John 13:20
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
To receive anyone Christ sends is to receive Christ Himself, and to receive Him is to receive the Father who sent Him. He spoke it to close His lesson at the foot washing on the night He was betrayed, when as Lord and Master He gave His example of humble service at the Passover supper where He instituted the memorial of His sacrifice to prepare His disciples for His suffering and departure, just before He was troubled in spirit and announced His betrayer. To reject His message through His servants is therefore to reject both Son and Father, and to neglect their light and warnings is grievous sin that shuts the soul away from spiritual blessing and withholds from Christ His due glory. Its service calls believers to put away selfishness, self-exaltation, and bitterness over trifles before the Lord's Supper, so that in washing one another's feet they stand in Christ's place and enter into close fellowship with Him. Though He fully knew Judas would leave that table to betray Him, He still washed his feet and let him share the supper as a final appeal of love that would not compel the will, and so no one is to refuse the ordinance or fellowship because another present is thought unworthy, since none can read the heart.
Words and Setting
To receive anyone Christ sends is to receive Christ himself, and to receive Christ is to receive the Father who sent him. To reject God's message through his servants is therefore to reject both the Son and the Father. To neglect the light, warnings, and admonitions delivered through his messengers is serious sin bringing condemnation.
The saying came as the close of his words at the washing of the disciples' feet, where as Lord and Master he gave the example that believers should wash one another's feet as he had done. It was spoken at the Passover supper on the night he was betrayed, when he instituted the Lord's Supper as the memorial of his sacrifice. It was part of his final instruction preparing the disciples for his coming suffering and their separation from him. It was spoken immediately before he became troubled in spirit and declared that one of them would betray him.
It joins his foretelling of the betrayal, given so that when it happens the disciples may believe that he is he. Then came their doubting looks at one another over whom he meant, and the question who it is, and his identifying the one to whom he would give the dipped sop. Then came his giving it to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon, and Satan entering Judas after the sop, and his telling him to do quickly what he does, and Judas going out immediately into the night. It belongs to the stated teaching of John's Gospel about God's will for his people, and among the verses in John 13-17 that set out that will. That teaching is connected with his gift of life and his work of making believers one with him in this life and for eternity.
Receiving and Rejecting Messengers
To receive one whom Christ sends is to receive Christ himself, and to receive Christ is to receive the Father who sent him, so that to reject God's message borne by his servants is to reject both the Son and the Father. To neglect the light and the warnings and admonitions brought through his messengers is serious sin bringing condemnation, and that light and those warnings must not be slighted. To refuse to hear God's word from his appointed messengers shuts souls away from spiritual blessing and withholds from Christ the glory due to him.
The verse belongs to God's declared will for ministers, to be believed and lived out by those who minister. It is to be believed and lived out before fellow ministers. It calls for careful study and earnest practice, with its duties lived out as a witness to the world of God's love and of Christ's mission. Living out such instruction of Christ in practical life belongs with unity among believers and with Christ.
Its words go unheeded when professed believers gossip and accuse the brethren and pass judgment, speaking unkind and self-assured words that wound souls and spoil God's work. Together with Christ's words in John 14 and 15 and 17, it calls for cleansing from this defilement by the Holy Spirit rather than handling strange fire.
To receive or to refuse a messenger sent by Jesus is to receive or to refuse Jesus himself and through him the Father who sent him, so ministers must beware of rejecting fellow laborers because their gifts or methods differ. God sends workers of varied abilities, and their work together under the Spirit's guidance supplies what no single worker can supply for the church.
Humility, Fellowship, and Service
The humble service closes His words at the washing of the disciples' feet, where as Lord and Master He gave the example that believers should wash one another's feet as He had done, and its purpose is to recover man from sin and to teach humility. It clears away selfishness and self-exaltation and esteeming self above a brother, with misunderstandings and evil surmisings and bitterness of spirit over trifles, before the Lord's Supper. In washing one another's feet believers stand in Christ's place, and in doing just what He charged they come into close relationship with the Lord. He is present on the occasion as witness while angels watch and the atmosphere of heaven surrounds them to impress hearts and guide into all truth every soul who comes to Him, and His whole life unfolds His love and reveals the character of God, whose Father is their Father.
He perfectly understood the character of Judas and knew he would leave that table to betray Him, yet He did not withhold His ministry from him and washed his feet. He did not refuse him a place at the table but included him in His ministry to the disciples and allowed him to share in the sacrament. That washing was the last act of love and final appeal to bring him to repentance and save him from Satan's snare, showing boundless, long-suffering love that does everything possible without compelling the will, though Judas rejected it. His patient bearing with a perverse human nature shows He did not want to lose any soul, and though Judas was false he was among the disciples whom He sent.
The verse therefore teaches believers not to defer foot washing or divorce themselves from fellowship because some present are supposed to be in error and sin. To do so would expose them to temptation and drive them to the devil's battleground, but further effort is to be made to restore not destroy, in willingness to do any humble service to make others heirs together with Christ of eternal treasure. No one is to be counted unworthy to engage in the ordinance, no one is to refuse to attend because another unworthy one is present, and no one is left to decide who may present themselves. Human beings cannot read the secrets of the soul and cannot reliably distinguish the sincere from the insincere and tell who is worthy and who is not, and false brethren may remain in the church until the close of time.