Accusation vs. Acceptance (12-3-04)
A lady I once spoke with said what turned her off to
Christianity, in her younger years, was that every Christian she
knew was against something. They were against abortion, booze,
adultery, divorce, and every other type of sin. She said when
she asked them what they were 'for,' they only said, "Jesus!"
It's true we should be for Jesus, but this doesn't communicate
anything. We're often seen as critical, judgmental and prideful
because of Jesus. We view ourselves as superior because of
Jesus.
Yes, we should be against sin. But sin doesn't keep people out
of heaven. All the bad stuff they do doesn't send them to hell.
What sends them to hell is not receiving life, by being
connected to Jesus. If they stopped doing anything bad, and only
did good, they still wouldn't go to heaven. They go to heaven
because of Jesus!
But you don't want to connect to someone if you think all he
does is condemn you. That's why Jesus says, "Do not think that I
will accuse you to the Father" (John 5:45). The way Jesus is
often presented, you'd think all he did was condemn us, and look
down his nose at us.
As Christians, what should our message be? It must be the love
of Jesus, and his acceptance of us. It should not be a message
of accusation and condemnation. Yes, people need to turn from
sin, and live better. But this is not the gospel. Preaching this
is putting the cart before the horse, and it turns people off to
Jesus. As ministers of the New Testament (II Cor 3:6), we
should preach the benefits of the Kingdom, not the detriments
for NOT being in the Kingdom! God wants us to present the light,
not the darkness!
We should preach God's love, peace, joy -- and his imparted
righteousness to us because of Jesus (II Cor 5:21). He wants us
to present his love in the New Testament gospel, not the LAW of
the Old Testament. See it: the law was nailed to the cross of
Christ (Col 2:14, Eph 2:15-16).
If you live in law and rules, you're SIN-consciousness, and
have a ministry of condemnation (II Cor 3:9). This ministry does
not allow you to present the gospel. Most folks don't need to
hear what's wrong with them -- most of them know that perfectly
well without being told. Knowing what is wrong with you makes
you run from God and hide from him.
We need to tell them all that can be RIGHT with them in Jesus!
This attracts them to God. It makes them want to connect with
God, not run from him.