Do Good People Go to Heaven? (Colossians 1:15-22) [In today's sermon, "Do 'Good' People Go to Heaven? (Colossians 1:15-22)", Elder Larry Omasta shows that good people don t go to heaven, but rather people who accept and respond to Jesus forgiveness go to heaven.] Notes Introduction: I believe that many of us are beginning to feel more comfortable in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. And so, we ll talk about how God s tremendous love for us is so great that He sent His One and only Son, Jesus, to this earth to reconcile us to Himself. And as we do this, we re often asked some questions, one of which is: Why is Jesus the only way to salvation? Why would God deny a good person from going to heaven? In a recent survey among the unchurched in America, 79% believe heaven exists while only 13% don t believe in heaven and 8% don t know. And so, many unchurched people believe that good people go to heaven. But, the catch is, they also believe that most of the good people aren t necessarily religious people or avid churchgoers. So when we talk about Jesus Christ and salvation in the same breath, it seems a little strange to them. And so many believe that it s only fair and logical that how you live your life on this side of the grave determines what happens next. And so their reasonable conclusion is that the souls of good people spend eternity with God in heaven. After all, they will argue that in this life people who do good are rewarded. And they believe that s also true in the next life. Being rewarded for outstanding good behavior or effort is part of our human experience and it s also part of our expectation for the future. So people assume that being good in this life will impress God and then he will reward us for our good deeds after we die. This makes sense doesn t it, they will insist? Our response: So how do we respond to someone who believes this concept that good people go to heaven whether or they believe in Jesus Christ or not? First, we need to ask them a couple of questions, because while this concept that good people go to heaven appears logical on the surface, it s got a lot of unsolvable problems, as we ll see.
2 Questions to ask: Your view point is understandable, but how good is good enough to please God? o In reality, the vast majority of people are NOT really confident where they stand with God. o If you were to ask them, Will you personally make it to heaven when you die, they will probably say, Well, I hope so! But, they re not really sure. How does God reveal his standards to us for being good? o Is it through His word, the Bible? or through the Koran or the writings of Buddha or other Eastern prophets? o Or does God give us an internal sense of right and wrong through our conscience? which is a popular view proposed by many modern-day psychologits. o Most people might think that our conscience can tell us how good we need to be in order to please God and to be rewarded to go to heaven. o But this is problematic, because it s hard to find two people, much less two cultures in the world that can agree on what is good. o For example, the Shari law in many Muslim countries forbids women to appear in public exposing any part of their bodies to others including their faces. o Yet, in our western society, this type of law is considered oppressive and unrealistic. o The bottom line is that what is considered virtuous to one person or culture is considered a vice or sin to another. o So does our conscience really show us the good God expects of us? Does right and wrong change over time? o In the 1960 s and 70 s, tens of thousands of women moved in with their boyfriends gave birth to children without the benefit of marriage. It seemed the right thing to do at the time. o Yet, years later, many of these women said their decision was a big mistake and wanted to instill a different value system in their daughters. o Was living with their boyfriend a good thing? At age 18, they thought so. Yet 20 years later, many saw things differently. o So if there is an internal sense of right and wrong divinely instilled in each of us (like our conscience), why does it change through the years? o We change. And as we change, our values, morals, and ethics change. o So which standard does God evaluate us with? Our teenage liberal standard? Our mid age middle-of-the-road standard? Or our old age conservative standard? How are we going to be graded? o For example, when you die, do you get to go to heaven if your good deeds constitute 90% of your overall deeds? o Or is it 70%? Or does 51% earn you a passing grade? This is a relevant question.
Now, what if God grades on a curve? o Initially that sounds great to most people, until you bring up the name of Mother Teresa. o Did her really good deeds skew the cosmic curve forever, raising the bar for good deeds far beyond what most of us are willing to do? o Maybe God was speaking to us through her. o Maybe she had an inside track concerning what good works were all about. Again, we don t really know. o So, these questions show that there are a lot of problems with this concept that Good people go to heaven. The teachings of Jesus: As shocking as it sounds, there was one major religious person who didn t believe that good people go to heaven. And that major religious person was none other than Jesus Christ. Jesus exposed the falsehood about the concept that Good people go to heaven. Now, when it came to keeping the OT law, the Pharisees were the best people around. They were the professional do-gooders. They prided themselves as being the most righteous people on the face of the earth bar none and that they were absolutely going to heaven, without a doubt. Yet Jesus declared in the Sermon on the Mount that even the Pharisees were not good enough to be in heaven with God. And that was quite a shock to them. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20). Basically, Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, As good as you are, you aren t good enough for God. Now when the common people who heard Jesus message weren t irritated, they became depressed. If the Pharisees weren t good enough, then they didn t have a prayer of a chance. If Jesus was right then none of us are good enough. And why is that? Most of us have broken almost all of the 10 Commandments hundreds of times. We all lie a little, we all cheat a little, we all covet a little. You can point out that Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount went on to re-define the old Mosaic Law. For example, Jesus said that people who commit murder are subject to judgment, because one of the commandments says so. But then He added, anyone who is angry with his brother will also be subject to judgment (Matthew 5:22). 3
4 Jesus equated anger with murder. And so you might ask: Who among us hasn t committed the sin of murder by being angry at someone? Comments on the cross: There is another incident in the life of Jesus that we need to share with our friends concerning who goes to heaven, because it s relevant to our discussion. It s recorded in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus was condemned to death by Pontius Pilot and then nailed to the cross. Jesus was placed between two other men destined to die with him. Now one of the criminals yelled out insults at Jesus. But the second criminal admitted that he had done horrible things in his life and that he was actually getting what he deserved. Then he did the unthinkable. Acknowledging that Jesus was the Son of God, he asked Jesus for a favor to have mercy on him in spite of his worthless life. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42). This man was in no position to bargain. He no longer had any time to accomplish good deeds in his life. He was a few short hours away from an agonizing death. Now to our amazement Jesus didn t tell this condemned criminal that he was going to burn for all eternity in the fire of hell. Instead he said: I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). In granting this, did Jesus ignore justice? Or did Jesus bring another message from God that contradicted the belief that only good people go to heaven? Who was Jesus? His purpose for coming to the earth was to reconcile fallen humanity, which is all of us, to God the Father. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). Jesus doesn t say he is a way to God. He boldly proclaims that he is the only way to God; he alone embodies the truth of God; and he alone is the path to everlasting life. How Jesus reconciled humanity to God? Colossians 1:15, (NLT), Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16) for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can t see such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and by him. 17) He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
5 Before Paul shows us how Jesus reconciled all humanity to God the Father, he first shows in these verses the preeminence and supremacy of Jesus Christ, which is so important to understand. It s not only what Jesus did, but it s also who He was. 18) Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning (first born Greek), supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. This next concept is so important to share with others that Jesus, as the firstborn, which is a title of special honor, was the first to rise spiritually from the realm of the dead. And He rose victoriously. When Jesus rose spiritually from the dead, He triumphed over death by breaking the power Satan and the power of sin. This means that Jesus has opened the way for all humanity to conquer death because of His resurrection. 19) For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20) and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ s blood on the cross. Verse 19 tells us that Jesus Christ was God Incarnate God in the flesh. The Greek word translated reconcile in verse 20, literally means bringing back into a proper relationship. We need to tell people that it was God who bridged the gap to reconcile us to Himself. It s not humanity having to bridge this gap, that separates us from God, as most people believe. The point is that God s reconciliation through Jesus extends not only to all people, both living and dead and yet to be born, but to all of creation Everything in heaven and on earth. God removed the barrier between himself and sinful humanity by having Jesus willing to go to the cross on our behalf, so that sinful humanity, who have been cleansed from sin, may experience a loving relationship with God. It s God s incredible gift of grace to us. It s a gift it s not something we deserve or something we can earn through our good deeds. But, we also know, God doesn t force us to accept his reconciliation with us. It has to be our choice to respond to it and then begin to interact and participate with God. 21) This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Verse 21 shows that God understands what fallen humanity is like before He reconciled us through His Son, Jesus. We were God s enemies. (We weren t just innocent bystanders, as we pretend to be. Rather, God knew the truth we were His enemies.) Thus, humanity has separated himself from God through our evil thoughts (and more importantly) evil actions.
22) Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless in his sight as you stand before him without a single fault. Now verse 22 says, yet meaning in spite of us being enemies of God, He still reconciled us to Himself through the death of Christ. Now what s the result or the implications of us being reconciled to God through Jesus death? All humanity now stands before God blameless, irreproachable and holy. It s not because of what we have accomplished by our own good deeds and actions, but rather it s what Jesus has done for us on the cross. It s God s great gift to us. Many theologians call this the great exchange. God has exchanged our sins for the righteousness of His Son. So the ultimate goal of reconciliation is holiness. And that is why Jesus came down from heaven -- to reconcile sinful humanity to God and to give us a new life, as He lives in us. And that s so important to understand. Conclusion: The fundamental problem all of us have is that we compare our actions with others. And as long as we can find someone whose actions seem to be more distasteful or egregious or more sinful than ours, then we easily flatter ourselves into thinking that we are good and should be rewarded by God. But, the truth is, we must examine ourselves in the light of God s ultimate standard of righteousness, which is reveled in the Bible. The New Testament teaches that humanity doesn t need a to-do list of good deeds; but rather it needs to accept their Savior. Christianity teaches that when humanity sinned, God opted for forgiveness not fairness. He opted for grace and mercy rather than justice. The reason good people don t go to heaven is that there aren t really any good people. There are only sinners. Granted, some of us aren t quite as bad as others. But from God s perspective, everyone has fallen short of HIS standard of righteousness. But the good news is that God opted for grace and mercy over justice and fairness. God sent His Son to die for the sins of all humanity including yours and mine. The bottom line to today s message is this: Good people don t go to heaven. But rather Forgiven people go to heaven. People who accept and THEN respond to Jesus forgiveness go to heaven. One final comment. If you feel the time is right in one of your conversations with your friend, you might ask him/her this question. Have you considered turning your life over to Jesus and experience a spiritual rebirth? Now your friend might not immediately respond, which is fine. But, the important thing is, you ve planted that thought in their mind about responding to the call of Jesus. 6
Closing Prayer 7