2024.01.14 Acceptable to God
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Acceptable to God
Acceptable to God
34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,
35 but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.
36 The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)—
37 you yourselves know the thing that happened throughout Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.
38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
39 We are witnesses of all the things that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.
40 God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He be revealed,
41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who had been chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
42 And He ordered us to preach to the people, and to testify solemnly that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.
43 All the prophets testify of Him, that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
►►►CLICK [Title]
Acceptable to God
Acceptable to God
Acceptable to God – Can we at least agree that’s the goal? I want to be found acceptable to God. Amen?
Today is Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Today, we celebrate the day that Jesus came to John in the wilderness to be baptized. You may remember: John tried to refuse…Jesus insisted and when he came up out of the river, what happened?
►►►CLICK [Matt 3:16-17]
16 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
And that is usually the focus of this celebration. Typically, we focus heavily on God’s claim on Jesus that becomes public at his baptism. I don’t ever want to mention baptism without making sure we remember that God makes that same claim on US at our baptism…
“This is my beloved son/daughter, and I am pleased with him/her.”
However, I want to look at a different aspect of this event today. I want to look at what it means for God to be ‘pleased’ with us … with me. The passage that was read from Acts 10 doesn’t seem to have a connection to Jesus’s baptism, except in this issue of God finding pleasure in us … or us being found as Luke worded it in Acts: “acceptable to him”.
If that’s THE central goal of the Christian faith, let’s look at that.
►►►CLICK [First statement - God is no cheat - he does NOT play favorites]
34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,
Can’t buy his preference
Can’t earn his esteem
Can’t be born into his favor
We are all viewed identically by God! [repeat!]
►►►CLICK [He who fears God and does what is right is acceptable]
35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.
“Fear” – [φοβέω] – phobeo
to have a profound measure of respect for, (have) reverence, respect
What is there to fear God about?
Is it possible that … let me make that a statement rather than a question ... the real sin of our society and the Church … that we no longer fear God. We say things like:
“Surely a loving God wouldn’t let anyone go to Hell.”
“Surely a compassionate God would overlook our flaws.”
The Scriptures warn us that a righteous God is someone for an unrighteous people to fear!
Righteous - “Does what is right” – righteous – [δικαιοσύνη] – dikaiosunh
the quality, state, or practice of judicial responsibility w. focus on fairness, justice, equitableness, fairness
Term related to a judicial act
When Jesus tells John that he needs to be baptized, he says it’s “to fulfill all righteousness” to fulfill all δικαιοσύνη dikaiosunh
We often confuse the concept of righteousness with what we think of as fairness.
Fairness
subjective
based on each person’s opinion
Justice
Righteousness
dikaiosunh is based on God’s teaching of what is RIGHT!
It is indeed fair … more fair than any of us could ever claim …
But it is not based on fairness … it’s based on God’s holiness and his demand of holiness from us.
►►►CLICK [Acts 10:35]
35 but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.
“…the one who fears [God] and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
►►►CLICK [Title]
Acceptable to God
Acceptable to God
We agreed earlier that being found “acceptable to God” is the goal! How ya doin’? Do you fear God and are you doing what’s holy 100% of the time? Yeah … me neither.
So Peter launches into the basics of the gospel story:
Jesus Christ came to earth
he benefited his community
healed the oppressed
The Jews killed him on a tree
but God raised him from the dead
and he told us to preach and tell what we have seen.
Peter concludes his teaching with this statement: “All the prophets (Old Testament) testify about Jesus, that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive liberation from sins.”
Here’s what we secretly want to be the main point of Christianity. We want liberation from sins. Because we know that without our sins we ARE acceptable to God. The problem is that we miss the requirements to be liberated. We are not free from our sins.
Being acceptable to God has nothing to do with your family, your gender, or your status, or the color of your skin, or your philosophy of life. Being acceptable to God has to do with fearing him and doing what is right. HARD STOP!
More than just being about Jesus’ story, God’s acceptance has to do with your response to Jesus’s story.
In John 14, Jesus said that he is “the way, the truth and the life”, and that “no one comes to the Father except through me.” Luke records Peter saying that “through Jesus’s name everyone who believes in him will receive liberation from sins.”
Have you received that liberation? Heaven forbid, if a madman ran in this room (or into your home) right now and started shooting, are you sure where you would end up on the other side?
St. Augustine taught about an inner assurance of salvation. It seems God doesn’t want us to question our status with Him.
►►►CLICK [Rom 8:15-16]
Romans 8:16 (NASB)
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
Romans 8 (15-16), Paul writes: “…you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God…”
It is this inner “witness of the Spirit” that assures us that we are God’s and He is ours. It is this “blessed assurance” about which we sing. But if you don’t have that assurance, know that God wants you to have it. He wants you to know that you are his. If you don’t have that assurance, I would invite you to receive it … now!
►►►CLICK [Title]
Acceptable to God
Acceptable to God
I would love to pray with you and the altar rail and maybe talk further about what it means to be assured of this gift of salvation. If you want to come and be left alone with God, that’s fine, too. If you’d like me to come pray with you, just wave at me and I’ll come over to pray with you.
If you’re watching online, feel free to contact me at PastorChris@BartlettChapel.com.
You can be acceptable to God, and you can know it inside as He plants his Holy Spirit inside you.
Let’s pray together...