Tolerance Quiz.

Tolerance Quiz. Romans 15:7-14.

Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Romans 15:7 (NKJV)

Tolerance is probably the number one problem we face as people. From the early ages of childhood, the opinions we form about people are shaped and therefore as adults, our attitudes become deeply ingrained. This feature of our personalities is a deficit that we must work on and is a direction that God eagerly wants us to pursue to be more like Him. Tolerance is a first step in being holy.

It is easy to be on the other end of tolerance, longing for acceptance; however, even those who long to be accepted have trouble accepting others. No one knew this better than Paul; he struggled on every side.

Paul, who original name was Saul, was a very troublesome guy for Christians. Luke describes Saul's person in the Acts of the Apostles as being a hated criminal and feared by his own people. Saul loathed Christians and was able to manipulate fellow Jews to pursue Christians and even kill them.

His craftiness was so that, at his consent, others would do the dirty work as Saul looked on. In Acts chapter eight, we are told that a "great persecution" was happening and had spread throughout Judea and Samaria and as for Saul, he was spearheading the movement, entering homes and condemning people, bringing convictions and imprisonment. Saul had no tolerance for Christians; he thought that the only good Christians were dead Christians.

Saul struggled with tolerance on two different levels; he was a proud Jew and to gain acceptance from his peers, he felt he had to study harder, work harder, and do those things that promoted his authority.

Saul was a climber, a man pleaser, and eagerly looked to be an authority figure. He wanted to be accepted so bad that he was consumed with his work. Though he wanted to be accepted, he could not extend that to others. He was self centered, arrogant, and proud.

One day, as he was delivering mail and prisoners to Jerusalem, he drew near to Damascus where the Lord appeared unto Him in a blinding light and there on that road, Saul would come to the understanding that he was fighting against God by his lack of tolerance for people.

The encounter left him blind and the words echoed in his mind as the Lord shouted "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Being led by the hand to Damascus, Paul would sit in blindness and remorse not even taking food, for he realized that he persecuted people who God loved.

For years Saul only thought of himself; he was blind to his own sin and he treated everyone else with little to no respect. In doing so, he was exhibiting no respect towards God. Now sitting in the darkness, the years of no tolerance were ever present and Saul could feel his true self.

This encounter changed the life of Saul and after the Lord restored his sight, he was a new man and began to preach Jesus in the synagogues.

Now tolerance took on a whole new meaning for Saul. Those who he tolerated could no longer tolerate him; the Jews wanted to kill him. Then the Christians that Saul could not tolerate, had a problem accepting him also. Saul was an enemy and their trust he would now have to gain. Saul literally went from one problem to another, all because of the lack of tolerance in his life.

In our passage, Paul says we should accept others the same way God accepts us. This should be practiced daily, for in our lives there are those that we like and those we dislike. We have favorites and least favorites and we have people that we respect and those we disrespect. All in all, we are not much different from Saul and in tolerance we have room for growth.

What if God were to bring to you a vile criminal that did horrible acts, but they repented while in jail? Now they wanted your acceptance. What would you do?

Those who received Paul did so with skepticism and being there became so tough for Saul that they had to sneak him out of the city and send him to Jerusalem. How the disciples received him is recorded in Acts chapter nine so that we might be able to answer the question of what would we should do when people like Saul repent.

They brought him into their congregation with skepticism; for even Jesus said to beware of wolfs dressed in sheep's clothing.

They let him declare his testimony and then, over time, they listened to him and watched him as the days went by. Jesus taught that you should evaluate the fruit that comes from their life and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit; so Saul was monitored and the proof of his conversion evaluated.

Saul's conversion was true and he would go on to be a different man. From killer to saint, yet not over night; Saul was allowed to yield himself and prove the position of his heart.

There are many people who profess themselves Christians, but their works indicate that they do not attain to the love of God for all men. It is easy for them to love the lovable, but the unlovable is a different story.

Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: "For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name." And again he says: "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!" And again: "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!" And again, Isaiah says: "There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope." Romans 15:7-12 (NKJV)

Paul's goal in saying these things is to get the Christians Jews to accept the Christian Gentiles and for the Christians Gentiles to accept the Christian Jews. Quoting Isaiah, Paul reinforces the validity of God's acceptance of Gentiles in hopes that each will see that their acceptance of each other is a part of God's plan and worth sending His own Son to die on the cross.

The problem of tolerance is not isolated to this time that Paul spoke to and much of the church still holds prejudice against other Christians from other churches. Churches will not participate together or accept other churches because their ways are different; yet we are all one under Christ.

The questions we must ask are, "If we lack tolerance towards our own, how can we be tolerant of people repenting of great sin?" "If we cannot unite as one, how can we do the work of God to reach the world?" Lastly we must ask, "What will it take to change us; blindness?"

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NKJV)

Does he have tolerance for others? Has he truly changed his ways and can God use him to a greater work? Can he love as Christ loved us and gave his life for us? These are the questions the disciples had when observing Saul; these are the questions we should be asking about ourselves.