The church is filled with diversity. This strength of our multifaceted expression of God’s glory is also the fulcrum of tension and division inside of the church. God’s solution is transformation that flows from those with open arms – those who are willing to accept. 

Observations:

1. Acceptance is relational fellowship – to receive or welcome into one’s company
2. “Accept one another” aims at the person, not their positions
3. “Just as Christ accepted you” defines and provides the model for our fellowship
   1. Jesus accepts sinners, the outcast, and unclean
   2. Jesus accepts in order to transform

Conclusions: 

1. The nature of Christian acceptance is gracious as modeled by Jesus
   A. Jesus accepts everybody without condition, or
   B. Jesus accepts those who have merited it, or
   C. Jesus graciously accepts anyone who comes to him humbly
2. The ability & the result of Christian acceptance is transformation
3. The goal of Christian acceptance is the glory of God
   1. Because you now demonstrate the character of God in your fellowship
   2. Because fellowship among those who naturally divide reveals the supernatural power of the gospel

Application: To accept one another… 

• You need to know Jesus rightly, relationally, and transformationally 

If you struggle with judgmentalism… 

1. Become a servant
2. Seek God’s will, not your own
3. Recall your own need for gracious acceptance
4. Advance God’s glory through transformational inclusivity 

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

Matthew 9:9-13

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Ephesians 2:13

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Ephesians 5:8

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”

John 9:39

“Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Proverbs 3:34

“He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.”

James 4:6

“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:5

“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

John 13:6-11

“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.”

3 John 3-4

“It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

John 17:20-21

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Philippians 2:5-8

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”