Highlands Fellowship You Aren't Good Enough Transcript
Well, hey everybody and welcome to Highlands Fellowship. It's a joy to be together at all of our different venues and locations, online and on TV. If you're new with us, I do want to say a very special welcome to each of you. And I want you to feel right at home because, as we like to say around here, Highlands is home. So, welcome home. Today, we're going to be starting a new four-week message series called Hard Truths. And in this series, we're going to wrestle with four truths, truths that God intends to use to bring freedom into our lives. But these same truths, when they get distorted, are often weaponized by our spiritual enemy to bring shame and fear and paralysis into our lives.
So we're going to look at the first truth today and it's one that I've dealt with my whole life and there are still times when I deal with this one. So the first truth is this: you will never be good enough. You will never be good enough. That's the first truth. No matter how disciplined you are, no matter how sincere your efforts are, no matter how hard you try to please God, you will never measure up on the basis of your own righteousness. Even your best attempts fall short.
Now, here's where this truth often gets twisted inside the church. You might say, "Well, I know I'm not good enough." And that's true. But instead of that realization leading you to grace, the enemy tries to use it to shut you down. He takes a freeing truth and he turns it into this crushing accusation and it starts sounding something like this: you want to make a difference at church? Who do you think you are? You know you're not good enough. You think you can lead a small group? You think you can teach other people about Jesus? You don't know the Bible well enough to do that. Somebody's going to ask you a question that you can't answer and you're going to say the wrong thing and you'll mess somebody up spiritually. You're not qualified to do this.
Or maybe it goes like this: you want to serve with the students, you want to serve with the youth. Seriously? You know, your thought life isn't squeaky clean. You remember what you said last week? You think you can stand up there in front of the students and represent Jesus Christ to them? You're not spiritual enough for that. Or maybe it shows up at your work. Maybe you want to talk about Jesus with your co-workers. Well, they know your past. They've seen all your flaws. You're not a good enough example to be a witness to them. Or maybe it hits even closer to home, like you want to be open about your faith in your home or maybe with your family or in your business or maybe in your tight-knit community and you hear this sound in your ear saying, "Don't do it." The moment you do, you're going to mess it up because you know what? You always do. Why even try? You're not good enough.
And slowly and suddenly, a truth that was meant to point you to grace becomes a lie that keeps you on the sidelines. And the enemy doesn't need you to stop believing in God. He just needs you to stop believing that God can use you. And one of the things that I had to realize is that in order to be what God wants me to be, I need to recognize what I never will be able to do. And one of the things that I never will be is good enough. And I will never be able to measure up ever. No amount of effort can make us adequate before God. And here's the thing, it's not really bad news when I start to see it from God's point of view and see it through his eyes. In fact, to recognize that I cannot earn God's love or favor by my works can actually free me to serve him not out of an effort to gain his approval, but instead out of his approval through Jesus Christ.
So let's look at some of the greatest leaders in all of scripture. And as we do, what you're going to notice is this: every single one of them came to a moment where they realized that they would never ever be good enough on their own. They didn't measure up. And instead of hiding that truth, they acknowledged it before God. So in Genesis 18:27, we see Abraham. And Abraham didn't stand before God and say, "Hey, look at what all I've done. Look how faithful I've been." No, he said this: "I am nothing but dust and ashes." In other words, "God, compared to you, I bring absolutely nothing to the table. I don't even deserve to stand here. I don't deserve to be near you. I'm not good enough."
Then Isaiah in Isaiah 6:5, when Isaiah gets a glimpse of the holiness of God, his response isn't confidence at all. It's actually collapse. He says this: "Woe to me. I am ruined for I'm a man of unclean lips." Isaiah realizes, "I don't belong here. I don't have what it takes to actually stand in the presence of a holy God." In Luke 5:8, Peter witnesses Jesus perform this overwhelming miracle where they throw the nets out and they have such a catch that it's breaking the nets with all the fish in it. And Peter falls at the feet of Jesus and he says, "Go away from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man." Peter's instinct is actually to create distance between him and Jesus, not to create closeness. Jesus, you're holy. I'm not. I don't belong here.
And then there's Paul in 1 Timothy 1:16, where Paul looks back on his life and he says, "I was shown mercy." And when I look at that, I was the worst of sinners. And Paul is saying, "If grace reached me, it can reach anyone." And here's the point: none of these leaders were used by God because they were good enough. They were used by God because they knew they weren't and they trusted him anyway. Here's what I want you to understand today, and that is that there is an unavoidable reality, and that is that we all fall short. We all fall short and again, no amount of effort can make us adequate before God.
In fact, Romans 3:23 is the key verse that could actually set you free today. Scripture says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Even the most righteous one here today has sinned and fallen short. No matter how you judge yourself, you and I have sinned and we fall short of God's glorious standard, we fall short of God's standard. And so, for many of us, when our spiritual enemy starts to tell us, "You're not good enough, you'll never measure up," he takes that truth and he uses it in a way that brings condemnation to us. And many of us, we slip into what we call the performance trap. We take on this idea that if we could only be a little bit better. It's why many of us are perfectionists. We start to feel this false sense of pride or security whenever we are performing well. We also feel this false sense of condemnation or guilt when we don't perform very well and we slip into the performance trap.
The apostle Paul very likely lived under the pressure of the performance trap. Let's look at Philippians 3:4-9. We'll start with verses 4 through 6. Paul kind of gives us what you might call his resume of righteousness. In other words, he's going to say if there was anyone who was ever good enough, it would have been him. So he shows us how righteous he really was. Here's what he says starting in verse 4: "Though I could have confidence in my own efforts, if anyone could, indeed if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more." He goes on: "I was circumcised when I was 8 days old." Why does that matter? The Judaizers, a religious group at that time, taught that in order to be saved, you must be circumcised. He says, "I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin." Basically, if that was in our time today, he would have been saying something like, "My granddaddy is Billy Graham, and on the other side of my family, my great-grandmother is Mother Teresa." That's kind of the equivalent to what he was saying. "I come from the greatest spiritual line of ancestors that you could possibly imagine." He goes on to say, "I'm a real Hebrew, if there ever was one. I was a member of the Pharisees." That would have had the people of that day saying, "Well, you guys do have it together, right?" "A member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law." I think that would have been an understatement. Verse 6: "I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault." That statement right there would have blown the people away. You may follow the Ten Commandments, but the Pharisees followed 613 commandments. And he says, "I was never accused of breaking any of them. If there's anyone who has reason to put confidence in their works, I do. I was under a performance trap."
So, how does this play out in our world today? I think it's important for us to think about that. There are two ways really that we experience the destruction of this works and righteousness performance mentality. The first is this: so many of us, we attempt to please God by following rules. Now, it's a false standard of measurement because the rules that we tend to follow vary depending upon what church you're in and what group of Christianity you're a part of. Some people would say, "Well, I feel good about God and God feels good about me because of what I do." Others would say, "Well, I feel good about God and God feels good about me based on what I don't do."
Let's look at the positive side of this first. "Well, I must be okay with God because I read my Bible today. I must be okay with God because I prayed today. I must be okay with God because I serve in church or I gave in church or I witnessed to somebody, or you saw somebody on the side of the road so you rolled down your window real fast and said, 'Hey, Jesus loves you, dude.' I must be okay with God because of what I do." That's the idea. But then some other people will try to justify their relationship with God based on what they don't do. "I don't sin like you do. I'm right with God because I don't listen to secular music like some of you. I only listen to Christian music. I don't watch rated R movies, and I don't even watch PG-13 movies. And if there's any sexual stuff in there, I'm out on that. Now, violence is okay, but the sexual stuff, not okay, right? And I don't do these things, so therefore I'm right with God. I don't drink, I don't cuss, I don't smoke, and I don't chew, and I don't run with the girls that do." And we think that because of what I do or because of what I don't do, then I'm right with God. And we attempt to please God by following our standard of rules. It's the performance trap. And when we're doing good, we feel good. And when we don't feel like we're doing very good, then, man, do we feel bad. We feel far from God. And it's this performance trap.
And the second area of this performance trap, and this has hit me so personally, is that we start to believe that our worth, what we are worth, is based on what we produce or how we perform. We believe that our value or our worth with God, or even with other people, is based on what we produce or how we perform. Maybe for you, this has been something that's been happening your whole life. Maybe as a kid, you practiced your little tricks on your bike, whatever it is, maybe you're trying to pedal without your hands, and you'd be like, "Hey, mom, dad, watch, watch, watch." And as soon as they'd watch, you'd crash, right? And you wanted to be approved based on your performance and what you could do, but whenever the pressure was on, it seemed like you'd fail. "Did I make good enough grades? Am I acceptable? Oh, man, I made a bad grade. I must not be acceptable." Or maybe it's with sports and you're just trying to live up to someone else's expectations. In the church world, it's like for me, "Am I a good pastor?" Well, it depends. "Did you like my sermon?" Well, most people don't say when they like it, but boy, do you guys tell me when you don't, right? So when I hear that it's bad, I'm like, "Oh, I must not be valuable because I'm not producing something that you like. Am I valuable to the church? Am I valuable to God? Well, is the church growing? Oh, well, I must be valuable. Is it not growing? I must not be that good." And I start to think wrongly that my worth is based on what I produce or how I perform.
And what Paul is going to say is, "Hey, I had a better performance than anybody. If anybody could have been good enough, it was me. I have the religious pedigree. I have the moral discipline, the passionate commitment, and the flawless outward obedience." Yet, all of it is rooted in self-reliance. And what the performance trap tells us is that I can earn God's favor if I obey enough rules, or my value rises and falls based on my output and success. And here's the danger of the performance trap that so many of us fall into: when performance defines worth, failure becomes devastating and pride becomes inevitable.
So here's what we have to do: we have to reassess our work. And this can really be an eye-opening process. Paul radically re-evaluates his entire resume. He re-evaluates all of his religious works and he finds that they were nothing but garbage. Let's look at Philippians 3:7-9. He's talking about his works and he says this: "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value, or the surpassing greatness, of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else." Now he's talking about his works and he says, "counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ." He said, "I consider all my religious efforts as garbage that I may gain Christ and be found in him." Verse 9: "And become one with him. I no longer count my own righteousness through obeying the law. Rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith." It is by faith. And check this out, everything Paul once trusted, his achievements, his obedience, his reputation, now he discards.
And here's what I have to realize, and here's what you have to realize as well: it's that the righteousness that I have with God, it's not from me. It's not my own righteousness. It is only by faith in Jesus Christ. I can never work my way to God's favor. I can never stop sinning my way to God's favor. The only way that I can be made right with God is by faith in the perfect work of his son, Jesus Christ. And that alone, it's not Jesus plus works. It's not Jesus plus religious efforts. It's not Jesus plus not sinning. It's Jesus plus nothing. Yes, a relationship with Jesus will produce good works in your life and it will produce living by his commandments. But the only righteousness that I have comes from faith in Christ. And when I recognize that, all of a sudden the words that Satan wants to use to take me down, "You're never going to be good enough, you're never going to measure up," instead, God uses it to set me free. I can't be good enough. Instead, I have to trust him and him alone. And that takes the pressure off of me. And it changes everything.
Here's the bottom line with God: you don't have the ability. You can't be good enough. You will never measure up. All of the best works that we have, they are as garbage. My works, my religious efforts, it's garbage, because no human righteousness can compare to the gift of knowing Christ Jesus. I don't have what it takes. And instead of that being something that beats me down, it's actually something that frees me under the grace of God to pursue him and his purpose for my life. Not for his approval, but from his approval, as I follow after Jesus Christ.
And there has to be some key shifts that take place within our hearts. We have to shift from self-made righteousness to God-given righteousness. And we have to shift from this idea that we receive God's love from our efforts to receiving God's love through faith in Christ. And here's the key: it's really three words that change absolutely everything. And they're found in Galatians 1:15-16, where it says this: "But when God." Because the problem is so many of us say, "But when I," instead of "But when God." Paul was totally persecuting the church, and in Galatians 1:15-16, what did he say? He said, "But when God, who set me apart from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being." It was when God called Paul by his grace to go preach to the Gentiles. That's when everything changed.
The problem is too many of us want to say, "But when I," and here's how that goes: "But when I'm good enough, then I'll make a difference for God. But when I finally get a little bit more understanding of God's word, then I'll go teach the Bible. But when I get my prayer life together and where it needs to be, then I'll go and I'll be a prayer leader. But when I get the sin out of my life that's been bothering me for so long, then I'll be able to make a difference. But when I get my life straightened out, then I'll be able to be bold at work. But when I get my marriage back to where it really needs to be, then I'll be a spiritual leader to my children." And the problem is, you can't. You don't have what it takes and you never will. You will never be good enough. You will never measure up. And in your own power, you cannot succeed. That's why the truth that Satan uses to beat you down is the same truth that God uses to set you free. You won't be good enough. And all of a sudden, that actually becomes good news. The pressure's off. It's not what I try to do all on my own. It's up to Jesus Christ to do a work in and through me. So, wherever you're weak, that's where his strength is made perfect. But when God calls you, it doesn't matter what other people think. But when God forgives you, it doesn't matter when Satan tries to bring up your past. You are forgiven. But when God empowers you, no man can stop you. But when God heals you, it doesn't matter what the doctors say. But when God calls you, when God calls you by his grace, that's when everything changes.
That's why the gospel of Jesus Christ really is good news, because it offers us something that we are truly incapable of doing on our own. We can't be good enough to earn salvation. Jesus really did what we couldn't do. And that's why you surrender your whole life to him and to him alone. And when you surrender your whole life to him, you come to this life-changing realization that you no longer have to strive to earn God's favor, but you can live confidently because you already have it in Jesus Christ.
So, what I want to do is I want to finish up today by sharing one of the most powerful verses with you. It's really one of my favorite verses in all of the Bible. It's Romans 8:1. And it says this: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So if I'm doing great or if I'm not doing so great, it doesn't determine my standing with God. I don't need to feel the guilt and the failure. Instead, I feel the acceptance and the love. And I please God out of the strength and the security of knowing that I am right with him through Christ rather than my works. And that changes absolutely everything. It changes my heart. It changes my desires. It changes the things that I say. And it changes the way that I live my life.
And some of you, you may be stuck in the performance trap today. You feel like you're never good enough, always too bad. I would say put all of your faith in Jesus Christ and give him all of your life. Give him everything you've got and give it to him alone, because it is Jesus Christ and Jesus alone who will make you right with God. And I'm telling you, that relationship with him changes absolutely everything.
Would you pray with me today? God, we thank you so much for your word and how you continue to teach us and the examples that you give us in your word. From Abraham to Isaiah to Peter to Paul, none of these guys were good enough in and of themselves. But each of them understood that they weren't good enough. They recognized it. They acknowledged it. And they trusted you anyway to do a work in them that only you could do. And my prayer today is that we would recognize that as human beings, we are not going to be good enough to live up to the standard that you have for us. But our righteousness is not in and of ourselves. The righteousness that you see in us only comes when we have faith in your son Jesus Christ and have a relationship with him. And it is through Christ that we become righteous in your eyes. And that is the only way. We will never be good enough. We will never measure up. And rather than that being something that beats us down and keeps us on the sidelines or keeps us from doing what it is that you've called us to do, my prayer is that it would be so freeing that when we give our lives over to you and completely submit to you and say, "God, I'm not good enough. I need you to do a work in my life and I need you to save me and I need your strength to do what it is you called me to do, what you've created me for," when we do that, it's freeing. So something that feels like bad news and feels like something that just takes you out of the game, "I'm not good enough," actually becomes something that frees us and humbles us to a place of submitting to the God who can do the work.
And so if you need to make a decision today to follow after Jesus Christ and put your faith in him, I want to give you that opportunity, because it is the best decision that you will ever make. And you can go from being in the bondage of sin and performance and trying to succeed and trying to live up to everybody else's expectations, to a life of freedom that you're working out of, out of this love that God gives you rather than for the love of something. So if that's you, you can pray this prayer to God. You can say, "God, I recognize where I fall short and I have sinned and fall short of your glorious standard. I recognize that today. I will never be good enough. I will never measure up. But because of your love and because of the grace that you give through your son Jesus Christ, paying the penalty for sin on the cross, I accept that free gift of grace that you give and I want to follow you with my life today. I submit to you. I give you all of my life and I want to follow you with everything in me because I believe that you are who you say you are and I want to do what it is you've called me to do because I know I can't do it on my own and I need your strength and I need your power. And thank you for giving me the free gift of salvation that I could not earn on my own."
Guys, if you've accepted Jesus today, I want to say welcome to the family of God. We want to walk beside you each and every step of the way. Let's grow together. Let's seek God together. Let's worship him together. Let's believe him for great things. Yes, we know that life is hard. We know it's going to be a struggle. You even teach us that we'll run into difficulties, but we're not going to fear because we follow a God who has overcome this world. We want to be in it but not of it. But God, help us to be sold out for what you desire for us. God, we love you. We praise you. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. And everybody said, "Amen."