Quick Musing On Heaven

I have heard over and over again from students back in Nebraska and here in San Diego that good people are going to heaven. The problem is that morally good people are some of the worst out there! We tend to view sin in terms of outward behavior rather than an inward reality. It's easier to spot sin in a guy getting drunk than a religious person's pride who judges that drunk.

This is the problem with our view of heaven.

If these type of “good” people are going to heaven, then heaven will not be heaven at all. Heaven will be filled with tons of morally good prideful people who do not worship God as their savior but worship themselves as being their own savior.

When someone comes up to me and says that most people are going to heaven (minus a few Hitler types) then I let them know that heaven won't look much different than the world we live in now.

What if heaven was a place where pride didn't exist? What if heaven was not place of boasting in self, but a place where Jesus was boasted in as being our savior?

That is the true heaven and most people don't want to go there. How can we know? Well, if people aren't willing to enter into gospel-centered communities here on earth – places they can come into, confess sin, and worship Jesus – why would they want to do that when they die?

God is a God of justice. He will let people have what they want.

If some people want a heaven where they deserve to be, filled with morally good people who think they deserve to be there as well, then God will let them have that. But, it will be hell since this place will be void of people who are humble and void of the presence of God.

If other people want a heaven where they don't deserve to be, and they trust in Jesus as their only hope to get there, God will grant them their request.

God Saves Both Irreligious and Religious

“Most people in our culture believe that, if there is a God, we can relate to him and go to heaven through leading a good life. Let’s call this the “moral improvement” view. Christianity teaches the very opposite. In the Christian understanding, Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can merit salvation. Rather, he comes to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place. God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior.”
– Tim Keller (The Reason for God)

I would submit that there are three types of people in your fraternity or sorority: religious, irreligious, and gospel-centered Christians.

The Irreligious

Whether these people claim to believe in God or not, they live how they want to live. They are on the throne of their life. External sins are easier to spot in this crowd – getting drunk, sex with whomever, stealing, verbally or physically abusing someone, etc. Everyone will practice external sins to varying degrees – so don’t think that someone who “isn’t that bad” is not irreligious. They key here is that they are on the throne of their life and that they don’t see a need for a Savior.

The Religious

These people claim to believe in God and practice regularly in a religious denomination – trying hard to devote themselves to the teachings of that religion. Their sins are not as easy to spot as the irreligious because they are mostly internal – greed, selfishness, envy, judgment, jealousy, and most of all – pride. These people are climbing up the ladder of morality trying to become better people. Yet, at the same time, they have a sense of pride that they are much further along than everyone else. This leads to judging others who aren’t as religious as them. They think that if they keep up their performance, then they will have a better chance of being accepted by God. Rarely does a religious person see sin in his life, and if he does, he tries to hide it.

Gospel-centered Christians

These people recognize that they are deeply flawed and broken. They realize that the gospel says that we are all sinful and in need of a Savior – which means that the irreligious and the religious are all in the same boat. No one is better than the other. Instead of spending their time rebelling and doing whatever they want (like the irreligious) or trying to earn God’s favor and judging the people who aren’t like them (like the religious) - they are confessing their brokenness daily and asking God to save them and restore them.

What do I need to do?

If you are living irreligiously, it is not too late to ask God to forgive your sins and to put Himself on the throne of your life. 1 John 1:9 says that He is faithful to forgive you if you simply ask in humility.

If you are living religiously, you need to realize that you are way more sinful than you think and that all of your efforts to earn God’s approval are useless. Ask God to give you a bigger awareness of your sin so that you can have a greater awareness of God’s mercy through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And as you experience this great mercy, you’ll be able to extend it to your fraternity brothers or sorority sisters instead of pride or judgment.