Good

Then Jesus went over to the Pharisees’ synagogue and they asked Him, “Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath….Jesus said, “Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.”
Matthew 12:9-14 (Paraphrased)
 
We face decisions every day – we spend a lot of time trying to figure out which is the right and which is the wrong one. Some of those decisions are obvious. Murder is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Those big ticket items we don’t have to think too hard about. But, what about those grey areas? “Most of us feel as if we are fighting our way through a jungle of endless bad choices looking for the one good choice we are supposed to make. When we talk of doing God’s will, we speak as if his will is elusive, and perhaps even unattainable. We work from the assumption that every choice we make outside the one choice that is God’s will for our life is a wrong choice. No wonder so many of us feel paralyzed, terrified to act. The likelihood our choices will be wrong—or even sinful—is too high to risk. We’ve come to believe that God’s will is like walking on a high wire. Any misstep, and we’ll go plummeting to our death.” (Erwin McManus, “The Genius of Jesus”)

This is the kind of life the Pharisees lived – paralyzed by fear of doing the wrong – of breaking a law. It blinded them to what God had for them – to who was standing right in front of them. It is not the life we were meant to live.

Jesus told them, yes, you can do good on the Sabbath. Jesus took their question about right or wrong and made it about good. Good is what God wants. He doesn’t need us to be right (or to not be wrong). What we often forget is that we can’t be right enough. We could keep every law, never be wrong, and still never be right and never do good. In other words we could keep the Sabbath holy but never heal the withered hand. In doing that we have failed at the greatest commandment – to love God and love people.

We don’t need to be right. Jesus is right. It is His rightness (righteousness) we need to be saved. We cannot save ourselves by avoiding wrong. We can only be saved by choosing Jesus. He then picks up our slack and accomplishes for us what we can’t. In His righteousness we are free to live – not however we want – but in goodness.

Paul says, “Christ has truly set us free. … For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

You are free from the burden of avoiding wrong and free to the life of good. Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave to make you right. All we have to do now is live in that freedom and allow that love to flow through us to others – do good and you won't be wrong.   
 
Pastor Matt