Gerry van der Wende: I am accepted!

I am accepted!

June 5, 2011

Ephesians 1:6

Introduction

Keith Hernandez is one of baseball's top players. He is a lifetime 300 hitter who has won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding.
He's won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series.
Yet with all his accomplishments, he has missed out on something crucially important to him -- his father's acceptance and recognition that what he has accomplished is valuable.
Listen to what he had to say in a very candid interview about his relationship with his father:
"One day Keith asked his father, 'Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?'
His father replied, 'But someday you're going to look back and say, "I could have done more."

How many of us can relate to this story
Today we are going to see what the Bible tells us about our worth as a person, individually

Early Days and Life

Often we grow up in families which do not value us as a person
It may be our Mom, it may be our Dad, it may be someone else
But as we grow up we are being molded into the person we will be as an adult
The things that are said to us have huge impact, particularly in the early years
As we grow up, we start working and other people start to make comments about us
These comments often relate to the things we have done and accomplished
I had a boss who praised me for good accomplishments, and this was a big help for me
He also told me when I needed to improve a report I had written, but without putting me down
So in life, we can have both positive and negative influences
We see ourselves in terms of what has been said of us

The flaw

The things that are said of us vary, depending on who is saying what
So on Monday someone may praise us for an accomplishment, while on Tuesday we may be criticized
When we see ourselves based on our performance, our self-image will change depending on what we have been told
This means that the way we see ourselves is constantly changing, our feelings are fickle
This is not the kind of foundation we need for our life.
Jesus tells us that he is the Rock on which he would build his church
David talks of God as being his rock, his shelter
Paul talks about us being built as a temple for God, on the foundation of Jesus
So God does not want us to be ever-changing in the way we see ourselves
He wants us to have a solid basis, a real foundation for our life

How does God see us?

Is God continually looking at how we are measuring up to certain standards?
Does this change from day to day depending on how well we have done in following Him?
Ephesians 1:5-6 "Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
"To the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the Beloved"
Paul is telling us that the Father specifically chose us to be his children! He did this according to his will, he was not forced into it by any set of circumstances
It is by his grace that we have been made "accepted in the Beloved"
The Beloved in the context here, refers to Jesus
So we have been accepted in Jesus
The word used for accepted here, is Charito-o
This means "to be highly favored, to make accepted, to make graceful, charming, lovely, agreeable, to pursue with grace, to compass or surround with favor, to honor with blessings"
This is the way God sees us
Notice, the word means to MAKE accepted
It is God who does this work, we are his workmanship, as Paul says in verse 10
God makes us accepted, he favors us, he surrounds us with honor and blessing
This is how God sees us.

Performance or Being?

God sees us not as the person who skimped on his prayer time yesterday
He doesn't particularly look at our spiritual accomplishments either
Because all our personal accomplishments are to him like filthy rags - Isaiah 64:6
He doesn't put us down by saying this, it's just that whatever we do will never measure up!
Instead of our standing with God depending on our performance, God makes us into someone he loves, cherishes, honors, favors
It is no longer dependent on how we perform
Instead, it relates to the person God has made us to be
In Jesus, we have received grace, and are sinless before Him
How can this be?
It is because God sees Jesus in us, and Jesus is the One to whom we have surrendered
And God says in him there is no shadow of turning - James 1:17
The process is that we are made acceptable - as a result we desire to walk worthy of our calling
This is pure grace
All comes from God - He draws us to Him, His goodness leads us to repentance, and then He makes us acceptable
The process is NOT that we walk worthy of our calling, and then God makes us acceptable
This would mean our being made acceptable is conditional on our performance, which is a form of works rather than grace

We are worthy

Communion/Last Supper

Gerry van der Wende