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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)

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Yesterday we talked about the necessity of learning to receive in order to live the Christian life.\xa0 If we feel we can do everything ourselves, we\u2019re unlikely to feel the need of receiving a saviour\u2014because, what would we need to be saved from?\xa0 And if, on the other side, we feel guilty when we receive or when we have to admit our need, we\u2019re less likely to receive the gift of God\u2019s grace that\u2019s on offer.\xa0 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.\xa0 Receiving the good gifts that God has initiated is where it all starts.\xa0 But here\u2019s the trick: a true and healthy relationship does not only flow in one direction. \xa0

You might disagree.\xa0 Parental relationships are largely one way.\xa0 God\u2019s relationship with us too.\xa0 Yes and no though.\xa0 Parents DO get something out of raising kids.\xa0 Is it imbalanced?\xa0 Of course!\xa0 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.\xa0 Parents do all sorts of odd things to get their newborn to respond to them so that they have something they can receive.\xa0

Relationships are two ways.\xa0 And when they aren\u2019t, we label those relationships as cold, distant, overbearing, or even abusive. \xa0When we are treated like a number instead of like a person, we baulk at that.\xa0 It happens when we are only able to receive instructions, but not able to give feedback\u2014a totally one-way relationship in which we are not heard.\xa0

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.\xa0 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.\xa0 He received the hospitality of dinner hosts.\xa0 He received a drink from the woman at the well when he was thirsty.\xa0 For Jesus: relationships were not one-way, top-down things\u2014relationships shared a healthy mutuality: a back and forth, a giving and a receiving.\xa0

Though, there was one time when Jesus did have a one-way relationship. It was with the religious leaders\u2014they came to the point where they stopped listening or responding to him at all.\xa0 The disagreement was so sharp that they silenced him altogether by crucifixion.\xa0 They would receive from him nothing, and give him everything\u2014their sin and death.\xa0 He received it.\xa0

The new life we now have in Christ ensures that our relationship with him will never again be killed by a one-way flattening.\xa0 A mutuality now flows.\xa0 We receive from him gifts, wealth, life, health, forgiveness, and salvation.\xa0 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.\xa0 We learn what it is to be content, but also the importance of continuing to humbly receive and to gratefully give.\xa0 Not everyone catches the implications of this gospel logic right away.\xa0 Some churches were content only to receive, but not respond.\xa0 And others wanted only perhaps to give, as a form of running up their account so to speak\u2014a form of gaining leverage, influence, and control.\xa0

The Philippians were different.\xa0 They immediately caught this implication of the gospel\u2014that it demanded healthy, loving, mutual relationships from the start\u2014the very thing that Christ had established with them.\xa0 And so they immediately begin sharing with Paul in the matter of giving and receiving.\xa0 \xa0\xa0

How about you? Do your relationships flow both ways?\xa0 With God?\xa0 With others? Examine them and lay them before God to determine how you might best share in the practice of giving and receiving.

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