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April 3, 2016 |
| Being Good Enough | ||
I was watching a YouTube video that I had seen on FaceBook. A student was asking a question of a Christian presenter who had finished presenting his Christian message. The question was: "Do you think it's a fundamental necessity for one to call oneself a Christian or to subscribe to any religion, if they do live a life that Jesus proposed, one lives with love, if one lives impersonally, ego-less, and loves God and loves their neighbor? Must one have to call themselves a Christian or subscribe to the dogmatic or 'Christian proper' beliefs in order to live such a good life?"
The student was making up the question on-the-fly so it wanders a little. What he's asking is, isn't it enough for me to do the things that Jesus said we should do or do I have to do all the things the churches say I have to do. This is a common question. The person wants to find the lowest standard for how he should live. People who do this usually try to set the standard as just the things that Jesus is specifically quoted as saying. This would be like reading only the words in red from a red letter Bible.
There is quite a bit to the student's question including some fundamental misunderstandings. In this lesson we will study the student's question and also answer it.
First let's make sure we understand all the aspects of the question before we try to answer it. The student was making up the question on-the-fly so it isn't as well ordered as it might be. I've reorganized it a bit and broken it into individual points so we can better understand what he is asking
Is it a fundamental necessity
He is expressing the eternal question "do I have to?" Someone has told him that there is a higher
standard he should be living to but he doesn't want to live to that standard. He is looking for wiggle room to get out of
it.
to call oneself a Christian
At first it isn't clear what he means by this. We could think that he has a problem with wearing
the label "Christian". He is going to clarify this as he adds more to his question. The problem isn't the label; it's the
standard
to subscribe to any religion
Again it isn't clear at first what he means by this. The key to understanding is the word
"subscribe" which, in this context, means to accept or agree with a belief. We see the idea again there is some belief in this
religion that he doesn't want to accept and therefore live by.
to subscribe to the dogmatic or "Christian proper" beliefs
The word "dogmatic" means "founded in beliefs or sticking to beliefs" but what he really means is
"inflexible" or "dictatorial." This gets to the heart of his question. He finds the standards of Christianity to be too
restrictive.
if they do live a life that Jesus proposed, one lives with love, lives impersonally, ego-less, loves God and loves their
neighbor
He has picked out some of the things that Jesus said and asks if it isn't enough to live only by
these. He wants to think that everything else was added on by Apostles, or church organizations, or somebody who wasn't Jesus
so he can ignore them.
in order to live such a good life
He is hiding behind vague words here. If he gets a "no" answer he can say the question was
misunderstood or he didn't ask it right. If he gets a "yes" answer he will take that as confirmation that he can live by this
subset of Jesus' words and still receive eternal life. That's what this question is really all about.
At the root of this question we find it's similar to a question that was asked of Jesus
And one came near and said to him, “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16)
Jesus' answer to the question is tailored to the questioner's situation but in more general terms the answer is - sacrifice everything you have and everything you are, to me. To do that a person must have put their faith in Jesus and that's what Jesus wants and that faith brings the promise of everlasting life.
The person asking the question of Jesus gets an answer that requires something he doesn't want to give up. The student has already received that answer, doesn't want to give it up, and is trying to find a way to get out of it. The student hasn't said to himself, who cares about them, I'll live the way I want. Just like the person who asked Jesus this question, there is something the student wants.
The student wants to know if he lives a good life whether he will have eternal life. The student's problem is that he doesn't want to sacrifice everything. He is prepared to live a life that is the same in many ways as Jesus said we should live but the student wants to be in control. He wants to say what is good and what makes up a good life. In doing this he makes himself into the god of his life.
The one who is able to award eternal life, however, is the one who decides what is good. More than that, no man can be trusted to know what is good. We deceive ourselves into thinking that what is bad is in fact good. What we think is right is frequently wrong.
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:25)
In another article I saw, young members of the Liberal People's Party in Sweden had decided that incest and necrophilia should not be against the law. These people felt that these acts should be treated as disgusting but there should not be a law against them. When man is left to be the judge of what is right and wrong, it always leads to the bottom and away from God.
The problem with the student's question isn't just a matter of not knowing what is good and therefore not being able to live a good life. Even if a man new how to live a good life he could not do it. If you want to achieve eternal life by living a good life, God's standard is that you must flawlessly live a good life. Even one flaw disqualifies. No man can meet that standard; only Jesus did.
The greater problem in all of this is that the student does not understand Christianity. Because it is not possible for a man to live a perfect life, it is not possible to receive eternal life by living a good life. The only door to eternal life is through faith in Jesus - sacrificing everything for him.
If eternal life is available through faith in Jesus alone does it matter how we live our lives? Yes, faith doesn't just mean believing that Jesus existed. It means believing that everything he said was true. Jesus said, "If you love me you will obey my commandments."1 Therefore we live our lives, as much as possible, according to the standard he has set. We do this because we love him, not because we hope to earn eternal life.
It's entirely possible the student will decide that the standard for his life will be the same as Jesus' standard. If so, he will fail of course but Christians will also fail. For some Christians there might not be any difference in the way they live their lives and the way the student lives his life.
But the student will not receive eternal life. The Old Testament has many examples where some sacrifices were acceptable and some were not, even though they were the exact same sacrifice. The reason was that the sacrifice was really always the person and some people's hearts were not acceptable and some were. So it is here. The student would not have sacrificed himself. He might live a life that appears no different from a Christian, but the difference is that he is living to standards that he has set.
I know a man who was in a vehicle wreck and nearly died. From that time on he was determined to live a perfect life. He considered deeply what a good life would be and spent much time arguing with people about it. He lives a life that is not noticeably different from many Christians and perhaps better than some. For example, he will not exceed the speed limit. I remember one time when he was supposed to be following another car but the car was speeding. Even though he fell behind because of it and people got on him about it, he would not exceed the speed limit. But he does not believe in God.
I know another man who lived what the world would call a good life. He was nice, never hurt anyone, only lied when he had to, and so on. He lived to a good age and then died. No one could ever remember him going to church or owning a Bible, but somehow he had a Christian funeral. The minister there assured everyone that this man was at peace in Heaven now.
In another recent article, I read that more Americans believe in Heaven than believe in God. The church hasn't always done a good job here. The result is a population that believes everyone is entitled to Heaven, or at least those who lived pretty good lives. It's common to see people declaring dead loved ones to be in Heaven. We do not see the heart like God does and their ultimate destiny is a determination we cannot make.
This student was trying to use only the words that Jesus spoke as the standard for his life. In doing so he essentially rips from the Bible everything in the Old Testament, everything in the New Testament after the gospels, and even a big chunk of the gospels, for example what the apostles said that Jesus said.
Other people rip out different parts of the Bible. Some find themselves in disagreement with things Paul said and refuse to read his epistles. Other people just ignore specific teachings they disagree with or they find some way to excuse themselves from them.
This is another major misunderstanding in the student's question. He believes they can be separated, that Jesus' teachings are different from the apostle's teachings and therefore what the apostles taught can be ignored. This is kind of silly because the gospels were written by the apostles, not Jesus. But even more, in rejecting the apostles he rejects the Holy Spirit. God, through his Holy Spirit, directed everything the apostles would write. Without that we have no foundation to believe anything in the Bible. Without that the Bible is just words written by fallible men.
If you believe there is a God who can award eternal life to whom he chooses, it is necessary to believe he has the power to ensure that his message about eternal life is written correctly and passed down through the ages correctly. He does that by authoring that message through people he chooses. He also knew everyone who would ever read the Bible and included in his message those things that needed to be heard 2000 years later. Therefore the Bible cannot be separated as this student would like to do.
In this lesson we saw a person who wanted the gift of eternal life. He wanted to know the lowest standard he could live by and still receive eternal life. To find this minimum standard he wanted to use only what Jesus taught. From that we infer that the life he wanted to live was in conflict with something one (or more) of the apostles taught.
We saw how the student was really trying to bring God's standard into agreement with the student's standard instead of submitting himself to God and to God's standard.
We saw how that rebellion means that it doesn't matter what kind of life you live. Until you come to faith in God, you have a bigger problem than how you live your life. Nothing you do or say is acceptable to God.
We also saw that coming to faith in God also means giving control of your life to God and accepting that he knows the best way for you to live your life.
We saw that eternal life does not come from living a good life. Eternal life is gained by faith in the Messiah. From that comes the desire, knowledge, and guidance to live a good life
We also saw that people often ignore parts of the Bible they don't want to use as a standard for their lives. The Holy Spirit, God's power, and his knowledge of the future show us that we cannot do that.
1 John 14:15