Are You a Good Person? [54]

Host: TJ Freeman

Summary: In this episode of Back to Rurality, TJ Freeman dives into the question, "Am I a Good Person?" Drawing from personal experiences and various Bible passages, he explores the struggle of living up to God’s standards of goodness. TJ explains that while humans are inherently flawed, salvation and the power to do good come from God's grace. He emphasizes the importance of demonstrating goodness in everyday life, especially in rural communities, and encourages listeners to let God's goodness shine through their actions. Finally, TJ introduces the new recording space at the Brainerd Institute for Rural Ministry and invites viewers to share the podcast to reach more rural Christians.

Connect with Us:

• Website: backtorurality.com
• Social Media: Facebook
• Email: tj@brainerdinstitute.com

Transcript

Do you consider yourself to be a good person? I mean, that question is actually a lot harder to answer than it seems, just when you think about your life, you go, yeah, I think I'm mostly a good person.

What about the people who are in your life? What would they say about you with your kids, your spouse, your neighbor, the people you work with? Would they say that you're a good person too? That's a pretty important question to ask, but an even more important question to ask than that is what does God say about you?

If you ever wondered, if you were to stand before God today, would he say that you're a good person or not? And can you have any assurance of that at all? And. Why does it really even matter? Those are all really good questions and that's why you should stay tuned to this episode of Back to Rurality.

Well, hello. My name is TJ Freeman and I am a rural pastor, and that means that just like you, I call the middle of nowhere home. I don't know if you've ever struggled with that, but boy have I. And some of the ways that you can struggle with living in the middle of nowhere is being stuck around the same people all the time.

And you can develop a reputation even if you change over time. It's really hard to break that reputation. And at the heart of your reputation is the question, is that person a good person or not? That's really what's at the heart of everybody's reputation. Your reputation on earth matters to some degree.

It's a good thing to have a good name, but who you are before God is what matters most. And I can remember wrestling through this concept when I was a kid laying in my bed at a sleepover. And in the middle of the night I woke up and I was thinking about a verse that I had heard earlier that day from the book of Romans.

You wanna listen to this verse? This is Romans chapter three, starting in verse nine. It says, what then are we to say, are Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jew and Greek are under sin as it is written. 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. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asks is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are, are swift to shed blood and in their paths are ruin and misery.

The way of peace. They have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God for by the works of the law, no human being will ever be justified in his sight.

Since through the law comes a knowledge of sin. Now when I heard those verses, when I read those. They didn't really resonate with me a lot in the moment, but as I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about them, I was wondering, what does it mean that no one does good and that both Jews and Greeks are under sin?

And that by doing good if we could, we couldn't even save ourselves. Just started to wrestle with some of those thoughts and laying there in my bed, I was thinking. If I stood before God right now and he declared me not good, that would mean I would spend eternity in hell. And anytime that I've got caught up thinking about what it feels like or what it would feel like to spend an eternity in hell, that has really been freaky.

So I laid there thinking I'm toast. I'm not good. I know I'm not a good person, and I knew some of the bad things in my own heart that I'd done. And maybe like me, you've justified some of those things where you're like, eh, you know, I've done some bad things, but I don't know if I'd label myself a bad person.

And I think maybe the good will weigh out the bad and God is gonna kind of. Balance it out, and he knows what my real heart is like. Well, that's true. Here's what your real heart is like. Do you ever think about this? Matthew Chapter 15, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and they're making a big deal about washing your hands, even though on the inside they're really bad people.

So here's what Jesus says. It's basically he's saying it's not what's on your hands, that's the problem. Verse 18 of Matthew 15, he says, what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness and slander.

These are what defile a person. Now, when you start thinking about that. If those things are what defile a person, we're all in deep trouble. Have you ever had evil thoughts? I know I've had lots of them. I, to my shame, I wish I could say I don't ever have evil thoughts, but try pulling out in front of me in traffic one time and see what I think about You just fickle.

Maybe you're like that too. Murder. Thankfully, I have never physically murdered a person, but Jesus said that if you hate someone in your heart or even like, call 'em an idiot in your heart, you've murdered them. I am definitely guilty of that adultery. Uh, again, Jesus elevates that to say if you've had lustful thoughts, lustful glances at all, at another person who you're not married to, that is on par with adultery.

Goes on, sexual immorality, theft, false witness. So any kind of lying, slander, saying bad stuff about other people. These are what defile a person. I think we can go just through that list and go, man, if that's what God is measuring my goodness according to, then I am defiled. I'm a bad person. What do I do about this?

Well, is there any hope that you can actually be good? Listen to this. Hopeful Psalm, Psalm 34, verse eight. It says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Boom. This is a lot better situation here. Taste and see that the Lord is good. So there's no good. Human, but check it out.

Experience the fact that God is good and blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. So somehow people who are not good can take refuge in a God who is good. That begins to be really good news, especially when we get to James one 17, where we see that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

So a good God gives good gifts to humans. And this is an unchanging God. I mean, the same God that was in the Old Testament is the same God who is today and this God who is good and allows people to take refuge in Him, gives gifts that are good to people. And how does this happen? Well, this happens largely as a result of what you see in, uh, Ephesians chapter two.

This is like. Probably my favorite chapter in the whole Bible. Listen to this really hopeful few verses here. Ephesians chapter two, starting in verse two. It says, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Okay, so if, if you're apart from Christ and you wake up in the middle of the night wondering if God judges me according to my goodness, will I be able to enter heaven, the answer is no.

You're dead and your trespasses and sins and everyone starts off 'cause it says in verse two in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's at work and the senses of disobedience among among whom we all once lived, and the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind.

And we were by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. That is a strong condemnation. If you are apart from Christ, you are walking in spiritual deadness and there's nothing good innately in you, not the kind of good that would say you could stand before a holy God. Which is why Ephesians two, four is so sweet.

It says, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins made us alive together with Christ, by grace, you had been saved. And he raised us up with him and seeded us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness.

Toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. This is not a result of your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works. So it's not like you did good stuff to get this. Otherwise, as it says in the rest of verse nine, you could boast then. I love this Ephesians two 10 for we are his workmanship.

Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Our good God who gives good gifts to people has given us the greatest gift of all through salvation and Jesus Christ. But here's what I want you to see in Ephesians two 10. Is that God through Christ has enabled you to walk in the good works that he prepared beforehand, that you should walk in them.

So if you've become a Christian, you've been saved through the blood of Christ, you're just trusting in Him alone for salvation, you now are free from your sin, free from the power of all that stuff. To now walk in the good works that God created beforehand, that you should walk in them. Here's why I wanna talk about, talk about this on back toity.

We have been talking for a while about the fruit of the spirit and the importance of showing that fruit in your community, especially if you live in the middle of nowhere. See, there may not be a healthy church in your community, but there is you. You are there, and you have the opportunity as a Christian living in that place to show God's glory in a special way.

There's not that many people out there thinking about this stuff, but you are there, and because we're talking about it here on this podcast and for a whole host of other reasons, you are thinking about that stuff and. You now because of Christ, are able to do good works that represent God well, that show his glory.

So here's how you need to think about goodness as you pursue a life for the glory of God, as you try to live for him, as you try to, you know, do what the Bible says, grow in the Lord, all of those things you need to be thinking about. What does it mean for me to be good? God has been very good to me. He's allowed me to take refuge in him.

He gives good gifts, the primary one being my salvation, but way beyond that, he's given me himself the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to do the good works that he prepared beforehand, that I should walk in them. So what does it mean for me to be good to my neighbor? Not just to be like a neighbor who's not annoying, but what does it mean for me to actually be good to my neighbor?

What does it mean for me to be good to my kids? Man? Your kids are witnessing what? What the gospel is like, what God is like through you as their parents, and you're gonna demonstrate something good about the gospel or something bad. Let's be honest. You're gonna do both. The general pattern of your parenting though, should be that you're trusting Christ, you're repenting to God and your children when you fail, and you're trying to be good to those kids because God has been good to you.

And he calls you, his son or his daughter, trying to be good to your spouse. You're not using your spouse as a way for you to get things in life that you want. You know, I, I have a spouse that I can have a clean home. I have a spouse that I can be sexually fulfilled. I have a spouse so that I can have a companion.

I have a spouse so that I have somebody who agrees with me all the time. Whatever. Your spouse might let you down way more than you wish they would. You're not good to them because they're good. You're good to them because God has been good to you. How are you showing the gospel through the goodness that you show to your spouse, coworkers, other kids at school or on the court?

Um, people who do that thing when they pull out in front of you, people at the church that you go to. If you go to an unhealthy church in your community or you drive away to a healthy church, maybe you're blessed to have a healthy church in your town. I hope that some of our listeners are in that condition.

But think this week and pray that the Lord would help you to walk faithfully as a good person who shows that kind of fruit of the spirit, not good in the sense that you've tried to earn God's favor by doing good stuff, but good in the sense that Jesus Christ has saved you and redeemed you. And he's put his spirit inside of you.

Part of the fruit or evidence of that spirit is that you will grow in goodness. Pray that this week, study your Bible and go out and take steps of faith to be a, a good representative of Christ by doing good things in your home and you're your community. Thanks for watching this episode of Back to Rurality.

It is a delight to be able to record some stuff here. I'm sure you've noticed. If you're list, if you're watching online, this is our first ever episode that is here in the Brainerd offices. So Back to Rurality is a ministry of the Brainerd Institute for Rural Ministry, and this is a brand new office space that we're renting.

It's a little bit echoy. I hope that's not coming through on the mics. Um, and you can see in the background. Some cool stuff. Someday I'll explain some of those things. Check that out. How fancy is that? I don't know if you noticed when I was recording this, but I'm hitting these buttons down here and boom, now I'm looking into my iPad and the little camera in the back is right over this way, and now I'm looking into my iPhone.

And the camera's this way. Anyway, uh, if you're watching or if you're listening, I hope that you get a chance to go watch online. If you would help by sharing this podcast, that would really be a blessing. We would love for this to get out to more rural Christians who do not have a healthy church in their community.

That we can just kind of think together about what it means to follow Christ in the middle of nowhere and why that is so important. Thanks for tuning in for now. Let's get back to life. Back to rurality.