Who Decides What Is Acceptable To God?

1 Peter 2: 4-5

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built^* into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Isn’t that the whole reason for Jesus?  He’s offered himself as a sacrifice to make us acceptable to our God once again.  Jesus did it in the middle of history so that all who came before could look forward to the event, and all those who came after could look back on the event.

But in this case, we are not talking about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in and of itself, but rather in an applied fashion.  Through Jesus Christ, not only are we made acceptable to God, but our spiritual sacrifices are also made acceptable.

But if we are going to talk about acceptable, it is inevitable that we are also going to talk about unacceptable.  If we are the living stones, building spiritual houses, following in the path of Jesus as the original living stone rejected by the builders, then there should be no issues, should there?  The things we do in the name of Jesus are cool and acceptable with God.

Who gets to decide what is unacceptable to God?  There are a lot of church leaders who think they have the spiritual ****s to make that call.  Arrogant, the lot of them.  I have been that kind of arrogant one.  And I have come to a place in my life where I am comfortable releasing that decision to God.  I do not need the responsibility. 

Do something for someone with a motivation of love, a desire for change, a movement to bring in the peace, because it is the proper thing to do under your code of conduct, because it is simply the right thing to do, I think that rises to the level of acceptance by God.  Because it comes through Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself for everyone, not simply the elect or the chosen by God.

If you are worried that what you are doing is a spiritual sacrifice to God, ask yourself this question, “Does it demonstrate my love for God and/or for neighbor?”  If yes, I think acceptance is yours.