Qualifications for Heaven
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:5-7
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Romans 3:11-12; 23-25a
I have been changing the message on the church marquee for years now, and it is something that I enjoy. It’s fun to pour over sources on Pinterest for references that will convey a thought-provoking idea in the limited space (and lettering—for some reason we have only like nine Cs, four of which are used within website name—odd, right?).
A couple of years ago I put something on the marquee that I felt was important as a church for us to convey, and for people to understand. For the first time ever, I had someone from the church text me to say that someone from the church had been bothered by the message, and asked if I would consider changing it. I was floored and bewildered, baffled by the thought that such a message would elicit such feedback. No, the topic of the message wasn’t political, heretical, social justice-related or anything of the like. What was the message? “Good people don’t go to heaven. Forgiven people do.” Cue collective gasp and maybe even some swooning.
At first I was miffed about getting such a call, because I couldn’t understand how such a message could bother someone who went to church, given that this is basic gospel stuff. We read Christ’s own words in John 14: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I didn’t immediately leave work and change the marquee, because the discussion happened on a Friday and I was changing the signage on Saturday anyway. The perturbed feeling didn’t go away on its own; I had to talk it out with close friends.
I realize now that my reaction was one that lacked empathy and compassion. It was also one that demonstrated a huge assumption on my part: that everyone who attends church has heard the gospel message. Now before you stop reading and scroll on down past this to get to the prayer requests and praise reports, I ask you to reconsider. Just hear me out for a bit, and then you can go about your business.
What exactly is the gospel message? The word gospel is the translation of the Greek noun evangelion, which means good news. The good news that followers of Jesus Christ receive is the fact that God reconciled the world to Himself through the sacrifice of His son who died on the cross, receiving the punishment for our sins, and that He rose again on the third day. It is good news because it is a gift from God. For those who receive it, God’s gift is grace – unmerited favor. This means that there isn’t anything that anyone can do to earn it or deserve it—no actions anyone takes or does merits this remarkable present. This grace allows the atoning work at the cross—the spilling of the blood of the perfect Lamb of God—to set us free from God’s judgment of our sins and instead enables us to wear Christ’s robe of righteousness. When we accept this gift, our future goes from eternal damnation to eternal life. We accept this gift by confessing our sin, repenting from it, and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Friends, except for Jesus, there has been no one who has walked this earth that is without sin. Scripture tells us all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Not some, all. Not only drug dealers, pornographers, and people who think Nicholas Cage is an excellent actor—all. Even your little ol’ grandma has sinned. We are all descendants of Adam, and as such, we struggle with sin. No one is good. Jesus tells us that outright in the gospel of Mark, when He speaks to the rich young man who approached Jesus and called Him good, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” By that very statement, there truly aren’t good people, as only God is good. Ergo, there are no good people in heaven, nor will there be even when I get there (ha! It was a joke, I swear).
If I have burst your bubble, I’m kind of sorry, but I’m kind of not. It’s important to me that you truly, truly know the truth, and the Truth. Friends, the only way is Jesus. The only answer is Jesus. The only solution is Jesus. And here’s an equally cool thing—you don’t have to do any type of works to receive Him—you don’t have to “clean up nicely” (because you can’t), you don’t have to wait until you stop sinning (because you can’t), you don’t have to do X number of good works (again, because you what? Can’t). All you have to do is acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess that He is Lord (“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” – Romans 10:9-10).
Friends, if you are ready to make that step, stop what you’re doing, and pray to receive Him. After you have done that, reach out to Pastor Wayne, me or another elder, a friend or family member, so that we can pray for you and help you in your new path!
PRs: Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Prayers for:
Ms. LaVerne who was hospitalized and is now at Warm Springs Rehab Hospital
Rochelle Cook for pain from her sciatic nerve
JP Perales, Dora’s brother, who has lung damage and a stressed heart from COVID
Praise Reports:
Good news on Judy Wallace’s dad
For the rain we have received
That we are each loved by our Heavenly Father
Friends, the chorus of the contemporary worship song from years sung by Todd Agnew “Grace Like Rain” reminds of what we have to celebrate:
And Hallelujah, grace like rain
Falls down on me
And Hallelujah and all my stains
Are washed away, they're washed away
Quotes
“Your ministry is found where you’ve been broken. Your testimony is found where you’ve been restored.”
“We will never appreciate Jesus’s agonizing prayer in Gethsemane; we will never appreciate His sweating, as it were, great drops of blood, until we grasp in the depths of our beings that Jesus was staring at the wrath of God we deserve”. –Jerry Bridges