The Apostles’ Message Was Repent
There is much more to Christianity than just the love of God
“So they went out and preached that people should repent” (Mark 6:12)
We love hearing about the love of God, and indeed, we should. Where would we be without it? That love is for all men (John 3:16), but sadly, not all men—in fact, very few—respond to it the way they should.
The critical—and to most humans, unacceptable—fact about having eternal life through God’s love is that He has placed conditions upon receiving the grace and mercy His love offers. His love and grace have appeared to all men (Titus 2:11); if men were saved only by grace and love, then all men would be saved. But Jesus clearly teaches that all men will not be saved (Matthew 7:13-14). There are conditions—not to His loving us. He loves all of us unconditionally. That’s why Jesus came to earth. But He has put conditions upon receiving the forgiveness that love offers. And those conditions can be summed up in the word “repent.”
In Mark 6, Jesus, in effect, gave His apostles a little “on the job” training by sending them out to villages and cities to preach for a while. Notice, from Mark 6:12, what their message was: it wasn’t “the love of God.” “They went out and preached that people should repent.” In order to receive God’s forgiveness, in order to show God that we truly appreciate the love He has so graciously bestowed upon us, we need to repent of our sins. If, because of His love, God is going to save everybody, regardless of how they live, then obviously there would be no incentive to live a righteous life. Or for God to have ever created us in the first place.
We must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And, on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), when thousands were “cut to the heart” and did believe Peter’s great sermon, they asked him what they could do about their sin of having crucified God’s Son. “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (v. 38). These are the initial conditions for God’s forgiveness—believe, repent, and be baptized. Baptism is not a change of heart; it is a change of state. It is the point at which our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ (Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-4; John 3:5), thus changing our state from “sinner” to “saint.” But without belief and repentance, baptism is useless.
And God’s conditions for eternal life do not stop there.
“Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). No, our Christian walk, our acceptance and appreciation of the love of God, only begins when our sins are washed away and our state is modified from non-Christian to Christian. “Repentance” is actually a life-time life-style. A change of mind that produces a change of heart that produces a change of life. There is no salvation without it. In effect, the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross are vain without it.
Everybody loves to hear about the love of God. Repentance? Not so much. But the Judgment Day is coming, and God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30-31).
Unfortunately for so many, there is much more to Christianity than just the love of God.