When Is Good, Good Enough?

Oct 14, 2018 Readings:  Job 23: 1-17, Psalm 127, Mark 10: 17-31

How many of us here today have been faced with this question at some point in your life, whether as an adult or a child.   Don’t they recognize what I have done, I’ve done my best but my best never seems to be good enough,   For many, this is especially true when dealing with family, work, or even play?   Does this sound familiar to you?  Well it was for me.    Most of us who have had this experience when we were young came to the conclusion that no matter how hard we tried, good never seems to be good enough.  “What’s Good for anyway and what kind of Good is good enough”    Most of us have been brought up to believe as did the rich man in the story from Mark today,  that if we do enough good deeds, follow the ethical and moral laws of the land, surely that’s good enough, at least good enough to get us into heaven right!  The GOOD GET TO GO right!!!!     Let me tell you a story. 

A Sunday school teacher was looking for a way to explain to the 8 year olds in his class what someone had to do in order to go to heaven.  In an attempt to discover what the kids already believed about the subject, he asked a few questions.  If I sold my house and car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the poor would that get me into heaven?   No the children answered.   If I attended Church every week, helped on all the committees and mowed the yard, would that get me into heaven?  No the children answered.   If I was kind to animals, nature and gave candy to all the children, loved my wife and was good to my neighbors; surely that would get me into heaven?   Once again the children answered No!!   Well then, said the teacher “how can I get into heaven.”  A boy in the back row stood up and shouted “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD”  

Here in lay the problem:  Now think about this for a moment FOLKS for you literally have to die in order to find out if there even is a heaven to get into.  Consequently, only the dead can truly know much about the after-life.    You know there are some people who seem to be confident about what eternal life is like, they are those who claim to have died and come back to tell us about it, and what do they say.   Well you have to read about it, in one of their bestselling books on the subject and some make a lot of money doing it.   There stories are interesting and they get a lot of attention from their readers but, they still never really answer the age old question,   how do we get there?   One of the big assumptions for most of us who have been brought up in North America is that the “Good People Get to Go”.  But that brings up another question, if only good people get to go “WHO” sets the standard for GOOD and what measure of this good is good enough?  Well then what did Jesus say in the reading from this morning?   Mark 10: 18  ¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

If we take Jesus seriously as found in Gospel of Mark, it clears up the whole problem of who or what is good,  because according to Jesus nothing we do can be compared to the Goodness of God.    Only God is entitled to be seen as good.  This was devastating to the rich man, because, according to Jesus, his notion of Goodness was irrelevant, in fact so is ours.   Human Goodness, no matter how good we think it is, will not guarantee us anything.  You have heard the saying, only the good die young.  This may come as a shock to a lot of people especially those who have fallen into the trap of believing in brownie points as did the rich man.   Now I don’t want to take the wind out of anyone’s sails or suggest that our good works are meaningless because we all know that’s not true.  Our good works here are for the benefit of each other, our good works lay the foundation for God’s Kingdom here on earth, which according to Jesus isn’t later but is at hand, meaning now, not sometime later in an after- life. The kingdom is begin built as we speak whenever we mimic the goodness of God.   God and the heavens rejoice when one of us does a good works no matter who performs it, or how it is offered.  BUT!!!  As humans we are flawed, we have invisible strings attached to our goodness, and if exposed as was the case of the rich man with Jesus, we also will see, compared to the Goodness God we are but a shadow of that good.   Jesus does not stop loving the rich man even though he can’t give up his riches Jesus love him anyway.   He loves us too, unconditionally, even though we aren’t ready yet either to give over all, we to hold back.   God’s goodness, poured out upon us, is without obligation.  There are no strings attached to the blessings God continues to pours upon us.   We receive his blessings by grace, and it is completely free of obligation.   You don’t have to earn them nor can you improve on them and no one is denied.   Jesus said in Mathew 5: 44-45,  “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  It is the same with God’s LOVE and God’s Forgiveness, there are yours for the receiving, you don’t earn them.     Yet we need to understand that our good deeds and acts of compassion are meant as an offering to God but not to have him look favorably upon us.  They are offerings made to honor God in obedience to Gods will.  These offerings help to build the foundations of faith in others and give others hope when things seem to be hopeless.   Therefore we need to be humble, not making claim to the goodness that is produced in us, for it doesn’t come from us, but through us, from the author of Good.    In verse 27 Jesus makes it clear that salvation is not based on human effort, for humans cannot save themselves, we in fact need to be saved from ourselves.  He goes on to point out that with God’s unconditional blessing of grace, all things are then made possible.  What should we do?  Do as Jesus tells us Matthew 3: 2, repent, meaning stop turning away from Gods will for us and enter my kingdom now, which is at hand, it already exists for you says Jesus   He asks us to follow in His way, and He will offer you a new lease on life, a fresh start.  Give Him what you can, He knows you can’t give it all over at once, but the day will come when you must.  Jesus continues to loves us anyway and still He offers us new life.  The past will begin to fade, and the future will be full of hope as we begin to live the moments of our day in Him.   Let us be the example of God’s goodness in the world, for this truly is what we are meant to be, we are meant for service, service to one another.