This past weekend I gave a message that encouraged followers of Jesus to move past trying to “be good” to being people who rely totally on the “goodness” of Jesus Christ. In this message, I especially encouraged moms and dads to stop trying to get their children to simply be good and moral people, and instead point them toward looking like and walking with Jesus. As followers of Jesus our hope is in the transformation that he brings, not in our ability to act and talk right. This is a message that God has been working out for some time in my life.
When we stop recognizing Jesus as our righteousness and start thinking we are pretty good, we end up expecting people who are far from God to simply live up to our moral standards. The good news of Jesus loses when we expect people to clean themselves up apart from his grace. The kingdom of God is not about our ability to live as decent people, but instead to live transformed lives by his presence. As followers of Jesus we should not bemoan what is wrong with the world, but instead be people with hope in the midst of hopelessness.
In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, encourages the church to be “ambassadors” for the “ministry of reconciliation” that has been entrusted to us as followers of Jesus. As ambassadors of Christ our message is not to place our hope in our ability to do good and act right. The message is one that those who are far from God, with no hope of bringing themselves near, can be brought near through Jesus alone as their righteousness.
The hope we bring to the world is that, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) It’s time for us to live that way.
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