17. And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18. And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
19. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'"
20. And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth."
21. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
22. Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Jesus confronts a man who thinks his own "good works" are enough to make him in right standing with God. Jesus does two things. First, He makes an important declaration, "No one is good except God alone." Second, he shows the Rich young man that he is not as good as he thinks. I think this is the pattern we must use in the scenario mentioned at the beginning of this post. Now, let me say that tact, kindness, and compassion must be part of the conversation. That being said, we must communicate that God, who is holy and perfect demands that same from people, yet we are not holy or perfect. Therefore any deed we do that might be thought of as good pales in comparison to God's holiness. The unregenerate man will always have some selfish motives even it it is to gain God's favor it is a selfish and sinful motive and therefore cannot be good. No matter how many positive things I might do, if I tell one lie, or give one lustful look, I am not good. When someone says they are a good person then they must be measured against God's standard of holiness, like the ten commandments. Then the only conclusion is we are not as good as we think we are. I welcome your comments, follow up questions, or other questions related to our study of Revelation.
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1 comment:
I read a comment recently somewhere that said we ought to be more amazed that we're saved than that we're sinful. I think you are exactly right about the importance of the holiness of God in the whole discussion. The text you discussed points us to an even deeper issue as well - following the specific commands of God outwardly is not the point, our allegiance to God and willingness to follow Jesus (a reflection of our heart) is the point. Thus, a "good" person who nonetheless refuses to follow Jesus unconditionally is not really a "good" person at all, as God defines it (after all, what is the greatest commandment?).
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