What does it mean to be a good person

TRANSCRIPT

Thanks for joining me in the conversation today. We're continuing to talk about heaven. Who goes there? That's the subject. And I think it's an important one for us to pick up right now and talk about. Everyday context is always somebody that's thinking about the next part of life, what happens next. So I'd like to invite you to, if you're just here for the first time, the train's left the platform last week, but we're going to slow it down, let you get on board and recap where we're at with Pastor Kev's message last week.

I want to start off talking about some people. In respect to this person, their parents live locally, so I won't name them. But a young man, 17 years old, was killed just eight months ago in a street near us. In the car he was traveling in, came to arrest against a truck in a very violent way and caused him to die.

If you go by that street now, you'll see a, a little memorial to this young man. And on the, the, the thing that I really noted was it has these words, his name forever 17. I think the mind that tries to grapple with the loss, it wants to stay remembering where we used to be. What was the good thing about.

This young man is 17. A brilliant life ready to be unfolded and come to a sudden end. I'm thinking of another young man, I'll use his name because I know the family well, is Stephen. 1994, young 20 something, I know how old, but 20 something and he took his own life. And I went to the funeral for this young boy.

I was so pleased I didn't have to deliver that. message and do that service. But it was the most sad occasion I've ever been in the church. Here was this young man and the family and particularly some of the friends after the eulogy, one girl got up and she was screaming at this Stephen for how dare you take your life away now.

How dare you end it now and leave us to pick up the pieces. And then the most, I don't know why people think this is an appropriate song for a funeral, especially someone that they're not really sure about their future destination, but they played that beautiful song called Stairway to Heaven. And I was weeping because the words on that are so morbid.

And the music is so down. And you think, why? But there's a lady who's sure that all that glitters is gold. This is Led Zeppelin, by the way. The poets of the seventies. And she's buying a stairway to heaven. There's a feeling I get when I look to the west and my spirit is crying for leaving. In my thoughts I've seen rings of smoke through the trees and the voices of those who stand looking.

Oh it makes me wonder. Oh it really makes me wonder. What's out there? Heaven. Who goes there? Pastor Kev introduced us last week to This topic and I just wanted to do research this week to see can we honestly say up here, you know, we generalize as, as evangelists, we evangelistically stretch the truth sometimes as preachers, but is it true that most Australians believe in heaven?

And the research is in, and the answer is yes. The really surprising statistic is that 51 percent of Australians who believe in heaven are aged between 18 and 34. The vast majority of Australian young people. So you know this is a relevant message for us to think about. Most people believe in heaven.

They're just not in a hurry to get there. This thinking is based on two assumptions. First of all, good people go to heaven. And the other assumption is, well, I'm a good person. So, it's hard for humans to imagine that there's no afterlife. And it makes sense why so many people hold these two assumptions.

Good people go to heaven, and I'm good. And because we think, well, that's fair, you know we should be rewarded for being good and doing good, right? In life we get rewarded. Sometimes we just turn up, we get rewarded, but most of the time we get rewarded for achievement, you know? So wouldn't it be fair of God to, to reward us for living a, a fairly good life on balance, you know?

Well, we also think it's consistent with the notion of a good God. A good God will reward good people with an afterlife. That makes sense, doesn't it? It sounds fair. And the last assumption we have is you made the cut. You know, it's okay to think about heaven as long as I'm in, not out. And we don't want to think of the alternative.

Because you're a good person, especially compared to that person over there, and that person over there, and that person over there, particularly that one. I'm looking pretty good now, yeah, shaping up. You know, but if you scratch beneath the surface, the theory falls apart pretty quickly. To begin with, the first thing that undermines the idea that good people go to heaven is Good is a moving target.

You know, it's a moving target historically. If you go back and live in the streets of Rome, back before Jesus Christ was born, you might see that little baby's body sitting alive on the side of the road. And the parents have decided we don't need that girl. We don't want that child. So within reason, within their culture, within their law, They can determine to leave it there to die.

Is that good? Well, they thought so. Historically, culturally, we have different moving targets of what's good. Go to Germany in the 1940s. What was good then? This is one relevant for those studying Nazism at the moment. You know, so many people had a mental space that said, you know, taking the life of those people, we won't name them, with a capital J, but you know, that's good.

The world doesn't need people like that. They're not heaven worthy. Come on, we'll get there, but not them. Otherwise, we'll all know what good is. If it was measured the same way at all times with all people, We would know what good is, right? Some some people want to use the Bible as their standard, you know?

I know what's good. Well, this is no help to you at all. If you rely upon what the Bible standard is for good, man, you won't be happy. It's not a pretty story. Good is so up there, so elevated, you won't make the cut. You don't make the cut. If you hold the standard behavior up against what the Bible calls good, you're just not going to be happy.

The Old Testament doesn't even mention heaven. Like, it doesn't have a formalized doctrine of heaven. It sort of says up there somewhere, there's God, but that's about all we get from the Old Testament. Pastor Kev told us, young Kev, that the New Testament does refer to it, but what it says is you're not good enough to go there based on your behaviour.

Thanks Pastor Kev. I was feeling pretty good until last week. And Paul, Paul was the guy that knew both sides of this equation of good and bad. He wrote to the Romans and he said this. In Romans chapter 3, verse 10, Did you know that there's no one righteous, not even one? Oh, Paul, get off my back, you know.

How could you say that to us? And he writes that no one, how many? No one, yeah. No one at all will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law. And here's another verse he adds in, one very familiar to us in Romans 3, 23 it says, And all have sinned and fall short. Oh no, that means we're doomed.

The very best of you, the very highest I can think of, of human race, according to scripture, we're all doomed. Ah, we'll just finish there and go home now. No, we've got more. Thank goodness. Well, because of your sin you fall short. I'm not judging you because it applies to me too. The big mirror up there I'm looking at.

It's just not a pretty picture when you look at the New Testament description of what is good. As I said, there's nothing in the New Testament that actually says if you just keep following the rules. If you just do it all correctly, then you're guaranteed a place in heaven. And you always thought that's what the church preached, right?

It doesn't. Jesus didn't say that. So if you're looking for an answer to the question, how good is good enough? The Bible really isn't any help. We're just not that good. And if being good is what gets us to heaven, but God failed to tell us that, that means that God is not good. How could he not explain to us that it wasn't about being good?

Is he toying with us? Is he teasing us just to get us thinking about what makes us fall short? It's such a moving goalpost. Is he hiding it from us? Worse than that, if only good people go to heaven. Jesus was mistaken. You know, Jesus was misleading. That's if we believe that's what Jesus said. Here's the thing, Jesus didn't teach the good people go to heaven.

He implied that bad people go to heaven. There's a little crack in the door now. They're starting to get a picture of what might be the solution to this issue. The good people in the first century weren't good enough. Good people in the 21st century are not good enough. So who is? If you follow Jesus through the Gospels, you'll see that he leveled that playing field to everyone was the same.

We all have the same odds. Jesus raised the standard of good so high that no one, not one, could say, I'm good enough. There's never going to be somebody standing at the gates of heaven saying, you've got to let me in God. You'll say, really? Why? And there is an answer to the why, but it's not because I was good enough.

Jesus said, So important and easy to miss. Jesus consistently rejected the religious notion that a person can be in good standing with God while at the same time mistreating the people that God loves. Here's the differentiator. That's a hard word to say. This sets Jesus apart and this is why he taught us, and what he taught us was so different.

This is why it wasn't until after the resurrection of Jesus that the disciples had that, ah, moment. This is what he was talking about. Let me ask you a question. Here it is. Have you ever mistreated another person?

Never told a lie about them? Never prejudged them? Never? Abuse them in any way? Never bullied somebody never harassed somebody never said to somebody else, you know that person Have you ever mistreated another person

Well according to jesus that's what makes you a sinner That's sin. That's how he judges it It's the people that god loves is the people he's looking to see. How are we dealing with them? If you're not a Christian, doesn't it grind you that people who say they follow Christ mistreat other people? You have every right to be angry at them.

Because Jesus was. Jesus never stopped picking people up on this sticky point. You say you know God, but look at the way that you treat other people. Look at the way you live. That should irritate us. Because Jesus would say, when you sin against someone God loves, you sin against my Father, against God. I'm so glad I don't fall into that category.

Alright. Imagine if the church had maintained that position from day one. Imagine what a world we would live in if the Christians were the ones who specialized in this type of understanding. You know, the ones that God loves, they're okay. And He loves everybody, so that means that by definition, I cannot be right with my Heavenly Father and mistreat people that my Father loves.

If you mistreat my two children, there's one there, if you mistreat my children, Don't ask me to come to your party. Don't expect me to do you a favour. And here's the father saying the same thing to us. You mistreat my children. And then you call on me to help you? We're at odds. We're apart. If you mistreat my children, then I will hold you accountable.

That's how God your Father views it. Sin isn't breaking a religious tradition. And it's not about keeping some religious tradition. It's all about how we treat the people that God loves. So let's all ask, we can ask a related question. Did you ever need to ask to be forgiven? See, that kind of answers the did I ever mistreat somebody question.

If you did, you know in your heart you had to ask for forgiveness. Or you felt like you should, even if you never did. Probably it was too hard. So we ask the question, have you ever mistreated another person? If so, then you fall short by definition of the goodness and the glory of God. So welcome to my club.

This is the way we live. We live as those who are guilty before God. And even if you're not a believer in God, you know in your heart there's something at odds between you and whatever made this universe because of the way you're built and the way you act and think. So you don't have to be a God person to understand this.

According to Jesus mistreating another person separates us from God because that is sin, which means we're all doomed. Good news. You're probably thinking what? Well that's not fair. You know, that standard is exceptionally way high. How could it be so? And it sounds about right though when I think about the behavior of other people towards me, you know, they should be judged heavily.

High standard. The way you spoke to me, the way you thought about that email, well, shouldn't have done that, okay? But you know what? It's about right when it comes to how I treat other people. I can have that standard as a double standard, because good is a moving, confusing target. Good is a A moving and confusing target as long as we view good as a bargaining chip to our benefit.

I'll be good, God, as long as you help me out, you know. I'll be good as long as you give me a ticket to heaven. Climb that stairway. I'll be good. Good will always be a moving and confusing target, but how good is good enough? Is above 50 percent okay? What about 70? Can we, 75? You know? Does do my motives count?

Does my family count? I come from a good Christian family. I didn't, but some people may argue that. But good sits uncomfortably still when it comes to what's good for others. As long as it's about you, then it's a fog. It's a very airy fairy how good is good enough. But as soon as it's you. Doing something against me.

I know what's good for you. I know how to judge what you've done. What you should do. I know the difference between right and wrong. And I know the difference between good and bad. And I know what's good for you is No, what is it? Jesus standard is this. What's good for that other person, for her, for him, for them, is what's good.

Get that? What's good for them is what's good. So let's choose to ask God to show us what's good for others so that we can listen and help and, and help others to see that God is not against them despite the fact that they have fallen short. That's the Jesus version. The question we ask around here often is, What does love require of me?

And that's a flip side of that same question about if, if we've all fallen short, what does it look like to love like God does on a person we know that's not better or good, at least not as good as me, you know, we mistreat them. And so if we mistreat, mistreat them, we're mistreating the ones that our heavenly father loves too.

So the Jesus version of all, of good makes us all look bad. By definition that is the bad news. So let's go on quick. It's the bad news that makes the good news good. Jesus is the only person in history to offer a succinct and clarifying answer to the question, how good is good enough? Oh, we're ready for this, yeah?

Do you know that what the answer is? Are you ready? It's offensive. The first century people thought it was pretty offensive. How good is good enough? Jesus. One word answer. Can you outdo that one? Can you come up to that standard? That's how good, you know, and we will never be that good. It's why we need a saviour.

Not a list, not an 11th commandment, not a do over, not a second chance. We don't need that stuff, we need a saviour. We need someone to rescue us from not being good enough. Because no matter how hard we try, how we want to psychologically twist it, we're not that good. So Paul, again, this guy that was on both sides, once the chief of sinners, you know, who judged those who broke the law, put them into prison, saw them die, He was also able to say when he became a follower of Christ and aware of his own badness and what God had done for him, he said this, we have a mission.

We beg you on behalf of Christ. The implication here is that Jesus has a desire. His desire is that we would receive him. We beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God.

To get in the right relationship with God. How can you be reconciled to God? Can you do better? Can you jump higher? Can you be gooder? All these things are important, you know. But we can, can so easily get distracted by the idea that my religious life, even as a Christian, is all about that stuff. Just, if I'm a bit better at my prayers and my soap and, you know, if I come every week.

Well, I might miss one, but that's okay. I'm in the right zone. If I just do that stuff, if I tell somebody I love Jesus, you know, is that good enough? And then he goes on. Paul says, God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin, that's hard for us to get our mind around, to be sin on our behalf, so that we can be. Might do?

No. We might become the righteousness of God in him. This righteousness, right? When I was growing up, righteous meant yay. But righteous, we're talking about something that's good with God. Something that's on the right side with God. Something that's made me right with the Father in heaven, my Creator. So, He calls us to be righteous in Him.

Because He's good enough. Not me, but Him. Jesus transferred His standing with God onto us. He didn't just take our place. Wow. Jesus gave us a new place and a brand new type of relationship with God because all who fell short needed that. God, through Christ, gave you a new place. Here's righteousness and Jesus took his righteousness and made it available to us so that we would have what he has with God.

Yeah. He took all our sins upon himself based on nothing we've done, only based on what was done for us. All that you've done for me. We sang that, didn't we? Praise you God for all that you've done for me. So good people don't go to heaven. And compared to Jesus, there aren't any good people. That's why. We can say that with full confidence, not guilt tripping.

It's just the way it is for all of us. But good people don't go to heaven. Forgiven people go to heaven. Woo hoo, now we're getting there. Jesus underscored this throughout His life. Even dying on the cross, there was one that needed forgiving right next to Him. For I mean he forgave all of them. What did he say?

You know right there it says when they came to the place called the skull they crucified him there with the criminals along with them and Jesus said father forgive them the very people that pierced him and stabbed him with a sword they were the ones that Jesus said they need you to father bring him home forgive them As in don't hold it against them.

I want to live a life where God is saying I don't hold it against you. Don't make them pay even though they know they're doing the wrong. How often do I do it wrong and know it? Man, I'm with Paul in Romans chapter 7 where he says, the good I need to do, I don't do, and the very evil that I don't want to do, there's this war going on inside of me, like a law almost written on my flesh, that I'm going to rebel against the good.

I know it's wrong.

But he says, Father forgive them. They don't really understand. And you know, for us to receive that kind of goodness, we may reject the idea in saying, how absurd that I could be counted good before God. There are some people I know that cannot see any good in themselves. So much so, they become like a Stephen, who says, my life is not worth living anymore.

Not even God would accept me. Lies. From the enemy. The very lies that we as a church have been given the confidence to stand up and not, you know, we talk about apologetics. We don't need to apologize for the fact that God is the Savior. Jesus is the answer. You see, that's grace. Grace is getting what we don't deserve.

And mercy, well, that's not getting what we deserve. Grace and mercy are in God's hands. And that's the good news, folks. If you came today wondering what good news would be like, there it is. Religion says, I will do, I must do. What can I do, God, to please you? And too many people live that way. Even in churches.

And those looking in on the church who don't understand the true gospel. They think we're preaching do. But the good news is, Christ and his people don't say do, they say done. In Jesus Christ it is done. In Jesus Christ every part of your life that needs to be settled with God, it's done. There's not one thing that God will hold against you when you say, Father, I can't do this.

I need you. And he says, it's done. As far as I'm concerned, what are you talking about? Jesus rejected that paradigm. His message was, I've done it for you. It is finished. There's nothing to do to make up for you. There's just a gift to be received. The gift of forgiveness and right standing with God. Jesus declared you a sinner and then he died for you.

He knows where you stand with him. It says one that wants to be made right with him and the Father. But anyone could claim that right. Anyone could say, yeah, I'm going to save you. But they have to demonstrate it first, right? So he authenticated and punctuated this claim by defeating death itself. You know, you had to be dead for more than three days in Jewish tradition to be counted really dead.

Because you might just swoon, you know, and you might come back. So a good four days, you know, like, after the third day, then you can count it as a real death. So the real dead Jesus, who was judged that way by a Roman soldier who knew how to kill people. Yeah, he's dead. Put him in the prison, put him in the ja in the tomb, rolled that stone away, and then he comes back to life.

And so Paul, again, Paul the one that knew what it was like to persecute others and say, God, I'm pleasing you. Look, I'm doing it. Doing the stuff and all the time being on the wrong side of God because he hated the people that God loved. He said this to the Corinthians, those guys who lived in Greece, he said, I want to remind you of the good news that I preached to you that Christ died for our sins.

That he was buried, he was raised on the third day and that he appeared to Peter and then to the 12 apostles. And to more than 500, get your head around that one, and of the brothers and sisters at the same time. And then he appeared to James, that's his brother. James is an interesting guy. He goes from thinking Jesus is a bit loony.

He comes with Mary and the brothers and sisters and says, we've got to rescue him, he's a bit crazy lately. Have you heard the things he's been saying? And then within a period of weeks, After Jesus has risen from the dead, James melts and says, My Lord. My Lord. So there's a change. The bad news is you are a sinner separated from God.

We all are. And then Jesus came and paid for your sin. This part we know so well we discount it. If you're like most people, you believe there's a heaven. If you're like most people, you believe you're heading there based on So what are you trusting? What are you trusting to get you to heaven? There's an answer to that.

I believe there's a heaven, and I'm going there. Why? What's your answer to God when you get to the heavenly gate? He says, why should I let you into my heaven? There is a good answer. Because I wasn't good enough. But Jesus, he transferred his goodness onto my life. It's okay to feel good now. I feel good about that.

It's goodness. It's goodness you can't define. Or as a term, by comparing yourself to others less good than yourself. Jesus invites you to transfer your trust from your own effort to others good. to his sacrificial death for you. He did for you what you could never do for yourself. You've probably heard it said, but all of this said before, but if today in some sense, this has come home to you more, something has clicked, something has made you think again.

Today's a good day. Maybe the first time to invite Jesus to be your goodness and your savior. I want to give you a chance in just a second to pray a prayer, and to make it more comfortable for those who are first time saying this prayer, I'm going to invite all the believers to say it too, with us. I'm going to read the prayer now, and then we'll come back to it, and if you want to pray it with me, you can.

The prayer is Heavenly Father, I have mistreated the people you love. I've sinned. I don't need to be, do better. I need forgiveness. I need to save you. I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I'm no longer trusting in my goodness. I'm trusting in your undeserved goodness to me. And I accept Jesus death as the once for all payment for my sin.

Amen. Now those words express a transfer of trust. If that's where you feel that God has placed you today, if your mind is catching up with your heart and you think I've got to do something, today's the right time to do it. So I invite you, Christians as well, to make it comfortable for others. Let's repeat this prayer.

Heavenly Father, I have mistreated people you love. I have sinned. I don't need to do better. I need forgiveness. I need a Saviour. I accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I'm no longer trusting in my goodness. I'm trusting in your undeserved goodness to me. I accept Jesus death. As the once and for all payment for my sin.

Amen.

The Lord hears the prayer of the faithful. He responds not because we're good and not because you're here today, but because it's the truth. He's heard you. Probably the best thing you could ever say to somebody who's hurting and needy is to say, I hear you. And God reaches out and says, I hear you. I know you.