In his book, Experiencing Spiritual Breakthroughs Bruce Wilkinson tells of an experience that he and his son David had during a father/son retreat several years ago. At the end of the Friday night session Wilkinson felt that something was just not right and “I could not put my finger on it.” Saturday morning was spent getting feedback on the experience so far with answers such as “Good,” “Great,” or “Fine” “being frequently expressed.”
As Saturday progressed, noted Wilkinson, they again met to compare notes, “David agreed…with me,” he said, “something wasn’t going right.” Wilkinson went on to share that they changed their plans for Saturday night because they felt led by God to do so.
That Saturday night Wilkinson stood to speak and said, “I believe that the Lord has a different agenda this evening. I’m not released to preach the message that I’ve prepared. But I am not sure what the Lord has in mind.” After a pause he then said, “One of you men must have a major problem that you wish you could solve tonight. If you would be willing to open up and let me help you in front of everyone, then please join me up here.”
More silence ensued from the stunned crowd as Wilkinson reset the platform for the encounter. Again, he asked if there was anyone who wanted help. Finally, one man stood up and said, “It’s me!” Wilkinson goes on to share the story of the dialogue and simply put, it was the story of an adult-aged son who was “angry all the time” and who admitted to being abusive in his anger.
Wilkinson went on to ask a probing question, “Who has hurt you the most in your life?” The man blurted out, “My father. My father has never told me that he loved me. Not once in my entire life!”
Now Wilkinson was sitting with his back to the audience and the gentlemen, named Mike, was facing the audience. He noticed that every now and then Mike broke eye contact and looked out into the audience.
At one, point Wilkinson turned in the direction of Mike’s glances and saw a white haired gentlemen sitting in the seat next to Mike’s vacant seat. He asked the man if he was Mike’s father and the man stood up and said, “Yes, I am his father…”
What I notice in this gripping story is that it is of a man who most likely professed faith in Christ but was struggling with a major life issue that caused him tremendous pain and affected his relationships with his father and others. And perhaps the great joy of Easter and the Resurrection seemed to him at times to be a distant event and the Christian faith a leaking life preserver.
He was looking for relief; he was looking for help; he was looking for resolution to the problem. He began to find it when he began to admit the truth about his heart and about his situation and he wanted help.
I believe with all my heart that God wanted Mike to experience a deliverance from the pain and bondage of this situation. How was God going to do it? Well, I know of two ways already: through the power of the Resurrection and the truth of the Resurrection.
We are going to spend the next three Sundays looking at three very important truths of the Resurrection that can change our lives for the better. They are three things that all who profess a personal relationship with Jesus Christ need to remember and believe. Now I have shared these before, but we need to hear them on a regular basis and I felt led to share them at this point with Easter having just taken place.
Knowing who we are in Christ is the truth of the Resurrection that this series will focus on for as we realize who we are in Christ, and it is a significant realization, the power of God is released in some significant ways. The first truth of who we are in Christ then, is this: I Am Accepted in Christ.
Now what does this mean? Well, what does it mean to be accepted? To be accepted means to be received, welcomed by someone.
We know the pain and the anxiety when we feel “left out.” But we are accepted in Christ because of the Resurrection. Several passages of scripture prove this point to be true.
The first passage is our text of the morning, John 1:12. “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
John begins his gospel with a big picture summary of who Jesus is and the basic response of people to Him during His earthly ministry. He states at the very beginning the fact that Jesus was not accepted “in his own land and among his own people” as we read in verse 11.
But, then we read verse 12 and we hear the words believed, accepted, the right, and children of God. These are very important words in understanding and experiencing the truth of the Resurrection that we are accepted in Christ. The rest of John’s gospel, and all of the gospels for that matter, prove the truth of this verse!
People believed in Jesus. They believed that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Promised One! They believed that He could and did deliver people from illness, from demon possession, from heartache and sorrow, and most important from their sins! But they also went a step further – they accepted Him.
It is important and significant that this word accepted is a part of this verse because it implies something beyond mere belief. Many people believe in Jesus but for some reason have not accepted Him.
John and the other gospel writers tell us about some of these people. One was the rich young ruler that we read about in Luke 18:18-30.
This man seemed to believe in God as demonstrated by his acknowledgement of keeping the commandments. But Jesus knew something was missing – a fuller acceptance of God in the letting go of all his wealth so that he could then follow Jesus. But, the young man stopped short of that level of commitment. I suggest this morning that Jesus offered him status as a child of God but this man rejected it because it required more than he was willing to do.
Now a chapter later, chapter 19, we see what happens when another man, who many would say was not acceptable to God in the least, truly expresses not just belief in but acceptance of Jesus. His name was Zacchaeus. (He is also by the way a man that I can see eye-to-eye with as read in Luke 19:3.)
Now here is another rich man seeking to get at least a look at Jesus and because he is short climbs a sycamore tree to do so. Jesus notices him and says, “Zach, I am coming to your house for dinner tonight!”
From the text, we read that Zaccheaus gets excited about this dinner guest and quickly gets down and took Jesus to his home. Some were upset and wagged their tongues at this situation. However, Zach and Jesus went to Zach’s home.
Have you ever asked why Zaccheaus wanted to get a look at Jesus? Here is a man who has everything and could have easily said, “Jesus, oh that rabbi. He’s coming here? Well, that’s nice, but no thank you.”
Something took place in Zaccheaus’ heart and mind that created the desire to see Jesus. I cannot recall hearing anything about Zacchaeus prior to this story so there seems to be no history between them. However, the Holy Spirit was at work and there was a movement of God in Zacchaeus that created the desire to be with Jesus. The same was true for the Rich Young Ruler.
As we continue to read the story, we find that Zacchaeus had a tremendous change of heart to the extent that it caused him, in contrast to the rich young ruler, to be willing to give away half of his wealth and to make right his overcharging. Can you see the difference in the two men? Both believed in God and both found Jesus attractive but only one truly accepted Him so that the power of God really entered His life.
Christ’s acceptance of us has some significant implications for our lives and the ability to live in the power and truth of the Resurrection. Jesus wanted both men to experience the life that He was offering them, but only one chose to accept it.
Do you believe and do you accept who Jesus is and the eternal life offered by His Resurrection? It is yours for the taking!
Paul writes in Romans 5:1 and 2. “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”
Do you know that this passage and a few others in Romans have been used by God to create major changes in the history of our faith, for the better, I might add? It’s true. From what I remember, it was Martin Luther’s reading of Romans and this great truth of being justified by faith and not works, which moved and led him to start what we now call the Protestant reformation.
It was also in hearing Romans and some commentary on it, I believe, that was heard by John Wesley, in 18th century England that led this man, who was earnestly seeking God, to tell of having his heart “strangely warmed” and that he “did trust in Christ, and Christ alone, for his salvation.”
These are very important words to believe and accept. For in accepting them, as well as believing them, we are “made” right with God! We experience the truth of being accepted in Christ because this “rightness with God” is what the Resurrection has made possible.
One of the greatest needs we have as human beings is the need to be accepted. We crave acceptance. We will do just about anything to be accepted.
That is what Mike, the man in the story I told at the beginning of this sermon was dealing with – the lack of acceptance expressed in the lack of hearing the words, “I love you.”
Well after admitting that he was Mike’s father, Bruce Wilkinson left the platform, walked to Mike’s father, and asked if he would like to have this “injury in your life healed?” The father nodded.
Taking the father to the platform, he then rearranged the chairs so that father and son face one another with the audience at their sides. Wilkinson then began to ask the father if what had been said was true. Through tears and choked emotion, the father acknowledged that it was.
Wilkinson then encouraged the father to say, “I love you.” This encouragement was repeated a couple of times until the father and son embraced and there was a deep expression of love and acceptance this son longed to hear.
Then Wilkinson asked the father to bless his son by placing both hands on his shoulders. He writes, “I said, “Sir…tell him of your hopes and dreams for him right here… express your confidence your confidence and affirmation in what God is doing, and yet will do, in his life. Bless your son in Jesus’ name. Will you do that as best you can and in your own words?”
“You should have heard the father’s blessing,” noted Wilkinson, “it was absolutely incredible. Dreams long abandoned seem to find words and come to life.”
Receiving the blessing, the confidence and the affirmation of a parent is a yearning of all our hearts. Some of us have and some of us have not.
But, we have a heavenly Father who wants to bless us to express His confidence in and acceptance of us this very moment. Do you want that?
There was a healing that Saturday night in a father and a son. That healing took place because Bruce Wilkinson believed and those two men began to believe, they were acceptable to God and that acceptance made all the difference in the world.
Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God find us acceptable. But, it requires an acceptance of both God’s acceptance as we also express a belief and trust in Christ.
Are you, or do you want to be accepted in Christ? That’s what the power of the Resurrection has made possible. I invite you today to allow God and His power to come into your life for the first time or for the umpteenth time because each of us matter to our heavenly Father who says to us, “I love you.” Amen.
