Through his humor, Bill Waterson has a way to make you think about life. He’s the author of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips; and some time ago, he drew Calvin (a little boy) hurtling down a snowy slope on a sled with his friend Hobbes (a tiger).
Calvin: I'm getting nervous about Christmas.
Hobbes: You're worried you haven't been good?
Calvin: That's just the question. It's all relative. What's Santa's definition? How good do you have to be to qualify as good? I haven't killed anybody. That's good, right? I haven't committed any felonies. I didn't start any wars. I don’t practice cannibalism. Wouldn't you say that's pretty good? Wouldn't you say I should get lots of presents?
Hobbes: But maybe good is more than the absence of bad.
Calvin: See, that's what worries me. (Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes, December 23, 1990; www.PreachingToday.com)
Some people define “good” in terms of what they don’t do, but they’re worried, “Am I good enough?” Am I “good enough” not so much for Santa’s sake, but for God’s sake? What is GOD’S definition of “good”? And what does it take to be “good enough” for His Kingdom? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 5, Matthew 5, where Jesus talks about what it takes to be “good enough” to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and his answer might surprise you.
Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (ESV)
If you want to be good enough for God’s Kingdom, it starts when you...
REALIZE THAT JESUS DID NOT CANCEL GOD’S LAW.
Understand that Jesus did not invalidate the Old Testament. Appreciate the fact Jesus did not loosen the requirements of God’s rules one bit.
You see, some people think that the rules don’t matter anymore. that Jesus did away with the Old Testament standards, that all we have to do is love, love, love and live the way we want. But Jesus is very clear here! He did NOT invalidate God’s Law. On the contrary, God’s moral law still matters very much! It is the absolute standard, which defines right and wrong.
Roger Wengert, a philosophy professor at the University of Illinois, often begins his introductory ethics classes by asking how many of the students believe that truth is relative. A show of hands usually reveals that two-thirds to three-fourths of the class thinks in this manner. After discussing the syllabus, testing dates, papers and content of the course, Wengert informs the class that they will be graded according to height. When the smart-alecky tall kid loudly agrees with this system, the professor adds, “Short students get A's; tall students flunk.”
Inevitably a student's hand is raised: “Your grading system is not fair.”
“I am the professor,” retorts Wengert. “I can grade however I wish.”
The student insists, “But what you ought to do is grade us according to how well we learn the material. You should look at our papers and exams to see how well we have understood the content of the course and grade us on that.” The class nods in affirmation (especially the tall students).
Professor Wengert then replies, “By using words like should and ought, you betray your alleged conviction that truth is relative. If you were a true relativist, you would realize that there is no external standard to which my grading should conform. If my truth and my ethic lead me to an alternate grading system that you deem inappropriate, c'est la vie! I will grade however I wish.” (Mark Ashton, Absolute Truth, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996, pp. 9-10; www.PreachingToday.com)
When it comes to defining what is right and fair, you MUST have an external standard. Moral relativism does not work in real life and certainly not in God’s Kingdom. So if you want to be good enough, you cannot get rid of the standard. Instead, you must realize that Jesus did not cancel God’s Law. Rather...
REALIZE THAT JESUS COMPLETES GOD’S LAW.
Understand that Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament. Appreciate the fact that Jesus gives real meaning to God’s rules.
You see, the entire Old Testament is about Him! After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of His followers on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize Him, and they were distraught that their beloved Teacher had been crucified. So Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe ALL THAT THE PROPHETS have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and ALL the Prophets, he interpreted to them in ALL THE SCRIPTURES the things concerning himself (Luke 24:25-27). If you’re reading the Old Testament and don’t see Jesus, then look a little closer, because it is ALL about Him!
Jesus fulfilled numerous Old Testament prophecies, 456 of them to be exact, which proves that He is the Messiah. In fact, on 12 separate occasions, Matthew makes the point, Jesus acted to “fulfill what the Lord had spoken by/through the prophet” (Matt.1:22; 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; 26:54,56; 27:9).
Jesus also obeyed the law perfectly. Hebrews 4:15 says He was “without sin.” And 2 Corinthians 5:21 says He “knew no sin.” Jesus embodies the law, which is an expression of God’s perfect character. He shows us what God is like!
However, the greatest way Jesus fulfilled the Law was in His death and resurrection. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” Jesus took the curse of the law upon Himself, dying in our place, paying the penalty for our sins, so we who trust Him could be free from punishment.
This fulfilled all the types and symbols in the Old Testament, especially the sacrificial system administered by the priests in the tabernacle. Hebrews 9 says, “When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect [tabernacle] – i.e., heaven itself – he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12).
Everything in the Old Testament is about Jesus – the Law, the Prophets, and the sacrificial system. He gives meaning to it all, so don’t disregard it. Jesus did not cancel God’s Law; He completed it!
Think about the law as a walnut. Jesus did not smash it when He came; He planted it, so its meaning could be fully realized like a walnut tree in God’s plan and in the lives of His followers. Sure, things have changed since Jesus came, drastically! But He didn’t destroy the old; He caused it to reach its full potential.
Please, appreciate that if you want to reach your full potential. If you want to be good enough for God’s Kingdom, you must realize at least three truths. 1st realize that Jesus did not cancel God’s Law; 2nd, realize that Jesus competes God’s Law; and 3rd...
REALIZE THAT GOD’S LAW CONTINUES TODAY.
Understand that God’s decrees are permanent standards that don’t change with the times. Appreciate the fact that they will remain until heaven and earth passes away.
Matthew 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (ESV)
Jesus makes it very clear here. Not the smallest letter, nor even a part of a letter, in God’s Law will pass away until heaven and earth pass away and all of it is accomplished or comes to be. The Law is here to stay, my friends. God’s standards are not subject to change in the least little way.
Now, when Jesus says “not an iota... will pass away”, he is talking about the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet – a yod, which looks like an apostrophe. And when Jesus says, “Not a dot will pass away”, he is talking about the tiniest part of a letter. Look at the difference between a bet and a coph in the Hebrew alphabet. The bet looks like a backward “C” with a little flag at the bottom right hand of the letter. The coph is missing the little flag. Or look at the difference between an hey and a chet. The hey looks like a tent with a window on the upper left side. The chet closes the window. Now, these little marks are important, because they make up the letters, which make up the words; and even a slight change in a letter could change the meaning of a word.
Let me give you an example from the English language. It’s called the Oxford Comma In English, when you write a list of things, you put a comma between each item, including the Oxford Comma, which comes after the next-to-last item before the “and.” You can see the Oxford comma in this sentence: I’d like to thank my parents, Mother Theresa, and the Pope. The Oxford Comma is the comma after “Mother Theresa”, and it’s very important, because it makes it very clear that the subject is thanking three different people. But look what happens when you remove that comma: I’d like to thank my parents, Mother Theresa and the Pope.” You get the impression that Mother Theresa and the Pope are married! You see, that one little mark changes the whole meaning of the sentence.
In fact, a couple of years ago (March 16, 2017), a judge in Maine ruled that a dairy company owed its employees approximately $10 million in unpaid overtime, because of a missing Oxford Comma in their contract. The missing comma had completely changed the terms of the contract in its list of overtime exemptions. (Daniel Victor, “Lack of Oxford Comma Could Cost Maine Company Millions in Overtime Dispute” The New York Times, 3-16-17; www.PreachingToday.com)
Those little marks are very important, and this is the point Jesus is making: the whole law is here to stay down to its tiniest parts. God doesn’t change the standards ever!
So if you want to be good enough for His Kingdom, you don’t do it by lowering the standards one bit, no! You do it by meeting the standards.
“But that’s impossible,” you say. “No one has ever been able to keep all of God’s Law all of the time.” And I say, “You’re right.” When you realize that what God requires is impossible, you are getting closer to the whole point of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.” But more about that later.
Suffice it to say right now: If you want to be good enough for the Kingdom of Heaven, you must 1st, realize that Jesus did not cancel God’s Law; 2nd, realize that Jesus completes God’s Law; and 3rd, realize that God’s Law continues today with no changes in the standards. Therefore, in order to be good enough, you must...
KEEP GOD’S LAW in its entirety.
Obey His rules completely, and do everything He tells you to do from the heart.
Matthew 5:19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (ESV)
Keep God’s Law and be great in God’s Kingdom. Loosen the requirements of even the smallest of God’s rules, and be considered very small in God’s Kingdom.
Just this last March (2019), a Georgia high school teacher, Donelan Andrews, won a $10,000 reward after she closely read the terms and conditions that came with a travel insurance policy she purchased for a trip to England. SquareMouth, a Florida insurance company, intentionally added language in its policy offering a reward for anyone who was still reading the details. They promised a reward to the fist person who emailed the company and Donelan was that person.
SquareMouth’s website says, “We understand most customers don't actually read contracts or documentation when buying something, but we know the importance of doing so.” Over the past 16 years, [they’ve] learned that many travelers buy travel insurance and just assume they’re covered if anything goes wrong. They haven’t read the details of their policy, and this leads to claims for losses that are not covered. In fact, SquareMouth says, “This lack of understanding is one of the biggest reasons travel insurance claims are denied.”
Other companies also hide terms in the fine print of their contracts just to see if people actually read them. In the United Kingdom, a Wi-Fi service provider, Purple, put in their terms of service a commitment to a thousand hours of community service, which could include “cleaning toilets and relieving sewer blockages.”
Another Wi-Fi security firm in London offered to provide service only if “the recipient agreed to assign their firstborn child to us for the duration of eternity.”
Not to be outdone, British retailer GameStation once changed its license agreement to a pre-checked box. Unless users unchecked the box, they granted the company “a nontransferable option to claim, for now and forever more, your immortal soul." (Matthew S. Schwartz, “When Not Reading The Fine Print Can Cost Your Soul,” NPR Strange News, 3-8-19; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, it’s important to pay attention to the details, especially the details of God’s Word. Now, you may not win $10,000 for doing so, but such attention to detail will make you truly great in God’s Kingdom. Keep God’s Law to be great in God’s Kingdom.
In fact, keep God’s Law to even ENTER God’s Kingdom. Obey God’s rules better than the most religious people you know to even step foot into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus makes it very clear!
Matthew 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (ESV)
You have to be better than the most religious people you know to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And in Jesus’ day, those were the scribes and Pharisees. They were so concerned about keeping the Law that they added thousands of extra rules just to keep themselves from breaking the 613 rules found in the Books of Moses.
William Barclay, in his commentary on Matthew says, “There arose a group of men called the scribes who made it the business of their lives to reduce the great principles of the law to literally thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations.” Those were the scribes.
“The Pharisees, whose name means the separated ones, were the men who had separated themselves from all the ordinary activities of life to keep all these rules and regulations.”
Now, these rules and regulations were never written down. The Scribes and Pharisees committed them to memory and handed them down orally from one generation to another. Then, in the Third Century AD, someone finally wrote all the rules down in a book they called the Mishna, which in print today is almost 800 pages long. Later, Jewish scholars wrote two commentaries or Talmud’s to explain the Mishnah, one of which is 12 printed volumes long; the other is 60 printed volumes long.
Let me tell you. These guys were fanatics when it came to keeping the Law; and yet, even they were not good enough for the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s what Jesus said! You have to be better than they to enter God’s Kingdom.
That’s because they concerned themselves with external conformity to God’s Law, but God requires internal conformity in true righteousness, which is obedience from the heart.
Jesus makes that very clear in the six examples, which follow. The Law says, “Do not murder,” but Jesus says, “Do not hate” (Matthew 5:21-26). The law says, “Do not commit adultery,” but Jesus says, “Do not lust” (Matthew 5:27-30). The law says, “Write your wife a certificate of divorce” if you’re going to divorce her, but Jesus says, “Remain faithful to your wife” (Matthew 5:31-32). The law says, “Don’t swear falsely,” but Jesus says, “Be such a person of integrity that you don’t have to swear at all” (Matthew 5:33-37). The law says give equal retribution for wrongs committed against you, but Jesus says, “Be generous with those who hurt you” (Matthew 5:38-42). The law says, “Love your friend and neighbor,” but Jesus says, “Love your enemy” (Matthew 5:43-47).
Jesus pushes obedience to the law from the surface to the heart. External conformity is not enough! No! God requires internal conformity, a heart desire, to follow His Law. The fact is, throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls the Scribes and Pharisees “hypocrites” (e.g., Matthew 23). That’s because they look good on the outside, but inside they’re full of bitterness, lust, and greed.
So how good is “good enough” for God’s Kingdom? Well, Jesus says you must keep every part of God’s Law from the heart; you must obey every command every time on the inside in your thoughts, as well as on the outside in your actions.
But who can do that? Can you? I know I can’t. I’m nowhere near that standard. I’m hopeless! I am so poor spiritually! I fall so far short! If that’s how you feel, then Jesus has you right where He wants you, because no one by their own human effort can ever achieve God’s standard.
So how in the world does anybody become “good enough” for the Kingdom of Heaven? Well, if you cannot count on yourself, you have to...
COUNT ON JESUS!
Depend on Him. Rely on the Lord to change you from the inside out!
You see, as Jesus makes it very clear what God’s standard is, it drives you back to the first sentence in His sermon here. Look at it in Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven.”
You have to realize that you are totally dependent on Him, completely unable to keep God’s Law in the way He requires. And when you come to that realization, what does Jesus say? Yours IS the kingdom of heaven.
In Matthew 18, Jesus’ disciples ask Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” In answer to that question, Jesus puts a child in their midst and says, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1-4).
Children are completely dependent and trusting, and that’s what it takes to enter and to become great in God’s Kingdom. Since you cannot ever be good enough on your own, you have to completely depend on Jesus and trust Him to change your heart, which will absolutely change your life.
In his book, Putting the Amazing Back into Grace, Michael Horton talks about the trip he made to Europe after his junior year in college with some friends.
He says, “Having misjudged my expenses by several digits, I phoned home for help. My parents transferred money from their account to cover outstanding bills and included an additional sum from which I could draw until the end of the trip.”
Then Michael Horton asks, “Now, was this money, which I was going to draw daily as I needed, strictly speaking, my money? No, it belonged to my parents; nevertheless, because they had transferred it to my account, it was my money. My account was now filled with money I had not earned, but which was mine to use nonetheless.” (Michael Horton, Putting the Amazing Back into Grace, Baker, 2010, pp.148-155; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s what our Heavenly Father did for us in Christ. He transferred Christ’s riches, His righteousness, to our account. This not only paid our debts but gave us more than enough to draw from until we return home to heaven.
The Bible put it this way: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
As a result, the Bible says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).
When we stop depending on ourselves and depend on God’s Spirit, “the righteous requirements of the law [are] fulfilled in us!” Through His death, Jesus did not smash the Law; He planted the Law, so it could be fully realized in those who rely on Him.
So what does it take to be “good enough” for God’s Kingdom? Well, when you realize that Jesus did not cancel God’s Law, but completes it, that it continues today, and that you have to keep every part of it from the heart, there is only one thing you can do and that’s count on Jesus. Rely on Him. Trust Christ with your life and let Him get you ready for heaven.
Please, if you have never done it before, admit your desperate need for Christ and ask Him to save you from your sin.
Depend on Christ, but don’t just do it once. Continue to depend on Christ throughout your life, because you will never stop needing Him. You see, this Gospel, this Good News, is not just for beginners in the faith; it’s for every believer no matter how long they have walked with Jesus.
Tullian Tchividjian put it this way: God does not move us beyond the gospel; he moves us more deeply into the gospel, because all the power we need in order to change and mature comes through the gospel... The gospel does not simply ignite the Christian life; it is the fuel that keeps Christians going and growing every day. Real change cannot come apart from the gospel. (“Trusting in God's Declaration,” www.PreachingToday.com)
