Blessings to be welcomed not battles to be won (Full Gospel Slavic Youth Camp)

Introduction

First time in a Slavic Church

I’m excited to share with you on the topic of the Discipline of Grace.

Our main text for this weekend is Philippians 2:12–13 “12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, meaning practical discipline, self-control, habits, obedience, has often been misunderstood by Christians.

I want to address one of those misunderstandings.

Specifically the kind of person who may very well be disciplined and obedient, and have all the hallmarks of a righteous, devoted person, but they live in condemnation, legalism, and fear of God’s rejection.

Tonight, before we talk about the importance of discipline and how it cooperates with God’s grace in our life, I think it is vital to lay the foundation our discipline is built on.

Last Battle of 1812

Awhile back I read a story about the last battle of 1812. The war of 1812 was fought primarily between the United States and Great Britain over the period of almost 3 years

During that time period there were upwards of 23,000 casualties.

But there was something specific about the last battle that took place that was interesting.

The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815, in which hundreds were killed, and over two thousand wounded.

But here is the catch and what made this battle particularly tragic:

Two weeks prior to this battle, 5000 miles away in Belgium, the United States and Great Britain signed a peace treaty, officially declaring the war as over.

The problem was that the fastest modes of communication during that time was by ship and horseback, so it took weeks for this news to reach the men at the frontlines.

Here’s what this meant, and what made it so tragic: Hundreds of men died fighting a war that didn’t exist.

When I read that, I felt God ask me this question: Josiah, what are some imaginary battles you fight?

Ask yourself that question?

What are battles that you fight, that don’t actually exist?

I think we do this a lot in little ways

Married couples - Have you ever woken up and your spouse is angry at you? They tell you they were mad or annoyed at you because of something you did in their dreams? “Fighting with them”

They are left with an emotion that stemmed from a battle that didn’t exist.

Non Confrontational People - Has someone ever done something to annoy you, and you’re not the confrontational type, so instead of dealing with it up front, you tell them off in your head.

The problem being that it always escalates to levels in the head that would never happen in person.

You get yourself all worked up fighting a battle that doesn’t exist.

Or for some it might be a little more deep rooted, and you find yourself always trying to prove yourself to the people around you because you lacked that kind of affirmation as a child.

People don’t need you to prove yourself and your worth, but you take it upon yourself to fight that battle.

Why does it matter if you engage in a nonexistent battle.

The Dilemma is this: The battle you are fighting may not exist, but the consequences for believing the battle exists do.

Craig Groeschel said it this way, “A lie believed as truth will affect your life as if it were true.

So the consequences might be minimal when it was a bad dream and you woke up annoyed at your spouse, or when you tell someone off in your head.

But it can be very consequential in other areas of our lives, specifically spiritually, and I’ll tell you where I see it the most.

When Christians feel the need to fight for the blessings of Spiritual Sonship.

Sonship

Let me define Sonship for you quick.

This is a very simple definition, but it lays the framework for everything we are going to talk about from here on out.

Spiritual sonship is a position and inheritance that we get to enjoy in Christ, that is initiated by God and based in the repentance of our sin, and the acceptance of the grace of God through faith that was extended to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

All christians male and female are “sons” in the sense of being heirs who are given a spiritual position and who will inherit blessings from their Father.

Ephesians 1:3-6

Ephesians 1:3–6 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Romans 8:14–15

Romans 8:14–15 (ESV)

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Sonship comes with a host of spiritual blessings that we as Christians not only can have, but have a right to.

Now here is where the battle part comes in....

The enemy wants to take your blessings and turn them into battles.

He’ll convince you that the things that Christ has freely given you, actually need to be fought for…need to be won.

In other words, he gets you fighting a battle that doesn’t exist.

If he can convince you that these blessings need to be fought for, he takes away your ability to live in the freedom of them.

Now there are a lot of things we need to fight for as Christians

We go to battle in spiritual warfare through prayer

The Bible says that we are to strive for righteousness, and pursue holiness, run this race with endurance

So the idea is not that the Christian never fights or doesn’t have battles, because we do!

But there are certain blessings that have been freely given to us, that the more we fight for them (in the sense of trying to earn them), the less we can live in the reality of them.

When I try to fight for the blessings of Sonship, it’s like trying to swim in quick sand.

Quick Sand

The person who tries to fight to get out of quick sand will be the first to suffocate.

Your Sonship was and is never something you could fight for.

It is only received by the mercy and grace of God.

Let me highlight three of these blessings that are to be welcomed, and not battles to be won.

And then with this understanding, it will help us as tomorrow we go into the topic of discipline.

Blessings to Be Welcomed

Acceptance - Ephesians 1:3-5

Ephesians 1:3–5 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

There is this incredible blessing we have of being accepted by God, and it is such an important one.

As Christians, of all the things that you tend to worry about and stress about, and question and struggle with....one thing you never have worry about is whether God has accepted you.

But I have a lot of messed up things in my life

I keep messing up…as much as I try and do the right thing.

I’m not where I should be, or who I should be.

This is the blessing of acceptance. When we place our faith in Christ, God has accepted us in Christ before we get all our mess together.

Importance of Acceptance: think of it like this

Peer Pressure has it’s power in our desire to be accepted

We’ll do what it takes to fit in

We’ll change who we are, so that others will accept us, but maintaining something that we are not is exhausting.

Sometimes we treat God like a form of Cosmic Peer Pressure

I have to act, look, or be a certain way before God will accept me.

Now, God does call us to a standard. He does call us to forsake certain things that feel like they are a part of us, because they stem from our sinful nature.

But his acceptance precedes his call to a standard, because it’s not based on what we have done, it is based on our faith in what Jesus has done.

Timothy Keller said, God sees us as we are, loves us as we are, and accepts us as we are. But by His grace, He does not leave us where we are.

No, when you come to God in repentance, He accepts you, and then He starts working within you to change you.

Understanding that order is so important because the freedom you have in your heart as you pursue holiness in God, will be determined by whether you view acceptance by God as coming before or after you get things together.

As Christians we don’t strive for acceptance, we strive from acceptance.

Romans 5:1 (ESV)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Stop battling for acceptance, when God has freed you to live in the blessing of it

Forgiveness - Ephesians 1:7-10

Ephesians 1:7–10 (ESV)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Forgiveness means Christians are freed from the penalty of sin, but also from the shame and guilt that comes as a result of sin.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve had in your past....that thing that you can’t forgive yourself for.

You might say:

I said and did hurtful things to the ones I should have loved most

I fell into addiction, whether it be pornography, substance abuse, alcohol.

I fell into fornication

You don’t have to fight for freedom from the shame and guilt of sin....you don’t have to fight for forgiveness.

There is a difference between living with the consequences of your sin, and living with the condemnation of your sin.

You might have consequences, but God has freed you from the condemnation of it.

1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 (ESV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 8:1 (ESV)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Stop battling for freedom from your guilt and shame when God has freed you to live in the blessing of forgiveness

Empowerment - Ephesians 1:16-23

Ephesians 1:16–23 (ESV)

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

He is talking about divine power available to us.

Romans 8:11 “11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

That means power to walk in His purpose for our lives!

It means strength to keep going forward with God in a world that is filled with demonic powers that are working to instill the opposite of Godly values into culture.

It means power and victory to overcome sin in our lives.

You’ve been accepted, you’ve been forgiven, you are a son and daughter of God, God loves you, God has equipped you, God is strengthening you, now get up and walk in the power of God!! Walk in the freedom of his spiritual blessings.

Cast off the shame and guilt and fear that want to cripple you

Rise up in Jesus name and live bold

There is something to be said of a person who lives in the security of acceptance, the freedom of forgiveness, and the power of God living and woking inside of them!

It frees us up to loved by God, and to love others the way God calls us to be loved.

That is a Christian the world will take note of!

So tomorrow, we are going to talk about walking in the Grace of God through Godly discipline.

But remember our discipline always comes from a place of:

Acceptance

Forgiveness

Empowerment.

Conclusion

It’s my prayer, that as Paul prayed that....Ephesians 1:16-19

Ephesians 1:16–19 (ESV)

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

Altar Call

Pray

God we welcome these blessings that you’ve given us in your Son. I pray that we wouldn’t live as if we are void of them, and strive to attain something that can’t be won.

Tomorrow we are going to talk about living in the discipline of Grace, but let us pursue that from our understanding of our acceptance in you.

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Conclusion

Perhaps there is someone here that says, I’m not a Christian, what do I have to do to become a son or daughter of God, and to walk in these blessings.

The reality is that even if you are not a Christ follower, you are most likely fighting these same imaginary battles.

For the Christian the battle for acceptance, forgiveness, and empowerment doesn’t exist because God has made peace with us through his Son, and we have inherited these blessings.

For the non Christian the battle doesn’t exist because there is nothing you can do to achieve, win, or earn the acceptance, forgiveness God.

Maybe you realize today, that you’ve been fighting for acceptance and forgiveness from God by trying to measure up, do the right things, go to church, hoping that the good at the end of your life outweighs the bad…but acceptance and forgiveness aren’t prizes to be won by you.

They are simply applied to us by grace, through faith.

So what do you need to do accept this free gift of grace, and to live in the blessings of God.

Jesus said it like this….you must be born again

Sin is not just a dysfunction, or inconvenience…it is a death.

We don’t just need to be healed....we need new life.

And that can be done as simply as ABC

ABC’s of salvation

Admit - We are sinners in need of Savior…that I can’t fight my way to forgiveness.

Believe - That Jesus died for your salvation and forgiveness.

Confess - Confess him as Lord of your life. “I’m not perfect, but I give God the permission to change me and my desires” “I submit myself to the life God wants me to live.

Prayer....lets all pray this together

Dear Lord Jesus I believe you're the son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame, and my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your father. Today Lord Jesus I turn from my sin to be born again. God is my father, Jesus is my savior, the Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is my home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.