You have heard people say “Jesus accepts us just the way we are”.  As nice as this may sound, we must ask if it is a true statement.  If Jesus really accepts people just the way they are then why does He call them to “repent”?  The word, repent literally means “to change”.

Further, if this concept that Jesus accepts us just the way we are then why does He say we need to be “born again”?

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3 NIV)

All this isn’t sounding like Jesus accepting people just the way they are. 

People also say that Jesus wasn’t “judgmental”, that He simply accepted people & loved them for who they were.  After all, people will claim “Jesus hung out with sinners”.

They never seem to connect WHY Jesus hung out with sinners.

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him [Jesus] eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:16-17 NKJV)

What does a doctor do if not “change” the condition of person – change who they are in their sickness & make them new again?  Jesus DOESN’T accept us as sick but calls us to repentance & comes to cure us of who we WERE.

Further we often hear how Jesus didn’t “judge” the prostitute who was about to be stoned by a mob, but that He simply accepted her just as she was.  But do these people tell the whole story?  Let’s see.

When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (John 8:10-11 NKJV)

We see then, Jesus didn’t simply accept the woman just as she was but told her to “go & sin no more” or as a NIV Bible translation says, “Go & leave your life of sin”.

This isn’t the first time we see Jesus telling people to change & stop doing what they had been doing.  In another account Jesus had healed a crippled man & later Jesus saw the man in the Temple & said this to him.

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” (John 5:14 NKJV)

So, not only do we see Jesus once again NOT accepting people as continued sinners but here Jesus actually threatens this man that if he returns to his former ways, something worse would happen to him.

Now, does this sound like the Jesus often presented to us as some hippie-like figure that goes around the countryside simply being nice to people?  Does this sound like a Jesus that accepts people just the way they are?  I submit the “Jesus” people present as all accepting of sinners in continued sin is NOT the Jesus of the Bible.

Repent & believe – be born again & go & sin no more – THAT is the message of the Jesus of the Bible.