Accepting one another

“Accept each other just as Christ accepted you; it will bring praise to God” (Romans 15:7)
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         It comes up so often in Paul’s letters that it must have been a major problem. What he keeps telling his fellow believers is that they ought to get along. And the same problem exists today and ought to be a major concern for every local church. Whenever the issue arises I keep reflecting on what Jesus said about the vital importance of unity among believers. In his high priestly prayer in John 17,  Jesus asks the Father that his followers will become one as the two of them are one “so that the world may believe that you have sent me (John 17:21-23). The unity for which he prays has as its purpose the expansion of the faith. Unity is the neglected tool for evangelism.
         Paul’s concern is that the believers in Rome “accept one another” (v. 7). One would think that whenever two people have the same wonderful experience of passing from death into life, they can hardly restrain from hugging one another out of sheer joy. Watch a veteran, home from active duty abroad, take his family in his arms and weep for joy. I’m not suggesting that every encounter between two believers ought to be like that, but the situations are similar: the soldier could well have been killed on the battle field and the believer was under death’s condemnation only to come safely through. However, I am saying that unity in Christ ought to create a sense of warm spiritual joy. Believers, aware of what has actually happened in their life and impressed by the nearness and reality of an eternity of unimaginable joy, can’t help but love the other. The two are inseparable.
         It’s clear that as sin separates, love unites. Maybe it’s time to come to grips with division. To coddle sin belongs to the life of the unbeliever. We know that the “big” sins like hate, destruction, and murder are wrong, but how about the “little” Christian sins like greed, envy, a loose tongue, etc.? Both are destructive of what God has planned. These “little” sins separate people and bring a dark shadow over the local church. Paul says, “Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you.” And how is that? When we were sinners and alienated from certain others by our own selfishness – now there’s a self-portrait if I ever saw one – Christ accepted us anyway. And that is how we are to accept/relate to one another.
         And all of this has as its purpose the bringing of “praise to God.” We don’t accept one another just to have a sort of healthy personal relationship – and that is good, of course – but we love and care for one another because in brings praise to God. And as Jesus said, that kind of authentic living reaches out to the unsaved and draws them toward the joy of forgiveness. Getting along is, perhaps, the most important thing we can do both for a healthy church body and as the best possible way to bring other sinners to Christ.