How Change Really Happens

Give you just one scripture. One of my favorites, Ephesians 1:6.

“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

That’s Jesus Christ. And notice it’s grace. We cannot earn it, we cannot deserve it, we just have to believe that we are accepted, not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has done. Not because of what we are, but because of what Christ is. We are accepted in the beloved. And being accepted in Him, we are just as beloved to God as He is. That’s incredible, but it’s true.

As a result of being accepted by God, we accept others. That’s the opposite of despising others. See, basically, we will treat people the way we think God treats us. If we think God keeps us at a distance and says, ‘Keep my rules and I’ll accept you,’ then we’ll keep people at a distance and say, ‘I won’t accept you unless you keep my rules.’

If we believe that God freely accepts us in Christ and loves us without our having to earn it, then we are able freely to accept other people and love them without demanding that they earn our love. Paul deals with this in Romans, chapter 14 and chapter 15. Let’s look in Romans 14 first.

Romans, the 14th chapter, verse three. Paul is here dealing with a man who had a set of rules. His rules were dietary. He didn’t eat meat. Paul says, ‘That’s fine. If you don’t want to eat meat, and if you don’t have the faith to eat meat, don’t eat meat.’ But he said, ‘Don’t despise the one who does eat meat.’ That’s the problem.

So I’ll just read verse three.

“Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.”

Isn’t that amazing? God receives the people we despise.

One of the most amazing things, I think, is pointed out by Watchman Nee is when the church splits, and two factions go off at enmity with one another, God is so gracious, He moves with both factions. He turns up at both meetings. You know, neither side could believe it, but God does it.

And then in Romans 15, Paul gives the rule, verse seven. Romans 15:7.

“Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”

Now how did Christ receive us? ‘Cause that’s how we’re to receive one another. Did Christ say, ‘Get your life straightened out, keep my six rules, and come back when you’ve got them all fixed?’ Well, most of us would never have got back, would we?

I know how Christ received me. I’m amazed. He just took me the way I was. And then, when He had received me, He began to change me. It’s very important to get the order. He doesn’t change us and then receive us. He receives us and then changes us. I’m not saying we don’t need to be changed, but I’m saying we have to get the order right. And basically, if you want to change people, the right way, start by receiving them.

Because as long as you’ve got your little list of rules in your mind which they’re not keeping, they may not understand, but they’ll know you’re not receiving them. And you will have no real influence over them. All right. Thirdly, God has only one standard and one goal for righteousness. What is it? Jesus Christ. All right? And God will not accept other standards. Let’s look at the negative part first. Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12.

Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12.

“For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

What’s the opposite of wise? Foolish. That’s right. So to measure yourself by others, and to compare yourselves with others, is what? Foolish.

I’ll tell you a little story about that. Goes back a long way, to about 1948 or ‘49. I had recently become a, quote, preacher. And I was in Denmark, in Copenhagen, in fact, in the very same church that I referred to. I was new to Denmark. The Danes didn’t know me very well. They knew my wife, of course, extremely well. And I was to speak at a Wednesday night meeting, and I had to speak through an interpreter, from English to Danish. Well, speaking through an interpreter is very tricky, because you can’t make sudden changes, you can’t make jokes. There’s a whole list of things that are just ruled out, and you have very little flexibility. And I knew my interpreter didn’t know too much English.

Now I thought the meeting was a gospel service to reach the unconverted. So I hunted around for a text, and I found this one, Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12, that it’s foolish to compare ourselves with other people, that God has only one standard. So I prepared my message, got there, and discovered that it was a meeting only for church members. Admission by card only. Without a member’s card, you couldn’t get in.

Well, I was absolutely devastated. I thought, ‘What can I do?’ And I did not have the experience or the knowledge to change my message. So I thought, ‘Well, I just have to preach this message anyhow.’ So I preached for the, quote, saints, a message I’d prepared for the, quote, sinners. And the results were dramatic. It brought conviction such as I’ve seldom seen amongst a group of believers. And people were on their faces before the Lord.

And I’d said exactly what they needed to hear. And that really opened my eyes to the revelation that this is not for unbelievers. This is for believers. And our biggest problem often is comparing ourselves with other people.