Handling Rejection | You Are Accepted

INTRODUCTION

Could you raise your hands if you have ever asked something to someone? I see that all of you have asked others for something. Keep those hands lifted if you have received everything you have asked others. I see that no hands are up. This shows that we have all faced rejection at one time or another in life.

What is rejection? Rejection is the sense of being unwanted.

The sense of being unwanted. You want people in your life to love you, yet you believe that they do not love or accept you.

Do you remember the last time you felt rejected or wounded in your emotions? Was it a person who walked away from your life? is it a teacher who said you are not good enough? Was it a boss who terminated you or overlooked you for a promotion? Are you being overlooked when you are looking for your life partner? Or maybe it is someone in your life who told that you are not good enough, not matter what you did to try to impress them?

We all know rejection hurts. It makes us think that we are not good enough. Rejection is something that is very, very painful. Oxford Handbook Journal states that

“Rejection is both a cause and consequence of depression.”

Rejection is not something that we should be afraid of. This is not something that we must get discouraged or depressed about. We do not have to work a lot of time in our lives to prove to the world that we are somebody, worth loving and paying attention to. Rather rejection is our friend in the purposes of God, not our enemy. Have you ever considered the fact that rejection in itself can help you to grow spiritually?

Joseph: In the Bible, Joseph was rejected by his brothers. Since Joseph was the father’s favorite son, his jealous brothers put him in an empty cistern, they finally sold him to Ishmaelite merchants for 20 shekels of silver.

Irrespective of the rejection Joseph faced, Genesis 39:2 Says:

Genesis 39:2

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

Moses was rejected over and over again in the wilderness by his own people.

David was continually running from Saul because Saul rejected him out of his jealously.

Look at apostle Paul, everywhere he turned; the Jews, Pharisees, Sadducees hated him, rejected him and did the best to get rid of him.

Rejection can happen to everyone. Jesus faced rejection from his family, the society and even his disciples.

John 7:5

For not even His brothers were believing in Him,

Matthew 13:57

And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

John 1:11

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Jesus’ disciple, Judas betrayed him. Judas asks the chief priests:

Matthew 26:15

“What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him 30 pieces of silver. You also know that Peter denied Jesus thrice.

Isaiah 53:4

He was rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Philippians 2:9

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.

Jesus was rejected, but God exalted Jesus. Sometimes we come out better on the other side of rejection than we would have been if we had not gotten it.

If you’ve ever been rejected you are on the list with these people.

Two Ways We Face Rejection: Others & Self

Every day we have chances to be rejected by the people around us.

1. Parents

You never felt the love of your mother or father as a child. Do you know that Ishmael was rejected by his father for no fault of his?

Genesis 21:14-18

¹⁴Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. ¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob.

¹⁷God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. ¹⁸Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Parents, you can hurt your child and put the seed of rejection in them very early in life. Talk words of acceptance to your children.

2. Peers

Many people go through rejection from friends. A lot of bullying and teasing from their friends and colleagues that can put the seed of rejection in them. Paul was rejected by his companions.

2 Timothy 4:9-10

⁹Do your best to come to me quickly, ¹⁰for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

Matthew 26:20-21

²⁰ When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

3. Spouse

Hosea was rejected by his wife and God uses that example to show how the priests of Israel have rejected God.

Marriage relationship is a place where people tend to get rejected over and over and over again. At some point in your life maybe your wife or your husband betrayed you. It is a deep wound that has never healed.

Divorce is one of the most painful experiences of rejection in life. When two people who love each other in marriage, they are one flesh and one body and walk away from the marriage, the other person is left with painful rejection. Imagine if there is adultery, how much of rejection and pain it can cause?

4. Self

Some people reject themselves. Many people are very judgmental on themselves.

• False Opinion Of Self

It maybe past experiences, their upbringing, or what others have said about them. Sometimes people try to measure up to someone and they feel rejected. They then conclude, “I am not good enough, have no education like others. I do not look good and not talented. My income is low and it goes on and on. I am not worthy. I don’t really matter. Most of the times it is imagined.

• Physical Looks

People judge themselves on how tall you are, how short, thin, fat, hair, color of your hair.

So rejection is universal and we can be rejected by others and sometimes we ourselves can reject us.

ILLUSTRATION

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the Orthodox Jewish rabbi who is known for his secular outreach and TLC show “Shalom in the Home,” was friends with Michael Jackson for several years. He said, “I think Michael lived with a profound fear of rejection.” He said Michael told that, “Everything I’ve done in pursuing fame, in honing my craft was an effort to be loved because I never felt loved.”

Characteristics of a rejected person

Most of the time rejection is not seen in the outside and we know how to cover things up well. But when rejection takes root invariably it comes out in our behavior.

Have you ever said, “I feel sad. so lonely. I feel so angry, so mad that he did this to me.” You fill in the blank. I feel so depressed and I don’t know why. So you start to deal with that feeling and try to do things to move away from that feeling. Until we deal with that feelings all that we do is to coverup that feelings with other things or we blame others for the way we feel and little by little we shut everyone who made us feel that way and then we never have anybody in our lives. Then they get very lonely and they are now living in the very thing that they feared.

• Critical

They become very critical of self and others. For them to feel good they bring you down to where they are. They have difficulty loving others and accepting others.

ILLUSTRATION

If you compliment a rejected person, “Sister you look good in that dress today.” They will reply, “What, did I not look good last week? What were you seeing?”

• Feeling of inferiority

They are loaners. They do not want to have any friends because they have been hurt and rejected once.

• Attention seeking

Over attention on appearance, dress, looks. Interest on material things of the world. I want to prove myself attitude or that gives me acceptance.

• Quick anger  (They are easily angered)
• Attitude of superiority
• Easily hurt
• Suspicious

The more these markers, the more are the feelings of rejection.

2 Ways You Can See Rejection

• See rejection as a projection

Rejection is another person’s inward turmoil. When we see rejection this way, we will see ourselves differently.

ILLUSTRATION

I faced a lot of rejection growing up. Growing up in a Pentecostal home, we had our own values in life. Often times when I was in school in Calcutta, I was the only Christian in my class. So many of my friends’ values did not meet up to my value system. Since I was not one among them, I was always joked about. I was called a priest or a preacher and laughed upon. Growing up, everybody had moustache by 10^th and 11^th standard. Coming from the staunch Pentecostal background that I come from then, even growing a moustache was considered worldly. I was again mocked for that by my friends, they coined a nick name for me.

I felt shy to go to my friends, I will be the person they would pick on and in the process I got myself very isolated.

Now I realize that the reason they rejected me was not my problem but the projection of their behavior.

Sometimes rejection is projection. It is a projection of someone’s insecurities onto another person.

Example: Saul never accepted David and the anointing he had from God. Instead, King Saul wanted to kill David and chased him all through the land. This was pure insecurity in the part of King Saul. Actually, it was Saul who was afraid. Since Saul did not know how to react, he showed his insecurity to David wanting to kill and suppress him.

So sometimes rejection is the projection of people’s insecurities. My friends rejected me because they were insecure of their habits and lifestyle. It was projection of their insecurities.

• View Rejection As Protection

Rejection can also be viewed as protection from something or someone who are not meant to be in our lives anymore. In life, we have seasons of people coming and going but then there are some who stay with us. But if you are going through a rejection, consider it as a protection from those people whom God is taking away from your life.

Example: Abraham and lot.

Some of  you are going through feelings of rejection today. You have built a prison brick by brick, hurt by hurt, tear by tear, scar by scar. The walls of that prison has been built by your own anguish. We cannot avoid the attitude of people towards us, but we can choose to not let it ruin the remainder of our lives. Don’t park at the point of your pain.

Ways To Overcome Rejection:

If you have been hurt, I have good news for you.

• Accept the Lord. God accepts you. God loves you.

Rejection is a feeling of abandonment and the first way to overcome it is to find acceptance. You can speak the name of God and receive Jesus who will accept you. The key is to find acceptance from a person who will never reject you again, Jesus Christ. Remember God never rejects you. We are all born with rejection, rejected by God or separated by God because of our sin. The great thing is we can be born again and be accepted by God.

Look at one of the purpose of Jesus coming into this world.

Luke 4:18-10

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV

For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.

Ephesians 1:6

He (Jesus) hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Those who are already in Christ, have the deep conviction that God has accepted you.

Based your love on God’s perfect word and what God has to say about you.

• God Accepts Those Who Accept Him

This morning I want to remind us that many a times when we feel life is unfair, everyone has rejected us, never forget that God is always with you.

Psalm 27:10

Though my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.

He has promised us according to

Hebrews 13:5

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Even in the silence, there is the presence of God. We find Joseph himself testifies that:

Genesis 50:20

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Apostle Paul was rejected in the city of Corinth but God accepted him.

Acts 18:5-11

⁵When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. ⁶But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” ⁷Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. ⁸Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

⁹One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. ¹⁰For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” ¹¹So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

Now listen to

Romans 8:31-39

³¹What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Avoid A Victimized Mindset, Improve Your Approach

Reframe rejection as an opportunity to improve our approaches. There are many reasons why we did not get a “yes” from people. The timing might not have been right, we may not be a good fit, we may not have been through enough in our preparation, we may not have presented the best sample of our work, the people who rejected us may have their own needs, biases or limitations. The list of situational factors is endless.

It is easy to personalize rejection and think of it as a reflection of who we are and what we are capable of, as opposed to what we did and how can we do it better next time. Changing what we do is easier than changing another person’s response.

ILLUSTRATION

I remember visiting a house during our pastoral ministry and sharing the gospel to a brother who had not come to faith. His wife and children had taken water baptism but somehow this brother would not listen to the gospel. By now many had shared the gospel to him but he would not commit his life to the Lord. I decided I will not share the gospel to him anymore, but concentrate on building a good relationship with this brother. Let me tell you, when he could genuinely see me as someone who is interested in him and he could see the love and life of Christ in me, he committed his life to the Lord in just three months.

Sometimes changing our approach helps.

• Accept Others the Way God Does

Romans 15:7

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

I believe acceptance reflects one of the core values of the NT. I also believe it is a core value of City Harvest AG Church. That doesn’t mean we have arrived in this area, but I think it is one area where we want to excel. We want to be long on grace and short on anything that makes people feel unwanted or unloved.

When we read Acts 10, God dealt with Peter to accept the gentiles. God spoke to Peter in a dream and prepared Peter to go to Cornelius and his men. First, God did not want Peter to consider these Gentiles unclean. He wanted Peter to love and accept them just as they were.

Cornelius was a gentile and the Jews never had table fellowship with the gentiles. So, it was a big deal for Peter to invite those from Cornelius’ house in for food and lodging. See, it was quite a walk from Caesarea to Joppa. They spent one night on the road and arrived around noon the next day. Then they spent one night with Peter in Joppa, and Peter headed back with them the next day. They apparently spent another night somewhere along the way and arrived in Caesarea the day after that. Peter lodged with these Gentiles and ate a number of meals with them. Then Peter goes against everything he had been taught as a Jew and enters the house of an uncircumcised Gentile. He speaks these words to Cornelius in

Acts 10:28

He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

In other words, Peter was saying, “I accept you because God has accepted you.”

ILLUSTRATION

There is a story about a man who visited a church. The church was fairly full so he walked right up the aisle to the front of the church and plopped down on the floor. He had long scraggly hair and his clothes were a far cry from the Sunday best that most of the people were wearing. The place grew quiet as people just stared at this intruder. Who does he think he is, coming in here like this? Doesn’t he know this is the house of God? Well, an old gentleman with white hair slowly got up from his seat and began shuffling his way down the aisle.

Some of the people thought, “Good, old brother Dan will take care of this.” But when the old man finally reached the young misfit, he touched his shoulder and said, “Is this seat taken?” The young man said, “No.” So the old man painfully eased himself down on the floor beside him so he wouldn’t be alone throughout the service. People hung their heads in shame as they realized how unloving and unaccepting they had been in their hearts toward this stranger. Through the unconditional acceptance and love of a white-haired old man, someone’s life was changed. Brother Dan became a living telegram of God’s love and acceptance.

What if we were the only means God had to let people know that He loves them and accepts them? Now let me rephrase that. We are the means God has chosen to let people know He loves and accepts them!

2 Corinthians 5:20

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

Folks, we must put any sense of superiority aside and realize that we are no better than the worst sinner who might wander into this building. We are better off because of God’s grace, but in ourselves we are no better. The ground at the foot of the cross is level. We cannot judge someone else to be impure or unclean based on things like race, background, or appearance. Obviously, many people are impure, but it is because they have chosen a path of disobedience to God and His ways. Can they become pure and clean?

Yes! If they will trust Jesus to forgive them and to lead their lives, they can become clean! However, they will have no desire to do so unless we show them how awesome and accepting the love of God is. The Holy Spirit wants to use us, but if we do not have love, 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that gifts and power will not help us or anybody else.

CONCLUSION

How To Overcome Rejection?

1. Avoid A Victimized Mindset
2. It Is Not What Man Says About You
3. Remember The Lord Is With You

Introspect yourself

Do a genuine check to see if we have caused our own rejection. Are people rejecting me because of my problem? Did I do or say something because of which that I am rejected? Start praying and working on yourself, God will change you so that you are accepted by others.