Tolerance or Repentance?

Jesus Christ is popularly portrayed as a preacher of tolerance and acceptance; but in reality, that is not what He was. In reality, Jesus Christ came into our world and preached repentance and reconciliation with God. That means the cessation of sin. Jesus said "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). He said that if we do not repent, we will perish for our sin (Luke 13:1-5).

After miraculously healing a certain man, Jesus told him "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you" (John 5:14). After showing mercy to the adulterous woman, He said to her "go and sin no more" (John 8:11). It is true that Jesus did seek out, and come into contact with sinners; but only for the purpose of teaching them about the heavenly Father and His righteous love that invites them to turn away from their sin and be reconciled to Him. The thing is, those people knew that they were sinners; and they knew that Jesus was a teacher of repentance and reconciliation with God. And they wanted to listen to Him and do just that - repent and be reconciled with God.

The message that Jesus brought to us is not "I accept you and you don't need to change". His message is "You're invited to the kingdom, but your sin can't come". Jesus called Himself the door through which to enter the kingdom of everlasting life (John 10:9-10). His message is that we must check our sin at the door. We can come to Him as we are, but only for the purpose of having our fallen, sinful nature taken away from us, so that we can be reconciled with the heavenly Father. There is no sin allowed in the kingdom of God. 

The purpose of God's forgiveness is to make reconciliation with Him possible (Psalm 130:4). Jesus paid for our sin on the cross; not so that we could keep sinning, but so that we can turn away from our sin and be reconciled with Him. Becoming a Christian means that we are entering through Jesus Christ, into the kingdom of God. Our Christian life in this world is the process of going through the Door, which is the Person of Jesus Christ. And that process entails a departure from sin.

We must leave our sin nailed to the cross. The further we go into Christ - the deeper our relationship with Him grows - the less sinful and more righteous we will become. And when we stand before Him, in Paradise, we will have been perfected. Jesus did not preach tolerance at all. He preached a message of repentance and reconciliation with God.

Forgiveness vs. Reconciliation

As Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed:

 "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). 

He was praying for everyone involved in His trial and crucifixion. And so it only makes sense that He was praying for all sinners.

The question for some then arises: Why do we need trust in Jesus for salvation, since we are already forgiven? Why even think about our relationship with God, since He has already forgiven all sin?

This is actually not a very good question, because it shows the depravity of the one who asks it. But we all are sinners, and there is a very good answer in the Bible:

 "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2nd Corinthians 5:20; emphasis added).

Jesus paid the penalty for all sin. God has forgiven you, me, everyone. But it takes two parties to reconcile a relationship.

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying:

 "All day long I stretch out my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths, and their own crooked schemes" (Isaiah 65:2; New Living Translation).

So we see that His arms are open, but we still have to turn and be reconciled to Him. We must repent - turn away from sin. It was sin that severed our relationship with God in the first place. And it is God's forgiveness that makes it possible to turn away from sin and be reconciled to Him. As the Scripture says:

"In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil" (Proverbs 16:6, also see Psalm 130:3-4, and Romans 2:1-4). 

Why did sin sever our relationship with God? Because God is holy, righteous, immaculate. God and sin are diametrically opposed, so it is impossible to be living a life of sin and simultaneously be right with God. And God will never stop being holy. So we must stop being sinners. As He has said to His people:

 "Be holy, for I am holy" (1st Peter 1:16, Leviticus 11:45, 19:2, 20:7).

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).

The Christian life is a process of sanctification (becoming holy). We begin by admitting that we are sinners in need of being reconciled to God; trusting that Jesus died for our sin, and rose again. We make a personal decision to let God begin the process of making us holy, just as He is holy. As the Scriptures say:

"If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" (1st John 2:29). 

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:16, also see 2:13 and Isaiah 26:12).

We do not practice righteousness by our own power. Nor can we. Our sinful, fallen nature makes it impossible to become holy by our own effort. As the Son of God said:

 "...for without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). 

By faith we must trust in Him so that His righteousness becomes our righteousness. Just as He wore our sin, having no sin of His own; we wear His righteousness, having none of our own. And by His working in us who trust in Him, we will become like Him. Our fallen nature will be restored to perfect, Christ-like holiness. As the Scripture says:

"...we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1st John 3:2-3).