Oh, I'm Good Enough

In a comment to a previous post about Are Mormons Christians, a Mormon had this to say about being "good enough" to be acceptable to God.

"Oh, and yes I am good enough. I am not perfect, but I am working on it, and that is what my Heavenly Father wants for me."

"With that last comment, I now realize why you are so quick to disprove the doctrine of the LDS church. If in fact someone made you feel as though you were not good enough, they were wrong, and clearly did not understand LDS doctrine. The doctrine is perfect, the people are not."

I had asked this anonymous Mormon whether or not they were a good person. Then asked some questions based on the Ten Commandments. Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken something that does not belong to you (that includes downloading music from the internet and fudging a little on your taxes)? Have you always honored your parents? Have you ever looked with lust? Jesus said that if you look with lust that is adultery in your heart.

The Ten Commandments are like a mirror showing us how God sees us. What He sees are law breakers... people who disobey Him.

What happens if you break a law, get caught and are standing in court before a judge? Can you say, 'Yes I'm not perfect. I've broken the law. But I'm basically a good person, judge. So you should let me go." Will the judge let you go? Not if he is a good judge. You've broken the law and must pay the penalty.

God, is a much better judge than any human judge. He is just, and He will always see that justice is done. You've broken the law, you must pay the penalty. The penalty for breaking God's law is death hell).

What can you do to avoid the death penalty? Nothing.

Let's say you are in a human court. You are guilty. The penalty is $1,000,000 or prison for life. You don't have $1,000,000. But then someone you don't know walks into the courtroom, opens a briefcase, and it has $1,000,000 in cash! They offer to pay your fine. What happens to you now? Your penalty is paid you go free!!

That is what Jesus has done for you. He has died in your place, paying your fine so you can go free.

Let's say you a month later you walk into the same courtroom and say to the judge, "Let me tell you about all the good things I've been doing." Does that do you any good? No. What are you saying about the person who paid your fine for you? "I don't think what you did is good enough. I must add some of my "good works." What an insult to Jesus!

Besides, you can't do any works that are good compared with the goodness of God. Isaiah 64:6 says that the VERY BEST we can do, our most righteous deeds are like filthy rags to God. Ephesians 2:8,9 makes is clear that there is nothing we can do that is good enough to gain us credit. We will never be able to boast in heaven, saying "I did... " My dear Mormon, it's all about God and not a bit about you.

Ephesians 2:8,9 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that NO ONE MAY BOAST."

George Street

We've been making significant additions to our web site this past week. The one that I've found most encouraging is a video we've added to our home page. It is called George Street.

The George Street video is about eight minutes in length. It's about evangelism and doing something as simple as handing out tracts on George Street in Sydney, Australia. I highly recommend it.

#5 - This Is A Christian - 1st John

The previous four posts were about the characteristics of non-believers. In 1 John 2:3 we see what a Christian looks like.

#5 - "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands." 1 John 2:3

Verse 5 continues: "But if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." - 1 John 2:5,6

The test of knowledge of God is moral conduct. This is a tough requirement. When I first read these verses I was discouraged. There was no way I could obey God perfectly. It seemed as though I was always doing something wrong, so God's love could not be complete in me because of my failure.

The description in 1 John 2:3 is repeated in 1 John 3:24 - "The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in him."

Again in 1 John 5:2 it is repeated again: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments."

This same characteristic of a believer is also given in other places in the Bible, for example Revelation 12:17 - "So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

Again in Revelation 14:12 - "Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus."

There are three characteristics listed here:

1 Faith in Jesus Christ
2 Love
3 Obey God's commandments

We also see that we are to walk as Jesus did. We see this same thing in 1 Peter 2:21 which says - "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."

How did Jesus walk? What did Jesus come to do?

"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" - Philippians 2:8

"'My food,' said Jesus, 'is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.'" - John 4:34

Throughout the New Testament we see that Jesus walked in obedience to God (Matthew 26:39,42, Mark 14:36, John 14:30,31, Romans 5:18,19 and many others).

We can learn a little more from the book of Titus. It says the same thing as 1st John, but in a different way -- "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." - Titus 1:16

Here we see that it is life-style, our behavior that sets a Christian apart from a non-Christian. When someone becomes a Christian there is a resulting change in their behavior. We can not be perfect in our obedience as Jesus was. But we can walk the path He walked, striving--out of love--to live in obedience and love through the strength we get from our faith in Jesus Christ. Yes, Christians still sin, but it is a falling into sin, not a willful diving into sin.

Love and Obedience

If you want to summarize the Law of Moses, Jesus boiled it down to just two action items. Love God and love your neighbor. But what does it mean to love? This is too big of a topic for this post, I'll be discussing it in a future post. However, to summarize, the word used for "love" in the New Testament is an action word. It means to love with your actions. It does not saying anything about loving with your feelings. Biblical love is all about doing loving actions. What are the most loving actions? Would you consider obeying God's commandments, doing what God told us to do, to be loving God?

---

John Chapter 14

John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (NIV)

John 14:21 "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me." (NIV)

John 14:23 "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching." (NIV)

Yesterday I wrote about how obeying God (works) is a result of belief in Jesus Christ. This is sometimes referred to as "faith that works." The problem is that many Christians stop thinking at this point. But, John chapter 14 tells us there is more. Love.

Why is it that faith results in obedience? Because of love.

We do not obey God because we are compelled by the force of God's command. We obey God because we love Him. We obey God because we want to.

Love is a difficult word for Americans to deal with. We tend to only assign one meaning to the word love--a soft, warm fuzzy feeling--full of good thoughts about another person. We think of love as an emotion. This is not what Jesus means when he says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command." In this case love is an action word. It means to do caring and sacrificial things for another person. For example, if a person is in need of warm clothing and food, the Biblical way to love that person is to give them food and clothing--not a hug and words about how you feel their pain.

So how do you love God? By obeying God. By doing what God says to do. Feed the hungry. Clothe those who are cold. Take care of widows and orphans. And spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.