Pastor Dan Eddy

Matthew 10:34-42

He’s a good person

6-26-11

I. Introduction – “He/She’s a good person”

What is a good person, and who can be considered bad? And I mean bad in the bad sense not “bad” in the good way.

Is the answer as simple as Mother Theresa was considered a good person and Whitey Bulger is bad?

If that’s the case…where do you fit? Good? Bad? Or something else?

When someone does something bad like steals, gets drunk, shouts obscenities, tweets inappropriate pictures of themselves…have you heard the excuse “Yeah they did do that, but they’re still a good person.” A lot people defended U.S. House Representative Anthony Weiner that way.

So really, who is good and who is bad? And how’s that determined?

Oh, and here’s my favorite: “They don’t go to church, but they’re still a good person.” Really? How do you know? What is good person and who is bad?

Then take today’s Gospel lesson that I just read. Here its sounds like the good Jesus has gone off His rocker, sounding like He’s advocating war within families and works righteousness as a way to Heaven.

Actually, Christ is preparing His 12 Disciples to go out to the cities and villages in Israel and proclaim the Good News. No joke.

These verses come at the end of Matthew 10 where Jesus was vividly clarifying Who He is, Who are His followers, and the possible results of their actions. The Disciples are to bring good to people, who think they are, but aren’t…and, as a result, those hearing the Good News may react in a less than a good way.

II. Good is not determined by individually or consensus opinion

To answer the questions of who is good or bad, first, we must realize Scripture teaches that good is not determined by an individual or even a consensus of opinion. Whitey Bulger may consider himself good. You may think he’s bad. You may have an opinion about Anthony Weiner that may be different than the way he thinks of himself.

We or you could go through everyone in this sanctuary and assign a “good” or “bad” label and in the end it may be an exercise in futility…because Jesus is implying in this text that He is the determiner of good. Look at verses 40 and 41(ESV) where Jesus said:

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.”

Jesus is defining good by playing “connect the dotes.” Consider Mark 10:18 ESV where Jesus is responding to someone who called Him Good teacher. “And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good?’ No one is good except God alone.”

When you take that Scripture verse and put it along side the one I just read, then you will see that God sent Jesus Who is The Ultimate Prophet, Who is The Ultimate Righteous Person. The Ultimate in Good, because Jesus is perfect, without sin. So, Jesus is passing on His role as God’s only sent Son to the Disciples, who are passing Him on to others as the Word made flesh. And as Romans 10:17 ESV says, “…faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.” So whoever hears this Good News of Salvation… and doesn’t reject it…is considered good.

In other words, to be good you have to be connected to the ultimate in Good. Note there is no earning on anyone’s part. Good is received.

Today, we, in the Church, are the Disciples Jesus is sending to spread the good to others, so more and more can receive His love, and be considered good.

And there’s a reward for being considered Good in the eyes of God. The reward is grace. Ephesians 2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith…it is not your own doing.

It is not our doing…because the Sender (Christ…point to cross) makes the receivers (point to the congregation) one with God. And as was just stated from Jesus, God alone is considered good.

Receive Jesus’ peace (not worldly peace) and receive a life that can never be lost, because Jesus lost His life on the Cross so you wouldn’t lose yours for eternity. His peace is confirmed with His victory over death in the flesh, and that peace is passed onto you. You are one with Christ by faith alone. You are now considered good, ever since you were baptized, and even though you still commit sins. You are considered good every time you receive Christ’s real body and blood in true faith, and are again forgiven of your sins.

Now who wouldn’t want be a good person in this way? Well, that’s what Jesus was warning His Disciples about.

III. Rejection of the Good and why

Jesus is saying don’t think that everyone you tell the Good News to will consider it good news. Rejection and strife could be as close as your own immediate family.

And here’s the problem…people don’t want to hear that they do bad things.

For example, take the girl who was recently kicked out of an Alamo Drafthouse movie theatre in Texas. She was kicked out for texting while a movie was showing. The movie theatre owners say it is clearly posted that there’s no cell phone use or texting during movies. After the girl was kicked out she called the movie theatre’s answering machine, not to apologize, but instead left a message filled with obscenities. I heard the unedited version of the recording and it would make a sailor blush. In between the numerous obscenities, the gist of her message was how unfair their rules were and she could text anywhere she wanted. She was offended for being thrown out…and then here’s the ironic statement. At the end of the laced filled obscene message, she said she would never come back to their theatre and was going to another theatre where people were actually polite.

Some people don’t want you judging them, even though you’re only judging their actions. But they are more than willing to judge the Good News of Christ as bad. They may even consider the 10 Commandments as bad, because they appear to be judgmental and outdated.

In fact some may even think they have done enough good to make up for any bad they’ve committed. And what Paul was saying in this morning’s Epistle reading wasn’t that the Law is bad…but the Law reveals the bad in us, which means if we try to rely on it to show our good…we will sink.

When the Titanic hit the iceberg the crew still felt that the ship would not sink…that they had built it with enough containment doors to shut off the water enough to keep it from sinking. They even had pumps to expel the water coming in, but they could not discharge the water fast enough.

Good works and sin are like that. When we attempt to offer our good works as a counter to our sins…we only fool ourselves into thinking that we can keep from sinking into the Abyss. The sins come faster than we can expel them, and what we do as moral only fools us…and sinks us. No one came to rescue the Titanic until it was at the bottom of the ocean and nearly 2000 perished. No one survives on this ship of life unless rescued by Christ.

People who reject the Good want you to love them regardless of their actions with no intentions of changing. The strife comes when God’s love contradicts the love they want from you.

Now do you see what Jesus meant in verse 38 about Him bringing a sword? True peace is not appeasing people to avoid facing their iniquities, while overvaluing their moral deeds. True peace comes after people face their transgressions and receive the only peace that surpasses all our understanding as Philippians 4:7 states.

Christ’s sword is meant to divide sin from sinner so that the person is separated from the actions that would condemn them. The Lord’s sword is so powerful it could even separate the alleged sinful actions of Whitey Bulger and bring eternal peace to his life.

But if sinners don’t want Christ to separate them from their sin…then strife will occur in your families and among your friends. But better the strife, saving as many as possible, than to let all live peacefully in an earthly way with a false sense of security and perish for eternity.

Jesus wants you to love your family, but He doesn’t want earthly affections of loved ones to overshadow the love He is offering to them and you. Their eternal existence is just too important to avoid not speaking the Good News so they can be considered good for eternity.

IV. Connected to the Good…to act like the Good

And that means delivering the Good News by word and actions will be tough sometimes as tough as though you were carrying a cross to your own execution. Our faith in Christ will be tested to see if we think Jesus is worthy. Remember He considers you worthy. But you are not doing that on your own. Following Christ means you are right behind Him all the way.

But Jesus is saying “If I am good and you have my goodness (i.e. faith) you will speak and do the good I say.” But sometimes that is so hard to live. I like the way Pastor Schipul stated it in a recent sermon: “The Good News is so good that we begin to believe that no one will believe it.”

Remember you don’t change a heart…it’s the Good inside of you from God passed onto them that changes hearts from bad to good. Jesus makes you worthy to show that to others so they know they are worthy of Christ.

Do you know what happens when we, as individuals and congregations, don’t share the Good News to friends and family? A congregation eventually whither and dies.

As we worship here this morning, Our Savior Lutheran Church in Mashpee on the Cape is having their final church service. The doors of the congregation will close permanently in just a few hours. This morning they may have 25-30 in worship, which will be up from the average of 9-12 they’ve had over the past year. At one time, they were worshipping in the mid to upper 60s.

I’m going to pull any punches. The reason why they are closing is because for years enough people in the congregation refused to reach out as individuals and as a congregation. Too many did not take up Christ’s cross and His sword to bring God’s real peace to others. Let that serve as a warning for us…who, as a congregation, came close to closing ourselves in the late 90s.

When you bring Christ to others because Jesus was brought to you, and you do this with the simplest of actions…like giving a cold cup of water…or donating a few extra dollars to displaced families from Tornadoes, or sending a church postcard to tell someone you are praying for them…or asking someone or some organization how you or we can help them…then it’s amazing how much the Lord blesses those efforts with more senders with more receiving with more strife and with more true peace.

If you don’t believe that…how many of you have joined this congregation since 1998?

V. Conclusion: Who is good? Who is not?

So, who is good? You are if you have faith in Christ. Who is not? Those who have rejected Jesus’ forgiving, forever life-giving peace. Do we, good people do good things because we have the Good inside of us? Yes, and that means we carry our crosses because Christ carried His ultimate Cross for us, and because of His suffering and death considers you worthy.

God’s blessings as we bring peace with a sword, causing strife, carrying our cross, to bring more the Righteous Person’s (point to cross) reward of Heaven. Amen.