Accepted: The Review

To recap the ways that we are accepted by God:

• I am God's child
• I am Christ's friend
• I have been justified
• I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit
• I have been bought with a price - I belong to God
• I am a member of Christ's body
• I am a saint - a holy one
• I have been adopted as God's child
• I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit
• I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins
• I am complete in Christ

If I rephrase these, we may benefit from a different perspective:

• God has made me His child
• Christ has declared me His friend
• God has provided my justification
• God has made me one with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit
• God sought me out and bought me, at great price
• God has placed me into the body of Christ, in just the right place
• God has separated me out for His purposes and His glory
• God chose to adopt me, even though He knew all about my sin
• God give me constant access to Himself through the Holy Spirit
• God has provided my redemption and forgiveness through Jesus Christ
• God has made me complete in Christ with new life

This exercise was to drive into our minds that it is God who has made it His charge to care for His children. We must not take such wonderful grace for granted, or even worse taking credit for the good things in our lives.

Accepted

In the last several messages we have looked at numerous ways that the believer is accepted. The believer is wholeheartedly accepted by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not only is God accepting, but it is only by His plan and His grace that we are accepted.

In the dictionary being accepted means being treated as one that belongs, as one that satisfies the requirements and as one that is wanted. The same can be said about the believer.

The context of our discussion laid out in the beginning is that some of us have a problem with anger. Most people respond to an angry person by excluding them and pushing them away. Note the outstretched, accepting arms of Jesus Christ. If we strive to come with a humble, repentant heart, then He says to us, "Come to me, I will give you rest". In this context that might be rest from the anger that simmers in our heart, the angry response that we feel throughout our being and the angry response by which we sin against others. We cannot communicate God's message to others out of a heart of anger.

So we lay this piece of the foundation: Even with my sin, I am accepted by God the Father through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ and the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. We must pray that we can truly understand this and rejoice in it. The first step toward our healing is to receive the acceptance that Jesus Christ offers. Realize that what Jesus Christ has for us supersedes anything else we can imagine.

God Bless You,
Dennis

Accepted: Complete in Christ

Colossians 2:9,10 ESV

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

We are accepted by Christ. We are now found in Christ. We are made complete in Christ. Adam and Eve were perfect upon creation. Once they sinned by disobeying God the destructive force of sin began it's work and has continued to do so in all mankind. If we look at ourselves today, we may not even realize the ways that we are damaged goods because of sin's destruction.

Before Christ, not only were we spiritually dead, but also our physical, mental and emotional condition had deteriorated. It's all connected. Just as an unsaved person does not have a spiritual relationship with God, he also is not able to draw upon the wisdom of God in his life decisions. Rather, the unsaved person is marched around by the lusts of his flesh and the wiles of the devil.

In our salvation, at the point of regeneration, God brings life to that which has been spiritually dead. He places His Holy Spirit within us. We now have spiritual life. We are no longer dead. Our new life in Christ is furnished by the completeness that is in Jesus Christ Himself. We can now fellowship with God Almighty through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ and the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

II Corinthians 5:17 ESV
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Although we must work to rid ourselves of the dead man's baggage, in Christ we are new creatures with a potential that is reminiscent of that first man and woman.

Let's walk with God daily and talk to Him, as He condescends to be involved in our lives.

God Bless You,
Dennis

Accepted: Redeemed and Forgiven

I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins!

Colossians 1:13, 14 ESV

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The most significant and dire problem of every person that has ever lived or will ever live is that they are a sinner. There is a holy and righteous God that has a perfect knowledge of every sin each person has committed or will commit. This God is a Holy God and will not look lightly on sin. On the human side, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that the person can do to earn forgiveness. There is not one religion on this planet that will allow a person to get out from under their burden of sin. We are all born with a sin nature and we are part of the kingdom of darkness. Yes, the natural man is easily swayed and used by Satan. If you understand what I have just written, then you understand the word hopeless. Hopeless in terms of a present solution, and hopeless in terms of any good to look forward to in eternity.

Fortunately for many that is not the end of the story. The only way to get out from under the burden of sin is to cry out to God and ask for His mercy. God has a plan of redemption in place. His plan is perfect and required a perfect sacrifice. God could not be God and ignore the sin. The penalty for the sins of the redeemed had to be paid. So look at the cross. See Jesus Christ on the cross. See Him die and be buried. Then see him on Resurrection morning - He is alive, He is not dead! The sacrifice that Christ paid fully satisfied (propitiated) God's wrath reserved for the sins of the elect. The elect are those people God has chosen from eternity to be saved and brought into His kingdom.

Who are the elect? I cannot tell you. Are you part of the elect? I cannot tell you. All I can tell you is that salvation and redemption are only available through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and if you want that redemption, cry out to God, seeking His mercy. You do not go to God touting your own goodness, rather acknowledge your sinfulness and hopeless, and ask to be covered by the blood of Christ. Call unto God with a sincere heart and you can expect him to save you. This is more than just reciting a 'sinners prayer'. This must be a sincere seeking of God's mercy from the depths of your heart. When you see what a sinner you truly are, this will not be difficult. If you are not so convinced of you sinfulness, then ask God to help you see the truth about yourself.


God Bless You,
Dennis

Accepted: Direct Access to God

Direct access to God through the Holy Spirit.

Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

First we should consider the context of this verse. In this passage, Paul is talking about the fact that God was working to bring two different groups to himself. The Gentiles (those who were far off) and the Jews (those who were near). Because of God's promises to Abraham the Jews did enjoy covenant promises and blessings that the Gentiles had not yet been part of. However, in terms of righteousness, both groups were equally in need of a Savior, and both groups were to be reconciled to God the Father in the same way. That is through the blood of Jesus Christ. As God reconciled both parties to Himself, He also merged the two groups into one body - the body of Christ.

Comments from Matthew Henry on Ephesians 2:18
For through him, in his name and by virtue of his mediation, we both have access or admission into the presence of God, who has become the common reconciled Father of both: the throne of grace is erected for us to come to, and liberty of approach to that throne is allowed us. Our access is by the Holy Spirit. Christ purchased for us leave to come to God, and the Spirit gives us a heart to come and strength to come, even grace to serve God acceptably. Observe, We draw nigh to God, through Jesus Christ, by the help of the Spirit. The Ephesians, upon their conversion, having such an access to God, as well as the Jews, and by the same Spirit, the apostle tells them, Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners,

This passage describes the wonderful reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles and also contains truths for each believer. Through the work of Jesus Christ, our Mediator, we have access to God. More specifically we have access to God's throne of Grace. We come to God's throne to be reminded that He is sovereign, and to the throne of Grace, because that is what we desperately need. It was that very Grace that brought about our salvation, and it is the same Grace that we need every day all the time to live for His Glory. Grace is that undeserved favor, that multitude of blessings that God pours out on His children. Finally, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit gives us the heart and the strength to approach the Father. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to convince us of the Father's great love.

Believer, what will you do with this 'direct access'? Will you ignore it? forget about it? convince yourself that you do not have time for it? The 'direct access' is a gift from God to His people for a purpose. Shall we squander it today? If we get to the end of the day and have not at least once stretched our hand out to that throne of Grace, how can we believe the day has been what God intended?

God Bless You
Dennis

Accepted: Adopted - more scripture

The theme of adoption is throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament God often speaks of taking people that are not His own, and making them His children. The theme is also consistent in the New Testament:

Romans 8:14-17 ESV
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 4:5 ESV
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

II Corinthians 6:17-18 ESV
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."

I John 3:1-3 ESV
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

We have been adopted, we have the Holy Spirit of adoption, and we are most certainly Children of God. God wants to be a Father to us, and He wants us to be children to Him. Shall you reject such a perfect offer? Rejoice in these truths today, as you praise, thank and trust God with your day to day issues.

God Bless You,
Dennis

Accepted: Adopted as God's Child

Eph 1:5 ESV

5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

If you are a Christian you have been adopted. Think about adoption and you will see that acceptance is at its core. Consider a married couple that is not able to have children of their own. They have made the decision to adopt a child. They go through various approval procedures with the adoption agency. They scramble to find the large amount of money needed. Then they wait for the right child to become available. Finally they get a call from the adoption agency that everything is set. The new parents go to pick up the child and bring the child home. These parents have committed in their heart that they want this child to love and care for. They only have partial or limited understanding of who this child is, but still they say, "He is ours!" The child could not do anything to make this happen, but yet the child will receive major blessings through this adoption.

Maybe you have adopted a child, or know someone who has. Is not the adopted child accepted and loved. They certainly are. Now there is no basis to expect that this child will be the most wonderful, well-behaved child in the world. But that does not matter. The love of the parents is a committed love that assures the child's acceptance.

Now we look at our heavenly Father. Our adoption is born out of predestination. That assures us that God's will was the only factor in the decision and that we had absolutely nothing to do with it. God did not look forward in time and see that we are so cute that He just had to adopt us. God adopts His children for His purposes alone, and those purposes are born out of love.

Consider also that when our God adopts us, He knows everything about us. Every sin that we will ever commit is known by Him. He knows we will fail and that we have no righteousness of our own. He knows about His holiness and about His wrath that is due us. Along with our adoption comes the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus Christ. That is how the sinful, adopted children can sit at the dinner table with a thrice holy God Almighty.

Today, if you are a Christian, I encourage you to rejoice in being so accepted by God that He claimed you as His own child. Rest in the love of a perfect Heavenly Father.

God Bless You,
Dennis

Accepted: I am a saint, a holy one

Ephesians 1:1 NKJV
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

Paul uses the term saint a number of times and it basically means Christian. The expression 'holy one' may also be used. It is not talking about a great person who died, but rather a Christian who is or has been through this earthly journey.

Being called a holy one references the fact that a true believer is sanctified. When a believer is holy, they are sanctified and set-apart. Believers are set apart to God for His glory and purposes, and away from the world and the kingdom of darkness. If you are thinking of holy ones being righteous, that is incorporated in justification and is absolutely true - being clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

There is another aspect of being a saint. As we rejoice in our 'set-apart' standing and relationship, we must remember that we are called with a purpose. Paul here references the saints who are not only in Ephesus, but are also faithful in Jesus Christ.

In Romans 16:2, Paul tells the Romans to receive Phoebe unto themselves "in a manner worthy of the saints". This carries two meanings: first, because Phoebe is a saint, she deserves to be received with Christian love, secondly, because the believers in the church at Rome are saints, their behavior toward her must be that of Christian love. Saints take care of each other for the pleasure of Christ.

As we have talked about saints, you may have had the Roman Catholic list of saints banging around in your head. That is a totally different thing. Those saints have supposedly earned (merited) enough righteousness that they have made it to heaven. This is an extreme deviation from Scripture. No one will make it to heaven other than by the righteousness (merit) of Jesus Christ.

Wishing you God's richest blessing, fellow saint.
Dennis

Accepted: A Member of Christ's Body

1Corinthians 12:27 ESV
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Some other key verses, working up through the chapter. (I realize bottom to top is not generally recommended.)

12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

We have been considering many ways that a believer is accepted by God. Many of these have focused on the believer as an individual. With this indicator of acceptance, we see that God has accepted the believer as a part of something much larger: the body of Christ. Now this is not the physical body of Christ, even though the current passage of scripture is based on the analogy of the physical body. The body of Christ is the Church, and of course I mean the true Church, those believers who are truly redeemed. Christ is obviously the head of this body. By God's design, the combining of believers into a body provides much strength and ability that would not be available for an individual body part.

As God knows intimately each believer, He knows how to fit each one into the body. God has an exact place for each believer in the body. The positioning is not only what is best for the individual, but also what is best for the body. All the members of the body take orders from the head of the body (Jesus Christ), and as they trust and obey, the body is strengthened. When believers do not trust and obey, then the body is weakened.

So what is your experience in the body of Christ? Your 'in the body' experience is first in the Church, and secondly in fellowship with the broader circle of Christians. The norm presented in the New Testament is that the believer functions in a church body. Have you found the place that God wants you to be? Are you enjoying strength and support from the fellowship? In the midst of your body life, are you able to see your sins and faults, and forgive others for theirs? How about the Pastor?

I certainly hope you are living in victory and joy with this issue. God has designed the body of Christ for our good. We must believe that, even if it is only by faith. In this day and age, many Christians have struggled with rejection (real or perceived) from the body, as if they were a transplant that did not belong. These people are hurting and need the love of others in the body. The sanctification of all believers is still underway. The fruit of remaining sin is that sometimes the church will dump their wounded along the road (maybe because they are not perfect Christians) instead of restoring them.

God Bless You with what you need regarding 'body life',
Dennis