Have you ever wondered what Jesus’ message was? For that matter, when we speak of Jesus, how do we tell whether the Jesus I am speaking of is the same Jesus someone else believes in? That may sound confusing, but these are some questions I’ve confronted lately, and I’d like to explore them with you here.
But…let’s explore this a little more. Jesus lived in obscurity for the first thirty years of his life. Then He began His ministry with a water baptism where God declared Him to be His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. Right after receiving that affirmation from His Father, Jesus went into the desert and fasted for forty days—and the devil went after Him with all he had.
Jesus won that round with the enemy, but then He began to deal with people, who, like us, had a whole slew of problems. If you read the gospels, pay attention to how many times Jesus called people to repentance. Right after that temptation battle with satan, Matthew tells us, “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Why did Jesus preach repentance instead of saying something like, “Love your neighbor as yourself and you will be guaranteed a place in the kingdom of heaven?” Loving each other sounds so much better to us than repenting, doesn’t it?
BUT IF WE BELIEVE THAT LOVE ALONE WAS JESUS’ MESSAGE, WE ARE PICKING AND CHOOSING OUR OWN JESUS.
THE JESUS OF THE BIBLE – THE REAL HISTORICAL JESUS WHOM EYE-WITNESSES SAW AND TOUCHED – TAUGHT US TO LOVE, BUT NOT APART FROM REPENTANCE.
WE SIMPLY CANNOT HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER.
Why?
Here’s the tough part that none of us like to hear. Even Christians don’t really like to think about sin. It’s a word that carries so much negativity. It makes it sound like we are evil. I mean, sure, we make mistakes, don’t always get things right, might even do something to hurt someone, but we’re not evil. Sin makes it sound like we are, right?
There is a teaching out there that denies the concept of original sin. How can a beautiful, innocent baby be a sinner? When they turn into a defiant two-year-old, they’re just expressing themselves, figuring out who they are. They can’t be mini sinners. That just doesn’t sit right with us.
So we don’t like thinking of kids as sinners and we don’t like considering ourselves as sinners and some churches don’t even preach about sin any more. I remember years ago when a local church took the word sin out of its vocabulary.
But I would ask one question of those who adhere to this teaching—if we are all born inherently good instead of with a sin nature—where does evil come from? Because we all know that evil exists. But how can it exist if there is no sin? If we are not born with it, how did it get here?
If you tell me somehow sin evolved, the big question still remains. Evolved from what?
Jesus believed humans are sinners. If He hadn’t thought so, why were some of His first public words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Repent of what?
If you want to get political, which I don’t, there is another teaching out there that thinks some people do need to repent but this is a different kind of repentance. This tells us we are a world of oppressors and oppressed and the oppressors need to repent of their oppression. Those they oppress are apparently innocent of any sin? This view of life tends to be racial, but only if you look at it through a particular lens. Jesus didn’t have a racial lens.
He didn’t come to just give us a good moral example of right and wrong.
He also didn’t preach that love wins.
He preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This story from Scripture can explain it better than I can. This is how Jesus looked at sin in every person.
“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Emphasis mine.)
Jesus didn’t give anybody any wiggle room when it came to sin. He told the religious leaders that just because they could claim to be children of Abraham was not a get into the kingdom of heaven free card. They still needed to repent of their own personal sin. All of their good works, their obedience to the law wasn’t good enough.
You see, the thing is, Jesus came in love to show us who God is. Because Jesus is both God and man, He knew God the Father intimately. He knew that the holiness of God the Father is a really big deal.
We don’t understand that. We don’t understand holiness or glory because we’ve never seen it. But Jesus had. He’d lived in glory and holiness from eternity past—actually for always because He has no beginning, just an earthly birth.
I wish I had the capacity to explain God’s holiness better, but I’m a flawed, sinful human too, and all I can tell you is that holiness goes way beyond not sinning. It’s purity that cannot be equalled. Not even the finest metal or jewel on earth can compare to it. It’s so absolutely devoid of evil that God’s holiness cannot abide (live) in the same space as evil. His justice is so purely just that He could never ever let a rapist or murderer just walk away with a “you’re forgiven” hand stamp and let him/her loose back into society.
We may say, “but I’m not a rapist or murderer. Those people are evil.” We can call those things sin, right? But in God’s commands—His standards for showing us how to be holy—there is one we cannot skate out of no matter how hard we try. It even shows up in the hearts of young children. It’s the last command on God’s list given to Moses.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Exodus 20:17
You shall not covet. Period.
No one has ever been able to miss that one because it’s a matter of the heart. We can do a lot of right things in life. We can think we aren’t so bad compared to someone else, but we cannot stop our own hearts from wanting things that belong to someone else or that we know we shouldn’t want. Think about it long enough, and I’ll bet you can find at least one time in life when you coveted. I have.
Sometimes when we grow up in the church and to everyone watching, even to ourselves, we think we are pretty good—especially in comparison to those who are outright rebels of all that is moral or deemed right. We know we are sinners because we’ve been taught so, but it’s hard to think of ourselves that way, isn’t it? We haven’t done anything that bad.
Yet Jesus is still preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Even to us. Even when we think we’re good.
I was that good girl. And I’ll be honest. Sometimes I look at my own heart and don’t have a strong sense of my own sinfulness. I mean, I haven’t killed anyone. But I’ve hated. I haven’t stolen. But I’ve not always been truthful and that’s stealing honesty. I haven’t dishonored my parents. But I haven’t always honored them as well as I could have. You see where I’m going with this?
Jesus preached repentance of our own personal sin because He knew our hearts. He still does.
He came out of love for us so that He could make a way for us to enter the same room as His Father who can’t live with sin.
So Jesus took our sin upon Himself and died a cruel death to satisfy His Father’s justice for every kind of sin—from the smallest lie to the vilest atrocity.
When Jesus took our sin upon Himself, He had to take it all. He came to make a way for everyone. And that’s why it’s called “amazing grace.”
Now God can stamp, “you’re forgiven” on the hand of the murderer and the murder victim, both of whom need to repent, whether we like that idea or not.
Lastly, Jesus never called some people victims of oppression and therefore innocent of sin.
He didn’t give oppressors a pass either.
He put us all on an equal plane at the foot of His cross because that’s where we all need to be.
If we stand in the corner and look up to heaven, tapping our chest and thanking God for how wonderful we are or complaining to Him because we’ve suffered so much and never admit that we are a sinner in need of a Savior, “we too will all likewise perish.”
We need to be like the man who wouldn’t lift his eyes to heaven but instead beat his chest and cried out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Yes. A sinner. A politically incorrect, unhappy word these days.
But still true.
The real Jesus of Scripture, the one we have evidence that He existed and died and rose from the dead three days later told everyone to repent because He wants everyone to be IN the kingdom of heaven.
Every person of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. God doesn’t play favorites here. His love is offered freely to all through the path of repentance. Surrender to His will, not ours. Grief over our sin, not somebody else’s.
When we can grasp that truth, that there really is a sin nature and we are all born into it, we will be able to grasp our need of a Savior and how truly awesome and amazing Jesus’ sacrifice and love for us really is. That’s honest hope for a word and condition we would rather not face. But for those with the courage to face themselves, Jesus offers the greatest gift any human could ever receive. Transforming, saving, forgiving, loving grace. And I’m really grateful for that.
~Selah
#therealjesus #repentance #thekingdomofheavenisathand #jesusrealmessage
