Good?
I heard a thought provoking sermon this morning and wanted to get it down.
From Mark 10 we read the story of the rich young ruler. Two points stuck out to me in the sermon.
Jesus starts off by talking about what good is. He says that only God is good. After Jesus' interaction with the young man about getting to heaven the man says that he has followed the law, thinking this will get him to heaven. Jesus' earlier comment about God being the only one who is good comes to light all the more fully here. The man's deeds are not good enough. It's fascinating that this story points to the classic question of whether good deeds can get someone to heaven.
As the speaker this morning pointed out, doing good things does help us get to know God better. In fact doing good things for God takes our focus away from getting to know Him and His love through Christ. Good deeds give us something to do, and in fact distract us from time with God. Isn't it just like Satan to distract us from the point. As Jesus says later, good deeds show our love for God, but that can't be a substitute.
In Mark 10 Jesus points out that the man is doing good deeds for a God he doesn't know. His deeds are selfish. Instead he needs to sell what he has and follow after God so he can actually get to know to know the good God, rather than just doing good deeds.
From Mark 10 we read the story of the rich young ruler. Two points stuck out to me in the sermon.
Jesus starts off by talking about what good is. He says that only God is good. After Jesus' interaction with the young man about getting to heaven the man says that he has followed the law, thinking this will get him to heaven. Jesus' earlier comment about God being the only one who is good comes to light all the more fully here. The man's deeds are not good enough. It's fascinating that this story points to the classic question of whether good deeds can get someone to heaven.
As the speaker this morning pointed out, doing good things does help us get to know God better. In fact doing good things for God takes our focus away from getting to know Him and His love through Christ. Good deeds give us something to do, and in fact distract us from time with God. Isn't it just like Satan to distract us from the point. As Jesus says later, good deeds show our love for God, but that can't be a substitute.
In Mark 10 Jesus points out that the man is doing good deeds for a God he doesn't know. His deeds are selfish. Instead he needs to sell what he has and follow after God so he can actually get to know to know the good God, rather than just doing good deeds.
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