Possess the God Who Is Good

“I’ve got this” is a phrase we might use when we are 100% confident of our ability to do something.  “I’ve got this” is probably moving beyond confident toward cockiness.  “I’ve got this” is a frame of mind focused on our own talents, our own strength, and our own abilities.  “I’ve got this” is the attitude of many professional athletes as they enter into competition.  “I’ve got this” is the attitude of musicians as they go on stage to perform.  “I’ve got this” might be an attitude we take with us into many aspects of our own lives . . . a test at school, a job interview, a recital, asking a girl out on a date, a sports competition, a conflict with a friend, etc.  Most dangerously, “I’ve got this” might be an attitude we take with us in an effort to live out our Christian life.

READ:  Luke 18:18-30

The rich young ruler’s attitude toward inheriting eternal life was, “I’ve got this”.  He was confident that the goodness of His life made him deserving of entrance into eternal life.  He was sadly mistaken since according to Jesus, “no one is good except God alone!”  In the Old Testament God’s moral goodness is described using the word “holy” (Isaiah 1:4, 5:16, 40:25; Revelation 4:8).  God says about Himself in Leviticus 19:2 that, “I the Lord your God am holy”.  God’s holiness is his moral PURITY and PERFECTION.  God alone has inherent goodness or holiness.  Goodness or holiness is not something that we, or the rich young ruler, possess.  Therefore, entering the Kingdom requires possessing GOD who is GOOD!  Why do we need to possess the God who is good?

We need to possess the God who is good because NONE of US are PERFECTLY GOOD (Mt. 18:18-23) – Perfection is impossible.  No matter how hard we try, we will ultimately end up coming up short in any pursuit of perfection. The rich young ruler mistakenly thought that he had achieved moral perfection.  He was confident that this Good Teacher would find NO impurity or imperfection in his moral character, “adultery” (nope), “murder” (nuh-uh), “stealing” (no way), “lying” (off course not), “honor your father and mother” (absolutely).  And yet, Jesus knew one area where his goodness was lacking . . . his wealth.  James 2:10 says, “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”  Although perfection is the goal, we will never achieve it.  As hard as we might try, if we fail at even one small point, we are considered guilty of breaking the whole law.  The “I’ve got this” attitude of the rich young ruler contradicts with the truth of Romans 3:12 which says, “no one does good, not even one.”  Even if the rich young ruler lived an impeccable life Ephesians 2:8 says, “by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Plain and simple, no amount of good works will earn us entrance into the Kingdom of God.  What prevents us from possessing the God who is good?

We cannot possess the God who is good if we are unwilling to leave behind EVERYTHING to follow Jesus (Lk. 18:22-30) – Instead of pursuing perfect goodness, we are to pursue the God who is perfectly good.  Jesus said, “what is impossible (perfection) with man is possible with God.”  Although we are not able to be perfectly good, God is able to make us perfectly good!   It’s as easy as stop, drop, and roll.  STOP trying to earn our way into the Kingdom, DROP anything and everything in life that is preventing us from possessing Jesus, and ROLL through life with Christ as our Savior and following Him in obedience.  Elisabeth Elliott said it well, “he is no fool who lets go of what he cannot keep to possess what he cannot lose.”  Jesus said it perfectly with a question in Mark 8:36, “what good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?”  No matter how important, we must be willing to leave behind anything and everything in order to possess Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION
In Philippians 1:6 we are told about the One who can say “I’ve got this”, Paul says, “I am SURE of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion (perfection) at the day of Jesus Christ.”  When we leave everything to possess Jesus Christ He begins a process of perfecting us which only He can do.  Have you allowed God to begin the good work of perfecting you?

Be Childlike

“Kids Say the Darndest Things” was a television show hosted by Bill Cosby from 1998-2000.  The premise of the show was that Bill would ask a question to a child about anything from dead goldfish to love letters in anticipation on an unpredictable or “cute” response.  For example, during one interview Bill Cosby asked a little boy, “who was George Washington’s wife?” and the boy replied, “Miss America”.  Cosby asked another boy, "how would you make marriage work?" and he boy replied "Tell your wife that she looks pretty even if she looks like a truck."  Children definitely have an honesty and innocence about them that is sweet, charming, and irresistible.  It is these, and many other characteristics, that God loves!

READ:  Matthew 18:1-4

Entering the Kingdom requires become like a CHILD! Mark 10:15 says, “unless you become like a child you will never enter the kingdom of God.”  A Kingdom full of children sounds terrible; crying, temper tantrums, complaining, permanent marker on the streets of gold, etc . . . I don’t think that is what Jesus had in mind.  The characteristics that make children worthy of the Kingdom is their TRUST and DEPENDENCY.  Children believe, accept, and go along with just about anything others say.  Children rely 100% on others for all of their most basic needs for living.  Children are delightfully vulnerable, helpless, weak, and powerless which requires them to be trustworthy and dependent.  How do we regain such childlikeness?  What does it mean to become like a child? 

Becoming like a child means abandoning our desire to become GREAT (Mt. 18:1) – Jesus introduces a child into an awkward conversation where His disciples are selfishly wanting to know who was “greatest” in the Kingdom.  Although children are selfish and want what they want when they want it, they are not “sophisticated” enough to strive for personal honor, recognition, or greatness.  Children do things and relate with others simply for the personal satisfaction and fulfilment that they experience, not what they can get out of it.  John Piper has a popular quote that says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”.  Simply put, Kingdom people are satisfied.  Our need to feel important or significant has been filled.  No more striving.  No more ambition.  No more competition.  When our attitudes are like children before God, our satisfaction comes completely from Christ and we will be able to relate with Him in complete trust and dependence.

Becoming like a child means HUMBLING ourselves (Mt. 18:4) – Childlike trust and dependency on another are not attributes that most people are striving for.  We have “moved on” and “matured” to self-sufficiency and independence.  Childlikeness would be a step backward or back down the ladder in life.  That’s why being childlike requires humility in order to obtain it.  Jesus is not upholding humility itself as a characteristic of being a child.  Instead, He is saying that Kingdom people are humbly willing to revert back to the trust and dependence on God that a child exhibits by nature.  Rather than elevate ourselves, we must be willing to lower ourselves to a place of trust and dependence.   Childlikeness is a humble choice to no longer live a life of self-sufficiency and independence.

CONCLUSION

The book of 1 John refers to believers in Christ as “children” or “little children” 14 different times in 5 chapters.  By using this word John is reminding believers that Kingdom people are those who trust and depend on God.  Whether avoiding sin (1 John 2:1), abiding in Him (1 John 2:28), avoiding being deceived (1 John 3:7), loving others in deed and truth (1 John 3:17), or keeping ourselves from idols (1 John 5:21), we need to maintain a constant attitude of trust and dependence on our Father.  Children of the Kingdom do the darndest things and our first steps back to childhood are satisfaction in God and humility.

Born Again

How many of us remember the day we were born!?!  We may not remember anything about that day, but we know it’s a special day because of the annual event that takes place every year to celebrate our life . . . our BIRTHDAY!  Based on the excitement that dad’s and mom’s and grandpa’s and grandma’s all over the world exhibit, on a “birth”-day (more specifically a conception) something miraculously special happened.  The DNA from our mother and the DNA from our father came together to create something brand new that never existed before . . . US!  Before our “birth”-day we did not exist, but after our “birth”-day we were something uniquely new and special.  Did you know that in order to enter into the Kingdom of heaven we must go through that same process all over . . . AGAIN?

READ:  John 3:1-21

Entering in the Kingdom requires being REBORN as a CHILD of GOD! When we are born something brand new that had never existed before is created.  We are not a reduplication of anything else, we are something entirely brand new.  In the same way, being “born again” involves something brand new being created within us that never existed before.  John 1:12-13 says, “to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God.”  A first birth involves the will of a father and mother, but a second birth involves God’s will.  According to Ephesians 1:4-5, “In love, (God) predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.”  Being born again is a process that any human being can go through in order to become one of His children.  How do we become one of God’s children?

Being “born again” as a child of God requires something BRAND NEW being created within us SPIRITUALLY (Jn. 3:5-6) – When we are physically born we have some pretty standard equipment, arms, legs, eyes, ears, nose, brain, heart, etc.  When we are physically born we arrive in the world with our heart beating, our lungs breathing, and our brain thinking.  We are very simply . . . physically alive.  Although we are physically alive, we are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1).  When we are physically born we are given physical life, lower case “l”, but when we born spiritually we obtain spiritual LIFE, capital “L”!  Jesus said in John 10:10, “I came that they may have LIFE”.  It is God’s Spirit “born” within us that creates a brand new eternal life for us (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Being “born again” as a child of God is an INVISIBLE ADOPTION (John 3:7-8) – My wife Marianne and I adopted Darlene Nicol Juan Salvador from Guatemala in July of 2007 and she legally became our daughter.  Sarah did not become aware of her helpless condition and pursue us, we became aware of her helpless condition and pursued her.  Similarly, God, on His own free will, as of an act of love and grace pursued all of us by sending His Son Jesus to redeem us and make us His sons and daughters!  When we put our belief in Jesus Christ the invisible wind of adoption blows into our lives.  At this moment of spiritual rebirth, we are no longer merely human beings of flesh, we are spiritual children of God.  Romans 8:14-15 says, “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons (and daughters) of God . . . you received the Spirit of adoption as sons (and daughters), by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  It is those who possess the Spirit of God who are adopted children of God.

CONCLUSION
According to Galatians 4:4-5 God, “sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (and daughters).”  The spiritual man (Jesus Christ) became a child of flesh in order that we might experience spiritual life!  What an amazing reversal of roles.  The One who was by nature a child of God became like us who are not naturally children of God for the whole purpose of adopting us as His children.  This is being “born again”, believing in Jesus Christ and being given the DNA of the Spirit of God, according to the purpose and plan of God, and becoming one of His adopted children!  Have you been born again and become an adopted child of God?