Inspiration in Isaiah: Acceptance

Series: Inspiration in Isaiah, #16

October 29, 2006

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE,

CONDITIONAL ABUNDANCE

Isaiah 59:1,2

There is something about the word “unconditional” that really resonates in our culture. We don’t like conditions placed on us; we want to do what we want to do when we want to do it and how we want to do it. Outback Steak Houses have picked up on this cultural preference and catered to it with their slogan, “No rules. Just good food.” That’s false, of course; there are all sorts of rules you have to abide by if you want to get served in an Outback, but it appeals to our desire for unfettered, unconditional acceptance.

The gospel of Christ is good news to this culture as well, because it announces in no uncertain terms that God accepts us unconditionally.

I. Unconditional Acceptance Isaiah 55:1; Rev 22:17; John 3:16; Romans 5:7,8; 1 Tim. 1:15-16

The Old Testament says, “Come, all you who are thirsty; come to the waters.” (Isaiah 55:1)

The very end of the New Testament says, "Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Rev. 22:17)

The most famous verse in the Bible says, “God loved the whole world so much that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Paul says in Romans 5:7-8, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.” The unconditional love of God stands in stark contrast to our love which tends to be conditional. For example, as this verse points out, we probably wouldn’t risk our lives to save someone who was a druggie, or a child abuser, or someone with AIDS, but we might do that for a good person, someone we had a lot of respect for, someone who we thought was likely to contribute a lot to the world. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The word for God’s love in the New Testament is agape. English has one word for love, but there are three common words for love in Greek, and the differences between them are instructive. Eros is the word for erotic, sexual love. Philia is the word for friendship, companionship, camaraderie. And then there is agape, which is the word always used for the kind of love God has, and it is the kind of love we are supposed to have for one another. Eros and philia are alike, in that they are both evoked by something in the one we love: we find someone sexually attractive; or we like their personality, their character, their humor, etc. But agape finds its origin in the lover, not the beloved. It means that God loves us just because He loves us, not because He thinks we are so great. That’s the point of this passage in Romans 5: God demonstrates His agape for us in that while we were still sinners, with our fist in His face, so to speak, Christ died for us. There is no better demonstration of unconditional love than that.

God loves everyone, even the worst person in the world. In fact, the Apostle Paul felt like he was that person. 1 Tim. 1:15-16, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. [16] But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” Paul felt he was the worst sinner in the world because he had persecuted Christians, sent them to prison, and possibly to death, simply because of their faith in Christ. But later he could see that God’s unconditional love reached even him in order to be an example to others of how gracious, merciful, loving, and accepting God is to everyone.

There is an incident in the New Testament that illustrates Jesus’ agape love really well: It was the time some Pharisees brought Him a woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery. The law said she should be stoned, and they wanted to know what He thought they should do. You remember the story. Jesus said, Go ahead and stone her, but let the one who has no sin cast the first stone. Then He stooped down and began to write in the dirt, while all the men slowly wandered off, starting with the oldest. When they were all gone, Jesus stood up and looked the woman in the eye. Think how she must have felt! She’s guilty and she knows it. She also knows the just penalty for her sin. And here is this Man who has been asked to decide her fate. What will Jesus say next? “Woman, does no one condemn you?” “No one, Lord.” “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and stop sinning.”

This was not just an isolated instance. Jesus constantly hung around the riff-raff of His society, the outcasts, notorious sinners, tax collectors, who were seen as traitors; prostitutes; etc. He didn’t care. He seemed so comfortable around these kinds of people that His enemies called Him the “friend of sinners.” He was demonstrating the unconditional love of God.

The Bible says that we are saved by grace. Grace means that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more than He does right now, and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less than He does. God’s love is absolutely unconditional.

When we come to faith in Christ, he makes us one of His own children. We are born again into His family, we are adopted into His family, so we can call Him “Father”. That’s a relationship that will never change. He will never disown us, or cut us off from our eternal inheritance with Him. It’s completely unconditional.

However, many Christians today think that the unconditional love of God means that once they are saved, they can then do whatever they want, and God will treat them just the same. This is not the case. The truth of the matter is that while God’s love and acceptance are unconditional, the blessings of His love, the benefits that come from being a child of God, the abundant life Jesus promised us, are very much conditional on how we live. Let me show you what I mean.

II. Conditional Abundance

A. Answered prayer Isaiah 59:1-2 (see also vss. 3-15); John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15

I know it doesn’t sound like it yet, but this really is a sermon that started in Isaiah. Isaiah 59:1,2 is about unanswered prayer, which is something I’m sure we have all experienced, and it is a source of great frustration. The Israelites in Isaiah’s day were also frustrated and disappointed by the lack of answers to their prayers, and in this passage, God told them why it was that their prayers were not being answered:

Isaiah 59:1-2,

“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,

nor his ear too dull to hear.

[2] But your iniquities have separated

you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

so that he will not hear.”

The problem is never that God can’t hear us, or that He is too weak to help us. Sometimes, at least, the reason our prayers don’t get answered is that our sins have hidden his face from us, so that he will not hear.” Unconfessed sin is a barrier between us and a holy God. Isaiah goes on in chapter 59 to enumerate the sins of the people, which mostly revolved around the fact that they did not uphold justice in their land. “So,” he says in v.9, “justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness.” You wonder why your prayers for deliverance and peace and justice have fallen on deaf ears? It’s because of your sin that has separated you from God and hidden His face from you.

Jesus said much the same thing, only He stated it positively, in John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” There are a number of conditions that we have to meet if we are to have any confidence that God will answer our prayers, and this is one of them: We have to live in Him, and His words have to find a home in us. Because when we meditate on and read and study and memorize God’s word, it will begin to shape our desires into congruence with His will. Then we can ask whatever we want, and it will be given to us.

The Apostle John picked up on this and restated it in his first letter: 1 John 5:14-15, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.” God’s promises of answered prayer are not a blank check. We need to learn to ask for those things that are according to His will; then we can have the confidence in prayer that He wants for us.

A second conditional benefit of being God’s child is a sense of His presence.

B. God’s presence John 14:21

Isaiah pointed out the problem seven hundred years before Christ: Is 59:2, “your iniquities have separated you from your God.” Jesus said it positively in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me (enough to obey me) will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." Since we know God always, unconditionally, loves us, this must mean that He will love us in some special way. Specifically, He will love us so much that He will show Himself to us. I don’t think that means that Jesus will physically appear to us if we obey Him, but it does mean that He will become increasingly real to us as we walk in His ways. As the bumper sticker says, “If you feel far from God, guess who moved.” Not God. We’re the ones who stray from His path. But when we love Him enough to walk in obedience to Him, we walk more closely with Him and can sense His presence more. That’s what we want, isn’t it?

That’s very similar to this next benefit. If we meet the condition, we get to be Jesus’ friend.

C. Be Jesus’ friend John 15:13-14; 1 John 1:5-7

On the last night of His life, just before He went to the cross, Jesus said, John 15:13-14, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command.” He pointed out that he was not going to call them servants anymore, but friends, but that there was this condition on being His friend: they had to do what He told them to do. Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had pointed out how inconsistent it was for them to call Him Lord and not do what He said (Luke 6:46). Here He says not only is it inconsistent, but it cuts you off from one of the great benefits of a child of God: enjoying His friendship.

The Apostle John picked up on that also and wrote in his first letter, 1 John 1:5-9, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” God is light. There is no darkness or shadow of sin in Him at all. So if we are walking in the darkness, i.e., if there is unconfessed sin in our lives, then by definition, we are not walking in fellowship with Him. If we pretend like we are in close harmony with Him, living as His friend, but there is ongoing, or unconfessed sin in our lives, then we’re lying hypocrites. But if we walk in the light, that is, if we live the way He told us to, if we keep His commands, and if we keep short accounts to ask for His forgiveness when we blow it, then we will have fellowship with God, because the blood of Jesus, His Son, will purify us from all sin. And we will also have fellowship with one another.

It’s important for us to understand that when Jesus Christ issues an order, it is not a suggestion that we can take or leave as we see fit. It is a command from the One who has all authority in heaven and earth, and if we want to be on good terms with Him, we need to do what He says. What a fantastic privilege—to be called Jesus’ friend! I want that, don’t you? I want it enough to obey His commands.

A fourth benefit of being God’s child is the ongoing forgiveness of our sins. This is necessary if we sinners are to be in fellowship with Him.

D. Forgiveness Matthew 6:14-15

Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. [15] But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” This verse has often been understood to mean that if you fail to forgive someone who hurt you, and you die without having forgiven them, you will not go to heaven. That is not what is teaches. Jesus said this in the context of teaching His disciples how to pray. They were to address God as “Father”, meaning that they are children of God through their faith in Christ. If that’s true for us, then we will always be His son or daughter, no matter whether we forgive someone their sins against us or not. But if we do not forgive those who hurt us, God will not forgive us of that sin of a hard heart, and that unconfessed, unforgiven sin will be a barrier between us and God. Our fellowship with Him will be hindered. We will not be able to enjoy the love, joy, and peace of God flowing into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, because we will be holding on to the hurt and the grudge. The benefit of being forgiven and thus being in fellowship with God is conditional on our obedience to His command to forgive one another, just as in Christ, God has forgiven us.

A fifth conditional benefit of being God’s child is His offer to make us spiritually fruitful.

E. Fruitfulness John 15:5; cf. 2 Pet 1:5-11

John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” He said later in that same evening that He had chosen and appointed them to go and bear fruit that will last. Jesus wants our lives to be spiritually fruitful for eternity; He wants the fruit of the Spirit to pop out all over us: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self control. He wants us to be doing things that will last forever in God’s sight. That doesn’t happen automatically simply because we have been adopted into His family. We have to remain in Him, and let Him remain in us. The word translated “remain” means to “live, dwell, take up residence, abide, etc.” If we hope to see more of the fruit of His Holy Spirit in our character, we are going to have to spend more time with Him, just living with Him, and letting Him live with us. It means a regular Quiet Time, it means periodic times away to soak our soul in Him, it means keeping Him in the background of our mind in every situation. It means, above all, living in complete dependence on Him, just as the branch is completely dependent on the vine for its life. When we do that, then His life can flow through us, and produce spiritual fruit that will last for eternity. Do you want your life to count for something after you’re gone? Then abide in Christ; spend lots of time with Him, so He can shape your character and guide your life.

A sixth blessing of God that is conditional on our obedience is joy.

F. Joy John 15:10-11

John 15:10-11, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. [This sounds a lot like the ideas we saw earlier, that we can be His friends, and live in fellowship with Him. But now Jesus goes on to point out another benefit that flows from those:] [11] I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

We should pause here and notice that this is the fifth benefit of being God’s child that is taught by John to be conditional on our behavior and obedience. John was the disciple Jesus loved more than any of the others; John’s gospel has more to say about the love of God than any of the other three gospels. But John is the one who most clearly understood the connection between our obedience and God’s conditional blessings. He greatly enjoyed the unconditional, agape love of God, but he was not confused about what it meant for how we live.

Jesus wants us to experience His joy. He implies in v.10 that His joy came from his complete obedience to the Father’s commands, with the result that He always lived in the Father’s love. He says, look: I want you to have the same joy I have, and you can get it the same way: obey my commands, and you’ll have the assurance that I am smiling on you, and we can enjoy life together.

Why are there so many crabby, negative, critical, up-tight, anxious, joyless Christians? We ought to be the happiest, most positive people in the world. And Jesus tells us here how we can be: When we are living the way He wants us to, then we are walking with the Lord, in close fellowship with Him, and that relationship will bring us great joy. He says it will bring complete joy, and I don’t think He’s exaggerating. The complete joy of heaven is that we will be in perfect, unbroken fellowship with God. No sin on our part, no disjunction between the physical and the spiritual realms, nothing will interfere with that intimate, loving fellowship where we see Him face to face, and He wipes away every tear from our eyes. It doesn’t get any better than that! We can get a little taste of that joy here and now, as we walk in obedience to Him.

One more passage also points to the great rewards that are coming for us in heaven, if we meet the conditions.

G. Rewards in heaven 1 Cor. 3:10-15

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is speaking about his ministry as an apostle, and says, you know, we are all building something for the kingdom, and it matters how we build. 1 Cor. 3:10-15, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. … [12] If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, (or, conversely) wood, hay or straw, [13] his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. [14] If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. [15] If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” If we do the right things, for the right reasons, if we invest ourselves in the kingdom of God for the glory of God, that’s like building with gold, silver, precious stones—things that will stand the test of judgment fires. If we do that, we’ll be rewarded. If we don’t build at all, or if we build things for our own kingdom, if we are self-centered in our efforts in life, then we’ll still be saved (if our faith is in Christ), but it will be like someone escaping from a burning building with only their life, and we will miss out on the rewards.

So God’s love for everyone is completely unconditional: He loves us no matter what. But the blessings that come from being a part of His family are very much dependent on how we live.

Picture a parent of a grown son who is a drug addict. The son can’t keep a job, so he’s living at home, mooching off his parents. He has mishandled his money; he contributes nothing to the household; his attitude stinks, and he creates a tremendous amount of tension in the home. Finally, the parents have had enough. They decide that the soft, enabling approach hasn’t worked, so they resort to what they hear is called “tough love’. They put conditions on his staying in the home. He has to get a job; he has to keep his stuff out of the living area; he has to treat them with respect. If he doesn’t do these things, he can’t stay there any longer.

This is an extremely difficult decision for the parents, because they fear that their son will interpret this as a lack of love on their part. They go to great lengths to assure him that they do love him. The father says to him, as God says to us, “Son, I love you! I love you with all my heart. I will never stop loving you. You will always be my son. But right now, your behavior is unacceptable. Your behavior has cut you off from me and all that I want to do for you. I want to provide a home for you, with clean sheets, and good food, and a warm bed on cold winter nights. I want to provide transportation, and entertainment, and fun together. But you don’t seem to want to be with me. You apparently would rather live apart from me. So I’m going to let you do that. I can see how this is going to hurt you, and it hurts me, too. But it’s the only way I know to help you learn the lesson that life is better with me than apart from me. You’ll always be my son, and I’ll always love you, and I will be here for you when you come to your senses and come back to my love.”

Where are you in this scenario?

Have you accepted God’s unconditional love for you? Don’t wait until you feel like you measure up, or have somehow passed the test, or qualified for His love. You’ll never be that good. But you don’t have to be. God loves you no matter who you are, or what you’ve done. Just come to Him and say, “Thanks. Thank you, Lord, for accepting me, just as I am. I receive and accept your love.”

The other question is, are you disappointed with the Christian life? I think a lot of Christians get into a relationship with God with a false conception of what it is going to be like. They think that once they’ve put their trust in Jesus for salvation, everything is going to be wonderful, no matter how they live. Some of the most unhappy people in the world are Christians who are 95% committed to Christ. They’re holding back something; they’re unwilling to give up that favorite, secret sin; they’re still trying to run their own lives independently of God. And as a result, they miss out on many of the benefits and blessings of being God’s child. Is that you? Are you disappointed because you feel like God is not coming through with His end of the bargain? Have you somehow thought that God’s unconditional love meant you could live any way you wanted to? If you want to get all the blessings and benefits of the Christian life—the life that Jesus described as “abundant”—you’ll need to meet the conditions God has put on them. Decide today to live the way He wants you to, and live the abundant life.