Good Enough

This is the message from the Oahe Manor Communion service Thursday, September 12, 2013.  The Bible verses are 1 Timothy 1:12-17.

One of the things that makes me kind of sad is when I hear people say things like, “I don't know if I'll go to heaven.  I just don't know if I've been good enough.”

Now, I'll bet that some of you have said that.  If you've not said it, I'll bet you've at least thought it.  If you have, I'm not criticizing you.  I'm not mad at you or anything.  It just makes me sad, because you're worrying about something you don't need to worry about.

Because the fact is that being “good enough” has nothing to do with it.  If we had to be “good enough” to get to heaven, none of us would get there.  I would not, you would not, nobody would.  Because there's no way any of us could possibly be as good as our perfect, all-good God.

That's one of the things the Apostle Paul is trying to say to Timothy in our Bible reading today.  Paul says, look at who I've been.  I've been an unbeliever.  I've actively persecuted Christians.  I've had them killed.  And yet, God has forgiven me.  Not only that, I've been allowed to serve God.

You know, there are a lot of times in Paul's writing where he makes a point of saying how bad he used to be.  There's been a lot of speculation on why he did that.  I don't claim to know the answer, but I think part of it was just that he was so amazed at what had happened to him.

Think about Paul's life.  He starts out as one of the top Christian persecutors.  And when he was doing that, he did not think he was doing anything against God.  He thought he was working for God.  He thought he was defending God.  In fact, he was sure of it.  He totally believed he was doing what God wanted him to do.

And then, all of a sudden, everything changed.  He had a conversion experience on the road to Damascus.  In a flash, he saw that everything he believed was wrong.  The things he thought he was doing to defend God were actually going exactly against God.

Can you imagine what that must feel like?  To suddenly find out that everything you've believed all your life is completely wrong?  And not only that, but to have a sincere, devout, religious belief, and to have been trying hard all your life to obey God, and then to find out that you've actually been doing the exact opposite of what God wanted you to do.  Paul had to be terrified.  He had to think God was going to strike him dead right there.

And then, look what happened.  Not only did God not strike him dead, God forgave him.  Not only did God forgive him, God allowed Paul to serve God.  Not only did God allow Paul to serve God, God helped Paul become the first and maybe still the greatest Christian evangelist there's ever been.

Paul had to be amazed by that.  And he continued to be amazed all his life.  That's why he kept making such a point of saying how bad he'd been.  What he was saying was that if God can forgive me, God can forgive anybody.  If Jesus can save me, Jesus can save anybody.  If I can have eternal life, then it's possible for anybody to have eternal life.

That is the essential message of Christianity.  It's possible for anybody to have eternal life.  It does not matter what we've done.  It does not matter how bad we've been.  God can forgive anybody.  Jesus can save anybody.  All we need to do is believe in him.  All we need to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.

You know, sometimes when we think about following Christ, we seem to dwell on the negatives of it.  We talk about the things we have to give up to follow Christ.  We talk about the cost of following Christ.  And those things are real.  I'm not saying we should ignore them.  I think, though, that when we talk about that stuff too much, we're putting the emphasis in the wrong place.

Because those negatives are nothing compared to the positives.  Look at what Jesus offers us.  Jesus offers us forgiveness.  Jesus offers us salvation.  Jesus offers us eternal life.  What we have to give up temporarily on earth is nothing compared to that.

Jesus wants to take us to heaven.  We don't have to earn our way there.  We don't have to be “good enough” to go there.  All we need to do is have faith in God.  All we have to do is believe in Jesus as our Savior.  In other words, all we need to do to get to heaven is to follow Jesus there.  Jesus will take us to heaven if we'll only agree to go with him.

Paul knew he was not good enough to go to heaven.  I know I'm not good enough to go to heaven.  You know you're not good enough to go to heaven.  But the good news is that we don't have to be.  God forgave Paul.  God will forgive me.  And God will forgive you.  If we can just believe that, and trust it, we'll never have to worry about being good enough again.