“No perfect people allowed!”
Ephesians 2:8-10
One of my heroes in the faith has been Dr. Billy Graham. I have followed his ministry for about forty years. Dr. Graham once said, “There are no perfect churches but if there were, I couldn’t join because they wouldn’t be perfect anymore.” I agree. The Scriptures are filled with stories of individuals who walked with God yet they may mistake after mistake. All of them were imperfect.
• God made a powerful promise to a woman named Sarah. Her response: she laughed at Him.
• Jacob deceived his Father and stole his brother’s birthright.
• Jonah ran from God.
• Martha worried too much
• When Jesus asked the disciples to pray with him, the disciples all fell asleep.
Jacob, Jonah, Martha and the 12 disciples all shared at least two things in common. (1) They all loved the Lord and (2) they were all imperfect. And you and I fall into that same category. All of us are far from perfect. You see the church is not for people who are never disobedient. The church is not for those who think they have it all together. The church is not for those who have arrived. We are like AA. We are basically sinners anonymous. We’re the only organization besides Hell’s Angels that you have to bead in order to get in. ? Get my point?
Every growing believer I know has at one time or another said these words; I’m struggling. I’m making progress but I’m struggling. Look at these two passages with me. Philippians 3:12a and 15a GNT. 12 I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude.
Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT (focus for the morning)
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Look at these 3 truths with me today.
1. When we show grace to others, we are doing what God does. God saved you by grace when you believed. And you cannot take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Think about this. When you came to God and you first believed, —when you were searching, how would you describe your spiritual condition at the time? Think about this …. The Bible call us to be fishers of men. We share something in common with fish. The first thing you have to do with fish when you catch them is to clean them. Ever cleaned a fish? It’s a messy process most people don’t really enjoy. It is messy bit it’s necessary. When you catch fish they’re not ready to eat. When we first come to Christ, we’re not quite ready to be used. So Jesus begins the cleaning process. Now he accepts us just as we are; that’s why we still sing the song “Just as I Am” because that’s the way we come to God, sinners, messed up; we were nothing without Christ. And we need to be reminded of that. We are nothing without his righteousness.
So we have to be careful that we never send out the wrong signals to an unbeliever. Because here is the problem …. There are many people who believe they are simply not good enough to come to Christ. They believe they have to get their life “together” first and then they can come to Christ. But nothing could be further from the truth. Here is the truth.
The truth is we are NOT good enough when we receive Christ. But it is only when we realize we are NOT good enough that we CAN come to Him.
This is a barrier that we need to tear down. Here’s the process. We come to God Just as we are. Then God starts us in the process of what the Bible calls sanctification. I am being sanctified, but I have not been completely sanctified. It is progressive. I am saved but I am still in the process of being cleaned up.
Here are a few things we need to allow unbelievers to do.
1. Allow unbelievers to question your faith. 1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)
15b if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.
Show interest in their opinions; their doubts; their questions. Even if you don’t agree. I never want to present myself as someone who thinks I have arrived or have it all together. Allow unbelievers to question your faith.
2. Allow unbelievers to wrestle with their unbelief. A good example of this is found in the 9th chapter of Mark. A man brought his son to Jesus. His son was demon possessed. But even as His father brought his son to Jesus the father was still struggling with his belief in who Christ really was. Maybe he had never really seen God’s power for himself. Jesus told the Father; anything is possible to those who believe ----- this is what the Father said ---- “I do believe but help me to overcome my unbelief.” I have beliefs but I also have doubts. Unless you are prefect you should be able to identify with that statement. As a church we must always allow people to come here and search –-- to ask questions ---- that is how we came to Christ and we should allow others the same privilege. When we show grace to others we are following in the same steps as Jesus.
2. Our attitude should be one of humility. Paul said, salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done; so none of us should brag about it. The Bible is crystal clear on this subject. If you have been saved ---- you have no right to brag/boast about it —you haven’t saved yourself. Now this kind of attitude is very contagious. People find humility to be attractive and they find pride to be repulsive/unattractive. Look at what the scripture says…. James 4:6. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
In this I think we usually have the same attitude as God. We will go out of our way to help someone who is humble and we will also go out of our way to avoid someone who is proud. We were watching a program on TV Monday night where America gets to vote as to whether the individual is allowed to stay in the competition and this one individual got voted off and my wife said, “I think they got voted off because they were too proud.” I agreed. Confidence is one thing. Pride is another. As believers you and I have to understand that it is not our goodness that has earned us a place at the table with Jesus. And there are 2 things we need to practice if we want to really understand this.
(1) We must learn humility. Ego can get the best of us. This is what EGO is. Edging God Out. Instead we have to learn to act with humility. In scripture we find a great promise in 2 Chron. 7:14. “If my people will humble themselves and pray.” That word humble is translate literally as “to bend the knee.” See to humble yourself means that you and I must take the responsibility for being humble. We have a choice. We can humble ourselves or we can let God humble us. But I am sure I don’t have to remind you of which one is less painful.
(2) We must become childlike. Look at Matthew 18:4. “whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom” Now why would Jesus say that? What is it about children that Jesus is telling us to imitate? Well for one thing, children don’t wear a mask. They just say what’s on their mind. They’re real. Genuine. As adults we’re too afraid that if people see us as we really are they might not like us. So we fake it. We exaggerate our abilities and sometimes this carries over into adult life/marriage. People marry someone and say you’re not who I thought you were. It’s because you never really knew them. They were never real with you. Those relationships take time.
As believers we need to be willing to allow people to see us as we really are. We don’t have to wear a mask. We don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to appear to be happy all the time. We have struggles but if we are HONEST about them; it can be contagious. People love transparency in other people. Unbelievers need to understand that we are on a journey together; we are broken people on a journey together toward someone who IS perfect.
3. We are God’s masterpiece. Ephesians 2:10. NLT. God is crafting a great work of art out of every life that is committed to him. Paul said, we have been created anew in Christ. When you read the book of Ephesians you really need to keep one word at the forefront of your mind as you read it. GRACE. Grace wasn’t offered to us AFTER we came to Christ. Grace was offered BEFORE we came to Christ. Paul said in Romans, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you (so that God will be given glory). Romans 15:7 NLT 7 Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.
Now how do we do this? Again, two things to remember.
1. Put on a face of grace. Be grace with skin on. Ever heard that expression? Flesh it out in other words. Be grace to others. If you have been to an art museum you know what it’s like to stand and look at the great works of art of some of the master artists. Some of those paintings are worth tens of millions of dollars. Others are considered to be priceless. Now who gets the credit for those for those paintings? The one who painted them. Michelangelo. Rembrandt. You or I wouldn’t walk in and begin to take credit for it and neither should we take credit for what God is doing in our lives. We accept others by grace just as God accepted us by grace. He didn’t wait for us to become perfect be he established a relationship with us. Now don’t confuse these two words …. Accept and Approve. Just because I accept someone does not mean I approve of their lifestyle/actions. There is a difference. This is how grace came to us. This is how it should go out to others. Acceptance.
2. Do “good things/good works.” So you have this beautiful work of art. What do you do with it? You put it on display. You put it in a prominent place for people to see. You and I need to be a living, breathing trophy of God’s grace. I need to be God’s masterpiece on public display for others to see. Especially unbelievers. Ephes. 1:10 says, “We are God’s masterpiece.” He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. I think Paul got this idea from Jesus. Jesus said, let you light shine in front of men so that they will see the good things you do and will honor your father who is in heaven. It takes grace to …
• Love others when they act unlovable
• To accept others who are different
• To forgive others when they have wronged us
• To treat others right, when they have treated us wrong.
This is not a perfect church. We are not a perfect people. But we do serve a perfect God.
A lady who apparently was a bit desperate decided to write a letter to Dear Abby. It read like this: Dear Abby, I am 44, unmarried and would like to meet a man my age with no bad habits. She signed her name, “Rose.” Abby replies: “Dear Rose: So would I.” I suppose everyone has wanted that at one time or another but that person doesn’t exist. I’ll tell you what I am thankful for and it is this …. The only one who is perfect, ever has been and ever will be ….. Jesus Christ … accepts us exactly as we are. With all of our sin, our imperfections …. He accepts us just as we are.
Today you can come to him just as you are so that he can help you become all that you can be. Most of us never reach our potential in Christ. Today you can start.
