AAA Church - Authentic, Accepting, and Accelerating

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,

                 • Accelerating - a Believer who encourages growth in others.

Last Sunday I talked about being authentic in our faith. That word - Authentic, is a call -

                    ∙to live counter-culturally and without compromise,

                    ∙to become a person who will not tolerate insincerity in himself,

                    ∙to be ‘real.’

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

Prayer -

TEXT - Romans 15:7

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." (Romans 15:7, NIV)

"So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!" (Romans 15:7, The Message)

In this short command, God teaches us one of the key distinctives of disciples of Christ - Acceptance!

In the Greek of the NT, the word is one rich with meaning including these:

            -to take to one’s self.

           - to take as one’s companion.

            - to take by the hand.

            - to take or receive into one’s home, not just because of the rules of hospitality, but with kindness.

           - grant one access to one’s heart.

ACCEPTANCE is one of the most challenging things for us. Naturally, people separate themselves into groups that are similar: in age, in wealth, in education, in race...

I may be defying the ideals of contemporary multiculturalism and diversity, but I don’t think it is necessarily a terrible thing! (Don’t check out on me yet, OK?)

When my Scandinavian grandfather immigrated to the United States in 1914, he sought out people who could understand his native language, found a place among people that ate the kinds of food he ate, who understood the world like he did. It was safe and comforting. But, Vladimar Skjodt also knew that if he wanted to succeed in this new land, he would have to be assimilated, giving up some of his heritage and learning to live as an American. So he became Walter Scott, learned to speak English, and became a citizen of this nation. His story is one that could be told with different names millions of times over!

The complicating factor that comes with living among those who are like us is that we easily begin to think that ‘We,’ whoever, whatever that is - is superior to ‘They,’ whomever they may be! The very real presence of Evil in our sinful nature and in one called the Devil or Satan, takes our preferences and turns them into divisions! There is an Enemy that is determined to bring about an end to all things of God and good!

Turning difference into division can be seen everywhere:

            Nation against nation,

            Culture against culture,

            Jew against Arab,

            White against black,

            Protestant against Catholic,

            Baptist against Pentecostal,

            Old against young

            Male against female.... 

This is where those who are disciples of Christ must step and lead this way.

The Scripture tells us to OVERCOME the nature tendency to separate and judge by adopting the model of Jesus Christ who came to us, not in pity, not out of superiority, but to accept us as brothers, welcoming us into the family of God!

Accepting others, waging a war of love, is a key part of being a‘soldier’ in the cause of Jesus Christ. Talk about mixed metaphors: acceptance and peace mixed with war and soldiering! Bringing the Kingdom of God to our lives and to our world requires conflict. We will fight battles, but 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!”

In other words, we don’t do what is natural! We live supernaturally by the power of the Holy Spirit!

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.

Accepting others as a disciple of Christ goes far beyond tolerance or diversity training!

While we admire the goal of breaking down the walls between races, sexes, and other groups that is part of those kinds of programs, we know they fail to really do much to change people’s hearts or even attitudes. People learn to say the right words and even to conceal their true thoughts, by adopting speech patterns of the politically correct but that is far, far from what Jesus calls us to accomplish in our human relationships.

Accepting others goes far deeper than our words even our wishes! The Scripture says it much be intentional, based in choices that lead to actions that show a truly changed mind. In fact, in John’s letter, we learn that this trait of acceptance of others is absolutely required, and if it missing in our lives, we have reason to believe that our relationship with Christ is faulty!

See 1 John 3:14-18 PB 1901

What is demanded of me and you in that passage can only be accomplished by an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. It is simply too human, too natural; to choose to live where I surround myself with those who think and act as I do, who value things in the way that I do.

            Ill.-      I saw this so clearly in me during the holidays when my adult children were home. Sean was watching a TV program that featured one of the Christian artists he knows personally and whose music he liked a great deal when he was a teenager. When a portion of the artist’s concert was played, I found myself reacting to it, not just with an expression of my preference for another style of music, but with judgment! I started to rant about that kind of music being a major contributing factor to the decline of our culture!

At that moment, I was anything but accepting! I was a building high walls of separation.

Jesus talks about the life of acceptance of others with direct words that should go straight to our hearts!

TEXT - Matthew 7:1-5 Pew Bible 1505

One word summarizes Jesus’ teaching here- HUMILITY! 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.

An accepting Christian will allow the Spirit to show him his own needs, sins, and flaws - contrasted against grace- and then, and only then, does that disciple gain the right to speak truthfully to others about their sins, failures, and flaws!

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.

Grace and more grace is the key to becoming an accepting disciple!

            An insecure person can never affirm another.

            An insecure person will never be an encourager.

            An insecure person cannot truly love, for he or she is not sure of being loved!

But, if we have experienced failure and forgiveness,

if we have been restored from some terrible sin and realize that it was not because of our own goodness,

we are then able to move in the direction of accepting others.

I’ve told you before, but I’ll say it again. Up until about age 30, I knew nothing of acceptance. I saw the whole world outside of my narrow experience of Christianity as ‘the enemy’ to be met with argument and judgment. I felt very much superior to ‘those sinners.’ Then, I fell flat on my face, failed miserably and was broken in heart and mind. For no reason other than His love and grace, Jesus restored me, forgave me, and made it impossible for me to be hostile to others in the same way as before!

John says that is the way of all those who really have experienced God’s love.

"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." (1 John 4:7-11, NLT)

"And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first." (1 John 4:17-19, NLT)

As I close, take a look at the context of my opening text.

Are you a critical Christian?

Do you find yourself making cutting remarks about others in the church - about their quirks, their gifts or lack thereof?

Are you quick to condemn those who make foolish decisions?

Then, you need to hear this text and take it to heart.