02 - Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness

Love and Acceptance

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in LOVE, 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.” (Ephesians 1:3–6, NKJV)

Observe from the Scripture what Jesus has done for us – Love & acceptance:

· “Blessedus” – All that was achieved by Jesus on the cross is ours through the Holy Spirit in the here and now. “Blessing” is also the language of love.

· “Chose us” – Refers to being selected out of a larger group, which reveals to us His love for us.

· “Predestined us” – God planned for us to be His Child from before the world was made.

· “Made us” – God has shown through Jesus His love for each of us and now goes on to say that He accepts us as we are and will make us into a new creation.

· Note that the language is not individualistic but instead community driven (i.e. the use of “us” and not “you”).

Forgiveness

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the FORGIVENESS of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” (Ephesians 1:7–10, NKJV)

Observe what these Scriptures tell us about forgiveness:

· “His grace” – Grace can never be bought or earned and thus it tells us the redemption and forgiveness is a free gift made available only by Jesus blood.

· “His will” – The will of God is for us to be in relationship with our creator that is made possible through the blood of Jesus, which provides for the need of redemption and forgiveness.

· “His good pleasure” – The good pleasure God intends for our life happens by allowing the continual healing brought “in Christ” from His redemption and forgiveness.

Conclusion:

· Note that the language is not individualistic but instead community driven (i.e. the use of “us” and not “you”)

· Love is not license, acceptance is not agreement, and forgiveness is not compromise

o Love always steps in the way of destructive behavior

o Jesus accepted Judas into the 12 knowing that he’d betray him. He even gave him the high position of being in charge of the money.

o We make the decision to forgive regardless of emotion (forgiveness is not an emotion)

· We must live in continual surrender to the love, acceptance, and forgiveness of Jesus

· Our Belief that the church is a center of love designed for the healing of broken people and a force for God leads us to our mission (i.e. what we do) Following JESUS & Reaching OUT with the Gospel of Jesus

Note: Adapted from a teaching at SVCC on June 12, 2016.