Are You Good?

The Lord said, “…the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”    Genesis 8:21

“Why do you call Me good?  No one is good except God alone.”Luke 18:19

Humanism is the doctrine that states that people are born good.  It is the prevailing wind in every religion except Christianity and is the basis for the lie that good works are the ticket to a wonderful afterlife. It is also the undercarriage that drives the majority of faiths and denominations towards a gospel of good deeds.  In that sense, there is little difference between the Jehovah Witness, Mormon or Methodist (my apologies to the Methodist reader) who insists that good deeds are what makes me good before a holy God.

Humanism is the greatest assault against a biblical lifestyle today.  It is an insidious cancer that affects individuals and families and goes largely unnoticed until it reaches acute mass.  It weakens the message of the gospel, waters down the vibrancy of the Holy Spirit and impedes the advance of the Kingdom.  It is human power, human thinking and human doing, has little eternal value and cost a man his soul in the end.

Families are particularly at risk.  Parents today take tremendous risks by prioritizing wrong influences in their children’s lives. After all, they are “good kids” so why worry too much?  They have a “good” heart, don’t they?  “Good” parents today emphasize discipline through sports more than the discipline of the Word.  They are more committed to soccer practice than to Sunday School and more insistent on homework than the Word.

The psalmist said,
See if there be any wicked way within me and lead me in Your everlasting way.
Our bend is evil and nothing can begin to straighten it except the white hot purity of devotion to Christ and His gospel.  Yet for most in the modern church a desperate clinging to the cross of Jesus has been replaced by a smooth sail with the gospel of good works.

A young man, rich and successful, came to Jesus.  The Master saw the great potential in him as the man  robed in the rich purple of success bowed to the Messiah in the peasant garb.  “Good Teacher,” he began, “What do I need to do to inherit eternal life?”  But Jesus would not discuss good works. He wanted the man to encounter the Way, Truth, and Life.

“Why do you call Me good?  No one is good except God alone.”  Jesus begins.

Liberal theologians say that Jesus was stating that He was not God, but that is far from the truth.  Instead, Jesus was challenging the man on one key issue that everyone must decide and it is this…

• Either Jesus is God or He is not good.
• If He is not good, you should not follow Him.
• If He is good, His words are not advice but a command from a Holy God… no debate, no discussion and no turning back.

“One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”  But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.  And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!”

The first thing you must decide is this:
Are you good or is Jesus the only one who is Good?  If you are good, then make your own decisions about your life, your money, and your relationships.  But if Jesus is the only one who is good, you must trust Him and His ways, not the humanistic fantasy that we are good people just trying to get by in life.  What a sham and what a horror for the one that finds out too late that it was a deception and a lie.

Jesus begins where he always does… “Who do men say that I am?  Am I good?  Then I am God!”

By the way, it was not his money that Jesus demanded.  It was the personal control of his life that the money provided.  Until that moment, the  young man had controlled his own life… money allows you to do that…  but by giving up, truly giving up the control, he was admitting that there was nothing he could do to earn the life he sought.
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Jesus comes to each of us with the same question, “Am I good?”  I must decide to trust my ability to meet my own needs or to trust my need for a real Savior.  Of course, maybe a plastic one on the dashboard will do.  A nice leather bound one with my initials in gold will suffice.  A gospel of good deeds that satisfies the lie of self-sufficiency, thank you very much.  But if He is good, then I am not, and the need for His constant touch and direction leads me to the path of true discipleship.

Are you good?  How about your kids?  It is one of the most important questions you will ever answer.