Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] When I was a kid, I wanted to be good, mainly because that was the only instructions my parents gave me.
[00:00:17] Except we would go antiquing sometimes.
[00:00:21] And by we, I mean they would go antiquing and then we would just be panicked in these antique stores. Not because. Because my parents would turn around and they would say, listen, when we are in here, you know that like when parents start enunciating like when we are in here, but their mouth moves less when we are in here, don't you touch anything.
[00:00:49] If you break it, we will have to buy it. Of course, I'm. I'm like the kid, the type of kid I was. I wanted to follow the rules. I wanted to, okay, I will not touch anything. My brother was like, well, they probably didn't mean this.
[00:01:07] He would touch everything.
[00:01:09] I just. I wanted to be a rule follower. I wanted to be good. Tell me the things I'm supposed to do to be good, and I will. I will do those things. And if I don't do those things, I will. I will sort of not do them. But then very. I'll know quite well the other people who are. Who are breaking the rules. I know the rule breakers. And it kind of became where I felt more comfortable pointing out rule breakers than actually, like, actually doing what was right and what was good. It's just easier to knock other people down than to stand up on your own.
[00:01:49] So, you know, obviously not saying that's a good thing, but the. I. I wanted. I wanted to be good.
[00:01:59] I was teaching at a church camp. And Rachel and I are leaving today to go on vacation. And then we will come back, and then we'll go to church camp, and then we'll come back, and then we'll go to church camp, and then we'll be home forever, hopefully.
[00:02:16] But I was. I mean, I've been involved with church camp since I was a.
[00:02:21] Since I was very little, fourth grade, I went to this church camp that I'm now the director of. Went to that church camp, Mountain Fork Christian Camp, Beavers Bend, Oklahoma.
[00:02:31] And I. So I started in fourth grade. Rachel started at that camp in third grade.
[00:02:36] And we were. We're two years apart. She's two years younger than I am, and we met there.
[00:02:42] We didn't get married there, but close.
[00:02:46] And we. We've really been tied to this church camp.
[00:02:53] And I've been going to that church camp for a long time. And you watch these kids grow up. They come in at third grade, and then you watch them become seniors and graduate.
[00:03:03] And I remember a Young man who had been at church camp, just a little bowling ball of a man of a little kid. Like, just, you know, those babies that. You see them and you're like, oh, I bet they broke some dry wall in their day. You know, they've run into walls and hurt. He was just a solid little kid. And he grew up. He was a mess.
[00:03:23] And I. I loved him. He was just a hoot. And I watched him grow from third grade to about 11th grade, whenever he was.
[00:03:33] When he said this to me. He came up to me after one. One night at camp, and he said, has anyone ever been perfect?
[00:03:43] Well, yeah, we teach that Jesus. He goes, no, no, no, no, no. I know Jesus was perfect, but has anyone ever pulled off perfection? And I said, no.
[00:03:54] He goes, well, I think I'm close with all the serious. Are you so serious?
[00:04:01] He goes, I just think I was close. And I just. As a pastor, in those moments, those are very important to like, like, not.
[00:04:10] I don't want to, like, knock him down too much, but I want to knock him down a little.
[00:04:16] And I. I responded by saying, just thoughtfully, prayerfully. I said, I just laughed.
[00:04:27] He said, what? And I said, no, you're not.
[00:04:30] I said, I've known you since you were little, and that's just once a week for the last 12 years, one week per year. For the last 12 years I've known you, 12 weeks.
[00:04:44] I've watched you be not perfect.
[00:04:47] I've watched you be great at that.
[00:04:49] And that's what was freeing, though, is when we got to talking, is that he didn't then have to keep keeping up the facade one.
[00:05:02] And trying to be perfect.
[00:05:06] What perfect?
[00:05:07] How good do I have to be? And that's what's funny about some of our, like, doctrinal debates. We. When we, like, we'll. We'll have. DJ and I were talking about debates this week. You remember those. It was back before tv. And they would show up in a tent and there was a tent, and all of the, like, it was always like a Baptist versus a Church of Christ guy or a Methodist versus a Church of Christ guy. We always had a dog in one of those fights, and we would. What? Church of Christ? Church of Christ against Church of Christ. It just became a very niche thing. That's right, dj. But so we. They. They would come into these tents and there would be one side on the. No one switched sides. No one in the middle said, well, you know, he's got some points. And he. Down here to the other side, no one switched. We all Just debated. But, like, in the end, the question is, how right do you have to be to earn God's love?
[00:06:05] Like, if that's kind of what we're arguing that, like, well, I'm right and they're wrong. Well, how right do you have to be to get God to love you, to be good to you?
[00:06:22] Is it 90%?
[00:06:24] What? If you're 90% right, then it's God, like, okay, well, you're one of me and we'll judge everybody else. What's the 90? What's 95?
[00:06:36] When you start thinking about it like that, it's like, no one's all the way right.
[00:06:43] That's why whenever we. I listen, you can quote me, but just tell people when I said it, because I might be. I might disagree at that, you know, eventually with myself.
[00:06:56] We're all changing and being shaped by Scripture. We're all changing and being shaped by the spirit of God. We're all. We're all in a story and we're being molded and shaped by God. So at times we're going to be wrong and we're not going to be right.
[00:07:18] We're going to do what's wrong and we're not going to do what's right.
[00:07:24] We are all imperfect and we're not all.
[00:07:31] We're not always good.
[00:07:35] It's interesting when this guy shows up and this guy shows up, this ruler, this rich man, this wealthy guy shows up to Jesus, kneels before him and says, good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now it's interesting here. He says, good Teacher. But in Matthew, he says, teacher, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:08:07] Luke goes back to good Teacher, and in all instances, he says, Jesus has the same response.
[00:08:16] Why do you call me good? Or in Matthew, he says, why do you speak of that which is good?
[00:08:25] No one is good but God alone.
[00:08:32] No one is good but God alone.
[00:08:38] The God who created the heavens and the earth and spoke them into existence and said, it is good. The God who created mankind, male and female, he made them. And he said, it is good.
[00:08:55] The God who loves his creation enough to call it good is the only thing Jesus says that is worthy of good.
[00:09:11] I'm a good Christian.
[00:09:19] Someone was once telling me that they couldn't find their keys.
[00:09:25] They were late to church, couldn't find their keys. I understand this. I can't find things all the time. I walk into the house, I just throw it. I just.
[00:09:35] I'm a disorganized mess in some ways.
[00:09:39] My brain is often Elsewhere than right here.
[00:09:43] Especially if it's a wallet. You know, wallet. I have my wallet attached to my phone so that I can lose both at the same time.
[00:09:52] Just more convenient that way.
[00:09:57] But.
[00:09:59] So someone was saying, I lost my keys and I was late to church. I lost my keys. But good thing I did, they said, because on the way to church, I saw a car wreck that had happened minutes before I got there.
[00:10:21] So God was saving me from that car wreck.
[00:10:29] Again, I stifled a chuckle.
[00:10:33] I get what they're saying.
[00:10:35] And yes, God is good.
[00:10:41] But it's as if God saw that there was going to be a car wreck and that. Let's say her name was Tina and that Tina was going to be in this car wreck. And God said, not Tina.
[00:10:59] Grab Jan, hide Tina's keys, and let's wreck Jan.
[00:11:10] Like what?
[00:11:12] We see the world as revolving around us so that when we're not in a car wreck, God is doing something good.
[00:11:22] Two people were in a car wreck, and it's so we love. Like, God's working for me and has this plan for me. And that works out until you're the one in the car wreck, until you're the one grieving, until you're the one suffering and struggling.
[00:11:42] And then because we've painted this world where God is sort of just like a cruise boat concierge, just making sure your trip is nice.
[00:11:55] And we painted God like that. Whenever something awful happens, we look to God as if God is a failure.
[00:12:04] But God is good.
[00:12:07] And so when chaos happens, you know, we.
[00:12:12] We were driving home from vacation one time when I was a kid, and I remember the first time. Most people do, the first time a tire blew out on your car and you thought. I remember thinking, a helicopter has just landed on the top of our van.
[00:12:28] It was way less interesting than that. A tire had just blown.
[00:12:33] We could probably manipulate situations like that and say, well, God was trying to work a plan where we relate. And this.
[00:12:41] It was a nail.
[00:12:45] It was just a nail.
[00:12:48] A nail hit our car.
[00:12:50] Our tire, funny tire blew out.
[00:12:54] Where God was, was in that family, in that van that I got to be a part of.
[00:13:01] And he was there because my parents chose that for us.
[00:13:07] Where God was, was where the spirit dwelt in the community that I grew up in, that the people who showed up to help us change the tire.
[00:13:19] There's so many people where God is doing good things through those people. But you can tell that you are the center of your story and not God's story, but you are the center of Your story, when God's role is to just make it a little bit easier as you go and that you're the good one and God is the help.
[00:13:47] But this guy shows up to. To Jesus, and we know the story. We know this story. He says, what good. And Jesus says, keep the commandments. And he said, I've done that since birth. Not really a big win, to be honest.
[00:13:59] Like, I've most. Like, I am. I. I'll turn 43 tomorrow.
[00:14:06] And I've gone 43 years. No murder. I've done no murders.
[00:14:12] Like, the commandments aren't. Like, they're not. Like, have a chipper attitude. You know, like, they're. They're. They're pretty straightforward. Don't keep the commandments. I mean, don't. Don't break these commandments.
[00:14:25] He said, I've done all of this since birth, offered the right sacrifices. I've done the right sorts of things.
[00:14:32] He says, honor your mother. Honor your mother and father. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. He said, I've done all that since birth. Well, good on you.
[00:14:41] And Jesus then says, well, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor.
[00:14:52] I feel like that Jesus would have kept pushing this guy until he couldn't have done it.
[00:15:02] Turns out he didn't have to push long because he might have gone and sold everything and come back.
[00:15:07] Now I've done another good thing. All right, well, you're still wearing your clothes.
[00:15:13] There's probably somebody who could use these clothes.
[00:15:19] Jesus wants this guy to see that this goodness that he thought he had or this good teaching that he thinks he could get isn't what doesn't.
[00:15:35] As he's walking away, Jesus says to the disciples, he says, it's harder for a camel to enter go through the eye of a needle than it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.
[00:15:57] Now, this is a tough sentence, and the disciples understand that. The disciples say, if that's true, who can enter?
[00:16:08] And they're all functioning on this level of, am I good?
[00:16:14] Who's good enough then?
[00:16:18] Now, some scholars have tried to make this.
[00:16:22] To make this a little easier. They're all Western scholars. It's all people who are probably wealthier than they should be.
[00:16:31] But he.
[00:16:32] They say that there was a gate that was smaller. It was called. It was called the eye of the needle. And the camels had to get down on their knees and go. That's probably not true.
[00:16:46] Particularly. Jesus really loved hyperbole. He thought it was funny.
[00:16:52] You can kind of tell in Some of the way he phrases certain other things, like plank. He talks about judgment. There's a plank in the eye, and it's moving around. You strain out a gnat, but you swallow a camel.
[00:17:04] He really liked the word camel. Camel was a funny animal to him.
[00:17:09] But even here, he's probably. He probably has, like, this sense of, like, man. It is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.
[00:17:25] The disciples said, my goodness, what chance do we have? And Jesus says, for man, it is impossible.
[00:17:34] But nothing is impossible for God.
[00:17:41] We are not good.
[00:17:48] Now, we may do good things. We may have good moments we have, but just we aren't good. Like, God is good.
[00:17:57] At your best moment, at your, like, your best moment, you're a great person. I know. I know you guys.
[00:18:08] I like you.
[00:18:09] We got good people here.
[00:18:12] Good people.
[00:18:14] People who are. Who are joyful and kind and people who are joyful and rascals.
[00:18:22] Guys, you know, I love me a rascal.
[00:18:25] I love people, like, messing with. I like that. I like that banter.
[00:18:32] I love this group of people. And when I tell people about Glenwood, I don't say, oh, we have the best worship leader in the country. Although I sometimes say that. But I don't say, oh, the sermons are pretty good. I don't say anything like that. I say, we have some great people.
[00:18:54] We have great people.
[00:18:57] They're not the same.
[00:18:59] Well, they are a little bit the same, but they're not.
[00:19:04] They have different perspectives on life. We sit around the table together. We have some great people. Y' all are great people, but you're not good. Like, God's good.
[00:19:19] And sometimes we picture God like, he has his good moments and then he has his, like, tough moments. But our God is good all the time.
[00:19:30] And that. Why do I speak of what is good whenever God is good? If I'm going to talk about what is good, then I need to know that God is good.
[00:19:42] And that there may be a lot that I can't process, that I can't do, that I can't figure out. But, like, do well or do right even.
[00:19:53] There goes my good God, the God who produces all that is good.
[00:20:02] And that good God loves me. I love Chester bringing up the young man in the pig sty dreaming of home.
[00:20:16] And it really corresponds with what we're talking about today, like, our good versus God's good.
[00:20:24] Because our version of good is like that young man in that pigsty because he wanted to go home and he expected Work. And what he got was welcome.
[00:20:38] He expected a job, and he got an embrace.
[00:20:45] However you imagine God, he's better than that.
[00:20:52] And there is a bunch of chaos and brokenness in the world, but our God is so good. He defeated it all.
[00:20:59] There is death and sin and illness, and God defeated it all. Our God is the God of good things.
[00:21:11] So I want you to pay attention to.
[00:21:15] To what is good in life.
[00:21:20] Not just, well, I was.
[00:21:24] I'm in remission. Not just We've, you know, not like, the big things where we say, oh, God is good. Like, because God is good even if I'm not in remission, even if it leads to death, God is good amidst the chaos of death and sin.
[00:21:47] But I want you to find the things in life that make you happy.
[00:21:57] And in those, or when you think of those, those are from God.
[00:22:05] Now, don't hear me. Like, I love stealing. That makes me happy.
[00:22:12] Not all of human enjoyment is from God.
[00:22:16] Sometimes we enjoy things that are destructive.
[00:22:22] But beauty, these.
[00:22:29] I am not a fan of preparing for camp, but I love camp because there's kids. Those kids are just.
[00:22:41] They've got so much ahead of them, and they are so excited about stuff, and what I see in them is just so beautiful.
[00:22:53] So I always loved the experience. The paperwork, not so much, but I love those kids.
[00:23:07] God is good.
[00:23:10] Just connecting beauty that you see in the world with the goodness of God.
[00:23:17] My goodness. Those people showed up when I was down. God is good.
[00:23:22] We gather around a table together and celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. All sorts of people from all. Like, y'. All. Y' all are so different from each other. Y'. All. Y' all have different political beliefs. You watch different television networks. Those are the same thing, right?
[00:23:40] You. You have. You have different, like, perspectives on Scripture. You come from different backgrounds. You find different things important.
[00:23:51] But you gather around the table and God is good.
[00:23:57] We see sin and brokenness and know Jesus has overcome it. And God is good.
[00:24:04] We carry caskets to the cemetery and know death has been defeated.
[00:24:13] And we hold onto those rails as we carry our grief, not thinking that this is a part of God's plan, but knowing that God's plan is bigger than this.
[00:24:33] Death is bad.
[00:24:35] Sin is bad.
[00:24:38] Brokenness and heartache and hunger and poverty are bad.
[00:24:44] And God is good.
[00:24:46] Let's pray.
