The Myth of the Good Christian

本站添加: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]I just want to be a good Christian. I get that message [music] every day. I'm going to explode the myth of that on today's Noise Breaks.

[00:00:10]Hey guys, welcome to Noise Breaks. I'm glad you decided [music] to join me.

[00:00:14]This is just a few minutes that we try to take every single weekday and get ourselves refocused. Maybe we look at the headlines of the day. Maybe we look at a current event. Today, I want to take you into a little bit just into a thought-provoking concept of this idea of just being a good Christian. I get the messages all the time. People tell me, "I just want to be a good Christian. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with saying that? I'm just trying to be a good Christian. Just trying to do right, raise my family, take care of myself, go to church on Sunday, drop a little money in the offering plate. Just want to be a good Christian." Well, let's destroy that myth, okay? Before we do that, uh let me tell you about my friends at Birch Gold.

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[00:01:51]Well, it sounds humble, sounds noble, sounds spiritual even. But, if you're not careful, that phrase can hide one of the most dangerous misconceptions for modern believers today.

[00:02:07]Uh Christianity is not about becoming a good Christian. There, I said it. I got it all out in the open. It's not about that. It's not about you trying to work harder, do more. It's about becoming a person who [clears throat] is utterly dependent on Jesus Christ. That's it.

[00:02:24]Now, though it sounds similar, I want to be a good Christian or I want to be dependent on Christ, they sound similar, but they're worlds apart because a lot of people have traded They've traded uh dependence for for performance. I've got to do more.

[00:02:41]I've got to earn more. I I've got to be more. They've trea- They've traded intimate relationship with Jesus for religious achievement.

[00:02:50]That is an insidious insidious deceptive lie. People have traded abiding for striving. And what happens is the result is exhausted believers who are trying to impress God with a righteousness that they were never designed to produce.

[00:03:07]Jesus never said, "Apart from me, you can do a pretty decent job if you try hard enough." He said in John 15:5, "Apart from me, you can do nothing."

[00:03:16]Nothing. Not some things, not less things, nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero.

[00:03:23]The entire Christian life begins with the admission that you can't live it.

[00:03:30]That's the irony.

[00:03:32]The moment you think you've become a good Christian, you've probably wandered away from the very thing that makes Christianity work. That's why the Apostle Paul understood when he said He said, you know, and I'll take you back.

[00:03:42]The Apostle Paul, I mean, here's a guy who had more religious credentials than almost anybody. He was educated, he was disciplined, he was dedicated, he was morally upright, he was uh I mean, according to the law he was flawless. If anyone could have bragged about being a good religious man, it was the Apostle Paul. Yet in Philippians 3:8, he says he counts all of that as loss compared to knowing Christ. Why?

[00:04:08]Because he discovered something.

[00:04:10]He discovered the key. The goal was never about becoming more impressive.

[00:04:15]The goal was about becoming more and more dependent on the life of Jesus.

[00:04:20]And you know, religion's going to say, "Look what I've done." Religion always says, "Look at me.

[00:04:25]Look what I've accomplished." Faith says, "Look at what Christ has done."

[00:04:29]Religion is going to say, "Every day and every way I'm getting better and better." Faith is going to say, "Jesus is enough for me." Religion will constantly measure itself. And the problem is the yardstick keeps changing.

[00:04:42]The measuring the goalpost the the measuring stick is always being moved.

[00:04:49]But see, faith is constantly looking to Jesus because he's the standard. That's why Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with these words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

[00:05:01]He doesn't say, "Blessed are the strong in spirit or the self-sufficient in spirit or the spiritually impressive."

[00:05:07]The poor in spirit, the people who knew they needed him. The people who who know they have nothing without him. People who stop pretending.

[00:05:17]That's where the kingdom of God begins in your life.

[00:05:20]People who think spiritual maturity means that I need God less because I've become more. No, no. Spiritual maturity realizes how much I need to diminish and I need him more every single moment of my life. And the older the Apostle Paul got, the less impressed he became with himself. Near near the end of the his life, he didn't say, "You won't read the New Testament where Paul is sitting there in prison writing his epistles, writing his letters.

[00:05:49]And he's considering his own execution and he goes, "I've finally become a really good Christian." No, he called himself the chief of sinners.

[00:05:58]Not because he was becoming more sinful, but because he was becoming He was becoming more aware of God's holiness.

[00:06:05]The closer you get to the light, the more you see the dust. Look at Look at this window right here. I open this window up and and you start to reveal just how dusty it is in this this nondescript hotel room here, right? The closer I get to the light, the more it's going to reveal the dust. The closer I get to Jesus, the less likely I'm going to be to brag about myself. The truly mature believer is usually the least impressive person uh you know, in the room in terms of their own spirituality. And they're certainly not impressed with themselves. They're impressed with Jesus. They're amazed by grace. They're overwhelmed by mercy.

[00:06:44]They know that every good thing in their life ultimately came from him. That's why religious legalism is so dadgum dangerous.

[00:06:53]Legalism will subtly shift your focus from Christ to yourself. And so you're constantly, you know, asking yourself, "How How am I doing? Am I praying enough? Am I reading my Bible enough?

[00:07:05]Am I serving enough? Am I giving enough?

[00:07:08]Performing enough?" And look, all those things, they're important in and of themselves. They They matter, but they're not good saviors. In fact, they're terrible saviors.

[00:07:19]The fruit of Christianity is not produced by focusing on the fruit. The fruit is produced by staying connected to the vine.

[00:07:29]I don't walk into my garden or walk out into an apple orchard and just hear the apples straining or the apple trees straining to produce apples.

[00:07:39]The They produce fruit because they're connected to the source of life.

[00:07:44]Jesus said, "Abide in me. Remain in me.

[00:07:47]Stay connected to me. Depend on me.

[00:07:49]Trust me. The fruit is going to come out of you. It's going to be a natural result."

[00:07:54]The Christian life, you've heard me say this a thousand times, it's not behavior modification. It's union with Christ.

[00:08:02]Now, that's a huge difference.

[00:08:04]Because if I can modify about my behavior, if I can do something and say, "I'm just trying harder to be a good Christian." Well, I'm I'm getting away from what I need to be saying and saying, "I'm trusting Jesus deeper."

[00:08:18]I'm trusting him to be the all in all. I don't need to be anything. In fact, I must decrease so he can increase because behavior modification is going to focus on external actions.

[00:08:30]Union with Christ is going to transform my heart.

[00:08:34]And if I'm engaged and focused on the religious practice, it's going to produce a a a mindset of a Pharisee in me.

[00:08:43]Whereas my union with Christ is going to produce discipleship.

[00:08:47]You think about the Apostle Peter. Peter spends years trying to prove himself. He says to Jesus, "I'll never deny you.

[00:08:54]I'll die for you. I'm stronger than everyone else." And what happened? He fell flat on his face. And the reason he did is because his self-confidence couldn't sustain what only his dependence in Christ could produce. He lost his sense of humility.

[00:09:07]Peter's greatest failure happened when Peter trusted Peter.

[00:09:14]His greatest ministry happened after he learned to trust Christ.

[00:09:19]Many of us are living in perpetual frustration because we're trying to accomplish through determination what God intended to accomplish through our surrender.

[00:09:32]Can't white-knuckle your way into holiness.

[00:09:35]You can't just grit your teeth into godliness and try to be more. You can't manufacture the fruit of the Spirit through human effort. Some of you are struggling and straining right now. It's called the fruit of the Spirit. It's not the fruit of human determination. It's the It's not the fruit of self-improvement. It should not the fruit of trying harder. It's the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit produces what the flesh never can. Never could, never can. That's why Galatians 2:20 says it is so liberating. Let it sink in. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. That's the essence of Christianity.

[00:10:18]It's not me trying to be more, trying harder. It's Christ living through me.

[00:10:24]Not my strength, His strength. Not my righteousness, His righteousness. Not my goodness, His goodness. The gospel begins where my self-sufficiency ends.

[00:10:34]Cuz the world's going to tell me, "Go believe in yourself. Make yourself better." The gospel's going to tell me to die to myself. The world says trust your heart. The gospel says trust Christ.

[00:10:44]The world says discover your inner strength. The gospel says His power is made perfect in weakness. And that changes everything, doesn't it? Because now failure doesn't have the final word.

[00:10:54]So, if Christianity is about being a good Christian, then every failure will devastate you.

[00:11:00]If Christianity is about dependence on Christ, then every failure of my life becomes another opportunity for me to run back to grace. That's the beauty of repentance. That's the beauty of restoration. So, the Christian life is not me getting better by climbing the ladder to God. Jesus already came down the ladder.

[00:11:19]The Christian life is learning day by day to trust the one who already accomplished what I never could. Folks, that's freedom. That's peace. That's rest. Oh, that is rest. That's why Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are labor, all you who labor and all who are heavy laden, I will give you That's right. Rest.

[00:11:41]He didn't say come be impressive. Come prove yourself. Come show me just how committed you are. Just come to me.

[00:11:48]The answer [clears throat] has always been him.

[00:11:52]Not a better version of you.

[00:11:55]There's no better version of you.

[00:11:57]Just him.

[00:11:59]So, let's retire the phrase, "I'm just trying to be a good Christian."

[00:12:03]Maybe the better phrase would be, "I'm trying to stay close to Jesus. I'm learning to depend on Christ. I I'm discovering how I I'm discovering how desperately I need him because the goal isn't becoming a good Christian, the goal is becoming a person who knows they can't do anything apart from Christ. And you know, strangely enough, that's where the true transformation begins. The strongest believer isn't the one who needs Jesus the least.

[00:12:37]It's the believer that knows they need him the most. That's not weakness, that is actual biblical Christianity.

[00:12:46]Don't forget text Chad to 989898.

[00:12:49]Let my friends over at Birch Gold help you diversify your investment plans and your retirement. And you know what?

[00:12:57]You don't have to be a good Christian.

[00:12:59]You got a good Christ and Jesus is your all in all. I love you guys so much. God bless you. Thanks for joining me for Noise Breaks. Thanks for hanging out in this hotel room with this wobbly computer and this beautiful artwork over my shoulder. What a beautiful day out there. We can go out there and enjoy some of the traffic here in North Houston.

[00:13:17]Anyway, click like, click subscribe, do all the stuff that you do and where podcast are offered, if you're listening to Noise Breaks, leave us a five star rating and review. Let me hear from you.

[00:13:25]I love you guys so much. God bless you.

[00:13:26]Don't forget to join us for noise breaks.

[00:13:30]I'm sorry for before the noise Monday through Friday at 7:06 Central. And hey, go join above the noise. Joinabove.com if you want to go deeper in the scripture, learn how to study the Bible for yourself, learn the doctrines of the Bible and how to understand them, how to articulate them more clearly, and it'll be a blessing in your life. I truly believe that. Go to joinabovethenoise.com and be a part of our community. I will talk to you very, very soon. God bless you. Until next time. Bye.

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