Master the Art of Welcoming
by Rick Brown
Maybe you've had an experience like mine. My wife and I had attended a conference in Nashville.
She elected to sit out the first morning session so I went alone. At a break
time I remember walking through a crowd of people who were all standing in
closed circles of three or four people. No one looked my way or said hello. I
felt like the kid in the Jr. High cafeteria who has no one to sit with.
I realized later that this was a close-knit group of long
timers in that particular area of ministry. They all knew each other and seemed
to be content with just talking to each other.
I also remember feeling very UNwelcome.
People were UNwelcome in the Roman church. People from a
Jewish background that put their faith in Jesus as the Messiah were sitting
next to Gentiles who had heard the good news that the one true God had accepted
them. That was the teaching. But the reality was that sometimes it did not work
out that way at church.
So as Paul nears the end of his letter he writes the
words that can do the greatest good in building a church:
Therefore welcome
one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the
glory of God
(Romans 15:7 ESV).
Paul provides three keys to the art of welcoming.
First, recognize that we are to welcome ONE ANOTHER.
"Welcome" means to "receive to oneself," as in taking
someone in as a friend or companion or to eat with them. The word is also an
imperative. In other words it is a command, not a suggestion. We don't have the
option of excluding those who Christ has welcomed.
Next, learn how to welcome. Paul says to welcome "as
Christ has welcomed you." How did he welcome you? The answer is as close
to you as a reading of the story of the Prodigal Son. In it a father welcomes
his wayward son. Notice that he doesn't wait for him to get all the way home.
He RUNS OUT TO GREET him. And when he meets him, he embraces him.
When we welcome others as Christ welcomes we convey as
the Father did that we delight in them. We smile and we speak words that affirm
them.
We listen intently to their lives.
How did Christ welcome you? That's a good question and
how you answer it will determine what kind of "WELCOMER" you are. You
cannot welcome another in the way Christ welcomed you until you experience
first his welcome.
Finally, we welcome with the goal that God is glorified.
Here's why:
people will learn more from what they SEE in us than from
what we SAY to them. For instance, if a motel chain promises you a warm and
inviting place to spend the night and you find instead a run down, roach
infested room, which speaks more loudly: what they said or what you saw?
The same is true for the church. When we welcome as
Christ welcomes, people far from God see something of Christ in us. They see
our words and lives in alignment. God is glorified by that.
Why not make today the day you start being a stronger
"WELCOMER"? See who needs to be welcomed and you take the first step
towards them.
After all, that's what Jesus did with you.
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(c) 2012 Rick
Brown <rabrown0@gmail.com>
RELATED LINKS:
* Welcome One Another!
* Those Less Welcome
* Cookie Sheet Welcome Mat
* One Life to Love
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