Principles of Position, Lesson 7

All righty, we are on lesson seven of the principle of position class. Oh, you don't have it? Do we even have a principle? It doesn't have a number on the bottom of the page. It doesn't? Do we have sevens? There are sevens back there? All righty. We are in lesson 7 and again this is chapter 3 and this is in the second half.

We should clarify. It says read chapter 3 and this is in the complete green letters, the second part of the green letters. If you want to read chapter 3, and I think Mike, if you don't have that, he has it electronically and can send it to you. So see Mike afterwards and he can send you the chapter so you can read. those things if you don't have the complete green letters. So last week, well we're in Reconciliation and Acceptance is the chapter three. Last week we got over Reconciliation and this week we're going over Acceptance. So what I like to do at all times is define words. What does acceptance mean? Do you accept my question? Sorry. Nobody knows what acceptance means.

We are in big trouble. Well, Christ accepts us. And you know what my rule is, right? No. You can't have the word in your definition. Acceptance means accepting. Well, Christ died for us so that we don't forget it. I have rules here. I was going to say, we're under grace here, we're not under law, but I do have some principles that you can't use the word in the definition. So, acceptance. Just the word acceptance.

Nobody knows what the word acceptance, or you're all chicken. I'm not like Mike, I won't hit you. I won't do that. We're in a world of hurt if we don't know what the word acceptance means. Oh good, we have one brave soul back there. to take on in whatever capacity you're in, to not expect change and accept. That's why nobody wants to give a definition because it's too...

Okay. And I'm reading from the... We're going to have to turn all electronic devices over. No, no, that's fine, because I actually did that too, so go ahead. Go ahead. Okay, and agreeing either expressly or by conduct to the act or offer of another so that a contract is concluded and the parties become legally bound. So that would be like Mike on the real estate contract, that you have a contract.

So if you go beyond those, The second and third definition by Merriam-Webster is the quality or state of being accepted or acceptable. Why do they do that? Or the third, which is the act of accepting, the fact of being accepted. I don't like any of those because of my rules, my principles.

It says approval. Yeah, received. So what I did was I went further to see what the word accept means in Merriam-Webster. So, and that was, that was the, uh, uh, what accept means is to receive willingly, to be able, to be able or designed to take, take or hold something. And the second one was to give admittance or approval to. So, Accepting is that process or the act of accepting, or to receive willingly, is kind of the way I was defining it.

To receive willingly. So, I looked up also, Wanda, in the Zodiates, your favorite acceptance, it's pros lambda, I think, And that's to take in addition, receive besides, to take to or with oneself in one's company. And the New Testament is to take to oneself. To take to oneself. So receive willingly or to take to oneself. You're receiving it as yours, part of yourself. Yeah, it's to receive or, I like the definition of to accept, to receive willingly. So when we take that into our acceptance in Christ, to receive willingly, I thought that was pretty good for the definition of acceptance. Yeah. Don't you receive it by faith? Yeah. I mean, from the believer's side, we will, well, it's all faith and the Holy Spirit convicting us and convincing us of these truths, that he has received us willingly. He has now accepted us. Okay? So it's from his point of view, receiving us willingly. He has accepted us. So we've gone through reconciliation, now we're in the acceptance. We've been reconciled, now we've been received willingly. That make sense?

Deer in the headlight looks. Okay, so yeah, I'll say, yeah, too. The other one in Zodiatis for the New Testament was to receive to oneself, admit to one's society or fellowship, or receive and treat with kindness. I thought that was probably the best one. So our acceptance with Christ is to receive and treat with kindness. So after reconciliation, we have now been received and treated with kindness, is the acceptance.

Sound good? No. God's bigger than that. God's bigger than that. Yeah, it's kindness and everything, but it's just like... I didn't put a limit on it. It's unlimited. But the concept of, I think, to receive and treat with kindness. Our reconciliation now, God receives us and treats us with kindness now because of what? Our position. So that's what we're going to get into now on the acceptance. But I just want to get the definition. When we talk about things, we use terms and we really define them or know what they mean. Question one.

Why is it a mistake to think service will cause us to be more acceptable to God? To begin with, what is service? Is it a condition or position? Service. Condition. Why is it a mistake to think service will cause us to be more acceptable to God? Because God took us as is. Well, it's grace because in grace, I learned here, tell me if I'm wrong, but there's no, and this is very hard for me, but like if someone does something nice for you, You don't have to pay it.

Tell Mike that when we go out to dinner. Remember a few weeks ago he said... I want to go back to that, but go ahead. I want to go back to what Holly said. But go ahead, go ahead. Well, if you're depending on your service, you're depending more on your condition, are you not? Yes. Back? Back here? Yes. You're expecting your condition to affect your position. Good. That was really good. Okay, here, come up and teach. Carol? Okay.

To me, the important thing about service is that there is nothing we can do to advance ourselves with God. What we can do is advance our understanding perhaps through diligence of God and his things, but we cannot do anything to advance ourselves. We got to advance when we were saved. That was a supernatural act and we are not supernatural and we can do nothing supernatural.

It's all God. He's the only one who could die for us because He was perfect and a forever person. We aren't eternal. Except in Him. We are eternal. We cannot do it. We are eternal either way actually, whether we're saved or not. Yeah, it's just where we're positioned when we die is where the eternal position is going to be.

There's a concept of merit mentality, where people think in most churches, I have got to be good, I've got this list of things, I can't do this, I have to do this. Absolutely. And in Galatians, Paul basically says that if you're being taught merit mentality, then you be damned, basically. I mean, it was that strong that We cannot merit anything, it's all been done by the Lord. Our position is in Him.

Yeah, I think it limits the growth, is what happens. And I think this stems back to the knowledge of identification. That's really where I think this all goes back to. Because if you don't know the identification that we have been co-crucified and our position now is in Christ, you will spend your entire life trying to improve the old man. By your service, by your efforts. If you don't know that. Now, I want to get back to your as is. He accepts us as is. What do you mean by that? That where we are conditionally, when you believe, that's where he accepts us. Whoever you are, he accepts us at that point as is. He accepts us in him, in Christ. We go to the cross as is. That's what I was trying to get at.

Anybody, any place, anywhere. You can be the greatest person here, the most philanthropic person here, or you can be Hitler, you can be Jeffrey Dahmer, you can be anybody. can go to the cross at the same point as is. But the as is now is in Christ. Oh yeah, totally. I was trying to get where the root was. As is, no. We are in Christ now. Going to the cross, anybody, any place, any time. You don't have to change anything to go to the cross.

Then it's positionally in Christ. So the as-is was bothering me too. Just a couple of thoughts. So this question for the class a little bit. Where did the need for acceptance first take place? So we're talking about root. Where did it all start? Why was there a need for it in the first place? So where was it? Where was the first need for acceptance that we see in the scripture?

Did the Lord accept Adam and Eve, or did he accept a sacrifice that he provided for them? So all through the Old Testament, every instance of acceptance has to do with there being a sacrifice that was made on the believer's behalf. So the Lord, even on the cross, he is continuing this approach to accepting mankind through a sacrifice that he provides for them.

And so that continued format is the same at the beginning all the way through to the present. Well, it pointed to Christ. All that pointed to Christ. All that pointed to Christ. That's right. There was always a sacrifice that made acceptance possible on your behalf. You may be anywhere you are, but it's the sacrifice itself that is accepted.

Well, we're going to get to that. That's the process, and then in Christ we are accepted. So the process, but the acceptance part is because now we are in Christ. He can accept us. So let me go back. the mistake when you think service will cause us to be more acceptable, God. We're making the natural mistake of depending upon condition instead of position for our acceptance.

So, as Russ was saying, you see so many people and so many churches trying to improve the old man. You've got to do this. You know, the kid, the porpoise-driven life and the prayer of Jabez. whatever, all the programs, Knowing God, all these different programs, they don't get to what the root is. They're trying to improve the old man by service.

There are a lot of people who will go into missionary work or will go into serve downtown at the rescue mission or something. You know, in all honesty, before knowing the identification truths, I always thought that, I've mentioned many times, trying to memorize verses because I think God will smile on me a little bit more because if I memorize verses, or if I go down and serve, God's going to smile on me just a little bit more. What does that do when I have that mentality? Can I just turn this around for a minute? Alright, your service is teaching, right? I mean, right? Sure. Partially, yes.

You must have at some point felt that that's what God wanted you to do. What if you this morning decided like, I don't feel like teaching, so I'm not going to go. Then you're relying on your condition, not on your position. So it's kind of like then if you feel like, or sort of know that that's what God has you doing, then when you don't do it, you're relying on your condition, and you're Is that pleasing to God? Does God go like, well...

I don't think it's also lifetime appointments. He'll change. I don't think I was ever always into teaching. I think the Lord is directed in that. He may direct me in time to do something else. So I don't think that it's... You can be an elder, but that's not a lifetime appointment. It doesn't mean that. It's a calling, not that you desire it.

I believe the Lord calls you into that position. You can change and do things. If I suddenly decide I'm not teaching, the Lord is going to beat me up because of that. He may be directing me in a different direction. I want to get back to the service part of it, though. When you think you have to do something to make God smile on you a little bit better, what does that, in effect, do? That's what they did in the Old Testament. Yeah, well, law. But what does it do?

I'm just going to say, kind of to continue where I mentioned earlier, anytime you try to further perfect the sacrifice that was provided for you. You were saying that sacrifice was not good enough, and I must improve upon it. That's what I'm getting at. Christ wasn't enough. When you say you have to do something to make God smile on you a little bit more, that says, well, you know, that sacrifice and what Christ did, it was good, but I got to add to it to make God really like me. You've got to help him out. He needs help.

Although it's also putting it back on you, like I've got to do that so that I can feel better about myself. And what is the focus there? Me. That's exactly right. But we were talking about, Ingrid and I were talking about this the other night before, sort of parked out in front talking about this, that a lot of people have that mentality where, you know, I've got to do something.

And that really diminishes what Christ did. You're saying that God needs a little bit of help? That sacrifice was good, but it wasn't quite good enough. Because I can add to it and make God smile on me a little bit more. To accept me a little bit more, I have to go do this. Very wrong thinking. We're thinking of condition, not position. And so that's the common mistake. So I said, what principle does service conflict with many times? What principle? What principle does service conflict with many times?

Grace. I think it conflicts with grace many times. Because I think I have to do this. I have to have this service. I have to. And grace is unmerited. But you can't just say, oh well, I live under grace. I mean, everybody, like, you have a purpose. All of you that teach here, all of you that are involved in all this, you have a purpose. And now I'm too old to have purpose. So don't hear me. Don't hear this from me. That is not true at all. Everybody is being used by God.

I know, but in the past I've always thought, oh I better be on this committee, I better do this, I better go visit them. Why? Why did you feel that way? I don't know. Because you want a God to smile on you. I bet you, dollars to donuts, that's what it is. Or to have other people... Well, and actually it says in the Bible. You know, it's like, help people out. Yeah, but it's the motive that you do it. And typically for, and I speak for myself, that was a lot of the motivation. You get on these things because either you want acceptance, acceptance from people or self.

And we're not looking at our position in Christ, that's the whole point of this, is that our position, can we be any more accepted than in Christ? No. But you want to get to know people, I mean that's how I've made friends, is to be involved with other people. We struggle with this in grace a lot, the apathy method, or the apathy position, that if under grace I can't do it, so I'm just going to sit in a room and accept grace, just receiving. Is that right?

No. You operate from a position of rest at that point. You now know that there is nothing you can do to make your acceptance with God any more than what you have in Christ right now, your position. And then you operate from a position of rest. It's not for having God smile on me anymore. It's being used as a vessel by Him in all the things you do. And it's not to attain a better position or more acceptance, your service. It's because that's who you are. It's a life. And you're living a life, not a merit-based process.

Wouldn't you say it's Christ in me and you're just resting in Him like you said. And then sometimes as you're resting and Christ is in you and you're going along and it's surprising because somebody comes to you and they want to know what you have. And it's, oh, I didn't do it.

You're just living with Christ in you and that's very interesting. The best thing we can do is have a life of Christ manifested in us. That's the key. The manifestation of Christ will draw people to you. And also, as he was rejected in the world, you'll be rejected. But you operate from a position of rest. A position, remember that, position. That's where we operate from.

I was going to say, it seems to me personally that Where I grew up, in the church I grew up in, I really had no clue about grace. When I realized that Paul, Jesus literally gave Paul the ministry to talk about a whole new way of life. And when I read the Old Testament, he says, if you don't forgive, you're not going to be forgiven. Paul says, forgive because you've been forgiven.

And all the attitudes and all that stuff about do this, do this, do that. My brain read those old, nothing wrong with Matthew, Mark, but those things have kind of a works flavor. Some of the scriptures have a works flavor and it's been changed. focused at. Matthew, Mark, Luke.

Jewish people? Jewish. The attitudes and that. Earthly bound. We're not an earthly people anymore. And so Paul is the one who explains all, everything about grace, the church, all those different things. That who we are. Right. So, and... You used the word merit and it makes me wonder about thinking about like the programs in churches that we have that have children where they can earn a reward for memory, Bible memory. And yet I know people who that was very instrumental in their adult years. But yet it symbolizes that you're like what you're talking about now, in some respects, but you're going to see how in adult life, those scriptures are not gone.

Yeah, I mean, Camp Elam has patch program. We're learning verses and different things. You know, I go to that as all things. He uses all things. And even though I think there is some contrary teaching as far as grace goes, I think some of those methods, especially age appropriate, may be the encouragement. I understand what you're saying and I don't have a really good answer for that.

It's like we laugh, literally, when we go out and we have lunch. Did you buy last time or did I? People who teach grace, you know. No, I didn't. I did. I did last time. That's a... That's always the right answer. But I mean, so we struggle through the same thing. And I wanted to bring that up right at the beginning. I mean, there's so many things that go contrary to grace. And that's why Paul, I think, spends so much time in grace. Because everything in the world is contrary to that. Service is really a result of grace, not as a cause for grace.

Just like love, He loved us first. We love Him because He loved us first. We're going to get into some of that actually. Is it the object or the nature of love? Speaking of love, I heard something this week that really You know, what is, Jesus gave us, this is the new commandment, to love one another, and is there something more? As I have loved you. As I have loved you. And then, somebody wrote a book, I don't know, I was listening to the radio, he said, he set us up for relationships of love where you're going to learn, you're going to be heard if you love somebody, if you are involved with somebody.

I mean, it's life. Yeah, I think the danger there is the conditional part of that. You need to do this to whatever. And a result or law based. The principle is there, the principle of love, but not the law. It's not a law. It's not a cause and effect.

That if you do this, you'll get this. I don't like that. It's more the principle of love. That's what he laid out there. I think that's the key difference between what a lot of those books say. It's if you do this, then you get this. He laid out the principle of love. Because he loved first, so we love. That's the principle. So that's how we operate. He loved and he was crucified. Right, but who's in us? And we are crucified. Right, right, exactly. It's a principle. I don't know, it's just all... You got it.

So, you know, I said in there, It is only natural for us to feel our spiritual walk and service make us acceptable to our Father. We imagine that it is our responsibility, with His help, to live and serve so faithfully and fruitfully that He will approve of us and therefore continually and abundantly bless us. Wrong, wrong thought. When service is given predominance over fellowship with and growth in the Lord Jesus, doing instead of being takes over in the life. Fellowship and growth must ever take precedence over service and activity, otherwise spiritual decline sets in.

Does that make sense? What are you reading? These are actually out of Miles. Those quotes are out of Miles, Chapter 3. I am reading it, but I just didn't... Read quickly, read quickly in Chapter 3. A chapter you can't read quickly. That's right. You cannot read Ralph Amphit quickly.

The question I have is, Do you or have you fallen into this trap of service taking precedence? Yes. Pretty much I think everybody has, I believe. You feel this need to do service. You know, when we have a work day here, I better go because I need to show up. Because why?

I don't think it's necessarily because God will feel more accepted, but it's like other people will say, oh Courtney, heavy piano. So who is the acceptance, who are you trying to gain acceptance from? People. But you're not doing it to the exception of fellowship.

Right, I mean, fellowship, I'm going to the motive, what we fall into in the trap a lot of times. So you can fall and do that and God's like, hey. If the motive is to get acceptance from people or that, it's the wrong motive or the wrong focus. When I come to something like that, it's because I think it needs to be done. And if people all decide, well, I don't think I'll go today. It doesn't get done.

Yeah. You know, again, I'm just going to focus on the motive that, you know, I better go because if I don't, people are going to not think of me as, you know, I didn't go and they're looking, oh, Courtney didn't go. But you can still go. Yeah, no. You can still go and do it.

The thing is the motive and the acceptance. Who are you trying to gain acceptance? By people. This is personal, but all along that's been my battle. I mean, I've been taking piano lessons for my brain. And so they said if anybody wants to volunteer. I mean, you don't know what I've gone through. Now, what is your, what do you think, what's the real reason behind this? I mean, I go through that and I think, no, I'm not going to do that. And I think, if I don't do it now, I, you know, I'm not going to be here much longer.

You know, I think he's taking it through just for all the things you mentioned. I rest in the fact that he's in control of all things. And he's taking it through it to what? And if you make a fool of yourself wonder, God still loves you. He does. That's right. The acceptance is not the people out there, it's in Christ. That's right. You can mess up and it's not a problem. It is not a problem. They're with you.

The believer who is not aware of his position of acceptance in Christ is caught in the struggle to improve his condition in order to feel acceptable to God. So again, if you don't know your position, you struggle in your condition. Because if your position's in Christ, that's why I started off this whole thing, is there more that you need to do for acceptance to God? No. No. That's why the position is key. You understand that, that takes us through in the conditional side, that I don't have to do all these things to have more acceptance by God. So I think that's a critical area in believers' lives. That you need to know the position. That's why we have this whole class. Yeah. Being able to rest in him and those facts is like a healing thing for your whole human body and psyche and everything else. Be at rest in him. That's the key and I use that a lot. Can the world offer you rest? No. Not the way it's going now. But in the... In the midst of all this, do you have rest? Yes. Yes, if you know your position. The world can fall apart, but you have rest in where you're at. You're in Christ.

That's where the rest is, not in the world and what's going on. I look at the world and it's crazy. But I also rest in the fact that he knows about everything that's going on. And he didn't go, oops, he missed that. Okay, moving on. Is it God who causes a revelation of self in the believer's life? Is it God? Oh, they stare at me. Okay. Is it God? Oh, yeah.

It's the old man, I think. The old man reveals himself? Oh, he reveals my old self. So who causes the revelation of the self in a believer? It's God who does it. It's God. But isn't the Holy Spirit God? He is convicting and convincing us of these things. But he is revealing the old man. And you know what? I think the hardest thing in a believer is to have that revealing of the old self. That is some of the hardest stuff to do.

Because do you like it when you're revealed that there's absolutely nothing good in yourself? No sir. No. What a relief when you sort of give up on it. Guess what rest in peace you get? He's promised us that. He's told us that. That's a fact. When we understand, when it's revealed, what our self is, there is nothing good about it. The best thing that ever could have happened to us is to be crucified. Best thing ever. But it's hard for us to be shown what the old self is. I think that's a very difficult process and a slow process. Because we always think there's some good in us. All of us kind of think, well yeah, but you know, I volunteered yesterday. I'm good. There's a little good in me. There's not. And again, have you been in this position where you're revealing of yourself And do you like that? Well, it's like the question from last week where it says, you know, could you even think that God's against you that it's so painful?

Well, and one other thing from Adam Miles, what the condition-centered believer does not realize is that God himself is causing the shattering revelation of self. He takes us into situations and relationships that finally cause us to face up to the fact of our failure as Christians, our nothingness, our total unacceptability in ourselves. He takes us through those things so we can see who we are in ourselves. And to me, that's also to reveal, once you see that, you see who you are in Christ too. by exposing the self, we begin to see who we are in Christ also.

Would you say that that is a principle in which all believers must go through? Yep. I think we have to. So it's nothing to be ashamed of? No. And it's nothing to be hidden? It's the normal spiritual growth is to go through this. I think the thing is that through identification you can get through this and grow. Without the identification I think you keep pounding your head on the wall trying to fix this thing. And I say it personally, prior to the identification, all these things, I keep kidding, I have a flat forehead from hitting the wall so many times, trying this new program that's going to make me better, and make me more acceptable, and boom, boom, boom, until you understand that there is nothing good in your flesh, nothing good in yourself, that the crucifixion was the best thing God ever did for you.

The reaction to that shouldn't be guilt, it should be thank you. Yeah, I agree with that. I think it's important for believers to understand that at some point in the process, you'll say to the Lord, thank you for crucifying me. It was the right thing to do.

Because there's nothing about me that's worth saving. And I do think that identification truths, as important as they are, sometimes you think, well, I know them. I get to skip this now. Well, the problem is that Identification is Romans 6, this is Romans 7. Nobody gets to jump to 8. My question was, do you have any verses that support that God is the one revealing self to us? My answer was Romans 7. That's exactly Romans 7.

I know what I need to do, I'm trying my hardest, and I am failing. I think every believer, growing believer, has got to go through that. I love what Paul says in that one verse that, who is going to help me? Oh wretched man that I am. That's the end point, where I have hit the end, I've tried it myself, and it didn't work. And you understand with Paul, I mean where Paul is, Paul spent personal time with the Lord. All this time in the desert with Him. He revealed all this about the church. And he's the guy going, I tried, and I failed. Even after he knew I'd done it. He knows all this. He knew all this. And that's what I'm saying. I just go, well, Paul went through this. You think I can skip this step? I had one thought.

We often talk about the law in a very negative connotation, but this is the purpose of the law. So, is it good that we are revealed our sin nature? I mean, is that a good thing? The law produces something very important for us. In Romans 7, is an entire life of understanding that, but at the same time he's saying, on the contrary, I would have known it was coveting, but I didn't know what coveting was. But after he became a believer, he now says, now it's life. those things as a believer, the things that are standing between myself and where my position is. And so, you know, the law has a very important role in revealing, it's God's method for revealing self in the believer's life. And then, you know, add the spirit, and you've got a life of rest and growth. I think, like I said, Romans 7 is a great one, and it goes between Romans 6 and Romans 8. Crucifixion, okay, all the identification has happened, and then now I'm going to try it myself. Oh, wretched man that I am.

I go to Romans 8.28 and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purposes. All things, which is part of that, is revealing who you are in the flesh, in the self.

Ephesians 1.22, And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Everything is in subjection to him.

And then the other was Colossians 1.17, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He's the one who's in control. He's the one taking us through these things to reveal self. So it's all part of what he's doing to grow us in Christ. And I said, yeah, whose job is it to reveal self in each of us?

John 14, 26. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. and then John 16, 13 through 15. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak.

And He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said, He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. So it's the Spirit that's going to be convicting you. Between the Word and the Holy Spirit will be convicting you of self and revealing that.

And as that's revealed, you're also who you are, the acceptance in Christ. We'll keep going on that, the acceptance. And I think that's a key issue. Like I said, Inger and I were talking about that quite a bit, about how believers, if they sin, they're destroyed or they're always fighting and doing all this stuff. And what it means to be positionally accepted in Christ. That's a key, I think, for growth in the believer. All right, well, we'll get to question three next week. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you.

We thank you again just for your eternal love for us. And we just thank you that there is nothing that can separate us from your love. And you're in control of all things and we rest in that fact. We have a peace that surpasses all understanding, knowing that you're in control and you have an eternal love for us.

As you take us through the revealing of the self, the self-centered life, and just how contrary that is to our life in Christ. We just thank you, even though it's a painful process many times, it is a necessary process. We see, as Paul went through in Romans 7, self-effort and self-attempts to have us accepted more by our actions or by our service. Our acceptance is in your Son, the Lord Jesus, fully and completely accepted through the finished work on the cross and our position in Christ.

We have a position of acceptance through Christ, and we thank you that it's all you and not anything that we have to add. So we thank you for, again, the infinite gift of Christ and our new life in Him. We just thank you for this time. Again, we just uplift Vern as he gives us the message. Again, prepare our hearts to receive it, and we thank you for all these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.