Romans 15:4-8
"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed."
The love Jesus expressed was the love of acceptance. When he was on earth, his first ministry was to accept the needy people. He accepted not only the unpopular tax collector Zacchaeus, but also the honorable intellectual Nicodemus. He not only accepted the ordinary fisher Peter, but also the well-educated Paul who used to persecute the church. He never avoided the Samaritan woman because of her sins, neither did he reject Peter because Peter disowned him three times. As unworthy as we are today, he still accepts us so we can become God's children.
Since the Lord accepts us, we should learn to accept each other in the same way. Why is it so difficult for us to accept each other? There are two basic reasons: 1. We like to judge others by appearance. James 2:2 says that if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into our church, we would give him a good seat, while if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes, in, we would ask him to sit on a stool. But God judge us by the heart instead. 2. We are always self-righteous and think it is okay for us to go to heaven, but it will be impossible for "those people" to go to heaven as well. We like to judge for God. John 8 talks about an adulterous woman being brought to Jesus and Jesus was asked whether it was okay to stone her. Jesus didn't say a word. He just wrote with his finger on the ground. They kept asking, so the Lord told them: "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Then he resumed writing with his finger on the ground. What was described in the Bible is very interesting, for they all went away one by one, beginning with the elders. Why they began with the elders is probably because the elders knew they were not holy, either, after living in the world for a long time. Only those young people still lived by their flesh and tried to be self-righteous. But the more Jesus wrote on the ground, the more they realized they were sinners, not any better than the adulterous woman. The Bible says: "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory." If the Lord still accepts us, there is no reason why we cannot accept others.
Brothers and sisters, we really don't have to judge others inside the church. All we need is acceptance by the Lord. May the Lord put the spirit of acceptance in our heart so that we can spread the Love of Christ to others around us. Pray with Pastor Tong Liu 
Lord, we thank you, for you accepted us first. May you put the spirit of acceptance in our heart so that we no longer judge each other inside the church. Instead, we can accept each other so that your healing spirit may flow freely among us. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen! |
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