In the course of a day we meet men of every race and creed in our business associations. We can set a Christian example in our dealings with them, but it is too much to expect that we can convert all of them to our faith. We need to be tolerant, to live and let live. But that is in business.
The changing world changes the ideas of men as years pass. We like to call our ideas “modern.” Every generation snatches at some new straw and sets it up as the “modern” way of doing things. So in our age, the “modern” idea is “tolerance.” And like all liberalism, it suffers immeasurable abuse. Some dare to suggest that everybody goes to heaven, everybody is saved. So why be Christian? Why have denominational groups? Let's have a union of all Christians. Nay, let's go farther. Let's have a union of Christians, Jews, Buddhists and what have you?
Abuses of this sort do great damage to the faith of unthinking people. We need to be thoughtful and concrete in our religious thinking. It is very well to advance and liberalize our faith, to avoid the stringencies of too-narrow bigotry. But let us always try to be reasonable, as our time-honored faith is also reasonable.
There are obvious limits to tolerance. We cannot tolerate pain, oppression, evil, crime, sin or greed. Our tolerance must be the tolerance of love, like the mercy of God.
“God so loved, that He gave.” As our Father is full of mercy in His love, so must we be. “Love your enemies,” said Christ. “Do good , and lend.” This is the true tolerance and mercy shown by God. The sun shines, the moon beams, the start twinkle, crops grow and cattle fatten for God enemies as well as for His friends. God treats all men alike, friend or enemy, in the just and impartial distributions of His gifts and benefits. The word “love” is so much mis -used these days. We say we “love” candy, or games, or spinach. That's not love. Love is giving, helping, doing good, forgiving. That's the kind of love and tolerance that God shows and that is the kind that we can rightly show forth before all men.
But our text expresses limitations. We are told to be merciful, as God is merciful. We are not to be unrestrained, unconfined in our tolerance and love. We are not to follow our own “modern” ideas about the toleration of godless things. We are to be merciful in the manner of God.
We are inclined to say that God can afford to be merciful. He is so far above men, His power is so much greater than theirs. It is comparatively easy to forgive a weak opponent, but a strong foe must be completely disarmed lest he rise up again and attack at some future time. It is all right for God to forgive, we say, because His power is never seriously threatened.
But isn't the same true with us, as Christians? We can well afford to be merciful, for we possess infinite resources which the rest of the world cannot threaten. We possess the peace that passes worldly understanding; we possess the assurance of the love of God. We need to be merciful, loving and forgiving, like God is.
But there are times when God isn't tolerant. Christ's example shows us the danger of too much tolerance. He preached and taught all men: Jew and Gentile, Roman and Greek, Pharisee and Sadducee, priest and sinner. But He did not hesitate for a moment to flay the Pharisees. He said they were like white-washed tombs, rotten and decaying inside. He showed up their selfishness, their inconsideration of others. Superstition He turned aside and put away. That is true mercy.
We dare not be yes-men in religion. Everybody can't be right today any more than at Christ's time. If it is true that we have nothing better to offer than other religions, then Christianity has no right to exist separately. But if the love of God in Christ means anything, if the salvation He died to achieve really has a purpose, then we cannot rightly give credence to any anti-Christ, we cannot in word or deed support any religion save that which has Christ as its core and heart.
You've heard thoughtless people say “It doesn't matter what Church we attend. We're all striving for the same thing.” But doesn't it matter? Those ignorant folk are deluding themselves. They don't look beneath the surface. Truth is one, and two half-truths have never yet succeeded in making one honest truth. If Christianity is meaningful, we dare not tolerate unbelief.
This definition of mercy gives us an incentive for our missionary zeal. We are impelled by our faith to teach all men and to try to convert them. If their religions are as good as ours, then we have no moral right to deprive them of their ancient faiths. But if Christianity is true and if there is “no other Name under heaven by which men can be saved” then our tolerance of strange gods has to end.
We must love our enemies, regardless of whom or how they worship. If their God is Buddha or some modern ideology, we have an imperative need to show our love for them. We cannot prevent them from living and worshiping as they please. We can still treat them as friends and acknowledge their right to God's gifts, which are for all men. But let us use the gift of common-sense in our faith. We cannot sympathize with gross and consistent unbelief, or with opposition to Christ, whether it stems from the Jews, from Russia or from Hitler. The fact that we admit the right of others to exist does not include the concession that their beliefs are right.
We are merciful, loving and forgiving, always. We seek to help all men. The arms of our Church are always ready to enfold some wandering sinner who seeks a Savior. But we are merciful as our Father is merciful, wisely and righteously. We must have the universal love and charity of our Lord foremost in our lives, but we dare not ever tolerate dangerous doctrines, sin, unbelief or other unwholesome things.