Be Nice!

There are three little words I want to talk to us about today:

Acceptance - which is to receive willingly, to believe in, to treat as welcome, worth accepting.

Approval - which is to prove or express favorable opinion of, to accept as satisfactory.

Assimilation - which is to make similar, in conformity with what is already available to consciousness.

In Acts 10:34-35 Peter said, “I see very clearly that God doesn’t show partiality. In every nation He accepts those who fear Him and do what is right.”

The early church is in uncharted waters as it is expanding its message of the resurrected Jesus into the cities and neighborhoods of the known world to anyone who would listen. First they went to the Jewish sectors of the cities…these were people who were much like they were; they understood their terminology, their customs, their culture, had the same background, they knew the same stories, but…

People who were not like them or from their line of thinking were starting to respond to the gospel! Yay! God wins!

But, these new converts to Christ didn't revolve their lives and beliefs around the ancestral lineage starting with Abraham that formed the twelve tribes of Israel; they hadn’t been in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified; they weren’t in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came; they have jobs in foreign governments; they eat meats that Israel didn’t because they were foods that were offered to false gods by other people; they didn’t observe Jewish holy feasts and festivals; they just weren’t like the Hebrews at all.

Now the early church is asking itself, what do we do; can we accept, why should we approve, do we assimilate…??

What the mindset was up ‘till now was that in order to be accepted, you had to be assimilated into a Jewish belief system so that you could be approved…that made for acceptance. There was a demand for the new converts to conform to Jewish traditions of religious laws like circumcision, and observing certain customs and festivals, and eating certain meats and not other certain meats. But, the gospel as commissioned by Jesus was to start at home in Israel, move into the countryside, then into neighboring countries and cultures and then spread into the entire world.

We get the benefit of hindsight looking back at what is called the Great Commission; it seems logical to us that the gospel would spread into the entire world, but to the men and women of the Jewish culture that this was spoken into, it wasn’t registering on their world view. It was assumed that the gospel message would cause everyone to want to assimilate into the Jewish culture, but the gospel was moving ahead of the church, by the Holy Spirit, and people were responding to the Holy Spirits call to come to faith in the resurrected Christ Jesus - not the Jewish religion.

You see, the early church people had a “You have to believe in order to belong” mentality. But God didn’t give up on the early church followers even though they didn’t get it at first. Jesus was turning this all around demonstrating, “You have to belong in order to believe” This is where acceptance comes in.

He exampled this throughout His entire ministry here on earth…He wasn’t only accused of hanging out with non-religious people, notorious for being unscrupulous and unfair and even traitors to the Jewish government…He was accused of being their friend. He accepted them as they were. He made them feel like they belonged somewhere, like they had something to offer, like they had worth and significance. He made them feel like they wanted to be with Him.

“So accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified.” – Romans 15:7

He’s referring to those who have different convictions, backgrounds, varying degrees of the knowledge of Christ and applications of their beliefs and traditions; not necessarily getting along all the time or agreeing, but looking out for the best for each other by not behaving in a way that would cause each other to miss out on God’s intent for us.

So I ask myself, “What do people sense, or feel, when they come in our doors on a Sunday morning? How are they received? How do they perceive they are perceived? Do they feel like they want to hang out with us when they see our Face book postings?” What are they anticipating based on our conversations with them – fear, uncertainty, disapproval, all of which creates suspicion? Or are they anticipating a welcome, an acknowledgement of friendship, an atmosphere that will receive them as they are and be a safe place to explore their doubts and questions?

In his book, “No Perfect people Allowed” John Burke writes:
When Christians wrongly assume their job is to help make others acceptable – even though we could never make ourselves acceptable – this tells people God will not accept them “as is.” Consequently many people reject the God of Christianity not realizing the god they associate with Christ is a false god! We must constantly teach to clearly define the true God of grace.

Gordon MacDonald said it well, “The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.

The world has found an inexpensive substitute for grace – tolerance.

“Tolerance does not value people but simply puts up with their behavior or beliefs. Tolerance alone cannot accommodate both justice and mercy – it can only look the other way. Tolerance might deal with differences, but it can’t embrace us in full knowledge of sin and remove our guilt.” – John Burke

Jesus’ mission, His intent for the gospel, the core of the gospel of God’s message to humanity is not tolerance but favor, acceptance, and restoration!

Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” - Luke 4:18-19

Most people assume they will not be accepted until they change, not by God and definitely not by church people. Many can’t, and won’t, believe God will accept them and love them until those who claim to know God start to show them. So my advice – Be Nice!