Being Good

1 Generally speaking we all want to be good, but how do we judge good. We live in a world today where the boundaries are hard to see. Much of what was considered bad behavior even fifty years ago is now considered good and acceptable. We can see it in children, what a toddler does is seen as cute but if they still do it when they are ten it is completely different. So being good is often relative to our situation.  

In war what one side sees as a good soldier or action is seen completely differently by the other side. We can see this today in what some would see as terrorism while others see it as completely justified.  

We live in a time when we have to allow everyone to do what they want and are considered unloving and intolerant if we criticize, especially on biblical terms. We have equated love with allowing people to do what they want.

Now we should respect them and allow others to have an opinion that may differ from ours but by what standard do we consider a person good?

Now most people will agree that Jesus was a GOOD person.

 2 When we went into the street and asked two questions:-

• What do you thing of Jesus

• What do you thing of the Church. 

Jesus came out better than the chuch. But it’s interesting to see what Jesus said about it. 

Luke 18:18  A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Luke 18:19  "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No-one is good-- except God alone. 

Gods standards are not the same as ours, Yes he is a loving God, in fact He is Love, but His standards are high above ours. 

3 He gave us Guidelines so that we could see what His standard was.

 What did He consider GOOD. 

10 commandments.

• Do not Worship any other Gods

• Do not make any idols

• Do not misuse the name of God

• Keep the Sabbath Holy

• Honour your Father and Mother

• Do not murder

• Do not commit adultery

• Do not steal

• Do not lie

• Do not covet

Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

Romans 3:10-18 10  As it is written: "There is no-one righteous, not even one; 

Now the law was not given to condemn us, we were already condemned.

4 It was given so that we would realize that we were not GOOD and would therefore not enter Gods presence after death but would automatically be sent to the lake of fire.

Romans 6:23, teaches us about the consequences of sin - "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Romans 6:23 left off, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 5:8 declares, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

The problem is that in general people do not recognize this standard of GOOD. They have their own standard and when thinking about God, relate that standard to those in the church, and sadly the often consider themselves more good than the Christians they know. And from a human point of view that might be true but from Gods point of view it is irrelevant. That’s why we should let people know what Gods standards are.

The early church always told people that they fell short of Gods standard and needed to repent.

 5 BROKEN CHAIN  James 2:10  For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

 Romans 10:9, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  

6 Mark 1:15  "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

If we truly recognize that we are not GOOD people and where we are heading, we will repent and be more conscious of our behavior. But we will still make mistakes so all we have to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God and accept what He has done for us..

  Romans 5:1 has this wonderful message, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Romans 8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

With the realisation that we are not GOOD people, who would refuse the gift of God through His Son Jesus Chrsit. Not Me and I hope not you.