Together # 9
An Attitudinal Together
An Attitudinal Together
Accept One Another
copyright by Dick Wulf, 2018
Allow each Christian to be the person God created him or her to be. Become comfortable with differences in people. Have a high regard for everyone in the family of faith.
Matt 7:1-5; Matt 10:40-41; Mark 9:37; Rom 5:8; Rom 14:1-4; Rom 15:7
Acceptance is so important that it is praise to God. It is remarkable that this one Together is stated in Scripture to bring praise to God. Of, course, all of the Togethers do. But this one is singled out. Surely we do not want to treat it superficially.
Accept one another, then,
just as Christ accepted you,
in order to bring praise to God.
Romans 15:7
just as Christ accepted you,
in order to bring praise to God.
Romans 15:7
Praise is brought to God in two ways when Christians accept other Christians. The first is because each person, Christian or not, is designed by God. This could be called the “physical aspect”. The second is spiritual and might never have been adequately thought through by most of us. Christians have been made new creations through Christ’s sacrifice and to accept them no matter anything else about them is praising God and His love.
Let’s start with the physical and mental side that each person is designed by God. To quote from my book Find Yourself – Give Yourself (1983, Navpress), “Each one of us has been uniquely, individually created by the most skillful, artistic, and imaginative architect of all – the God of the universe.”
Let’s start with the physical and mental side that each person is designed by God. To quote from my book Find Yourself – Give Yourself (1983, Navpress), “Each one of us has been uniquely, individually created by the most skillful, artistic, and imaginative architect of all – the God of the universe.”
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-16
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:4,5
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-16
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:4,5
Jeremiah knew he was designed by God specifically for God’s purposes. What a shame that his contemporaries did not bring praise to God by accepting him. Instead he and his words from God were rejected.
But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people
everything the Lord had commanded him to say,
the priests, the prophets and all the people
seized him and said, “You must die!”
Jeremiah 26:8
everything the Lord had commanded him to say,
the priests, the prophets and all the people
seized him and said, “You must die!”
Jeremiah 26:8
God expects us to accept both his design of and his assignment for other Christians. If we do not, it is the opposite of praise.
Accepting one another requires that we respect God’s decision to design each person as He chooses. Inside of every person is the breath of God, carried forward from when God brought Adam to life from the dust of the ground.
Does a person have a different color of skin, an exceptionally large head, a diseased hand? Is a person hard to understand because of a different nationality or ethnic group? If so, and the person is not a believer, we know from the Bible that we are to still accept them. We who appreciate God for all He is should work at accepting all kinds of people, worldwide, shapes, sizes, colors, noses and anything else, however distorted by sin over the years and centuries.
However, this Together has to do with accepting Christians. If we are to accept the differences in God’s creative design of those not of the faith, surely we are to accept believers who are different from us.
Praise is accepting other people as designed by God, their physical appearance, mental state, race, nationality – you name it. To not do so is to demean God’s sovereign right to decide what a Christian is like, how that saint looks, where that believer came from, what God wants him or her to do and how she or he is to do it.
But it is likely that the spiritual side of acceptance is what brings praise to God the most.
All believers have been highly valued by God who sent His Son to die for them. It is like their value was $10 but God valued them at a million dollars and paid that much in Christ’s blood. As a result, beneath different colored skin and different configurations of body parts is a new spirit, what the Bible calls the “new self”. Each and every believer is a new creation in Christ. Therefore, to accept one another at the level of our regenerated spirits is to bring praise to God, and to not do so is to dishonor God.
Accepting one another requires that we respect God’s decision to design each person as He chooses. Inside of every person is the breath of God, carried forward from when God brought Adam to life from the dust of the ground.
Does a person have a different color of skin, an exceptionally large head, a diseased hand? Is a person hard to understand because of a different nationality or ethnic group? If so, and the person is not a believer, we know from the Bible that we are to still accept them. We who appreciate God for all He is should work at accepting all kinds of people, worldwide, shapes, sizes, colors, noses and anything else, however distorted by sin over the years and centuries.
However, this Together has to do with accepting Christians. If we are to accept the differences in God’s creative design of those not of the faith, surely we are to accept believers who are different from us.
Praise is accepting other people as designed by God, their physical appearance, mental state, race, nationality – you name it. To not do so is to demean God’s sovereign right to decide what a Christian is like, how that saint looks, where that believer came from, what God wants him or her to do and how she or he is to do it.
But it is likely that the spiritual side of acceptance is what brings praise to God the most.
All believers have been highly valued by God who sent His Son to die for them. It is like their value was $10 but God valued them at a million dollars and paid that much in Christ’s blood. As a result, beneath different colored skin and different configurations of body parts is a new spirit, what the Bible calls the “new self”. Each and every believer is a new creation in Christ. Therefore, to accept one another at the level of our regenerated spirits is to bring praise to God, and to not do so is to dishonor God.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Rom 15:5-
|
Obviously, who a person is deep down inside, as a redeemed spiritual being, is far, far more important than any physical characteristic. Different skin color, different way of worshiping God, and a thousand other things are not that important. Believers are very much alike at the level of their spirits. At death, it is everyone’s spirit that stays alive, and those that enter heaven are all redeemed and refined.
What if we added amplification to Romans 15:7 so that it read, “Accept one another [one another’s spirit and all other qualities], then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” [bracketed words mine]?
Christ accepted us first as sinners and then as people He redeemed to belong to Him and be in God’s kingdom? Those two aspects of His acceptance are a lot more important than that He accepts our skin color and the shape of our noses and feet, which He also accepts.
And, so, when we meet another Christian, no matter the differences in non-basic doctrine or different facial complexions, what matters a hundred times more than anything else is that we are both believers.
Stand a very tall Caucasian basketball player next to a 5-foot Vietnamese woman, both of whom are Christians. Because of what Jesus has done for them, they are redeemed and brother and sister in Christ. If they accept that and welcome each other as such, praise is brought to Jesus.
Does a Christian come from a group that has hurt you or your ancestors? On the outside such people may look like the enemy, but on the inside their spirits are redeemed and forgiven through belief in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. Inside, they are like you. Accept that person and what God has done for him or her and bring praise to God.
Additionally, this command for believers to accept one another goes deeper in another way. Inside of every believer lives the Holy Spirit. And, as a result of our being crucified with Christ, Jesus also lives in each Christian. Therefore, we must handle them with acceptance because what we see on the outside is not the whole picture.
When one believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit in whom Jesus lives accepts and welcomes another believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit in whom Jesus lives, it is not hard to see how God is praised. And to not accept is the opposite of praise and degrades all that God has done in these two believers, no matter that one is far more mature in the faith than the other or even that they agree on things not basic to God’s salvation message.
What if we added amplification to Romans 15:7 so that it read, “Accept one another [one another’s spirit and all other qualities], then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” [bracketed words mine]?
Christ accepted us first as sinners and then as people He redeemed to belong to Him and be in God’s kingdom? Those two aspects of His acceptance are a lot more important than that He accepts our skin color and the shape of our noses and feet, which He also accepts.
And, so, when we meet another Christian, no matter the differences in non-basic doctrine or different facial complexions, what matters a hundred times more than anything else is that we are both believers.
Stand a very tall Caucasian basketball player next to a 5-foot Vietnamese woman, both of whom are Christians. Because of what Jesus has done for them, they are redeemed and brother and sister in Christ. If they accept that and welcome each other as such, praise is brought to Jesus.
Does a Christian come from a group that has hurt you or your ancestors? On the outside such people may look like the enemy, but on the inside their spirits are redeemed and forgiven through belief in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. Inside, they are like you. Accept that person and what God has done for him or her and bring praise to God.
Additionally, this command for believers to accept one another goes deeper in another way. Inside of every believer lives the Holy Spirit. And, as a result of our being crucified with Christ, Jesus also lives in each Christian. Therefore, we must handle them with acceptance because what we see on the outside is not the whole picture.
When one believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit in whom Jesus lives accepts and welcomes another believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit in whom Jesus lives, it is not hard to see how God is praised. And to not accept is the opposite of praise and degrades all that God has done in these two believers, no matter that one is far more mature in the faith than the other or even that they agree on things not basic to God’s salvation message.
I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Gal 2:20
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Gal 2:20
Too many resist this command because they think acceptance means agreement. Therefore, they withhold acceptance because they think others will take it as approval – and, unfortunately some will.
But acceptance and approval are two very different things. For example, I need to lovingly accept into my presence a person who breaks glass on the sides of woodland trails, even though I have to grit my teeth to do so. But I do not agree that it is okay to alter nature so destructively.
This has always been a hard command to obey in Christian circles. Another Christian has sinful habits and we are tempted to steer clear of him, even though judging is prohibited. Yet to praise God, we are still to welcome this Christian person into our midst unless in the very rare case he or she has resisted Matthew 18 church discipline. In its basic meaning, “accepting” means welcoming. Actually, accepting is required to provide the “tough love” of the Togethers to produce more righteous behavior.
Take a practical example, one we wish did not exist but is all too common. A man does not speak to his wife tenderly and makes almost no effort to understand what she means by what she says. We witness this in church or during small group meetings. We may want to show our disapproval by having little to do with him. But, if he is to change, just the opposite is required. He must be welcomed, one of the basic meanings of “accepting”, and love proven to him. When we realize that we do not need to agree with him, then we can accept him as a person and see that he needs our help. In fact, the more accepting and welcoming and friendly with him we can be, the more we can get him to listen to us when we activate other togethers such as “Examining One Another’s Faith” and “Forbid Mistreatment of One Another”.
So you can see, accepting and welcoming other Christians is often the gateway to building a loving relationship in order to help one another with sanctification. Then, many Togethers can help and express the deep love of the faith.
Welcoming and accepting people sitting next to us in a church service can be very valuable if it is not quick and expedient. It will probably not lead to deep relationship with but a very few because of the limitations of time and place. But, who knows when that person so befriended will think of one of us when he or she has an urgent need.
However, God’s main assignment for deeper acceptance is in our Christian friendships, Christian families, and Christian marriages where lack of deep welcoming and acceptance can feel like disinterest or rejection. For example, when a father comes home from work and is so happy to greet and hug his 3-year-old princess, does he do so just as enthusiastically when she is older and laden with piercings and tattoos? And, if he is not so accepting, does that not feel to the teenage princess like the most hurtful rejection?
If accepting one another is so important that it is praise to God, let us work hard on growing in it. Let us identify those we are not so accepting of – and change to be like God who accepted us when we were still sinners. Let us also work on intensifying our welcoming so that Christians with whom we come in contact will know that we are glad to be with them because God at that moment will surely use us in each other’s lives. And, God will know that we appreciate and honor what He has done in their spirits.
Opportunity to Become More and More Like Jesus Christ
But acceptance and approval are two very different things. For example, I need to lovingly accept into my presence a person who breaks glass on the sides of woodland trails, even though I have to grit my teeth to do so. But I do not agree that it is okay to alter nature so destructively.
This has always been a hard command to obey in Christian circles. Another Christian has sinful habits and we are tempted to steer clear of him, even though judging is prohibited. Yet to praise God, we are still to welcome this Christian person into our midst unless in the very rare case he or she has resisted Matthew 18 church discipline. In its basic meaning, “accepting” means welcoming. Actually, accepting is required to provide the “tough love” of the Togethers to produce more righteous behavior.
Take a practical example, one we wish did not exist but is all too common. A man does not speak to his wife tenderly and makes almost no effort to understand what she means by what she says. We witness this in church or during small group meetings. We may want to show our disapproval by having little to do with him. But, if he is to change, just the opposite is required. He must be welcomed, one of the basic meanings of “accepting”, and love proven to him. When we realize that we do not need to agree with him, then we can accept him as a person and see that he needs our help. In fact, the more accepting and welcoming and friendly with him we can be, the more we can get him to listen to us when we activate other togethers such as “Examining One Another’s Faith” and “Forbid Mistreatment of One Another”.
So you can see, accepting and welcoming other Christians is often the gateway to building a loving relationship in order to help one another with sanctification. Then, many Togethers can help and express the deep love of the faith.
Welcoming and accepting people sitting next to us in a church service can be very valuable if it is not quick and expedient. It will probably not lead to deep relationship with but a very few because of the limitations of time and place. But, who knows when that person so befriended will think of one of us when he or she has an urgent need.
However, God’s main assignment for deeper acceptance is in our Christian friendships, Christian families, and Christian marriages where lack of deep welcoming and acceptance can feel like disinterest or rejection. For example, when a father comes home from work and is so happy to greet and hug his 3-year-old princess, does he do so just as enthusiastically when she is older and laden with piercings and tattoos? And, if he is not so accepting, does that not feel to the teenage princess like the most hurtful rejection?
If accepting one another is so important that it is praise to God, let us work hard on growing in it. Let us identify those we are not so accepting of – and change to be like God who accepted us when we were still sinners. Let us also work on intensifying our welcoming so that Christians with whom we come in contact will know that we are glad to be with them because God at that moment will surely use us in each other’s lives. And, God will know that we appreciate and honor what He has done in their spirits.
Opportunity to Become More and More Like Jesus Christ
Mike and Regina noticed the poor attitude their 14-year-old son Jack held toward his younger brother Barry’s non-athletic friends. They knew the family is one of the most important forms of church for helping people change into the image of Jesus. Therefore, they knew that they needed to mobilize the family to get more involved with one another, presently to help Jack obey God’s command to accept others.
In a family meeting, Mike and Regina taught their children the Scriptures about accepting others and letting them be how God made them. Then they asked the other children to give Jack ideas of how to think about Barry’s friends so that he was not cruel and could appreciate their qualities and maybe even enjoy them as different than himself. |
Jesus accepted people. He did not agree with them about many of the important things, but he did begin with them where they were in their thinking and their lives. For example, one of the first times Jesus revealed his identity was at a well to a woman of a despised ethnic group who was living with a man she was not married to. (John 4)
To become more like Jesus in accepting people, especially Christians, we need to walk in the world as Jesus did with people whether they are attractive or obnoxious. We have been given a new self with the Holy Spirit empowering us to love unconditionally. It might not be easy, but what would it say about Jesus if becoming like Him were easy?
We should identify the types of people we really do not like to be around. This should not be difficult if we are honest with ourselves. Then we need to put effort, as the Bible instructs, to put away the old self and take on the thinking of the new self which is to be remade into the image of Jesus.
For example, perhaps it is super-sweet people who seem so hard to accept and welcome into conversation. We don’t know if they like us or are manipulating us. It might take weeks and months to grasp through prayer just how God sees such people. Or perhaps, after confessing this sin so that we can be healed, a friend who can accept such a person tells how he or she thinks of them as just trapped by their familial or regional culture or their fear of people. In any case, we should stick with it until we discover how it is that God accepts such people and adopt that way of thinking ourselves. Then, we can go on to identify some other type of person that we find objectionable or uncomfortable to be around.
It might be that this particular Together will test just how much we really want to become like Jesus. We can ask the Lord to change our hearts as needed so that the desire of our new self for Christlikeness can be set free to blossom.
Opportunity to Worship God
To become more like Jesus in accepting people, especially Christians, we need to walk in the world as Jesus did with people whether they are attractive or obnoxious. We have been given a new self with the Holy Spirit empowering us to love unconditionally. It might not be easy, but what would it say about Jesus if becoming like Him were easy?
We should identify the types of people we really do not like to be around. This should not be difficult if we are honest with ourselves. Then we need to put effort, as the Bible instructs, to put away the old self and take on the thinking of the new self which is to be remade into the image of Jesus.
For example, perhaps it is super-sweet people who seem so hard to accept and welcome into conversation. We don’t know if they like us or are manipulating us. It might take weeks and months to grasp through prayer just how God sees such people. Or perhaps, after confessing this sin so that we can be healed, a friend who can accept such a person tells how he or she thinks of them as just trapped by their familial or regional culture or their fear of people. In any case, we should stick with it until we discover how it is that God accepts such people and adopt that way of thinking ourselves. Then, we can go on to identify some other type of person that we find objectionable or uncomfortable to be around.
It might be that this particular Together will test just how much we really want to become like Jesus. We can ask the Lord to change our hearts as needed so that the desire of our new self for Christlikeness can be set free to blossom.
Opportunity to Worship God
Victor and his friend Joey work in a manufacturing plant with a lot of ethnic cliques. But Victor and Joey know that they are accepted by God and do not need to worry about whether they will be accepted by other groups. They know that Jesus promises to be with them, so they wander all over the plant together, visiting a little with every group.
Joey and Victor listen for Jesus’ inaudible voice as they extend acceptance and friendship to the various workplace friendship groups. Jesus guides them to compliment others, ask about their likes and customs, and wish everyone well while staying only a little while, comfortable that they are not invited to become insiders in any of the separate groups. These two Christian friends are well aware of what they are doing – worshiping God by reflecting back His own acceptance of and interest in all people. While Joey and Victor are just trying to bring God praise, they have become very popular people and were elected to become union reps. People see God’s love in them and trust them to treat them with acceptance and respect. At their respective churches, both of these good friends are also very approachable because they have helped each other to be so in the workplace. While other church leaders cannot be so straightforward in their exhortations because they are more personally guarded, Joey and Victor are able to spur others on in their spiritual growth just because they are so accepting. |
We have been showing that anything that reflects back to God his own character is true praise and worship. Because God accepted us when we were still sinners, we can be like Him in accepting other Christians when they are not perfect.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
Fellow Christians may let us down and disappoint us. They may even hurt us. Are we still accepting of them? Do we forgive them, or do we require deep apology? If we care about God’s desires and commands, we welcome them into fellowship. This is like God. This is worship.
Does accepting another mean agreeing with them? No. Does it mean trusting them? No. Jesus, the most forgiving person to ever live, did not always trust.
Does accepting another mean agreeing with them? No. Does it mean trusting them? No. Jesus, the most forgiving person to ever live, did not always trust.
Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival,
many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.
But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.
He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
John 2:23-25
many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.
But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.
He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
John 2:23-25
God shows undeserved love to all people, even though He cannot trust them. Likewise, we are to welcome into social contact those who will treat us well and those who will not. As God sends rain to the just and the unjust, so we are to love everyone and act like God, which is worship.
Sometimes it is easier to accept and act welcoming to a known unbeliever than to a Christian with the same questionable character. Conscious that we are a witness for Christ, we can often be genuinely friendly with a shabbily dressed man in the grocery line behind us. But, are we just as welcoming and do we approach with the same acceptance poorly dressed, money-strapped Christians at our church services? Hopefully we are.
God has given us wisdom and grace in our close Christian relationships to accept one another. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his very accepting and tolerant character, especially as evidenced in His toleration of us. When we accept our friends, family and others in the faith in spite of their sin, we also worship by accepting God’s position to be the only judge of people. When we accept people in spite of their differences, we worship by acknowledging God as their Creator.
How Used in Battle to Defeat Evil and Satan
Sometimes it is easier to accept and act welcoming to a known unbeliever than to a Christian with the same questionable character. Conscious that we are a witness for Christ, we can often be genuinely friendly with a shabbily dressed man in the grocery line behind us. But, are we just as welcoming and do we approach with the same acceptance poorly dressed, money-strapped Christians at our church services? Hopefully we are.
God has given us wisdom and grace in our close Christian relationships to accept one another. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his very accepting and tolerant character, especially as evidenced in His toleration of us. When we accept our friends, family and others in the faith in spite of their sin, we also worship by accepting God’s position to be the only judge of people. When we accept people in spite of their differences, we worship by acknowledging God as their Creator.
How Used in Battle to Defeat Evil and Satan
Norma and Esther and Ann are friends in the neighborhood. Esther is a unique person many would call strange. She is Jewish and occasionally involved in the temple and its society. Norma and Ann, who are devoted Christians, have tried to explain their faith to Esther and this has been heard but ineffective.
However, Norma and Ann are very accepting of Esther, her religion and her idiosyncrasies. They often remark how God has blessed her in some areas other than those that are less attractive, such as her gossiping. Unknown to them, Esther does not fit in well with her Jewish acquaintances and family. In time, the acceptance of Norma and Ann and their excited welcome when she shows up to one of their homes feels so good that Esther begins to wonder if the grace found in Christianity is proof of its reality. |
Unaccepted and unwelcomed people are easy targets for Satan. They can be so starved for love and acceptance that any wayward group will be attractive. Let’s not let these people, especially Christians, be so vulnerable.
This is especially true for kids who are less than popular with their peers. It is so important that all children, and especially teens, are accepted for who they are and their personalities welcomed in all of our Christian fellowships. Nothing is more important to most kids than friendships. We don’t want friendships with the wrong people to lead our kids astray.
Christian friendships must include children from time to time so that kids have the experience of being accepted and valued. Back yard parties that mix kids and adults are essential to any responsible Christian friendship group. Christian families need to study biblical acceptance so that the children extend a welcome to those kids in Christian families who are less popular and left out. If every family in a Christian circle of friends did this, children who reach out will not have to be afraid they will come under ridicule for befriending the less popular.
If no one in the friendship group has children of their own, then they should occasionally include nieces and nephews and/or kids from church who might not be close to any Christians outside of their family. Certainly, a friendship group can make a ministry of accepting kids who seem to be at risk, inviting and welcoming them to be around. What evangelistic opportunities awaits such a caring friendship group!
In most churches there are those who are only marginally attached to the people of the fellowship. Many of them are just a hair’s breadth away from putting personal need for acceptance from anyone more important than their faith. The answer to this is many of the Togethers, but this one of acceptance is the start. While this is not so effective in a large church, in a smaller one these people can be brought deeper into the faith rather easily through welcoming acceptance. If Christians in such churches would not gather at church in their friendship groups that have an active life apart from church services and programs, they can offer to those on the fringe the acceptance God wants for them.
Furthermore, how much damage has been done to Christian communities because Christians do not accept divergent views of the faith? Such non-acceptance usually just cements people in their own views and separates God’s people. We should welcome as brothers and sisters in the faith anyone who holds to the basic tenets of the faith. It is in accepting relationships where Christians help one another sort out truth.
We use this Together to fight evil and defeat the devil by making sure we are not divided from one another so that faith can be destroyed. And we use this Together of acceptance to welcome believers into relationships that protect them from the evil one.
How in the Sinful Environment this Together Prepares Us for Heaven
This is especially true for kids who are less than popular with their peers. It is so important that all children, and especially teens, are accepted for who they are and their personalities welcomed in all of our Christian fellowships. Nothing is more important to most kids than friendships. We don’t want friendships with the wrong people to lead our kids astray.
Christian friendships must include children from time to time so that kids have the experience of being accepted and valued. Back yard parties that mix kids and adults are essential to any responsible Christian friendship group. Christian families need to study biblical acceptance so that the children extend a welcome to those kids in Christian families who are less popular and left out. If every family in a Christian circle of friends did this, children who reach out will not have to be afraid they will come under ridicule for befriending the less popular.
If no one in the friendship group has children of their own, then they should occasionally include nieces and nephews and/or kids from church who might not be close to any Christians outside of their family. Certainly, a friendship group can make a ministry of accepting kids who seem to be at risk, inviting and welcoming them to be around. What evangelistic opportunities awaits such a caring friendship group!
In most churches there are those who are only marginally attached to the people of the fellowship. Many of them are just a hair’s breadth away from putting personal need for acceptance from anyone more important than their faith. The answer to this is many of the Togethers, but this one of acceptance is the start. While this is not so effective in a large church, in a smaller one these people can be brought deeper into the faith rather easily through welcoming acceptance. If Christians in such churches would not gather at church in their friendship groups that have an active life apart from church services and programs, they can offer to those on the fringe the acceptance God wants for them.
Furthermore, how much damage has been done to Christian communities because Christians do not accept divergent views of the faith? Such non-acceptance usually just cements people in their own views and separates God’s people. We should welcome as brothers and sisters in the faith anyone who holds to the basic tenets of the faith. It is in accepting relationships where Christians help one another sort out truth.
We use this Together to fight evil and defeat the devil by making sure we are not divided from one another so that faith can be destroyed. And we use this Together of acceptance to welcome believers into relationships that protect them from the evil one.
How in the Sinful Environment this Together Prepares Us for Heaven
Jackie is very outgoing and has a lot of friends, both Christian and not. Uncomfortably, some of them express that they do not want to do things if “so-and-so” is coming along. Jackie considered who in her inner circle of Christian friends and relatives, what she calls her “Power Circle,” could help her know what to do. She picked her Christian aunt who always seemed to give wise, biblical counsel.
Jackie began asking her friends, one by one, why they were uncomfortable or did not like someone coming along on activities. Then she explained that God wanted them to be able to accept and appreciate anyone, no matter how different. She explained that this would make them like Jesus as well as prepare them for heaven where there will be all kinds of different people. Many of her Christian friends dropped their objections and became more inclusive. A few of her Christian friends refused to become tolerant and Jackie left them out of fun activities with sadness but with a firm commitment that she would not reward their rebellion against God. Jackie did not exclude non-Christian friends who stayed intolerant because they did not know God and did not have the power of the Holy Spirit to change their thinking. Noticing this, a few of Jackie’s non-Christian friends asked why some were not invited to participate in activities planned by Jackie. She explained that those friends belonged to God, paid for by Jesus’ blood, and were not honoring their Lord by being so unaccepting. This witness hit home to a few who became quite interested in Jesus and were saved through belief. |
The more we are able to now accept and welcome people different than ourselves against the opposition of sin, we will develop strong spirits to accept and welcome all the different people in heaven. Those now who are so different that we have trouble greeting them are opportunities to prepare for heaven, whether they are believers or not. What is important is that we learn to love through acceptance by overcoming judgments of others and, instead, think of them from God’s point of view. They may be lost souls who need God no matter how different or horrible they are. Or they may be Christians of different familial or cultural backgrounds who are on the journey of becoming like Jesus.
Since we will not carry sinfulness with us through the pearly gates, we will certainly accept everyone in heaven. But appreciation for their uniqueness will be diminished if we were unaccepting and judgmental of that kind of person before death. This diminished ability will not be sin, just inability. This is similar to when those of us with little computer skills are being helped at our keyboard by a computer expert who whizzes along, telling us what he or she is doing. We see what is being done, but we just stare blankly, not comprehending. We are not sinning, we just don’t have the background to stay with the process.
Thus, we may be similarly held back in welcoming others in heaven who are quite different than ourselves if we have not broken through on accepting very different people earlier before death. Without sin, we will welcome into our midst someone in heaven who was a murderer before being saved by Christ’s blood. But that welcome will be more full and genuine if we welcomed bad people into our presence before we died.
If we had trouble happily greeting a teenager at church who is a good person but with baggy pants hanging way too low, then what makes us think that we will be comfortable and have full joy in heaven greeting a half-clothed tribal native who came to Christ through missionaries deep in the jungle?
Accepting people’s differences while surrounded by sin will develop our spirits for heaven so that we can be fascinated with all the different ways people have behaved over thousands of years in many hundreds of cultures. Let’s work on accepting the strangest, most different and strange Christians we can find – in order to praise God. This is the way to prepare for enjoying heaven’s inhabitants.
Consider how clearly you can see a mountain once the fog or haze is gone. That is similar to how our perception of other people’s uniqueness is now clouded by sin, theirs and our own. God may have given each of them tremendously wonderful personal qualities, but sins like negativity obscure acceptance and appreciation. Also, our own sinful jealousy can hide good qualities in another person for which we could offer God praise through acceptance.
So, let’s ask God for help and receive it from the Holy Spirit to see past the sin in ourselves and others and see the beauty of God’s handiwork in each Christian. Let’s do this especially with those whom we share a deeper relationship and can, so to speak, see the microscopic view of God’s creative beauty in them.
And, how will we overcome resistance to acceptance of people we don’t really like? By remembering that at the spiritual level, they are redeemed like we are, loved in Christ by God like we are, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit like we are.
Want to prepare for heaven with a leap and a bound? Identify a Christian that you just do not like. Then accept God’s help to welcome them into your presence where you can painstakingly search for that kernel of beauty you have not yet been able to see and appreciate. Do this until your acceptance of that person blossoms and you can look forward to being with that person.
How this Together Can Make it Really Good in Heaven
Since we will not carry sinfulness with us through the pearly gates, we will certainly accept everyone in heaven. But appreciation for their uniqueness will be diminished if we were unaccepting and judgmental of that kind of person before death. This diminished ability will not be sin, just inability. This is similar to when those of us with little computer skills are being helped at our keyboard by a computer expert who whizzes along, telling us what he or she is doing. We see what is being done, but we just stare blankly, not comprehending. We are not sinning, we just don’t have the background to stay with the process.
Thus, we may be similarly held back in welcoming others in heaven who are quite different than ourselves if we have not broken through on accepting very different people earlier before death. Without sin, we will welcome into our midst someone in heaven who was a murderer before being saved by Christ’s blood. But that welcome will be more full and genuine if we welcomed bad people into our presence before we died.
If we had trouble happily greeting a teenager at church who is a good person but with baggy pants hanging way too low, then what makes us think that we will be comfortable and have full joy in heaven greeting a half-clothed tribal native who came to Christ through missionaries deep in the jungle?
Accepting people’s differences while surrounded by sin will develop our spirits for heaven so that we can be fascinated with all the different ways people have behaved over thousands of years in many hundreds of cultures. Let’s work on accepting the strangest, most different and strange Christians we can find – in order to praise God. This is the way to prepare for enjoying heaven’s inhabitants.
Consider how clearly you can see a mountain once the fog or haze is gone. That is similar to how our perception of other people’s uniqueness is now clouded by sin, theirs and our own. God may have given each of them tremendously wonderful personal qualities, but sins like negativity obscure acceptance and appreciation. Also, our own sinful jealousy can hide good qualities in another person for which we could offer God praise through acceptance.
So, let’s ask God for help and receive it from the Holy Spirit to see past the sin in ourselves and others and see the beauty of God’s handiwork in each Christian. Let’s do this especially with those whom we share a deeper relationship and can, so to speak, see the microscopic view of God’s creative beauty in them.
And, how will we overcome resistance to acceptance of people we don’t really like? By remembering that at the spiritual level, they are redeemed like we are, loved in Christ by God like we are, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit like we are.
Want to prepare for heaven with a leap and a bound? Identify a Christian that you just do not like. Then accept God’s help to welcome them into your presence where you can painstakingly search for that kernel of beauty you have not yet been able to see and appreciate. Do this until your acceptance of that person blossoms and you can look forward to being with that person.
How this Together Can Make it Really Good in Heaven
Susan completely knows and appreciates who she is. Heaven is responsible. Self-criticism was left behind when she died. And, no one in heaven criticizes her.
More than that, those in heaven who back in the sinful environment before death could go beyond mere toleration of those who were different are in heaven. And they have shown acceptance and appreciation of Susan. As a result, she now sees wonderful things in herself that were hidden before. |
Accepting one another in heaven will be great worship of God to the extent that we can rejoice in every citizen’s redeemed and purified spirit through the work of God. Just imagine meeting someone who lived hundreds of years before you in a different culture and accepting them because they are redeemed like you, loved by God like you, and are new creations as a result of accepting Jesus as their Savior.
Perhaps you have now before death found yourself in a mass of strangers, when you meet a person who identifies herself or himself as a Christian. Most likely you were delighted to meet another Christian and accepted her or him right then without consideration of race, attractiveness, and other physical characteristics. Nothing mattered as much as that you had the same Lord, received the same redemption, were headed toward heaven, etc.
That acceptance of God’s redemption and purification in another will be the first jolt of heavenly joy when you meet any citizen of heaven. After that, you will go on to accept many different things about them.
There will be unlimited opportunities in heaven to welcome redeemed people from all the different cultures and ages. Christians prepared for heaven will accept and appreciate all this variety in God’s people. They will welcome with open arms millions of people, one-by-one, in whatever is the customary way of heaven’s greeting.
As we admire all of the various wildflowers in a mountain meadow, we will be able to admire the variety of people in heaven as well as the different kinds of angels. There will be unreserved friendliness and hospitality. We will freely seek out others and not wait for someone to approach us. They will also be coming to us with the same excitement.
And we each will be content with who we are. We will no longer have to talk ourselves into accepting ourselves because sin will be gone and what we are not will no longer matter.
Furthermore, those who learned to accept people, welcome them into relationship, and appreciate them back before death will be able to see God’s beautiful handiwork in us. For all eternity we will be supremely valued for the person God made each of us to be. Others will greatly enjoy you and I and praise God for His unique design of us both. Thus, by your design and mine, we will bring much glory to God .
However, keep in mind that we each have to let God develop our spirits to accept others before we die. What has been described is something we have to prepare our spirits for, and it is wise to do it now before we die. How much joy we have in people in heaven for eternity hangs in the balance.
Opportunity for a Closer Relationship with God through Eternity
Perhaps you have now before death found yourself in a mass of strangers, when you meet a person who identifies herself or himself as a Christian. Most likely you were delighted to meet another Christian and accepted her or him right then without consideration of race, attractiveness, and other physical characteristics. Nothing mattered as much as that you had the same Lord, received the same redemption, were headed toward heaven, etc.
That acceptance of God’s redemption and purification in another will be the first jolt of heavenly joy when you meet any citizen of heaven. After that, you will go on to accept many different things about them.
There will be unlimited opportunities in heaven to welcome redeemed people from all the different cultures and ages. Christians prepared for heaven will accept and appreciate all this variety in God’s people. They will welcome with open arms millions of people, one-by-one, in whatever is the customary way of heaven’s greeting.
As we admire all of the various wildflowers in a mountain meadow, we will be able to admire the variety of people in heaven as well as the different kinds of angels. There will be unreserved friendliness and hospitality. We will freely seek out others and not wait for someone to approach us. They will also be coming to us with the same excitement.
And we each will be content with who we are. We will no longer have to talk ourselves into accepting ourselves because sin will be gone and what we are not will no longer matter.
Furthermore, those who learned to accept people, welcome them into relationship, and appreciate them back before death will be able to see God’s beautiful handiwork in us. For all eternity we will be supremely valued for the person God made each of us to be. Others will greatly enjoy you and I and praise God for His unique design of us both. Thus, by your design and mine, we will bring much glory to God .
However, keep in mind that we each have to let God develop our spirits to accept others before we die. What has been described is something we have to prepare our spirits for, and it is wise to do it now before we die. How much joy we have in people in heaven for eternity hangs in the balance.
Opportunity for a Closer Relationship with God through Eternity
In heaven Demarius brings great joy to God. It is his genuine nature, nearly maximized to his design by God before he was even born, that draws Jesus to visit him so often. It is sheer delight for God and this thrills Demarius.
But, such special attention is not just given to Demarius. His many friends receive extra visits from Jesus and much thanks from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords because they helped Demarius accept himself through their acceptance. To be thanked by God is really something. They love to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servants”. |
We want God to have all the joy He deserves. Therefore, we will want to have helped others to accept themselves as God designed them. And we will want them to help us do the same.
In heaven we will be able to relate to God just the way He designed each of us. Imagine the joy that will give to God.
Remember when we have each set out to create something we saw in our mind’s eye, whether that be a birthday cake for someone very loved or a carpentry project? Then, remember the joy we felt if it came out just like we meant it to? That’s the way it will be for God to the extent we have accepted our own uniqueness and carry it naturally into our relationship with God. That is why it is so very important that those in our Christian Inner Circles do their work of accepting us and helping us grasp the beauty of our own creation by God in Christ Jesus. Add to that the Together “Commend One Another” and all of us can let go of critical and demeaning thoughts about ourselves.
God is waiting for us to relate to Him for all eternity with the design He gave us from before we were born. He wants to enjoy us just as He created us to be. It will be wonderful to have God enjoy us in this way now and in heaven.
Praise & Prayer Regarding this Together
Most Accepting God, I and those in my Christian Inner Circle will need Your help to grow our spirits to accept and appreciate Christians different from ourselves. Help us to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit for all of us to give You more glory in the way we accept believers’ physical design by You, spiritual design through Your re-creation of them in Christ, and the assignments You have given them.
Please help us all to become more like Jesus and comfortably accept into our hearts and lives a wider range of humanity.
May our lives worship You more because we praise You by accepting those You have redeemed by Your Son’s blood and appreciating their new nature in Christ, no matter how developed along the path of sanctification. As You accepted us first when we were unredeemed sinners, help us to reflect Your nature by not requiring perfection in those Christians with whom we interact.
Make us strong in Your power to defeat the devil by making other Christians feel accepted and preventing the need for them to seek validation from dangerous sources. Empower us to hold them tight in Christian fellowship and give them a sense of security they can find nowhere else.
Help us all to prepare for heaven by allowing You to develop our spirits in acceptance so that we can enjoy all the very many different people in heaven. We do not want our appreciation of them to be stunted because we did not now allow the Holy Spirit to teach us how to appreciate many things about every Christian we meet.
In heaven we will be able to relate to God just the way He designed each of us. Imagine the joy that will give to God.
Remember when we have each set out to create something we saw in our mind’s eye, whether that be a birthday cake for someone very loved or a carpentry project? Then, remember the joy we felt if it came out just like we meant it to? That’s the way it will be for God to the extent we have accepted our own uniqueness and carry it naturally into our relationship with God. That is why it is so very important that those in our Christian Inner Circles do their work of accepting us and helping us grasp the beauty of our own creation by God in Christ Jesus. Add to that the Together “Commend One Another” and all of us can let go of critical and demeaning thoughts about ourselves.
God is waiting for us to relate to Him for all eternity with the design He gave us from before we were born. He wants to enjoy us just as He created us to be. It will be wonderful to have God enjoy us in this way now and in heaven.
Praise & Prayer Regarding this Together
Most Accepting God, I and those in my Christian Inner Circle will need Your help to grow our spirits to accept and appreciate Christians different from ourselves. Help us to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit for all of us to give You more glory in the way we accept believers’ physical design by You, spiritual design through Your re-creation of them in Christ, and the assignments You have given them.
Please help us all to become more like Jesus and comfortably accept into our hearts and lives a wider range of humanity.
May our lives worship You more because we praise You by accepting those You have redeemed by Your Son’s blood and appreciating their new nature in Christ, no matter how developed along the path of sanctification. As You accepted us first when we were unredeemed sinners, help us to reflect Your nature by not requiring perfection in those Christians with whom we interact.
Make us strong in Your power to defeat the devil by making other Christians feel accepted and preventing the need for them to seek validation from dangerous sources. Empower us to hold them tight in Christian fellowship and give them a sense of security they can find nowhere else.
Help us all to prepare for heaven by allowing You to develop our spirits in acceptance so that we can enjoy all the very many different people in heaven. We do not want our appreciation of them to be stunted because we did not now allow the Holy Spirit to teach us how to appreciate many things about every Christian we meet.
Ever increasing practice of the Togethers of Scripture will (1) create in you the loving essence of Jesus, (2) give Jesus the kind of love He requested, (3) provide you with the most significant spiritual lifestyle which is attainable only through Christian community, (4) offer significant worship to God by reflecting his own character back to him through your behavior, and (5) bring God’s kingdom to earth as asked for in the Lord’s Prayer. And for heaven, such growing obedience to Scripture now will later (6) qualify you for a more responsible place of service as reward in heaven, and, (7) most important of all, give you greater empathy with God for a closer relationship with Him for all of eternity.