The story is told of a Sunday school teacher whose assignment was to explain to the six-year-olds in his class what someone must do in order to go to heaven. In an attempt to discover what the kids already believed, he asked a few questions.
"If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?" "No!" the children all answered. "If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven?" Again the answer was, "No!"
"Well then," he said, "if I was kind to animals and gave candy to children and loved my wife, would that get me into heaven?" Again they all shouted, "No!" "Well then, how can I get into heaven?" A boy in the back row stood up and shouted, "YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!" Source: Andy Stanley, How Good is Good Enough?
How does a person get to heaven?
Allow me to pose the same question. How does a person get to heaven? Do you just "gotta be dead" or are there other qualifications? And if so, what are they? I really want to know. When I die, I want to make sure I go to heaven!
Most people believe that the primary qualification for getting into heaven is being a good person. And they build their case by pointing out how all religions essentially teach that you must be a good person. But one question that haunts religious people is thought provoking. How good do I have to be to go to heaven? How doI know when I've done enough?”
In ancient cultures, the gods would weigh a man’s heart to determine whether he was fit for eternity. If a man led a good life and the scales tipped to his favor, he would inherit eternal life. But if the scales tipped to the bad, he’d face eternal torment.
So if you believe all good people go to heaven, which direction is your scale tipping? Are you doing enough good?Did holding the door open for that elderly lady count? Did picking that piece of trash up in the parking lot count? What about recycling, or driving a hybrid? I just read about how churches are celebrating Palm Sunday with eco-friendly palm branches. Supposedly, it’s the Christian thing to do. Does all this bolster one’s standing on Judgment day?
Just how many good deeds are you doing in a given week? We spend 40-50 hours a week working. We easily spend that amount of time watching television, surfing the web, checking e-mail, and talking on the phone. Does attending church count? Does self-discipline, exercise, or dieting count as being a good person?
What is your qualification for getting to heaven?
What you’ll find is that everyone hashis own list for what it means to be good enough to go to heaven. In the Church at Colossae, there was a group of influential people promoting their own list of qualifications. (See Colossians 2:9-23)
One qualification was the Jewish practice of circumcision. Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with Israel. At birth,every male child was circumcised. But circumcision became more than a symbol of God’s covenant. It became a source of pride. Instead of trusting God, it caused some to put confidence in the flesh. "Because I’ve been circumcised, I’ve got my ticket to paradise." They even went so far as to tell people, "You cannot be saved unless youare circumcised.
They didn’t stop with circumcision. To be qualified for eternal life, they expected people to obey various dietary laws and observe particular religious festivals, New Moon celebrations, and the Sabbath.
They even expected people to have the same spiritual experiences. They delighted in having seen angels, or in having worshiped an angel. They would go into all kinds of detail about what they had seen or heard. They were consumed with their visions, dreams, impressions, signs, and interpretations of events. "I saw this.I heard God’s voice.I spoke in tongues.I saw the face of Jesus on the toast I ate for breakfast."
They had a whole catechism, stocked full of their teachings and rules. Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch. Do this. Do that. Know this.Believe that. But all of these rules and teachings had one thing in common.They caused people to put confidence in the flesh, instead of in God. They caused people to take pride in their moral goodness, instead of relying on God’s grace.
Colossians tells us that it isn't what we "do" that qualifies us for heaven.
The message of Colossians is that circumcision doesn’t qualify us for heaven. Observing dietary laws and religious festivals doesn’t qualify us for heaven. Religious experiences, not matter how real and moving, do not qualify us for heaven. Obeying the right rules and commands and following the right catechism does not qualify us for heaven.
Christianity isn’t about what you and I can "do" to inherit eternal life. It’s all about what the Father has "done" through his Son Jesus Christ. Christ’s work, not our work,is whatqualifies us for eternal life.
Colossians 1:12-14 (NIV) speaks of,"giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
Colossians 2:10 (NIV) tells us that we have been given, "fullness in Christ." In Christ, God has filled up everything that was lacking in our relationship with him. Listen to Paul’s testimony in Colossians 2:9-23 (NIV).
"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow."
"Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."
You have a choice in how you relate to God.
I wonder if you realize how you have been given a choice. You can attempt to relate to God out of your pride or out of a misguided sense of moral goodness. You can put confidence in the flesh, in your willpower, in your self-discipline, in your religious experiences, in religious celebrations, or in rules. But you’ll never be good enough. If you have sinned even once, you have already lost your shot at earning your way to heaven.
Your only other choice is to relate to God through his mercy and grace. Through Jesus Christ you can be forgiven of every sin. God will fill up everything that is lacking. He will pay the debt. He will bail you out for all your sin and self-centeredness. Your most egregious sins will be gone, forgiven, and washed away.
Instead of trusting in your flesh and what you can "do",you just have to trust in Christ and what he has "done"!We have a short video to watch. If after watching this video you are ready to trust Christ, I want you to take out your connection card and mark the box, "I want to follow Christ." I’ll contact you and set up a time for us to meet and talk further about your decision.