What sort of people get to heaven?
Many people compare themselves with others and think ‘We are pretty good compared to them’.
And then they think of the murderers and evil world rulers and they think that they are far better than all of them.
They conclude that they are good and respectable people.
A man, who considered himself as being very good came to Jesus and their conversation was surprising…
Table of Contents:
1. Who is good? A good, clean-living man?
Who is good?
The young, rich, man in the story from Mark 10 thought he was very good and approached Jesus, and asked:
What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Mark 10:17 NIV
What a good question!
What must WE do to receive eternal life?
We are bombarded with how to get a happy life now by all the TV ads, etc.
But who should we ask about heavenly, eternal things?
Well, there was no better person to ask than Jesus Christ.
He spoke of God as His Father in heaven and He came from heaven to teach us about these things.
No one was more qualified to speak about eternal issues.
So, this young man goes up to Jesus and addresses Him as ‘good’:
Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Mark 10:17 NIV
I wonder why he said that.
I reckon the young man saw himself as being very good.
He also saw Jesus as being very good.
But there was just something about the things Jesus said that unnerved him.
Could he rely on his own ‘goodness’ to get to heaven?
2. Can WE rely on our goodness to get us to heaven?
It is very worthwhile to live our lives doing good to other people.
To think of others and to offer help is being unselfish, but will it be enough to get us to heaven?
The young man was thinking along these similar lines, and then Jesus answered him:
Why do you call Me good?
Mark 10:18 NIV
No-one is good except God alone.”
What a strange answer!
But in that, is hidden a subtle clue.
Jesus was saying that no one is really good.
No one is perfect, no one is guiltless.
Only God is good and perfect.
But Jesus didn’t say that He, Himself, wasn’t good.
Because Jesus is the Son of God, He could RIGHTLY be called good and perfect.
Is our goal heaven, are we heading for that Eternal City and do we feel like a stranger in this world?
The Bible can give us meaning in this life, by supplying words that are ‘God breathed’.
How do we handle temptation?
3. Who is good? But only perfect people are allowed into heaven.
Who is good? We may be ‘good’ but are we good enough?
Only perfect people can get to heaven, and none of us is that!
But Jesus Christ always spoke of there being ONE way to heaven.
It starts with us realising that we are not perfect and that left to our own devices we cannot get to heaven.
Now, this young man had a problem – he saw himself as being perfect.
He said: ‘All these laws I have kept since I was a boy.’ “
Mark 10:20 NIV
He was saying in effect:
‘I live a good, decent life. I’m not a murderer, I’m not a thief, so God ought to let me into heaven. But my conscience is not totally at peace in that thought.’
Do you know why he got no peace in that?
It was because the voice of God was speaking through his conscience, and it is the same for us.
Check out this article on how our conscience works.
The biggest HINDRANCE to us receiving eternal life is that we think:
‘I’m not SO bad, there are worse people than me, it will all work out in the end.’
But it won’t because we aren’t perfect.
Our lives are splattered and stained with anger, greed, gossip, jealousy, etc.
Whereas Jesus Christ’s life is pure and spotless and that’s how our life should be.
Jesus looked at the young man with compassion and basically said:
‘You’ve got money, and wealth here on earth, but NOTHING in heaven. Give all your money to the poor people, and follow Me, and then you will receive eternal life.’
Notice Jesus didn’t say: ‘Give your money to Me.’
Jesus wasn’t after his money, no, give it to the poor.
What do we owe God – are we bankrupt?
4. Our eternal life has to be on God’s terms.
His terms are that the Lord Jesus Christ has to become the boss of our life.
It is a matter of surrender to Him.
In doing this we don’t surrender to a tyrant but to a wonderfully generous God.
If that young man had obeyed Jesus, then later when he went to heaven, he wouldn’t have said:
‘What was the point in following Jesus!’
No, he would have said:
‘Is that all I gave up for You, Lord? All this, I don’t deserve any of it. You’re so generous and wonderful Lord!”
5. What stopped the young man from surrendering to what Jesus said?
There are all sorts of things that can prevent us from submitting to God, materialism, greed, lust, lying, anger, jealousy, etc.
But it was money that held this young man, he lived to get more money and he lived to spend it.
In effect, he was a slave to his passion for money.
He had to turn away from his desire for money and turn to Jesus Christ his new master.
So that is why Jesus told him to give away his money and follow Him.
Jesus did not want his money, he could see that money was this man’s jailer and that power had to be broken.
But the young man went away sad.
He would rather hang onto his pathetic money than receive eternal life and happiness with God!
For us, it may be something different that we hang onto.
But if we want to follow Jesus, He will show us what to do.
It does cost us to follow and obey Jesus and to have faith in God, but the REWARD is huge.
Who is good? No one is truly good, only God is good.
So, because Jesus is God, he is good and perfect.
I’ll finish with this verse:
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.“
Hebrews: 11:6 NIV
This is the Bible passage that relates to this story:
As Jesus started on His way a man ran up to Him and fell on his knees before Him.
Mark 10:17-22 NIV
‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
‘Why do you call Me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No-one is good except God alone. You know the commandments:
Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother.’
‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
‘One thing you lack,’ He said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and then you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow Me.’
At this the man’s face fell.
He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
Does God put us in difficult situations?
Here are a few Bible verses that help to give stability in our lives.
At the crossroads, decisions to make. Some ‘routes’ will shout louder than others.
How to feel happy and just feel better.
Baptism is often problematic in practice and divisive between the denominations.
References and credits – open in new tabs:
The Jairus image thanks to ‘The Pictorial Dictionary’ published by The Educational Book Company, London.
Image by freeimageslive.co.uk – DawnyH ↩
2 responses to “[7] Who is good?”
Thanks Haley for your comment
Peter
I did a post similar to this not too long ago! Many people sugar coat their sins. “oh it was just a white lie..” and other things like that. As followers and believers of Christ we can not do that! Just as this boy did, thinking that way of your self is not how to find peace OR God. Excellent post!!