Sermon Archive
Isnt Being Good Good Enough

Isn't Being Good, Good Enough?

Sociologists Smith and Denton, of U. N. Carolina at Chapel Hill have done a landmark study of religious beliefs of teenagers (religious beliefs they caught from their patents). They concluded that a new religion has emerged: “moralistic therapeutic deism.”
 
Moralistic: is an approach to life which teaches that life is about being a good moral person.
 
Therapeutic: is about providing therapeutic benefits to its members." Benefits like feeling good, happy, secure, at peace with yourself and others.
 
Deism is a belief in a particular kind of God: one who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order.
 
He then lists some core elements of the new belief:
1. A god exists who created and watches over human life on earth."
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other. 
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself."
4. God doesn’t need to be involved in one's life except when I need him."
5."Good people go to heaven when they die."
 
I am not smart enough to give you the rational or philosophical or theological arguments to challenge “moralistic therapeutic deism.” All I can do is share with you what the Bible says the best way I know how. When the bible’s authority is rejected, then our own thoughts & ideas become pre-eminent. 
 
Today I want to look at what the Bible says about: Isn’t being good, good enough? The simple answer is, NO. “Being good enough is not good enough!” The first three chapters of the book of Romans can be summed up in Rom. 3:23: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Rom 3:23 NLT)  We are all sinners, and by ourselves we can never be good enough. That was the whole reason for Jesus coming. “He came to seek and saved those who are lost…”
 
Let’s take a look at two truths, from the Bible, that speak to the issue of : “Isn’t just being good, good enough? The first is:
 
1. TRUTH IS NARROW.
 
Jesus said: ”You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow & the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”(Matt. 7:13-14 NLT)
 
The Bible says there are only two ways to live and there is no 3rd! This fundamental truth is given a number of times and a number of ways. In Psalm 1 says there are two ways: the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous. In Proverbs there is the way of the fool and the way of the wise. In many places in the NT there are those who walk in the dark and those who walk in the light. In Matthew 7:15 there are two trees: the good tree and the bad tree. In Matthew 7:24 there are two foundations: sand foundation and rock foundation. In Matthew 713-14 there are two gates that lead to two roads: the wide gate leads to the wide path that leads to hell and the narrow gate that leads to the narrow road that to life. God’s truth is narrow.
 
What does that mean truth is narrow? Well, it’s like in math. Your calculations must be exact in order for you to arrive at the correct answer. For example, the distance from Earth to Mars is approximately 48 million miles away. So if you were to travel to Mars from earth and were just one inch off in calculation, you would miss Mars by 800 miles. 
 
So does it mean we have to be narrow-minded? Well, in a sense, yes. If you want God’s truth to guide your life, you can’t be just good enough. You cannot just be truthful sometimes. You must be narrow in order to be accurate otherwise you risk veering off course. Remember in order to enter through the narrow gate we need to be trusting in and following Jesus. So another important consideration is:
 
2. ETERNAL LIFE COMES THROUGH BELIEVING IN JESUS PERFORMANCE, NOT IN OUR PERFORMANCE.
 
“Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, & the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6) 
 
Eternal life comes through believing in Jesus. Believing what about Jesus? The most fundament belief is: Believing that Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for our sin and then following Jesus way to do life. Yet sometimes we are tempted to believe other ideas that sound like truth. But don’t you believe it because there’s only one way to the Father and that’s through Jesus. That being said, you may wonder what about non-believers who are good people?   Well, it’s still not about being good enough. What then, what is it about?
 
Let me give you an illustration. Let’s say you were booked on a flight to Denver to go work at a homeless shelter. And instead you board a plane to Los Angeles. Now you can be the best person on that plane, with the best of intentions. However, when that plane landed, you would still be at the wrong destination. The only way to get to Denver would be to change planes. 
 
So too is our journey. You see we must put our faith in Jesus Christ because the way to the Father is through Jesus. So if we’re on the wrong plane or wrong path, we’ll head for the wrong destination. Remember this: God put us on the narrow path so we do good things, not just so we get a free ride with no responsibilities.   “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. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Eph 2:8-10 NLT)
 
Hear this: IT IS NOT BY OUR PERFORMANCE OF DOING GOOD DEEDS, BUT BY JESUS PERFORMANCE ON THE CROSS .
 
During World War II, Germany wanted to occupy all of Europe. One country, Holland wanted to remain neutral. So they announced at 8pm on Radio Free Europe that they were not for or against Germany. By 1am, Germany had sent in 500 Nazi airplanes, 1500 tanks, and 50,000 ground troops. They over ran Holland and put them under German occupation. It didn’t matter that they chose to stay out of the conflict & remain neutral.
 
So listen carefully, the devil will no more respect our declaration of goodness than Germany did Holland’s stand of neutrality. We don’t need to declare how good we are. Instead, we need a savior who will overcome the enemy. And that’s exactly what Jesus did on the cross. “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57) 
 
So it’s not about declaring how good we are. It’s about living by God’s truth. God’s truth is narrow and it says believing in Jesus death on the cross, as payment for our sin is the only way to receive eternal life. 
 
If you have trusted in Jesus then you are a work in progress, walking on the right path. As you walk on that path continue allow Jesus to work on your character and behavior. But always remember this: Salvation is not based on our performance; it’s based on Jesus performance on the cross. Remember:
 
“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. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Eph 2:8-10 NLT)