ACCEPTING OTHERS LIKE JESUS ACCEPTED YOU

“Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” – Titus 3:7 “

Thank heaven for grace. Titus 3:7 tells us we are made right by His grace. It’s not that we are suddenly holy and righteous. It’s not that we never sin. Basically, God is going to make us acceptable by His grace, not on our qualities or achievements.

Think about that for a few moments. The Bible says that God chose to accept us. He chose to accept us and make us acceptable to God. It’s totally undeserved. But, He chose to do it. You may say, “Wait a minute! God chose me?” Yes.  God accepts you, loves you, and created you. God sent his Son to die for each of us. He chose us. We matter to Him. So it really doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.  Romans 15:7 “Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.”

Jesus Christ accepts you completely. That doesn’t mean He approves of everything we do. He doesn’t, but He accepts us. If we want to accept people like Jesus accepts us then we need to accept someone without approving of what they do. Without approving of their lifestyle, without approving of the way they’re living. Or they have a different opinion on important subjects.

A good example of acceptance is the story of the woman caught in adultery.  Some religious leaders who were trying to trap Jesus brought her before Jesus. The woman was caught cheating on her husband and her accusers wanted to know what Jesus was going to do about it. Jesus looks at all of the accusers and says, “…let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (John 8:7)  One by one, they leave, because none of them were without sin. What is Jesus doing here? He’s giving acceptance, not approval. He didn’t approve of what she was doing, but He accepted her.

Then in the private, one on one, after everybody’s gone, John 8:10-11 tells what happened in that moment: “Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

Is that it? Could we have experienced that and not had some kind of reproof, blame, or judgment? Would we not be tempted to minister some sort of reproach for the sin of adultery?  Wouldn’t we at least give that disappointed look? Probably… but not Jesus. He didn’t make her feel guilty. He told her to go sin no more, but He accepted her. He showed her grace and mercy and love.

Can we do the same?

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does Jesus treat those who are given to Him? Read John 6:37. What makes God’s acceptance of us amazing?
  2. How should we accept others as stated in Romans 15:7? What are some ways to show acceptance to people?

AFFLICTED WITH METATHESIOPHOBIA?

“Metathesiophobia (uncountable) (rare) The persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of change.” – https://en.wiktionary.org

Are you afflicted with Metathesiophobia? Most people are. There are no medications or vaccines that will cure it. It can bring on depression, and anxiety and hinder personal growth. The only cure for it is a change in attitude and outlook.

Most of us don’t like change. It irritates us when they walk into a grocery store and all the products have been moved to different aisles. It annoys us when our iPhone operating system changes just when we learned all the changes from the previous version.  The bottom line is that life is change. The longer you live, the more you know that the only thing constant in this life is change. Whether our changes seem hard or make us happy, change teaches us that life is fragile, uncertain, and temporary. Nothing lasts forever.

We all tend to love things the way they are—with what we are familiar with. But that does not mean all change is bad. You may find something you need in an aisle you don’t typically go down in the grocery store.  Or you may discover a new function in the operating system that makes your life easier. Change is like that.  The longer you live, the more you know that the only thing constant in this life is change.

The good news is that God does not change. “I am the Lord, and I do not change.  ….” (Malachi 3:6a) In Psalm 102:27, the psalmist declares, “But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end” (NASB). God doesn’t change. He has always been and will always be never changing. Not only does God not change but He has unshakeable plans for each of us. His loving intention toward us never wavers whatever change comes our way. There are many things I cannot control, but I can depend on God to be a refuge in times of trouble, and give guidance through His Word that will help me navigate life’s changes. He is always totally in control of the circumstances of my life.

In the end, while change can be hard, we can grow in our faith when we learn to embrace it. When we trust God’s plan, He transforms us each and every day as His followers. If God has allowed a change in your life, let that change motivate you to draw closer to Him and to His Word.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Have you ever seen someone’s life change so much that you couldn’t deny it was God changing them?
  2. What can you do this week to change an area of your life that needs changing?   

SOME THOUGHTS ON TRADITIONS

“Churches are to be biblically faithful, culturally relevant, counter-cultural communities that reflect God’s kingdom for His glory among the people around us at all times.” – Ed Stetzer.

A tradition is a teaching or practice handed down from one person to another. Church traditions fall into two categories. Some are honorable, beneficial, and timely. Others are outdated, unproductive, and restrictive. In Colossians 2:8 Paul warns about human traditions: “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”

The enemies of Jesus continually attacked Him over His disregard for human traditions. A case in point is found in Mark chapter 7. The Pharisees confronted Jesus because His disciples failed to pour water over their cupped hands before they ate.  Over the years, hand washing had been elevated to something seen as a necessity for pleasing God.

The Pharisees challenged Jesus, asking, “…Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” (Mark 7:5). The Lord answered the question about tradition with Scripture: “…Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God” (verses 6-7). Jesus drove the point home when He said, “For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” (verse 8)  Jesus was accusing them of being more interested in keeping man’s traditions than in keeping God’s commandments. In verse 13, Jesus pointed out the greatest harm from the Pharisees: “And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”

So, what does this have to do with us? Simply this: We too, must be careful we don’t elevate long-held traditions to the level of biblical directives. In other words, are we doing things a certain way because we have always done them that way?

When Jesus came on the scene and spoke God’s Words to God’s people in simple, understandable, and applicable terms, they were viewed as strange. We don’t want the message of Christ to be derailed by the method of delivery. We do not want to be so in love with traditions of the past that we miss loving and reaching people of the present.  Or that we are more enamored by the way we do church than by the people who need Christ.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How can you keep our hearts close to Jesus? How can you be careful that your following Jesus does not become an external ritual?
  2. How does Colossians 2:8 apply to your life?

LOVE OTHERS…WHAT ABOUT NOW?

“Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do.” – David Wilkerson

Our culture has the mindset that life is a zero-sum game. In other words, there’s only so much to go around so giving anything away results in you having less. But God’s love is different, it is meant for sharing.  Shared between you and God. Shared between you and other people. And there is no better time than the present to start bridging the gap between our words or intentions and our actions.

When we look at the ministry of Jesus, we discover real synergy and alignment between His actions and His words. Jesus revolutionized love. He showed us that to love we often have to disregard personal comfort and convenience. Jesus demonstrated love to the fullest, putting it into action even when it was really painful. He preached love, but he practiced and lived love. He didn’t just sit around and talk about loving people. He went out and fed people who were hungry, healed people who were sick, and welcomed people as a neighbor, not an enemy.

Our priority for 2023 should be loving others. Becoming more like Jesus means seeking opportunities to be serving and loving others, no matter the circumstances. The Bible says “ Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith..” (Galatians 6:10) Whenever we have the opportunity. Opportunities are all around us, starting with today. Now.  “…whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone” Don’t wait until a later date to help your neighbor if you can help them now. Don’t procrastinate if you can show them the love of God today.

Ask yourself a question: Who do you need to show love to today?  Who do you need to go home after this service and make that phone call and share a word of encouragement and love?  Or knock on that door to reconcile?  Or go home and make a visit to somebody in a nursing home or at the hospital?  Who do you need to invite over to your backyard and have a barbecue with them and show some love?  Who is it at your work that is so annoying they are an outcast that you can demonstrate the love of God?

There are some activities in life where procrastination is a legitimate response.  But showing love is not one of them. If love is what matters most, then love should always take priority over everything else. You will never know how long you will have the opportunity. There is no time like the present.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How did Jesus demonstrate His love for others? What things did He do? Can we show this type of love?
  2. What can we do this week to live more like Christ?

LOVE IS A MATTER OF TIME

 “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.” – 1 John 4:7-12.

We often think of Valentine’s Day as the day for couples to show their love to one another. And we show that love in a variety of ways but the question is what is the most desired gift?  It’s not diamonds.  It’s not chocolate.  It’s not flowers.  The most desired gift of love and the most priceless gift of love is focused attention.  It is time. Giving your attention is the greatest gift you can give somebody.  Why?  Because your time is your most precious resource and there is no better way to demonstrate love to someone than by giving of your time.

Nothing can compensate for time.  No amount of gifts.  No amount of money.  No amount of clothes. No amount of roses or chocolates. That’s why when you give something to people, the most valuable, precious thing you can give them is your time and attention.  Because giving your time and attention says that the person is valuable and is worth listening to. It’s all about stopping being a spectator and becoming one who participates.

We all have different levels of energy.  We have different degrees of wealth.  We all have different amounts of talent and personality.  But we all have the exact same amount of time. The difference is how we choose to use that time. And sometimes giving up that time will require a sacrifice. If it isn’t a sacrifice it’s not real love.  You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving. It means giving up my agenda for your agenda.  It means I give up my time for your time.  It means I give up my preference for your preference.  It means I give up what I’d rather do right now to do what you would rather do right now. Love is an action.  Love means taking time.

On this Valentine’s Day and every other day, when you get up in the morning, pray that you will accept others just as you’ve accepted me. Help me to love others unconditionally, just as you have loved me. Help me to forgive others totally, just as you’ve forgiven me. And help me to value others as much as you value me.  Help me set aside time to spend with you and invest time in love with others.

If I don’t get anything else done today I’m going to love you a little bit more and know you a little bit better and I’m going to love the people you’ve put in my life.  Because that’s what you put me on earth to do.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is stopping you from loving today?
  2. What can we do this week to love when God gives us the opportunity?

LOVE MATTERS MOST

“We are here to love. Not much else matters.” – Francis Chan

In his book Bold Love, Dan Allender tells a story about what his daughter thought were the most important lessons to learn about life. She said, “To work hard, to always do your best, and to never lie.” While those were good answers, Allender couldn’t quit asking himself why the word “love” was conspicuously absent from her list. That’s because love matters most in our lives. The most loving thing we can do for others is to love God and love others.

Loving God and others sound pretty good. But can we do it?  Some people are just annoying. Others are irritating. Sometimes it’s hard enough to love our own family. So, how do we make love a dominating characteristic of our lives? First, we need to have a clear definition of what it is: Love is the deliberate act of valuing someone more than you value yourself. Love is the deliberate act of caring for, and listening to others. Love is wanting others to succeed, to be happy and fulfilled.

A critical first step is to make loving others a priority in your life. Even though we have the freedom to set our own priorities, Jesus made a point of defining certain ones of them for us: “’Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-39). Love is not a gray area. There is no wiggle room. Jesus gave love priority over all other Christian characteristics. Every thought, response, and act of goodwill must be reflected in love, or it means nothing at all.

The more we begin to love, the more we begin to change from within. All of a sudden, we don’t find it as hard to love others anymore, and we get a better picture of what it means to love God—and how deeply He loves us. When we truly, actively begin loving others, we also learn how to love God better.

A struggle for many people is that they think they can’t love others until their heart motive is “right.” So they spend a lot of time checking their heart, asking God to make them more loving. There are so many creative ways to love others, and you don’t have to wait. Venture out in faith and loving feelings will follow the loving actions.

We need to remember that believers are God’s advertisement to the world around us. When we love as He has loved us, it will make all the difference. People will notice.   They will know we are Christians by our love.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What does it mean to you to reflect God’s love to others? What are some practical ways for you to give others a taste of what the love of God is like?
  2. Is loving others loving as God loves? Is this even practical? 

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  – John 1:1-5 (ESV).

John says, in the beginning, was the word. People know that Jesus lived on earth for 33 years in Israel. But John is reminding us that even before the beginning of what we know is time, Jesus, the Word was eternally God. This should make you stop for a moment because when we start to say that Jesus is the Son, some people think He was a created being, but John is saying no. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God. Think about that for a second. Jesus is fully God and fully man, not half and half.  Jesus was on a rescue mission to save us.

One of the most beautifully written passages about Jesus is found in Colossians 1:15-19: “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” 

Have you ever thought that God is this big, impersonal force out there, and we can’t know Him? As believers in Jesus, we know that’s not true. We know God is a knowable God, a personable God, and He chose to be known by the Word coming to the earth, taking on the form of a servant, and being hung on a cross. That is our God. If we want to know what God is like, we just look at Jesus in the Scriptures.

Jesus is the eternal Word of God who was with God and was God. The Word reveals God and is the power of God in His creative and redemptive mission and we are invited to put our faith in Him.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does John 1:1 help us understand the divine nature of Jesus and the trinity? 
  2. What are some reasons that it is important for our faith that Jesus was not just some created being like a human teacher or an angel? 

THE INVISIBLE GOD: WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT GOD IS INVISIBLE?

“We were created for the purpose of giving God’s invisible character a glimpse of visibility.” – Beth Moore

We believe that not only does God exists, but He is all around us. But as John tells us “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:12 ESV) The immediate problem with this is how do you love what is not seen. How do you manage to love something or someone who is invisible, who is not evident to the senses?

To answer that question, it is necessary to ask a question first: how do we know anything? Much of what we know is taken on faith. How do I know the woman wearing the brown UPS uniform is not wearing a costume and is a burglar scouting my house? In the same vein, it takes faith to worship the God who I have never seen. Therein lies the challenge. How many times, when I was in distress, did I ask for a tangible visitation and didn’t get it? Well, this is the reason. God is invisible. He is not playing a game of cosmic hide-and-seek with me. He is present, just invisible.

The fact that we can see God is well attested to by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.…” (KJV)  How do we see God? We see Him by looking around at His creation. Psalms 19:1-6 says, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat.”

Jesus came into the world to show us what God the Father is like. He is the visible representation of the Father, who is invisible. Jesus embodies the characteristics of God. Through the miracle of the incarnation, He took upon Himself the nature and form of man. In doing this, He gave expression to the qualities of God and communicated these qualities to man. Jesus said, “…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…” (John 14:9). Hebrews 1:3 adds, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God…”

All of us should make God “visible” to the world in which we live, “ For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). The bible is the story of God on a mission to bring heaven and earth together. It’s also the story of how God invites Christians to join Him in His mission. As we work to make the invisible God visible, we are not doing anything except revealing who He already is.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What makes the Bible so unique in your mind?
  2. What can we do this week to spend more time in the Bible?   

LOVE LIKE JESUS LOVED

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” – Ephesians 5:2 (MSG).

It does not matter if you are a new Christian or a seasoned believer, it is very likely you will ask this question: “How do I really know and feel God’s love for me? Answering that question requires us to reflect on how Christ loves us. His love was not cautious. In fact, it was extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. We are to love like that.

Loving like Jesus is the best way to live or as 1 Corinthians 12:31 says, “… the most excellent way.” When we love like Jesus, we’re lifted outside ourselves. We shed self-interest — with our spouse, our kids, friends, everyone. If we love like Jesus we can be over the walls of resentment and rise above petty demands and a sense of entitlement.   

But can anyone really love like Jesus? Really? That is an extraordinarily high bar. Love your enemies? Walk the extra mile? Turn the other cheek? Can we bring perfect love into our imperfect lives? Yes, the bar is high, but if seeking a reasonable level of love, you’ll miss out on extraordinary love.  If you want to love like Jesus you have to be more approachable and less detached. You need to be more patient and less in a hurry. You will need to exhibit more grace and be less judgmental. You have to be more bold and less hesitant or fearful.

If you’re thinking that is a pretty tall order you are right. It is impossible for us.  Our human nature gets in the way.  We judge others’ faults and can act selfishly and spitefully.  We store our hurts away until those hurts lead to resentment. Even with our best efforts to love like Jesus, we fail. Jesus knew this, and He generously provides us the key to our problem and some encouragement: “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (Mark 10:27

The power to accomplish the impossible comes only from God. We need the power of God to love as He does.  The power comes from the Holy Spirit living within us.

We can become better at loving like Jesus. This love isn’t illusive. It isn’t pie-in-the-sky. It isn’t out-of-reach nor relegated to untouchable saints. It’s real. Is it difficult, yes?  Will you and I fail in living them out? Absolutely. But don’t be discouraged. For it’s in our failed attempts that we learn to love as Jesus loved.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How did Jesus demonstrate His love for others? What things did He do? Can we show this type of love?
  2. What can we do this week to live more like Christ?

IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:36-40.

The Pharisees were the keepers of scripture and Biblical law. One of them asked Jesus this question, “which is the most important commandment?” Basically, they wanted Jesus to mentally sift through over 600 laws and distill them down to one. That would be similar to you deciding which Florida law is most important out of the countless laws on the books.

Jesus broke the law down into two commandments from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 when put together they read; “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind … you must love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus was simply saying that if we truly loved God and our neighbor then we would naturally keep all the other commandments.

To become a person who consistently loves others, you first need to be a loving person. To truly love, we must first know God. Love starts with God and ends with God because God is love. We see this in 1 John 4: 7-8 when he writes: “ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

There is not one person Jesus does not love and did not come to save – this includes everyone you lock eyes with, walk past on the street, hear about in the news, live next door to, stand behind in line at the grocery store, or sit next to in the theater. When we actively love those around us, putting their needs before our own, we are displaying the same amazing love that Jesus has poured out to us.

It is easy to believe love is just a nice, heart-warming feeling. But as Christians, we are called for it to be more than that – we are called to take action. We can share God’s love by noticing the unnoticed, loving the unlovely, by extending grace to those who are not so easy to be around.

When we look at how to love others, scripture offers plenty of insight. Romans 12:9-10,13-16 (MSG), gives us great examples of love in action: “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle… Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.”

All God does is out of love. He loves perfectly. Our goal is to love as God loves. Love isn’t something that is derived from within us. For the kind of love that God calls us to – the love that loves our neighbor as much as we love ourselves –  must come from Him.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What does it mean to you when the Bible says to love others?   
  2. What can we do this week to be better at loving others?