Allen Jackson - Receive and Believe - Part 2
Jesus’s suffering, Jesus’s life can be understood in two ways. The things that he endured or the things he suffered as a substitute for me. We’ve talked a good deal about a divine exchange on the cross where Jesus took the punishment for my sin and yours. He exhausted the curse of sin that you and I might receive in exchange for that all of the blessings due his perfect obedience. So in some of the things Jesus lived, he was our substitute. But there were other parts of Jesus’s life in which he was our example. He showed us how to respond. He didn’t eliminate those challenges from us. And Peter said we were called because Christ suffered for us, leaving us in a what?
An example. He’s our example. What do you want me to do with Jesus of Nazareth? Crucify him. How did Jesus respond? As the lamb silent before the shearers, he didn’t defend himself, he didn’t attack them. He could have. He could have rattled off all their sins, all their secret sins. He knew them. Remember the woman at the well? He asked her for a drink and she said, «Why would you ask me for a drink? You’re Jewish, I’m Samaritan. We don’t drink together». He said, «Well, if you knew who I was, you’d ask me for a drink». And she thought you’re a whack job. You don’t even have anything to draw water with. He said, «Well, go get your husband». She said, «I don’t have one». And he said, «Well, that’s actually correct. You’ve had five and the man you’re currently living with, you’re not married to». She said, «Sir, I perceive you’re a prophet».
Well, if Jesus could do that in a well in Samaria, don’t you think he could have done that in another setting? Pilate, you better set me free or I’ll go out here on the judgment steps and tell everybody… or the high priest or the soldiers who were abusing him? But he didn’t retaliate. We’re not called to retaliate. Bible says, «Vengeance is not ours». So we have to learn another response 'cause I’m hardwired. I pretty much think I should exact a little revenge. Isn’t that kind of what we learned? You push me, I’ll shove you. You shove me, I’ll hit you. If you’re bigger than me, I’ll get an equalizer. Jesus was our pattern.
Look at Luke 23 on the cross, «Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing». It’s exemplary suffering, extending forgiveness in the midst of injustice. See, that takes God, that takes the Spirit of God. This doesn’t come from our earthly nature. That’s not how we respond. There’s some very practical applications of this in our lives. We may need to forgive someone who mistreated us, it may be in our family system. They may have already died. It may be a parent or a grandparent, but you’re still carrying the bitterness and the rejection. They didn’t do what they could have, they didn’t do what they should have. Maybe they’re not available to you.
Forgiveness isn’t for them, it’s for us. Forgiveness is the cancellation of the debt. It’s a decision. It’s not a feeling. I chose to tear up that marker. They should have, they could have, I expected them. Anybody would have expect, they were wrong. And I’ve been carrying that. And you replay it and you live with it and you think about it and it becomes a cage. And forgiveness says, «I’m gonna tear up that marker». Or maybe it was a little different, maybe your parents were tremendous failures. Dr. Cloud was here. He described a man whose father was a raging alcoholic and a mother who had an emotional breakdown and he was left as a teenager with the responsibility of the family. Maybe your dad was, maybe your mother was a prostitute.
The Bible commands us to honor our parents. Not to honor what they did but as our parents. God used them to give us life. We’re not honoring them as alcoholics or abusers but as God’s instrument to give us life. We’re told to give them honor. So we can’t justify our anger and our hatred. Joseph’s brothers hated their father so much. «Let’s kill our brother and go tell our dad the animals ate him. We get back at him. He’s overlooked us. He hurt us. Let’s hurt him». See the person resented doesn’t suffer. It’s the person who carries the resentment. When you’re filled with rage at somebody, the overwhelming majority of the time they don’t even know. Or maybe even worse, they don’t care. Which just fuels the resentment even more.
So Jesus is our example. What does he say? «Father,» what? Forgive them. You know, he could have called fire down. What did he say to Peter in the garden when they came to arrest him? Peter’s got his sword out. He’s a better fisherman than he is a swordsman. I’m pretty sure he was trying to cut the guy’s head off and he got his ear. Jesus said, «Peter, put your sword away. If I needed to, I could call legions of angels. They brought a handful of clowns with clubs. I could call the heavenly host».
In Hebrew it’s the Lord of the armies. When Jesus comes back in the book of Revelation, he’s at the head of the armies. But instead of doing that, what does he say? «Father, forgive them. They don’t understand». They don’t understand what? They nailed him to a cross, I think they understood that. It’s a crucifixion team. The high priest lied. He paid people to lie, falsified the record. Russian collusion’s not new. Lying to secure power is as old as the human condition. Stop calling it politics and start calling it good and evil. «Father, forgive them,» he said. So now we have an assignment.
So the third step is to make a conscious decision to get rid of this negative fruit which rejection has brought to your life. Bitterness, resentment, hatred, rebellion, it has many expressions. We’ve built walls, we’ve isolated ourselves, we’ve withdrawn, we’ve tried to compensate with…we’ve been overly enthusiastic. We became overachievers, that there’s a whole spectrum of responses, but they’re fueled by this sense that somehow I’m not okay. I’ve been left out. It wasn’t fair. Why? How come? And there’s a spiritual component. In this particular session, I’m not just asking you to rationally process it. I’m asking you to imagine that in the same way when you make a profession of faith in Jesus, there’s a new birth that takes place in you that when you come with humility and repentance to participate, that you can gain a spiritual freedom that is transformational.
Look at Ephesians 4: «Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God». That’s a phrase that’s worth living with a bit. The instruction is not to grieve the Spirit of God. If you have the courage, ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Is there anything in my life, any habit, any pattern, any behavior, any language, is there anything I do that grieves you? It’s not the same for everybody. I’m not gonna give you a list. But why would you purposefully engage in anything, any response, any attitude, anything that you knew grieved the Spirit of God?
«Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, get rid of all rage, get rid of anger, get rid of brawling and slander, along with every form of malice». What’s the alternative? If you could get rid of those things, you could be kind and compassionate to one another. «Forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you». There’s that exemplary thing again. So what do you do with bitterness and rage and anger and brawling and slander? You gotta get rid of it. God’s not gonna take it away from you. You gotta get rid of it. You gotta decide I don’t want it anymore. It’s not your identity. I mean, people who are defined by their pain.
Colossians 3, this is not some subtle theme, «But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips». You must rid yourself. This isn’t even optional. You will forfeit much of what God created you for if you allow yourself the license, the freedom to say, «I was not treated the way I should have been treated, therefore I am entitled to be angry. I was rejected, so I have liberty». No, you don’t. You’re surrendering something. You’re forfeiting something. What would Joseph have forfeited if he’d been filled with anger? You know, we don’t have the whole story with Joseph. I don’t know how he processed brothers who sold him into slavery and the first assignment we find him with is in Potiphar’s house.
And he has authority over the whole house and there are immoral invitations put before him. If he had not processed his rejection, he would have taken the acceptance of the immorality. But somehow, the Spirit of God gave him the wisdom. I don’t know, it’s not there. But he said, «I won’t do that». And he rejected it and he was accused again. He was falsely accused, lost his place, put in prison. Daniel, we meet him in the opening chapters of the book that bears his name. He’s a young man, a teenager. He’s in exile, Jerusalem has fallen. He’s in a foreign country, he’s a slave. He’s been recruited into the service of the king’s court, which means he would have been emasculated. And the first thing we we’re told about Daniel is he says, «I wanna honor God with my food».
Are you kidding me? Do you understand the degree to which the spirit of the world is buffeting our generation? We’re carrying resentments that are decades old, hundreds of years old. We’re told to protect them, to encapsulate 'em, to let 'em shape our character and our responses. The biblical instruction is you have to rid yourself of this. Look at 1 Peter 2: «Therefore rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that you can grow up in your salvation». You know what’s implied there? That if you’re filled with malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander, you haven’t grown up in your salvation.
Number four, you have to receive and believe what God has already done for you. He’s already made provision. Remember, the goal is to move from rejection to acceptance. We don’t have influence to cause all the people in your sphere of influence to accept you. Their acceptance is secondary to whom? God’s. To God’s. What’s Romans 8 say? «If God is for me», Pfft. Like if God, if God’s on my team, you pick next. What you’re gonna do, pick the United Nations? Have at it. God’s on my team, you can have the Federal Reserve. God’s on my team, you can have the CDC. If God is for us.
Look at Ephesians 1:6. Let’s take the whole passage, start in verse 4, «Just as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blame before Him in love». That’s God’s intent, you see, he’s made provision that we can be holy and without blame. What I’m asking you to do is to believe that, to receive God’s provision. We’re all cracked pots. We have all been mistreated and we have all mistreated others. But God has made provision that we can be holy and without blame before him. It’s his love. «Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will».
It brought God pleasure to take us in our brokenness and our failure buffeted by sin and to adopt us as his children and make us holy and without blame. It gives him pleasure. «To the praise of His glory and grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved». See, I don’t doubt the reality of the rejection that touches our lives if we could believe that God has accepted us. «Well, I mean, I know that’s nice, but I wanted this person to…» I got that. I get it. It hurt. It wasn’t what I wanted. You know, in children we call it maturing and discipline. «I don’t wanna eat vegetables, I wanna eat chocolate cake». «You’re gonna eat vegetables». «I’m not. Not hungry». «You going to bed hungry»? «Fine». We have our own adult version of that with God. «But I want that pers…»
I got that. But I’m asking you about your response. I’m not suggesting it’s simple, but we have to receive and believe what God has already done for us. You see, receiving is an act of faith. God, I will receive what you’ve done for me. God’s gifts have to be received in order for us to get the transformation. Let me use another lane, it’s obvious, more obvious, perhaps. Jesus’s provision for us through his redemptive work on the cross means any person that chooses can become a part of the kingdom of God.
Romans 10:9 and 10 says you have to do what? Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, and you can be saved, right? God’s made provision, but if you don’t believe it, you don’t get the transformation. You know, there’ll be people in hell that believe Jesus lived. There’ll be people in hell that can sing all the church songs. There’ll be generous people and kind people and polite people and people who served and all sorts of things, but they never made the decision to make Jesus Lord of their life. You see, you and I have to believe. God’s gifts have to be received in order for us to be transformed. And we receive by faith, not by merit or by effort. We can’t achieve so much that we’ll be accepted 'cause rejection isn’t about that.
Joseph’s brothers couldn’t be good enough to overcome the warped nature of their father. And neither can you. There’s a trust transfer that we have to initiate. We’ve trusted more in the opinions of others. We’ve trusted more in circumstances. We’ve trusted more in goals that we’ve identified by something other than God or his character. Something that would validate or affirm or establish or substantiate. And we’ve traded those things for believing what God has said. That he’s accepted us. That he’s chosen us to be his kids. He’s for us. «Yeah, but those people», I understand. I understand. In 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 1, he says, «As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, in the day of salvation I helped you, and I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.'»
Don’t receive God’s grace in vain. God’s grace is unmerited, it’s unearned, it’s undeserved. How could you nullify that? It isn’t merit based 'cause you didn’t receive it. You didn’t believe it, you didn’t accept it. You nullify it when you reject it. That’s a stunning concept. «Now is the time,» it says, now. Isaiah 26, «You’ll keep in perfect peace in whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal».
We have to receive and believe what God has done for us. He values us, he’s accepted us. «I don’t feel like», I understand it starts with the decision. And I don’t even feel it. I feel more rejected than I do accepted, but I believe your Word. And then the final piece is you have to accept yourself. Not easy. I’m not talking about the pretense and the positive attitude and the hyper assertiveness. But you have great significance in the kingdom of God. Well, I want you to imagine that God goes, «That’s my child».
People may talk badly about your dad. You may be left on the outside, but God said, «Look, come here. You’re gonna go work in a barn for a while. Go stand ankle-deep in horse manure, swat a few flies, swat a little bit, it’s good for you. That’s my boy». God loves you. And you have to be willing to accept that. It’s not a license to be wicked. If you’re being wicked, it will destroy you every time. I brought you a prayer. Our time’s up. You can get spiritual freedom with this prayer. To the degree you’re aware that rejection has been a part of your journey and it’s been unresolved. I would take this prayer and make it a regular part of my devotion. If you’ll stand together, we’ll read it together. You’re ready?
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You’re the Son of God and the only way to God. You died on the cross for my sins and You rose again from the dead. I repent of all my sins and I forgive every other person as I would have God forgive me. I forgive all those who’ve rejected me and hurt me and failed to show me love, and I trust You to forgive me. I believe that You accept me, right now, because I am accepted, I am highly favored. I’m the object of Your special care. You really love me. You want me. Your father is my Father. Heaven is my home. I’m a member of the family of God, the best family in the universe. I’m accepted. Thank You! Lord, I accept myself the way You made me. I’m Your workmanship and I thank You for what You have done. I believe that You have begun a good work in me and You will carry it on to completion until my life ends. And now, Lord, I proclaim my release from any dark, evil spirit that took advantage of the wounds in my life. I release my spirit to rejoice in You. In Jesus’s precious name, amen.