What a great question! What does God accept? Many times we associate God's acceptance as being given when we possess certain behaviors, life styles, attitudes, works, and beliefs. The truth is God does not accept any of those things. A better question is who does God accept?
Throughout the Old Testament we see that God only accepted sacrifices from His children. The Father accepted nothing else from His children but sacrifices and faith. The sacrifices were always a lamb or dove.
Why a lamb? The lamb represented a person. Who is this special lamb God kept accepting? Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is the lamb of God. By accepting a lamb from the Israelites God was accepting a token, a picture, of Jesus Christ from them.
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’" John 1:29-30.
"'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'" Rev 5:12-13.
The first picture of the slain lamb was with Cain and Abel. God refused to accept Cain's hard work from the fields, but accepted Abel's slaughtered lamb.
"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor." Genesis 4:2-5.
Why was God pleased by Abel's gift? Because Abel gave the gift with faith. What is faith? Many times Christians throw this ambiguous, often occurring, scriptural word around without really understanding the meaning of faith. In the Greek faith means belief or conviction of the truth.
God was pleased because Abel gave God the lambs with a strong belief in something. What was this belief? Abel believed that only God's Son pleased God the Father. Abel was convicted of the truth that only Christ in himself would please God. Abel then gave the Lord a few slaughtered lambs to represent his belief, the truth, that only Christ pleased God. God credited it to him as righteousness.
"By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead." Hebrews 11:4.
Cain did not understand this concept. Instead of understanding that only Christ pleased God, Cain thought he could please God by the fruits of his own labors.
" In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD ... but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor."
The fruit of Cain's labor was his works. Why is God not pleased by our works? Even our best works, our most righteous acts are like filthy rags to God. Why? Are they really so filthy? Yes, our works are very filthy. Our righteous acts are not filthy as in sinful. They are filthy as being everything but what God desires to have.
When I was a little girl I wanted to do nothing else but learn how to ski. My mother enrolled me in all the girly activities like ballet, tap dance, cake decorating. She even enrolled me in soccer! Everything but what I longed to learn to try. I found every moment of these seemingly fun events frustrated, bored, agitated, and repulsed. None of it was good enough until I could learn to ski like I wanted to. After my mother finally gave in and allowed me to learn to ski I found all the other events pleasing and fun. But only through the context of getting what I really desired.
Our righteous acts are much like this to God. What God desires is not us trying to be like Christ or doing righteous acts. Until God receives Christ from us, for He is in us, God will find all our attempts to please Him by our actions repulsive. All our attempts to be like Christ or live like Christ will be disgusting to God. God doesn't want us at all. God wants us to die to ourselves and let Christ live through us. Again, all God wants is His Son.
More specifically God wants to magnify (blow up) the image of His Son through us because of The Father's great love for His Son. God desires to glorify (enlarge) His Son. Each one of us, when in Christ, are a piece of Christ blown up. Hence why we who are many are the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-26). We are all a bunch of pieces of Christ blown up and then sown back together to enlarge the image of Christ. All The Father desires is Christ and Christ enlarged (glorified).
"Jesus answered, 'If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’;'" -Jesus, John 8:54.
"He said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,'" John 17:1.
"'Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.'" -Jesus, John 17:5.
"For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." -1 Cor. 6:20.
Only when Christ is in us and living through us, whatever those works might look like, will God be pleased and accept us. Us being Christ and ourselves as one. Christ's works through us then will be an additional pleasure to what The Father desires most. Without Christ in us the works of Christ are a repulsion to God for He desires His Son most, not the works of His Son. With every beating of His heart God desires His Son.
The answer to whether or not "have you lost your salvation," or, "have I sinned so much since becoming a believer God will reject me," or, "was I one of the predestined ones," is not yes or no. The answer is are you in Christ? Is Christ in you? God will only accept His Son. God will reject everything else. If you are in yourself your salvation, who is Jesus Christ, will be lost. If you are in Christ you are saved for HE is salvation.
Paul spoke of this to the churches. Paul warned the churches to be careful to run the good race and not become cut off from Jesus Christ. We have to refuse to be distracted by our own works, our own attempts to be like Christ, and the distractions of the world so that we can be IN Christ and have Christ IN us.
"You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith (belief) the righteousness for which we hope... You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ''” Galatians 5:4-5,7-9.
As Jesus said, you won't be cut off as long as you abide, live, in Him! If you live in Jesus, He will live in you. Everyone who doesn't live in Christ will lose their salvation, be cut off, and thrown into the fire.
"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." -Jesus (John 15:5-6).
Instead of worrying about your actions learn to abide in Christ. Worry about whether or not you are living in Christ. Let the Holy Spirit dwell within you. Stay in Christ! Christ in us the hope of glory!
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