God Is Not Mad at You: You Can Experience Real Love, Acceptance & Guilt-free Living (21 page)

Don’t waste years of your life trying to improve before you enter into relationship with God. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, not to call righteous ones. A physician does not attend to those who are healthy, but to those who are sick. Jesus came to solve the disease of sin. Answer the Lord’s call. Come just as you are.

Three times in this verse of Scripture we are invited to “come.” The only thing we need to come with is an attitude of self-surrender. It is an attitude of “receiving,” not one of “getting.”

After Matthew had answered the Lord’s call, he prepared a banquet that he might honor and entertain Jesus. He invited many publicans and sinners to come and eat with them. While they were at the table eating, certain Pharisees (religious people) and their scribes murmured. They could not understand why the Lord Jesus and His disciples would want to eat and drink with sinners! They complained to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the publicans and sinners?” The disciples could not answer, perhaps because they themselves did not understand why their Master would do such a thing. When Jesus heard about it, He replied, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:13 NKJV). That was His purpose for coming into the world. He didn’t compromise Himself at all by eating with publicans and sinners, nor was He at the banquet by chance. He came with a definite aim.

Jesus did not expect the sinners to give Him anything, but He did come to give them everything, and it all started with His complete forgiveness and acceptance. He came to make a free offer and they only needed to receive. In the world, when we hear someone say, “This is free,” we are usually suspicious that there is a hidden cost, but when Jesus says “free,” He really means it.

Jesus said, “Freely (without pay) you have received, freely (without charge) give” (Matthew 10:8). When we learn to receive the grace of God freely, we are able to also give it away to other people. To receive grace (favor, mercy) from God is the first thing that we need to learn, and the second is that we should freely give it away to those in need. God never expects us to do for others what He is not willing to do for us. He shows us the way that
we might follow His example. Do you desire to be more gracious to others? If so, then you must start by receiving abundant measures of God’s grace daily for yourself.

Another thing we are to receive is the Word of God. Some hear the Word of God but don’t receive it, and it does them no good. In Mark Chapter 4, we are told a parable of a sower who sowed seed (the Word of God) into different kinds of ground. The ground represented different kinds of hearers. I have learned that when I speak, not everyone hears the same thing. There are four kinds of hearers that are represented by the ground in this parable. The first is said to be ground along the path. The seed didn’t go into the ground at all, and the birds came and ate it up. Some people don’t want to hear at all. They have no interest in knowing truth, because they have no interest in changing. Even though their life might be miserable, they are not willing to make a change.

The second type of hearer we are told about is stony ground. The seed goes into this ground and immediately it is received, welcomed and accepted with joy, but it has no roots. When trouble or persecution comes, it is offended and falls away. The third type of hearer hears the Word, but the thorns—the cares and anxieties of the world, and the distractions of the age, and pleasure, glamour and deceitfulness of riches—prevent the seed from growing. We can see from this that even those who are willing to hear don’t always hear fully, and in the right way. They don’t hear with serious intent to truly
receive
the Word they hear. Only one hearer in this parable receives, welcomes and accepts it and bears fruit. God’s desire is that we bear fruit. Many today hear and hear, but they are not truly listening. They may be sitting
in a church pew, but they are not listening with spiritual ears. Casually listening to others share the truth of God’s Word is like spraying a little perfume on yourself. You smell the fragrance, but in a short period of time the effect of it is totally gone. It is a temporary thing and has no lasting value.

When the Word of God is genuinely and sincerely received, it has the power in it to do an amazing work in our souls. It renews our mind and changes us into the image of Jesus Christ.

If you have been sitting in church for many years and have had no genuine change in your character, ask yourself if you are truly receiving the Word of God. If not, then all you need to do is start listening with a different attitude. Listen with an attitude of receiving and following through with action.

We are also instructed to receive the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to represent Him and act on His behalf. He is present in our lives to teach us, pray through us, convict us of sin and convince us of righteousness. He is present to lead and guide us in all matters of daily life, both spiritual and practical. I urge you to view the Holy Spirit as an ever-present help. He is referred to as “the Helper.” Fortunately, Jesus did not leave us alone to fend for ourselves. I like to say that I am glad He didn’t throw me the football (save me) and then tell me to try to make a touchdown by myself. He saves us by His grace and is an ever-present power in our lives, Who is available to all who will surrender and receive His help.

There are many other things we are told in God’s Word to simply receive. They are forgiveness of sins, rewards, mercy for our failures, conviction of sin and guidance, just to name a few.
No matter what God desires to give us, it does not become ours unless we receive it. Don’t ever waste effort trying to “get” what you can simply “receive” by faith. We must be baptized with a new way of thinking. Our mind must be completely renewed in order to enjoy the fullness of God’s goodness in our lives.

Many new covenant believers still live under the old covenant, or they mix the old with the new. They have some grace and some law, but in reality they have neither one. The law demands that we work to keep it. It requires sacrifice on our part when we fail. The apostle Paul taught that works of the flesh and grace could not be mixed or both became useless. He said, “But if it is by grace (His unmerited favor and graciousness), it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). In order to have more clarity, we might say that grace is Jesus Christ working, and law is man working. God does not need our help to save us!

When we receive Christ as our Savior, we must put on a new garment (new nature), not merely sew new patches on the old garment. Jesus said that no man puts a piece of undressed (new)
cloth on an old garment, for if he does, a worse tear is made (Matthew 9:16). We are already torn when we come to Christ. He doesn’t wish to mend our old garment (our old way of life), but He wishes to do away with it and give us an entirely new one. He offers us a new covenant and a new way of living. We can live by faith, through which we receive God’s grace, instead of living by trying to keep the law in order to soothe God’s anger.

While it is true that God is angry about sin, we are told that Jesus “is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins” (1 John 2:2). Think of the bouquet of roses a man takes home to his wife to soothe her when she is angry with him for being late for dinner. He quietly walks in the door of their home holding the roses out in front of him. He knows she is very fond of roses and believes that the gift will pacify her anger.

Jesus is the offering to God that appeased His anger against all unrighteousness. When we go to our Father in Jesus’ name, it is like holding out the roses in front of us and expecting them to make a way for us to be accepted. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except by (through) Me” (John 14:6). He is the Door through which we enter and find acceptance and love (John 10:9). A few good deeds done to cover up our sin are not enough. We must not sew new patches on old garments.

Imagine a woman wearing a dress that was five years old and had been laundered many times and is faded and worn. She tears the dress on Monday and takes a piece of new cloth, one that is bright in color, and sews it over the tear in the old faded dress. On Tuesday she has two tears and the does the same thing again. Now let’s imagine she repeats the process every day for a month. How foolish would her garment look? We look that foolish when we try to improve our garment by sewing new patches on it instead of getting rid of the old and putting on the new.
Today we do not need to do anything except to confess that our garment is torn, that we are corrupted and are unable to do any good, and to ask Him to give us a new garment.

Jesus didn’t come to add to the Law of Moses, but to fulfill it and give us a new and better way to approach God. He came with grace and truth. Some people think, “I am a sinner, therefore I must fast twice a week, give money and do good works and then I will be acceptable to God,” but this is wrong. What the sinner must do is receive grace, forgiveness, favor and mercy as a gift and be thankful for it.

He can then learn to do good things, but he is no longer doing them to get God to love and accept him, but only because of the amazing grace he has freely received!

God is not for sale! He cannot be bought with good works of any kind. We must understand that our motives are extremely important to God. Yes, He does desire that we follow His example and do good things, but they absolutely must be done for the right reason. Any good work done to “get” something is ruined and has no value before God. Only works that are done because we have “received” something amazing are valuable.

God won’t love the man who prays three hours each day and reads large portions of Scripture one bit more than He does the one who reads and prays less. The man might love and admire himself more, but God won’t love him more! Once again, let me say clearly that God is not for sale!

In
No Wonder They Call Him Savior
, Max Lucado tells a moving story that I want to share with you.

Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped
away, breaking her mother’s heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio De Janeiro. Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for streetwalkers, or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture—taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth, and on the back of each photo she wrote a note. It wasn’t too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.

It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.” She did.

Christina did not have to buy her mother’s love back with good deeds. She was not being asked to do anything except come home! Jesus’ cry to the world is “Come home!” When I have been on a long journey, and especially if I have been in a foreign country where the customs and food are very different than my own, I am thrilled to come home. I can relax and rest at home in a way that is unlike any other place. When we come home to Jesus, He wants us to rest in His love, not be afraid He is angry with us because of the life we have lived in the past.

Before anything else, we must have this glorious foundation in our lives. We must fully understand that although the law is holy, it does not make a man holy, because the man cannot keep it. Although he might keep some of it, he will never be able to keep all of it, because man is weak and flawed. God did not give the law expecting man to keep it, but so that by trying to keep it and failing he might realize he needed a Savior. He sends the Lord Jesus as grace to the world.

God gives us grace for salvation, but He doesn’t stop there. Fortunately, He also gives us more grace so that we may do all that we need to do by it. One might say that the grace we receive for salvation is a grace for the spiritual matters in our life. It saves us, forgives us completely and gives us right standing with God. After salvation there are many practical issues to be dealt with, and God gives us more grace for all of them. Whether our needs are spiritual or practical, God’s grace is always abundantly available.