Who Are We: Part 2 — Can We Choose Good? And What is Good?
I am still following the ‘wrath of God’ thread with these posts, although that ‘thread’ is in danger of being woven into many other ‘threads’ and so, in the weaving, gets lost. But I trust God will show me how to pull it all together. I am beginning to understand John Steinbeck’s quote: “You do not take a trip; a trip takes you”. In the meantime, see what you think about ‘good’. Can a person living apart from God do ‘good’, at least ‘good’ in God’s eyes?
This is a long post. I have decided not to split it up. Here is a summary:
Even though most of us don’t know it, there are two kingdoms — the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. Everyone lives in one or the other. If you have not made a serious, solemn decision to live in the Kingdom of God, there is a good chance you are living in the kingdom of the world. That choice is called ‘repentance’ or as John tells us ‘being born again’. The ‘good’ we do while living in the kingdom of the world is ‘good’ done to find our own value and acceptance — in the eyes of others and even in our own eyes. This is idolatry and that ‘good’ God calls filthy rags. When we live in the kingdom of the world, we place ourselves under the power and authority of a “negative force” and I believe our ‘good’ at one level — which really can be good for society — can release evil into the world at another level because it is the byproduct of worship of self, not of God. There is hope. We can repent, which means turning from one kingdom to the Other for our value. God meets us in our decision and by His power we will experience redemption and restoration. But to continue willfully living in the kingdom of the world, trampling on the sacrifice of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, will ultimately bring us under the wrath of God — “it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 11: 31 NIV).
God created everything in heaven and on earth – including two kingdoms. We all live in one or the other. As I have written before, and many others have noted (for example see ‘The Gospel of the Kingdom’ by George Eldon Ladd), these kingdoms are:
The kingdom of the world – aka the kingdom of self or the kingdom of darkness, where the inhabitants live in bondage to satan, although most are not aware of that. God did not create this kingdom. It was created by the corruption of God’s perfect world through the rebellion of Lucifer and Adam and Eve. When we live in the kingdom of the world we take our lives into our own hands, and live life in our own power, although, as I wrote above, we are always living in the shadow of the power or force we call evil. Those who live in this kingdom follow the path of darkness. Along this path they experience instability, defeat, and isolation. Hard times in the kingdom of the world make us hard people. This is a description of the man living in the kingdom of the world:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives” (Jeremiah 17: 5, 6 NIV).
The Kingdom of God is where human beings live in submission to Christ and Jesus rules and reigns in their hearts. Christ is alive in our hearts and minds — we live in His power, not our own. Those who live in this Kingdom follow the path of wisdom. Along this path they experience stability, victory, and connection. In the Kingdom of God we meet hard times with peace, joy, and confidence in the Lord. A widespread misconception among Christians is that we will not experience the Kingdom of God until we get to heaven. This is unscriptural. Heaven is here, now; although not in its fullness. This is a description of the man living in the Kingdom of God:
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. He does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17: 7, 8 NIV).
That’s it – two kingdoms and everyone lives in one or the other. There cannot be dual citizenship. Jesus tells us “no one can serve two masters . . . you cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6: 24 NIV).
Human beings living in the kingdom of the world have a mindset that is anti-God and hostile to God’s rule in their lives. Every kingdom has a ruler. In this kingdom, the ruler (or god) is self. I worship me and everything I do is done in my power to fulfill my ultimate need: to find value, acceptance, a sense of belonging, and even love, at least the kind of love the world offers. I do these things in an attempt to overcome rejection, devaluing, loneliness, and emptiness, often driven by the lie planted in our hearts by satan “you are not good enough”. In the kingdom of the world we usually measure our value by what other people think of us; or worse, by what we think other people think of us. We worship these things, in part to find connection and meaning, even if the things we choose ultimately kill us. Many addictions arise from this sense of disconnectedness, isolation, and loneliness. It has always been this way – this is not a 21st century problem. It is how evil works – destroying relationships, tearing apart the fabric of society, one person and one family at a time. It began when humanity rebelled against the source of all perfect connectedness and value – God.
Human beings who live in this kingdom can do a lot of ‘good’. They feed the hungry, serve the poor, give money to charities for good causes; some work tirelessly for peace, justice, and even the end of war. Some are preachers! Of course, such good deeds like helping refugees, curing cancer, or eliminating malaria are good for society. No doubt. I believe that God can use this good for His glory. Most of the people doing ‘good’ are kind, decent, and constructive citizens — good people. Through this ‘good’ they seek value, acceptance, honor, love, and connection to find fulfillment, to put an end to isolation and shame. Who can argue with that? But they are doing this ‘good’ for self, not to serve and honor God. No matter how much worldly ‘good’ they do, they are still giving honor and glory to something or someone other than God. These things they so diligently work at are their idols or the by-product of idolatry.
Do you remember (or did you read) the N.T. Wright quote I included in my last post – Whence Evil? Here it is:
“When we humans commit idolatry – worshipping that which is not God as if it were – we thereby give to other creatures and beings in the cosmos a power, a prestige, an authority over us which we, under God, were supposed to have over them . . . You call into being a negative force, an anti-God force which is opposed to creation” (Evil and the Justice of God, pg, 112).
Our ‘good’ done for any reason other than to serve and glorify God is still idolatry and, as Wright points out, does two things. We give power and authority to a negative force that we were originally meant to rule over. Instead, it rules over us! And we give power in the invisible realm to a negative or anti-God force that empowers and releases evil to operate in the visible world. ‘Good’ as society defines good might look ‘good’, but beneath that ‘good’ is a deeper evil consequence, for both the do-gooder and the world.
Jeremiah writes about the connection between idolatry and evil. He is writing about idols worshiped by Israel like Baal, but I believe his words apply to any idol.
“If you will return, O Israel, return to me”, declares the Lord, “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just, and righteous way you swear, as surely as the Lord lives, then the nations will be blessed by Him”. Then God tells them that if they do not “my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done — burn with no one to quench it” (Jeremiah 4: 1, 2, 4 NIV).
The best good is the good that arises from a heart surrendered and submitted to Jesus, although imperfectly – a heart in which Christ rules and reigns, which is a Kingdom heart. Out of this heart will flow the only power, which is Christ’s power, that can truly change the world – to push back the darkness and to deny satan power and authority to kill, steal, and destroy. And this good, whether it is helping one person on one day or curing cancer, is a good that God wants us to accomplish in partnership with Him. When we tackle these problems on our own, apart from God, we limit the outcome to whatever we can do in our own power. I can only imagine how frustrated, exasperated, and hurt (God has feelings too) God must feel when we tell Him — “You are not needed!”
Would it not be ironic if the kindness one Kingdom man or woman extended to one person on one day out of a desire to serve and honor Jesus, ultimately released more good into the world and denied satan more power than all the money spent by a secular foundation to end some horrific disease? And without Jesus, the life that was saved by ending some disease will still live in outer darkness for eternity (and that is a long time) when that person dies.
Most of the world believes these ideas are ridiculous. As Paul says: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot accept them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2: 14 NIV).
Four points about doing good before I move on:
First, Isaiah writes “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64: 6 NIV). It is clear from the sentences in Scripture that precede this one that Isaiah is writing about those who continue to sin against God — in other words, those living in the kingdom of self. The ‘good’ done while living in that kingdom with rebellious and anti-God hearts are as filthy rags to God. In contrast, Paul writes in Ephesians that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2: 10 NIV). ‘In Christ’ means living in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus was tempted by satan in the wilderness to turn “stones into bread”. Jesus had the power to do that. He could have ended world hunger instantly. But Jesus did not because He knew that satan was tempting Him to worship Self and, ultimately place Himself under the power of the enemy. Jesus knew that the end would not justify the means. Ending world hunger is a powerful idea. But I believe done the way satan tempted Jesus to do it would release an even greater evil into the world, Jesus would place Himself under the power and authority of satan, as Adam and Eve did; and human beings would be denied the cross.
Second, none of us can earn entrance into the Kingdom of God by our good works. We only enter through the work of the cross and the blood of Jesus, which washes away our sins, redeems, and restores us. Jesus is the door into the Kingdom, although we are invited to choose Him through our repentance, God meets us in this as well.
Third, when we enter the Kingdom of God we are both, at the same time, holy and being made holy. We are becoming what we already are. “Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10: 14 NIV). None of us are free from sin, even while living in the Kingdom of God, which is why we don’t repent once, but are repentant. But God looks favorably on our good works when they are done from a heart surrendered to Him, even if imperfectly, because we are holy and becoming holy. Mary, who anointed Jesus with oil in Mark 14: 6 is an example. Jesus told the disciples “she has done a beautiful thing to Me” (Mark 14: 6 NIV). Paul wrote: “Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people, people who are eager and enthusiastic about living a life that is good and filled with beneficial deeds” (Titus 2: 14 AMP). Although we still sin (but are repentant!) while living in the Kingdom of God, Jesus helps us live a good life, filled with beneficial deeds.
Finally, God redeems us when we repent and believe. He redeems us from slavery to satan, from sin, and even the effects and consequences of sin. This is the work of the cross. We repent, which means choosing to leave behind the kingdom of self and walking through the door into the Kingdom of God. God redeems and restores.
When we look for our value and acceptance in the world through our ‘work’ (our ‘good works’) we buy into one of Satan’s greatest lies – “I will totally fulfill you, but you must totally surrender to me”. The lie says “if you worship this thing, whatever it is, you will be totally fulfilled and you will find value, meaning, and purpose in your life”. To worship something means to make it the most important thing in your life, the thing that takes precedence over every other thing. It means to give that thing, whatever it is, a power over you. The other lie satan tells the inhabitants of this kingdom is: “you are not good enough”. This is the classic ‘carrot and the stick’ approach – you can find fulfillment, but you have to work hard for it; and I am the only ‘one’ who can give it to you.
When we make this decision to worship something that is not God as if it were we make three terrible mistakes:
We are telling God “You are not enough to fulfill me”. Yikes! You turn away from God, the only true source of fulfillment, and turn toward an idol that is both worthless and powerless. Here is the Message translation of verses from Jeremiah 10:
Don’t take the godless nations as your models. Don’t be impressed by their glamour and glitz, no matter how they’re impressed. The religion of these people is nothing but smoke. An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down, then shaped by a woodsman’s ax. They trim it with tinsel and balls, use hammer and nails to keep it upright. It’s like a scarecrow in a cabbage patch – can’t talk! Deadwood that has to be carried – can’t walk. Don’t be impressed by such stuff. It’s useless for either good or evil . . . . Stick-God worshipers looking mighty foolish, god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds – dead sticks, deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. When the fires of judgement come, they’ll be ashes” (Jeremiah 10: 1 – 5; 14, 15 MSG).
This is a great description of any idol – one made of wood or metal, or the more common idols today like money, sex, power, etc. All of them are frauds; none can deliver life and fulfillment. All fall short of the glory, power, and promise of God! And as we worship them we feed evil. But these are the things we all put our trust in, and turn away from God, our Father.
We give away our inheritance for something that is worthless. “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8: 16, 17 NIV). Our inheritance is amazing, and not just when we get to heaven, but now. Let’s not do what Esau did, recorded in Genesis 25, when he gave his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. We are doing exactly the same thing when we seek our fulfillment in the promises of the world as if they were our inheritance. Do we know what we have traded away? Do we understand the contract we have ‘signed’? And for what? Death!
We place ourselves under the power and the authority of the idol – really satan. He rules over us now. And we relinquish not only our inheritance, but also our roles as rulers and priests, which God intended for us to use to defeat the very powers that we have invited to rule over us.
This is what Paul means when he tells us: “you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death (life in the kingdom of the world), or to obedience, which leads to righteousness” (life in the Kingdom of God).
So, if I am doing ‘good’ while living in the kingdom of the world, I am doing it for my ultimate benefit – for acceptance and value — and doing it in my own power. I am not serving God, even though my ‘good’ might be done in the church, and as far as the world knows, in the name of Jesus. As long as I am living in the kingdom of self, I cannot do ‘good’ in God’s eyes. I can do a lot of evil, but not ‘good’ because God’s good is always defined not by the act, but the heart behind the act — a rebellious heart (k.o.t.w) or a submitted heart (KOG). On the “Day’ when God judges all of our deeds – and that day will come for everyone – if all the ‘good’ I did came out of a rebellious heart, I will find myself ‘cast into outer darkness’, because even though what I did was ‘good’ by society’s standards, I am still an idolater, a rebel, and deep-down an ‘evil-doer’ in God’s eyes; and God hates idolatry. He will never give His glory to another.
These are hard, radical thoughts. For me they help answer the question asked by the person living in the kingdom of the world: “Why won’t I go to heaven when I die? I am a good person and I have done a lot of good work in the world.”
I know a lot about living in the kingdom of the world. I lived there for many years. I grew up in a church, but over the years gradually sank deeper and deeper into that kingdom. And then Jesus called me. I tell my story in Who Are We – Part 4. It is my story of how I left the kingdom of the world and accepted (chose, received) life in the Kingdom of God. It is a story of hope and incredible blessing. It is a story of grace, and grace is the opposite of wrath.
But first, I answer the question “are we victors or victims?
Grace and peace,
John