I handed to you, you have received.

I commend you; you have fully received the Lord. It is after you receive Him that you don’t fully know what to do with Him. Let Corinth be praised, not condemned. The problems from this verse on that Corinth had was because they had received the Lord. The problems they developed were over Christ Jesus being the very Lord of that church, and out of His Lordship came the problem. Praise God! Praise God the church in Corinth had the privilege of having the problems of Lordship.

Brothers and sisters, there is something in this. There can be no assembly, no church, no fullness in the church, no reality in the church until the church doors have swung open totally and completely and all of Christ Jesus has been received in complete trust. All the churches were first built on the receiving. On the receiving, Jerusalem, the first church, opened its heart, opened its life, opened its very total self to the apostles and their fellowship and what they…and on that, the church was built.

When Paul came into Macedonia, must have been Thessalonica, he came into a city where there was no synagogue. Now, when the Jews didn’t have a synagogue, they still met every Saturday. They sort of had an agreement that if there was no synagogue in the city, and there weren’t even enough Jews to have a building where they would meet, then they would meet beside the nearest flowing water, so that when they went through their ritual of purification, there would be water there.

So Paul comes into the city. There are no believers. There are only Jews, and just about four or five of them. No synagogue, no rabbi, and nothing but Gentiles who have never heard of Jesus Christ. He comes to the water, the river, out near the city, and there is Lydia, a seller of cloth, and two, three, four, or five women there. They’re all just Jews going through their little Jewish ways of purification.

Paul comes to this little group of women, and he preaches the Lord Jesus Christ… and the receiving takes place. The receiving takes place. Without the receiving, there can be no real church built where Jesus Christ himself is received. This is the receiving: the receiving of Christ. I believe this will unfold to you in the next few minutes.