Most people think Christianity is a moral improvement project — don't drink, smoke, or chew, or run with girls who do!

But Jesus told the priests of Israel (the most moral people on earth), "The prostitutes enter the kingdom of God before you" (Mt 21:31).

Wait. What??

How can prostitutes enter God's kingdom before priests? Jesus explains in the next verse: 

"John came to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him" (Mt 21:32).

Prostitutes and thieves were entering God's kingdom before priests because they believed John's message and the priests didn't.

OK, what was John's message? 

John pointed at Jesus and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29).

According to John, the way of righteousness, the answer to the problem of sin, and the entrance into God's kingdom, is not a code of ethics, it's a Person.

All of us, priests and prostitutes, have a morality problem — a sin problem (Rm 3:10-12). Since the doctor slapped our fannies we have rebelled against our Creator (Ps 51:5), defying Him to become our own gods. Romans 3 is clear: No one is good. No one is moral.

So, how did God respond to our rebellion? In the most mind-boggling way.

He died for us.

Two thousand years ago Jesus came not to dole out our judgment (Jn 3:17) but to bear our judgment.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross" (1 Pet 2:24).

Jesus bore the punishment for our sins in our place on the cross, and three days later rose triumphantly from the grave (1 Cor 15:1-5).

This is the gospel. This is Christianity.

Jesus' message to you is not, "Do better! Try harder!" but "It is finished!" His goal is not to make you moral, it's to make you free. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Gal 5:1). He does this, not through your effort, but through His effort on your behalf. Christianity isn't a burdensome morality project; it's a rest-and-enjoy-freedom-in-Jesus project.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt. 11:28).