Good Enough For Eternity?
One Off Sermons • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
(*)
- This morning, as a way to follow up the Gospel Fluency journey we’ve been on the last two months, I want to do a single message that is called “Good Enough For Eternity?”
- I did a version of this message at the joint Heritage Days service two summers ago, so those of you who were there may find parts of this familiar.
- But, next week Jen will be preaching as we are away for the long weekend, and after that I’ll be diving into a couple of different weeks in terms of sermons, but ones that I am very excited about.
- And then, can you believe it, after that is Advent?
- And so this week is kind of a one-off, but I have done a version of this message before, and as we have spent the last couple of months really emphasizing the Gospel and being fluent in the Gospel, I thought that this may be a helpful thing for us to consider this morning.
(*)
- And so, today I want us to focus in on the very popular saying that “good people go to heaven”.
- How many people have heard that statement or something like it: Good people go to heaven?
- This is a pretty common idea that a lot of people believe. Plenty of different religions teach on it, agnostics (who are people who say they don’t care whether or not there is a God), even they sometimes believe in it.
- And there are even a good chunk of atheists who don’t believe in God, but would say “if, by some chance there is a God and a heaven, I trust that He would let me into heaven. Because I’m a good person.”
- “I’ve never stolen (maybe just a piece of candy from the store when I was a kid, but that hardly counts), I’ve never murdered anybody, I’ve tried to be nice to people and show love to those around me. So who cares whether or not I followed the “right God”? I will probably get to heaven either way.”
- And many people especially like to compare themselves to the really bad and evil people, as proof that they really aren’t all that bad, and therefore deserve heaven when compared to the evil people in the world.
- There are even a number of beliefs and worldviews that talk about this, and they refuse to say that they are the only way to heaven, because there are multiple ways to heaven – as long as you are a good person.
- And so all of today is going to revolve around this belief that “good people go to heaven.”
- And we’ve heard this, and maybe there are a few (or a lot) of us sitting here that believe that.
- And maybe right now you’re unsure where you are in terms of believing this statement.
(*)
- So here’s how you can tell: Imagine yourself standing before God and He looks at you and asks you this question:
- “Why should I let you into heaven?”
- What would your answer be?
- Would your answer sound something along the lines of:
(*)
- “I’ve always tried to do this...”
- “I’ve never done this...”
- “I do my best to...”
- Any answers that are along these lines are in direct relation to the idea that good people go to heaven.
(*)
- Because many of us will answer “why should I go to heaven” by talking about ourselves and what we’ve done and what we think we deserve.
- And so today we’re going to look at this whole idea of “good people go to heaven” and see whether or not it holds ground and makes sense when you really think about it.
- Can we count on this belief, that good people go to heaven, and can we live our lives based on it and still get to heaven in the end?
(*)
- And so before we go any further I want to say that the idea for this came from a short little book by Andy Stanley called “Since Nobody’s Perfect... How Good is Good Enough?” If you like to read I’d definitely recommend this book. It’s just a tiny little thing that can be read in like 60 minutes (and I’m a slow reader!)
- Now, as we dive in, I want to start with a statement that might surprise some of us:
(*)
- Good people do NOT go to heaven.
- The whole idea of “if I’m a good person and do good things and stay away from the really bad things, then God will let me into heaven” is not true and it is definitely not something that we should believe for even a second.
- It may sound good, it may sound smart, and the first time we hear the idea we might think “that makes perfect sense!” But it’s all a lie, and we need to stop believing it so that we can get to the truth.
- So, now that I’ve said that, let’s take a closer look to see what is wrong with the idea that good people go to heaven.
- And the main point, the main reason why “good people go to heaven” doesn’t make sense, is all summed up in this:
(*)
- Where’s the line?
- Where’s the standard?
- Where’s the bar been set?
- Just like the title of the book by Andy Stanley says – how good is good enough?
- What do I mean by that?
- I mean that if good people will get to go to heaven, like a lot of people believe they will, then we need to figure out who is in charge of deciding who is good and who isn’t – so that we can know exactly where we stand.
- So to help this make sense I want to do a quick little exercise with all of us.
(*)
- So let’s do this, right now I want you to think of where you would rank yourself on a scale of 1-100 (1 is the lowest, 100 is the highest).
- Give yourself a mark – a grade – between 1 and 100 that is your grade for “how good you are”.
- You won’t have to share it with anyone, but just have an idea in your head, of what mark you would give yourself on “how good you are.”
- Now first, let’s assume that our numbers are correct. Let’s say that we have each given ourselves the perfect number that perfectly describes how good we are.
- Now here’s the problem for why the “good people go to heaven” theory doesn’t work:
- At what mark do you go into heaven?
- Where is the pass-fail line that says “anything above this goes to heaven, anything below this goes to hell”?
(*)
- You know, let’s say that it needs to be 80. Back in the good old days when I went to school, that was where the “honour roll” was determined, so obviously anything above 80 in life is pretty good.
- If you have higher than an 80 in school most people will agree that you are a good student, so I guess that if you have higher than an 80 in life that must make you a good person.
- Who agrees with this logic? Does it make sense?
- Question for you: What about a person who is a 79?
- Do we really believe that someone who is only 1 mark away from 80 doesn’t deserve heaven?
- Will a 79 really go to hell because they missed the mark by 1?
- Would God actually be that cruel because they were 1 mark off of the standard?
- I hope not!
- Ok, ok. Let’s do away with the whole honour roll system, because it’s not fair that an 80 gets eternal life in heaven but a 79 gets eternal death in hell.
(*)
- Let’s make this a system based around the number 50.
- Now that seems to fit a bit better.
- We’d say in school that you fail if you get below 50 and pass if you get above it.
- So I guess I can live with that.
- 50 is right in the middle, so anything below it is “bad”, and anything above it is “good”.
- Although then we have to wonder, what about people who are below 50, but a few of the bad things they did were done for good reasons?
- They stole food to feed their starving family. They lied to save someone’s life. Stuff like that.
- Or what if some of the bad stuff they did was by accident? They killed someone in a car accident. Something along those lines. What then?
- Or maybe the person just below 50 (let’s say a 48) had a really tough life and had to make some really difficult choices in life, but the person just above 50 (let’s say a 52) had a really cushy, easy-going life that was handed to them on a silver platter.
- Does the one deserve hell and the other heaven just because of how hard or easy their life was?
- And again, does it really seem fair that a 49 doesn’t get in and a 50 does, when they weren’t that different in how good they were, and yet there is a drastic difference in rewards and punishment for their numbers?
- If you are one grade off, you go to hell. If you are one mark on the other side, you go to heaven.
- So you can be just as good as someone else, make one tiny mistake, and go to hell because of it.
- I hope you’re like me and you’re thinking to yourself “this can’t be how God decides who gets into heaven!”
- Because it just doesn’t work!
- You see how confusing this is? And this is only the beginning because the most confusing part would be to ask “who decides what number we get” since we probably don’t get to pick our own?
- Who is the one who gives us our grade in life, and how can we know what our grade is, so that we know if we need to try a bit harder or be a bit better?
- Because if I knew I was a 97 and that you only had to be a 65 to get to heaven, then I could take it easy and relax.
- But if I knew I was a 7 and you need to be a 75 to get to heaven, then I know that I need to pick up the pace so that I can get my grade in life up higher.
- But the fact is that nobody is telling us what our “grade” in life is.
- No god or religion or book or anything claims to have any sort of magical formula for figuring out “this line right here is exactly how good you need to be to get to heaven.”
- No one has that answer.
(*)
- The truth is that if you talk to most people who have lived what we would call a good life, and you asked them “do you think you’ve been good enough to get to heaven?” the answer you’d likely get is “I hope so.”
- Because that’s really all we’ve got with this theory. “I hope so.”
- We can’t be sure, because nowhere has God made it clear just how good we need to be to get to heaven.
- This is not a trick, this is not a test. Read the Bible, look at the other religions. They may cover some broad, sweeping basics, but there really is no line that God has definitively drawn in life saying “anything better than this is in, and anything worse than this is out.”
- That line just doesn’t exist.
- It’s not there.
- And so if God wants us to actually make it to heaven, why would He leave this detail out if it’s the key to getting there?
- Or maybe God enjoys watching us squirm and it is all for His amusement?
- But then if that was true, then God wouldn’t be good and He wouldn’t be worth following.
- And so here’s what I hope we see so far: If God is good, and if good people go to heaven, then God needs to do a better job telling us what makes somebody “good”.
- Let’s think about it this way:
- That’s like you getting hired by the owner of a company, and you work there for years – without ever really being told what you’re supposed to be doing.
- You do what you think you’re supposed to, and nobody really tells you that you are right or wrong, so you assume you can’t be doing that bad of a job, otherwise your boss would tell you, right?
- Then one day you get called into your bosses office, you sit down, your boss turns to you and yells “You incompetent buffoon! Every day for years you’ve come in and done the wrong things! You’re fired! I never want to see you again!”
- Chances are that none of us would say that the boss was a good and fair person.
- Because a good and fair person would have laid out and told you what they wanted you to do – or at the very least they would have told you when you started to do the wrong things.
- They wouldn’t just freak out on you years later.
- Yet essentially that’s what the “good people go to heaven” followers believe.
- Because there is no “job description” for life. There is no list of rules written on the clouds saying “don’t do this, and make sure you do this, then you’ll be fine.”
- I mean sure, the Bible is packed with commandments and laws, but we can’t do all of them, and nowhere does it say “make sure you complete 75% of the rules if you want to go to heaven”.
- And so if good people go to heaven, then we have no idea how good is “good enough” and we will only find out whether or not we’ve made the cut when we’ve already died – and then it’s too late to change anything.
- Now I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound very fair to me.
- That doesn’t sound like a theory that I want to base my life around.
- Because it really doesn’t work.
(*)
- And so again, we need to understand that good people do not go to heaven.
- That can’t be it.
- That can’t be the theory that life on earth is based around.
- Because, while it may look good on paper, it really doesn’t make sense when we think about it.
- Because the theory doesn’t stand up against real questions and real problems.
- It’s just some nice little phrase that makes people feel good for a moment, but they are actually in for a big disappointment when they stand before God if they thought that this was their ticket into heaven.
- It just doesn’t work.
- Because either no one is going to heaven, or else there’s another way to get in.
- Do you really want to work and struggle your entire life to be what you consider a “good person”, only to have – at best – an “I hope I’ve been good enough to get to heaven”?
- Or is there some way that we can be completely sure whether or not we’re getting in?
- And so we know that good people don’t go to heaven. That is not how God bases who gets in and who doesn’t.
- So what is then?
- If good people don’t go to heaven, then what is the alternative?
(*)
- Romans 10:9-13
o If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
(*)
o Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
- This is a major statement right here.
- While a significant chunk of the world would say “just be a good person, and if there’s a heaven, you should be ok.” God says that “it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God”.
- When other religions say “we hope you follow us, but even if you don’t, there are multiple ways to heaven”, Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.”
- And when even atheists and agnostics would say “if there is a God, He’ll probably let me in because I tried to be a good person even though I didn’t follow Him”, the Creator of the universe actually says “I saved you by grace when you believed in me.”
(*)
- Ephesians 2:8-9
o God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
- And so what this means: is that good people don’t go to heaven.
(*)
- Followers of Jesus go to heaven.
- This means that those who receive God’s grace go to heaven, no matter how many times they’ve messed up or done the wrong thing or failed to be a “good person”.
- We don’t have to be a good person to go to heaven.
- We just need to follow Jesus.
- Now, will following Jesus change the way you live? Absolutely! But that’s another topic about how your behaviour changes because you have a relationship with God.
- It doesn’t change so that we can earn a relationship with God (because it’s already ours to have).
- We need to have faith in Jesus as the Ruler of our life, and we need to live our life in relationship with Him!
- Jesus died on the cross, to pay the penalty for our sin, and then He rose from the grave, to conquer sin and death, so that we might experience everlasting life with God.
- There’s a story in the Gospels about a time when Jesus ran into a certain man who had a question for Him.
(*)
- And so this man comes to Jesus and asks Him “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
(*)
- And Jesus replies by saying this: “Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good.”
- Now I don’t know how many of you have experienced this on a test, or from a parent or a spouse or a friend, but that my friends is a trick question.
- It’s like me asking you “if a plane crashes on the border of Canada and the USA, where do you bury the survivors?”
- “If a rooster is sitting on the roof and lays an egg which side will the egg roll down?”
- It’s a trick question!
- Jesus says “Why do you call me “good”? Only God is truly good.”
- The trick? Jesus is God!
- Jesus isthe Good Teacher.
- If no one is good except for God alone, then Jesus is the only one who has ever walked the face of the earth who we can look at and say “That was a good person.”
- “He is “good enough”.”
(*)
- But in the Gospel of Mark we find this little detail: After Jesus asks this question (“why do you call me good?”), the next time the man talks to Jesus he calls Him “teacher”.
- Jesus is testing him, hoping that this man will understand “Jesus is God, therefore Jesus is good.”
- But the man decides “ok, if no one is good except for God, then this man named Jesus is just a regular teacher.”
- He made the wrong choice.
- And we cannot overlook this story in our own lives.
- Because at some point in all of our lives Jesus is going to ask us “Who do you think I am?”
- Who do you believe Jesus is?
- If nobody is good enough, does Jesus fall into that category like the rest of us? I’m just a pastor, you’re just a student, you’re just an accountant, Jesus is just a teacher.
- Or, if nobody is good enough, am I just a pastor, you’re just a retired empty-nester, and Jesus is the Good Teacher?
- Because we may classify each other as good people. We may think of ourselves as a good person.
- And a lot of people would say that if we are a good person, then we have nothing to worry about after we die, because if there’s a heaven, we’re sure to get in because we lived a good life.
- But Jesus said “nobody is good except for God.”
- The standard of God – the measuring stick to get into heaven – is set so high that not one of us can call ourselves good.
- We are not good enough.
- We are never going to be good enough.
- Because the standard of “good” means that you have to be equal with God, and so none of us have a chance.
(*)
- But lucky for us, good people do not go to heaven.
- Followers of Jesus go to heaven.
- And that might sound harsh.
- That mind sound narrow and close-minded. Judgemental.
- I mean why?
- Why would only followers of Jesus go to heaven?
- Why would God be so spiteful to only grant a few everlasting life?
(*)
- And it’s because of this.
- The cross and the empty tomb.
- God gave His life up for us.
- He willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross and went through excruciating pain for us.
- We sin.
- We separate ourselves from the God who loves us and created us.
- But God came to earth as a man named Jesus, and took the penalty for our sins on the cross, so that we wouldn’t have to pay them ourselves.
- He died, so that we might live.
- But we cannot stop there.
- We need to remember that Jesus didn’t stay dead.
- He didn’t stay in the grave.
- He didn’t stay defeated and murdered.
- Jesus lives.
- Out of all the key religious figures: Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, and so on and so forth; Jesus is the only one who is alive.
- So who do you think that Jesus is?
- Is He just a teacher, just some guy who lived a long time ago?
- Or is He God? Is He the only One who is truly “good”, and therefore He’s the only One who can take us to heaven with Him?
- This is the most important decision we will ever make in our life.
- This is the biggest and most crucial question on the test of life that there is.
- Seriously, this is not just “a pretty good idea.”
- “I guess it’s kind of important to think about a bit.”
- “I guess I could give it a shot maybe if I feel like it.”
- No! We need to understand that this is all that really matters.
- If everything else that we think is good but really isn’t faded away and only Jesus remained – He would be enough.
- And if you have never answered the question before of “who do you think Jesus is?”, then I plead with you today that you will answer it.
- Jesus is the good Teacher.
- Jesus is God.
- Jesus is the way to heaven, He’s the way to everlasting life, and He’s the way to true life here on earth.
- Because I believe that right now God’s Holy Spirit is speaking to some of us.
- Maybe we flat-out aren’t living for God, or maybe we’re someone who everyone around here would say “they are a good person” but we know that we haven’t really lived life with God, but we’ve just based our life around trying to be good enough.
- Maybe we’ve come to church for a while now, but we know that we’ve been living by ourselves and for ourselves, not for Jesus.
- We need to give ourselves to God.
- We need to come back to Jesus and stop living for ourselves.
- Let’s stop living to be “good enough” and live for Jesus.
- Because it’s not enough to just “believe that God exists”. The verse we read from Romans proves that.
- We need to believe with our heart and mind that God exists, and that Jesus is God. But then we need to live it out and proclaim that He is God through our words, actions, thoughts, and our whole life.
- We need a relationship with Jesus.
- And it’s with this in mind that I want us to take communion together.
- Because each week we remember the broken body and shed blood of Jesus.
- We remember the price that He paid so that we could be forgiven.
- So that we could be brought into right standing with God.
- So that we could have everlasting life.
- And this whole idea of “going to heaven” is one that would take a lot longer to unpack, because there’s a lot of misunderstanding of what Jesus actually has for us in terms of everlasting life.
- We think of sitting on clouds playing harps forever and we think “I don’t think I actually want to do that.”
- “That doesn’t sound very fun to me.”
- But everlasting life is so much more than just this “going to heaven when we die”.
- But now, communion is for anyone (in person or watching online) who has decided to follow Jesus.
- We have come to the realization that we are never going to be “good enough” on our own.
- We need Him.
- We need a Saviour.
- We need Jesus
- And maybe today, for some of us, communion is an opportunity to come to Jesus, or to come back to Jesus.
- To decide, right now, “I am so tired of trying to be good enough”
- “And I need to allow Jesus to be good enough for me.”
- If that’s true for us, then this bread represents the body of Jesus, broken for us.
- And this juice represents the blood of Jesus, poured out so that we could be forgiven of our sins.
- The Good Teacher (The Good Teacher) made a way to everlasting life possible for us.
- There’s nothing we need to do.
- We just need Him.
- And if that’s something you are realizing for the first time today (or recommitting to), or if you’d simply like to talk more about it because you’ve got more questions and struggles and doubts (and I do too), then please feel free to talk to me, send us a message on Facebook, or talk to the person who invited you here today.
- But, for anyone who is following Jesus, believing that He alone will give us the Life we can’t have without Him, let’s take communion together.
- ***Take communion
- And so before we wrap up, if we heard nothing else make sure that we hear this.
(*)
- Good people do not go to heaven. Forgiven people go to heaven.
- People who have asked for God’s forgiveness for all of the sins and mistakes they’ve made. People who have turned away from the sin in their lives to live in a relationship with God. They are the ones who go to heaven.
- And it’s not enough to just say “I’m forgiven”. We need to proclaim it with our actions and how we live your lives (living in a Gospel fluent way).
- Because the irony is that we’ll never be good enough by trying to be good enough. But we will be good enough if we just follow Jesus (and allow Him to be good enough for us).
- According to the perfect standard of heaven, none of us are good people. But Jesus is.
- None of us are good enough for heaven. But Jesus is, and He’s already there preparing a place for us in His Kingdom (the new heaven and new earth), if we’ll live life with Him now.
- And so, if we’ve never given our life to Jesus, or if we have but we’ve slipped away, let’s make today the day when we come back to Him and give Him everything we are, so that we can experience everlasting life with Him.
- And then, let’s go and share this truth – in a Gospel fluent way – with everyone we possibly can.
- For those we know who are trusting in themselves, and trying to be a good person, let us be the ones to tell them they don’t need to carry that burden anymore.
- Because Jesus has already carried that burden for them.
- Close in prayer
- (*) Now What
- Benediction: Ephesians 3:16-21
o I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
o Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
Scripture
- Romans 10:1-15
- Ephesians 2:1-10
- Mark 10:17-27
- Ephesians 3:16-21
Pray:
- Pray that God would give you freedom from trying to live a “good enough” life. Pray that instead you would be set free to live for Jesus, as you follow Him, trusting in Him alone for everlasting life.
- Pray that God would give you an opportunity (perhaps even this next week) to share His message of love and forgiveness with someone who is weighed down by trying to be “good enough”.
Discussion/Reflection:
- When it comes to the idea of “good people go to heaven”, what are your thoughts on this belief? Do you believe it? Why or why not? Have you ever believed it? Do you know anyone who does?
- If you had to give yourself a mark out of 100 for being a good person, what mark would you give yourself? Do you consider yourself to be a good person? Why or why not?
- Imagine you are standing before God and are asked “Why should I let you into heaven?” What would your answer be?
- “Good people do not go to heaven. Followers of Jesus (forgiven people) go to heaven.” How does that statement make you react? Do you think it is narrow-minded and judgmental to believe this? Why or why not?
Now What Next Step:
- Take the words that Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:16-21, print it out (or write it out) if possible.
- Take some time to put it into your own words, and turn it into a prayer for yourself (and your family/friends) to know God’s love to an even greater degree.
- Put that prayer somewhere prominent, and pray it each and every day for a full week.
- Spend this time trusting in God’s love, rather than your own efforts, to be what gets you through each and every day.
