Tolerance: A Love Story

One can hardly doubt that the divisions between political, ideological, and spiritual beliefs in our country have caused many problems in recent years. People are up in arms protesting in the name of love and equal treatment while inadvertently (or perhaps purposefully) tearing down and condemning other people. One particular movement that has attracted the nation’s attention is homosexual marriage. Many Christians are staying strong with their biblical beliefs, declaring that homosexuality is sinful. Some of these Christians do so tactfully and with love while others are hateful towards homosexuals. Some Christians join the homosexual movement and declare that tolerance is the ultimate form of love. They proclaim, “Jesus loves homosexuals and loves them just as they are. If you were like Jesus, you wouldn’t make them change who they are.” The question here is… did Jesus believe that?

Jesus and Tolerance

If we want to figure out what Jesus believes and how He would respond in certain situations, we have to consider both His actions and what He says in His word. Many Christians like to define God by their own terms. They accept what they want and “forget” the rest, making God a glorified version of their own ideals. Jesus is not dependent on our will. He follows the will of His Father (John 6:38) and we must choose to follow it too.

There is a false doctrine that attributes Jesus as preaching a “come as you are” doctrine. This has been taken to mean that Jesus accepts everyone just how they are with no call to change at all. According to this doctrine, Jesus made you exactly who you are as a person and accepts all that you are and represent when you accept Him. It is a doctrine with no call to repentance and complete tolerance. There is one problem with this belief though… Jesus never tolerated sin.

1. Consider the call of repentance.

Those who believe Jesus accepts people just how they are will have a tough time understanding Matthew 16:24: “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ ” Jesus requires His followers to “deny themselves.” This is equivalent with what happened to the Christians in Eph 4:22-24. They put off their old selves (their former life) in order to put on a new life “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” They denied the life they were living and accepted a life that was molded into God’s likeness. Jesus knew that repentance would be tough. With the responsibility of being righteous and holy Christ followers, we must bear our crosses (the burden of following Christ) in order that we may truly be His followers.

2. Consider Jesus’ methods.

So how did Jesus react when He came face to face with sin? Did He accept the scribes and Pharisees for what they were doing or the people running the money booths in the temple? Did Jesus excuse the adulterous woman’s sin? Very quickly we see that Jesus’ method for facing sin was not tolerance… it was rebuking. Six times Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites in Matthew 23. In John 2:15 we see Jesus flipping tables and driving the money changers out of the temple with a whip. While Jesus did protect the adulterous women from being stoned, Jesus told her in John 8:11, “and from now on sin no more.” Jesus never accepted her sin. He rebuked her and those who were ready to stone her. He rebuked the scribes, Pharisees, tax collectors, money changers, and even His own apostles at times. It seems here that Jesus’ method of choice for dealing with sin is rebuking others and encouraging them to change. Paul encourages those who preach in 2 Timothy 4:2 to do just as Jesus did, “reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.”

True Love

When we mistake tolerance for love we reject the gospel that Jesus preached and the true love that He has. True love isn’t about being nice, it’s about truth, encouragement, sacrifice, and being right with God. Consider the words of the apostle John in 2 John 1:9-11:

“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your

house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked

works.”

Tolerance is not love. Helping others abide in the Lord is. When we tolerate sin and pretend like everything is okay we are actually prevent people from fully knowing God and receiving salvation. When we change our doctrine and say, “never mind, homosexuality isn’t a sin / unscriptural divorce and remarriage isn't a sin / fornication isn't a sin / etc.,” we reject truth and keep people from knowing God’s will. Rom 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We cannot tolerate sin because if we do we are tolerate spiritual death. Just think of it this way, if you were lost in sin and separated from God, wouldn’t you like to know that? How bad do you have to hate someone to avoid telling them the truth?

Yours in Christ,

Zack