God With Skin On

Years ago I heard a story about a little 4 year old boy who had gone to bed, but as soon as he fell asleep a thunder storm came through the area and the loud thunder both woke and scared this little boy. So much so that he ran down the hall into his parents bedroom and jumped into their bed. The father who was a Christian took his son back to his own bed and assured him that there nothing to be afraid of because Jesus was right in the room with him and that He wouldn’t allow anything to hurt him. This seemed to comfort the little boy until the next loud clap of thunder which caused him again get out of his bed and get into the bed of his parents. Once again the father him took back to his own bed assuring him again that Jesus was in the room with him. But once again after another loud clap of thunder was again in the bed of his parents. This time before his father could carry him back to his own bed, the little boy said to his dad, "I know Jesus is in my room with me, but I need someone with skin on."

In other words when the Lord sends us to someone, we become God with skin on for that person. The ministry of Jesus, is placed in us the ministers, for the purpose of releasing the ministry of Christ into the lives of others. But, whether this ministry is released, or not, will be determined by how the minister is received by those who need the ministry. The Greek word for "receive” in Matthew 10:40 is "dechomai" which means to receive favorably, to receive with hospitality, or to treat the one who was sent with generous kindness. Jesus is saying if you receive with hospitality the one that I send to you, you will see and get Me, and if you get Me, you get all the power and provision of the One who sent Me.

In Luke 10:16 Jesus tells His disciples the opposite of what He told them in Matthew 10:40, He says, "the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me." The Greek word for reject is "atheteo" which means to void, nullify or neutralize the power that produces the effects. In other words when we reject the one that God sends to us, we also neutralize the power and the provision that they carry for our lives. I can’t tell you how many times I missed out on God’s provision and power because I didn’t believe the one that was sent to me by God could possibly be from God. So instead of receiving them, I judged them and criticized them, thereby neutralizing all that they had for me.

For example, there have been many times that I came to a meeting when we would have a speaker and I would find myself judging the speaker instead of listening to him. It may be because of how he was dressed, or that he had a particular accent, or that he repeated a particular phrase too often, but for what ever reason I didn’t receive him but was in fact rejecting him. My criticism caused me to take the posture that he didn’t have much to offer me, not knowing that it was my criticism that was neutralizing what he did have for me. What surprised me was that there were others in the same service that seemed to really get blessed by what the speaker was saying. They would be taking copious notes and saying amen after almost every sentence. In the midst of this I would think to myself, why are they getting so excited about this fluff. The truth is that it was only fluff to me not them. Because they received the minister, they released the ministry into their lives. The words they heard were anointed by the Holy Spirit. They were hearing the word within the word as a result they got in on the provision and power that this man carried for them.

Let’s go back to Matthew 10 and look at Verse 41, "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." This verse tells us that in order to get what a prophet has you’ve got to embrace, receive with hospitality the prophet. What the prophet carries for our lives is defined as a reward in this verse. The Greek word for reward here is "misthos" which means dues paid for work, labor which is rewarded in some way. It means that the prophet has labored in some way, probably through seeking God on our behalf through prayer and fasting, which has resulted in the prophet receiving some provision and power for our lives. The implication is that it costs the prophet to have what he has for us. But now, we must labor to get the reward of his labor. It’s not laboring to produce the reward, it is laboring to receive the reward. It takes work and will cost us to receive someone with hospitality and generous kindness. It has the idea that as you enter into the reward of their labor they should be able to enter into the reward of your labor.

The challenge for myself, and possibly for you as well, is to receive the one who the Lord sends will all of their imperfections, idiosyncrasies, and obnoxious manners. By receiving them I open myself up to receive the reward that Christ desires to give. In reality, it is Him coming to me by His Spirit “with skin on.”