AAA Church - Authentic, Accepting, and Accelerating 11/19/2006

Review - Authentic Christianity.

This morning I am continuing in my series called Triple AAA Church and Christian. The term ‘AAA’ is borrowed from the world of finance and investment. A bond that is rated AAA is a solid investment, completely trustworthy, and of high value. That’s the quality of Christ-follower we want to develop here at the Assembly. We are talking about being Authentic, about being Accepting, and about being Accelerating.

Would you say these three phrases with me, please?

• Authentic - a Believer who has integrity.

• Accepting - a Believer who loves others like Jesus,

• Acclerating - a Believer who encourages growth in others.

Last Sunday I talked about being authentic in our faith. We considered Jesus’ words that warn us about turning our faith into a performance designed to impress others with an image that does not match reality. I hope that you join me in committing to authentic Christianity. For when we are real, we gain trust and we earn credibility to speak to our world. And, of equal importance, when we are honest to God, He is able to meet our needs, forgive our sins, and love us to wholeness!

Today, I want to speak to about being an Accepting Christian! Prayer -

American forces moved through the city of Najaf in April, 2003. According to the news report, the soldiers were moving to the home of one of Iraq's leading holy men, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Hussein Sistani, seeking his crucial support for their stay in this southern Iraqi city. But as they turned a corner, a group of Iraqi men blocked their way. Shouting in Arabic, "God is great," the crowd grew into hundreds, many of whom mistakenly thought the Americans were trying to capture the town's holy man and attack the Imam Ali Mosque, a holy site for Shiite Muslims around the world. Someone in the crowd lobbed a rock at the troops, then another.

Lt. Col. Chris Hughes, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, showed restraint and intelligence. He yelled to his troops: "Smile, relax." Then he commanded his soldiers to take a knee and point their weapons to the ground. Some Iraqis backed off and sat down. But many more continued to yell and block the road.

Lt. Col. Chris Hughes instructs his soldiers to get down on one knee and smile. "We're going to withdraw out of this situation and let them defuse it themselves," he told his troops through a loudspeaker. "All vehicles turn around." Not all commanders would have done it that way. But Hughes, 42, a career military man who lives with his wife, Marguerite, and three teenage children in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, kept his cool as two cultures almost clashed. Responsible for hundreds of soldiers, Hughes drew praise from President Bush for his "skill and honor."

Nicknamed "No Slack," Hughes' unit is described by its official Web site as "a rapidly deployable battalion that is lethal, ruthless, violent, feared in combat." But on April 3 in Najaf, Hughes also made sure his soldiers understood cultural differences and the meaning of restraint. With his own rifle pointed toward the ground, the colonel bowed to the crowd and turned away.

That story is a great example, I believe, of the way that God wants those of us who are His followers to move through our world!
It is a way of illustrating the importance of being a person who exhibits ACCEPTANCE.

We must never forget that EVIL is real, very real, in this world. Satan, Self, and World Systems seek our destruction and are arrayed to hinder the rule of the God we serve. We march into the face of an array of enemies that are determined to bring about an end to all things of God and good! It is absolutely true that you and I are called to be ‘soldiers’ in the cause of Jesus Christ.

However, we wage battle, not with tactics of earthly generals or with weapons that wound, kill, and destroy. Paul reminds us - “We are human, but we don’t wage war with human plans and methods. We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil’s strongholds. With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NLT

Note the final phrase of Paul’s exhortation - “We conquer their rebellious ideas and teach them to obey Christ!”

It is clear to me that God wants us to engage ourselves with our world in a dialogue, that our words and our lives are to be a powerful and convincing argument of the reality of the Truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Now, I will freely admit that it would be real hard to open a meaningful dialogue with a person who is threatening me with destruction! Contrary to the tactics of some parents... the best way to get the attention of another is not intimidation! If we resort to yelling, threatening, or attacking the person we are addressing may appear to be convinced, but, in reality, they are just temporarily complying - until the threat goes away, then they will do what they want to do. Am I right?

When threatened, we immediately shrink into a defensive position. Emotionally, we are unable to hear what others are saying if we think we are being attacked!

(Use illustration of marriage conflict - no communication as long as we’re on the attack, seeking to shift blame... ‘Use ‘I’ messages, not ‘you’ messages.)

As I reflect on this, it causes me to wonder how many times I've approached my world with spiritual guns drawn, with an attitude that projects belligerence, and then said, “Let’s talk about Jesus!” When I am attacking, threatening, or using coercion, it is inevitable that I will cause a break-down in communication because the other person is unable to see past my posture which they determine is threatening to their well- being. What might happen if I lowered the weapons and smiled, like Lt. Col. Hughes battalion did?
As Christians with a message of Truth for our world, we sometimes make the 'spiritual deafness' of those around worse by our shrill words, with our talk of Hell and damnation, and our insistence on the 'absolute truth!'

I do believe in the Truth. And I know we sometimes just think our preference is the Truth! Our words, may indeed be true enough, but the posture we adopt in delivering them, may be more of a problem than the message itself.

∙ Can any person who is truly on the road to Hell hear our warning if our manner of speaking implies that we think they deserve to go there?

∙ Can a man who is a homosexual hear that God loves him while we are talking about 'perverts' and making jokes about someone being 'queer?'

∙ Can a young woman hear our words about the sacredness of the little life in her womb, or even hear our offers to help her cope with her unplanned pregnancy as long as we're telling that she is a sinner or calling her a baby-killer for considering abortion as a possible solution to her crisis?

We are people who are committed to “TRUTH.” We cannot set aside Jesus’ claim that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The awful fact that not everybody gets to go to Heaven is one that is offensive, but we cannot refuse to talk about it. However, we need to take a cue from Jesus’ own words and actions as we confront evil and sin in our world.

TEXT - Matthew 7:1-5

One word summarizes Jesus’ teaching here- HUMILITY! Believer, we need to be humble warriors of His kingdom. Perhaps that seems like a contradiction in terms at first, but think about it. Arrogance is a projection of SELF, arising from a sense of superiority.

As servants of Christ, we have no business doing anything from selfish motives or because we think we are better than others. Our mission is about His kingdom, His objectives, His Gospel. When I think about the public face of Christianity in our culture, I am not surprised that evangelical Christians are regarded with contempt by many.

What do people see if they only see Believers through TV and media? They see those who feed TV’s need for controversy, those who are most flamboyant or opinionated. To be quite honest, if the only concept I had of Bible-believing Christians was shaped by the preachers I see in appearances on CNN, or some of really strange ministries that are on TBN, or by the crazies from Westboro Baptist Church who wave hate-filled signs at the funerals of dead soldiers - I’d think that evangelicals were a strange lot, too! There is not much humility shown by people spouting opinions in the most confrontational manner possible.

But, Praise God, that’s not the only face of Christianity!

∙ I see hundreds of people, investing thousands of hours in hidden service in the Name of Christ. I saw people from this church, for example, invest hours and $thousands in making 300 Christmas boxes to send to children in some developing nation.

∙ I see a man like Tony Wood who invests himself in young men in prison, people that most of our culture see as ‘throw aways,’ and he does it without fanfare or compensation.

∙ I see Pastors who go out to the neediest, the most broken at any hour of the night, to bring comfort and prayer.

∙ I see a food pantry that feeds people, even those who are ungrateful!

Where we serve more and talk less, we are seen as an accepting Christian and we gain the trust that lets us speak truthfully to others.

I also see Jesus calling us to TRANSPARENCY! If we try to appear to have all the answers, to have mastered every sinful impulse, to understand every mystery - few will want to know more about our Gospel! Jesus tells us to deal with our own sins and we cannot do that until and unless we are ready to get real about them. Paul reminds us about the importance of transparency about our own salvation. In his letter to Timothy, this champion of the church, writes,

"Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus. Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One— of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever." (1 Timothy 1:14-16, The Message)

The Christian who realizes his own dependence on God’s grace, who never forgets that it is Christ who saved him, and Christ who is saving him, and Christ who will save him - will become an ACCEPTING Believer, whose very life is an invitation to faith, who walks with lowered weapons, secure in the love of God.

Before I close, there is another facet to this message that demands our attention. It is not only towards those who are not yet Believers that we are to be accepting! Those in the family of faith need our ACCEPTANCE, too!

TEXT - Romans 15: 1-7

Are you accepting of your family of faith? Are you allowing for their imperfections, waiting for God to lead them through the process of maturity?

My sons were doing some remodeling work in our home this week. On Tuesday afternoon, I got home and when I saw a part of the project that looked kind of rough. I said, "Stop, that part needs to be re-done!" My son, Jay, then patiently showed me his plan and I realized that I was making a judgment too soon

When I criticized the work, I made him quite anxious because he wanted to do a good job for his Dad. What was not realizing clearly was that the job was only half done. I was looking for 'perfection' before the process was complete. (It looks great, by the way!)

The Holy Spirit used that to teach me in my prayer time the next morning. He whispered to me that we can easily discourage others if we demand perfection while they are a work in progress!

Too often, I find myself criticizing another person saying, "Why are they still doing that? When will they change?" It is not wrong to desire that others grow up and gain mastery of sins and ungodly habits, for Jesus says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48, NIV) However, do not misunderstand the intent. In the context, that word 'perfect' does not speak to flawless performance, but rather to reaching full potential.

The Lord is calling on us to become mature. We know that maturity results from a process called growth! It would be foolish to demands a man's performance from a child. Imagine holding a 10 year old to the same standard as a 40 year old. Silly, right? We realize that maturity arrives slowly, over time, as we instruct and as the one maturing is able to experience both success and failure. Becoming 'perfect' - again, not flawless, but mature - in spiritual matters is a life-long process which only ends when we finally are 'perfected,' by our transition into eternal life. In 1 Corinthians 13 we read of the ongoing work which leads us to God's Presence -

"Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear. It’s like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now." (1 Corinthians 13:9-12, NLT)

What peace among ourselves we could know if we patiently let the process be worked out.

Paul says, “ACCEPT ONE ANOTHER.”

That’s more than just gritting our teeth and tolerating each other! That is genuinely loving, seeing the best, hoping for the best, praying for growth. James encourages us "let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:4, NKJV) The meaning comes through more clearly in The Message where we read, "don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

Are you an accepting Believer?

Measure that by asking yourself some key questions:

- Do people in need invite me to be a part of their struggle, or try to hide them from me?

- Do people seek me out for spiritual counsel or do they avoid conversations about

spiritual matters with me?

- When I’m talking about Christ am I ‘preaching’ or ‘conversing?’

- What kind of words pass my lips most often when I’m talking about other Believers---

Criticism or Praise?

Let’s seek to be accepting - loving others like Jesus!

Amen.