"Preacher, do good people go to heaven?"

It is the age old question:  do good people go to heaven?  Wouldn't God want heaven to be full of good people?  Lots of people asked various forms of that question for our "Preacher, I've got a question" series:

• What happens to "good" people that are not Christians when they die?
• Is the only way to heaven is through Jesus and Christianity?  If so, why?  Hard for me to imagine that people of different faiths who are as caring, compassionate and generous don’t get to heaven.
• If Christ is the only way to eternal life…what about Buddhist, Hindus, etc?
• Don't all religious folks (Muslims, Jews, Christians) serve the same God?

We want to believe that good people go to heaven because we're convinced that God grades on a curve.  You probably had high school teachers or college professors that graded on a curve.  You know what that meant?  You were graded against the class, not against the test.  Your score was compared to the rest of the class, not against how you did on the actual test.  You didn't have to make a 90 to get an A, you just had to score better than 90% of the class.  Most people think God grades this way.  Almost all of us see ourselves as good people.  Sure, we've made some mistakes, but most of us think we're okay.

We imagine ourselves standing in line before God's judgment between terrorists and that guy at work that's a complete jerk.  But what if you're standing in line between Mother Teresa and Billy Graham?  How good are you going to look then?  You see, who gets to decide what good is?  Different religions have different definitions of good.  Radical Muslims thought is was 'good' to fly planes into the World Trade Center.  Some Christians, at places like the infamous Westboro Baptist, thought it was 'good' to come protest at the Final Four in Atlanta with messages of hate and judgment.  So, what, exactly, is good?  How can we all be serving the same God if we have different definitions of 'good?'

The Bible lives up a different definition of 'good.'  The prophet Isaiah said, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).  The Hebrew definition for filthy rags in that passage is the rags a woman would use during her menstruation.  Yes, that's what our righteous acts are like before a Holy God.  Imagine what our sinful acts are like?  The Bible lifts up a different standard.  It says God doesn't grade on a curve.  It says you have make 100% on the test.  You have to be perfect or you fall short.  Of course, we ALL fall short.  For "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  Enter Jesus.

This is what separates Christianity -- Jesus.  The Bible does NOT teach that good people go to heaven.  The message of Jesus is that forgiven people go to heaven.  God doesn't give us eternal life because of our good deeds (they simply don't measure up).  God gives us eternal life because of what Christ has done on the cross.  Jesus death and resurrection defeated the power of sin in our lives forever and made us right before God.  God calls us to simply believe, trust and have faith in this amazing thing called grace.  Grace is difference.  Grace makes us 'good' before God because of Jesus' sacrifice.  And we live to honor the One who forgave us, which is drastically different from living to try to win God's love.  The gift of Jesus has already proven God's love for us once and for all.  So what are you gonna do with that gift?