Acceptance, Approval and Eternal Security

My last post began to investigate the difference between conditional acceptance, how cults use this force to control their flock, and the unconditional love of God. This destructive train of thought crashes headlong into the Unmovable, unchanging gospel. Yet this message is subtly present in many highly task oriented organizations, including some mainline churches across the country. The message evolves something like this.

• God's goodness gives birth to revival, and deep levels of spiritual life.
• Then we build rules, guidelines, principles that everyone in the group follows that helped bring about the revived spiritual fervor.
• We think that the rules will guarantee the relationship and the enhanced outcome, and continue spiritual vibrancy, and it never does.
• We eventually learn our focus should be, and must remain on Christ. He is life, He is truth, He is the source of our salvation, and He unconditionally accepts us.
• His acceptance, love and live in us is the fertile ground from which good works and christian activity grow.
• We bear continued fruit, and experience the spiritual fervor because we are planted, accepted, grafted into the Vine, not in order to become part of the Vine.

Another part of the problem with this belief system is that, like every lie that ascends from Hell's sulphury depths, there is a grain of truth hidden within it. A church crosses the line into cult-hood when they twist this truth to suit their own purposes.

We are called to a life of stewardship, in which we will be rewarded based on our performance. Jesus told a number of parables about how those who are faithful with their gifts, talents and resources will be rewarded, and those who are not will be eternally punished. He spoke of gardens, harvest, and working the ground. Those who heard him were farmers, shepherds and fishermen, and they understood the implications better than we do. A gardener knows that he must work his ground, keep it watered, weeded and tilled. When he does so, he will have a more bountiful harvest than the man who plants his seeds and then ignores them. The Parable of the 10 Virgins even suggests that as we wait for our Savior return, if we don't prepare well and our flame (faith) grows dim, we will be excluded from the feast. (Matt 25.1ff) Our entry into heaven, even after leaving the world and setting out to wait for our bridegroom, can be put at risk by our own decisions.

Yet this does not affect our value, and the approval God stamps on our foreheads with the stamp of his Son's blood. We are eternally secure in his acceptance, approval and love, and nothing I can do, or anyone else can do, can ever separate me from the Love of Christ. (Rom 8.28ff) Communicating this message while at the same time teaching young people that God has a plan for them, and it will require some hard work to walk in that plan can be a delicate balancing act. I can understand how some of the bloggers at the Recovering Alumni may have missed the message, and accepted the lie Satan tries to use to confuse God's children. I never attended the Honor Academy, neither did author Andrew Farley, or a few of friends who are successful ministers. Yet at one time we all struggled with perceiving God's unconditional acceptance as we began our Christian walks. It's a lesson all Christians must learn.