Key points
- 1
1We are fully dead in sin — not merely weak or sick — and cannot earn what we do not have.
- 2
2Every religion and worldview outside of biblical Christianity teaches some form of goodyism — the idea that being or doing good enough saves you.
“You can say you're a Christian, but live by goodyism. And it's gonna make you a bitter, frustrated, and sometimes sad, and even feel like God doesn't like you”
- 3
3God's mercy is not passive withholding of judgment but an active, lavish kindness that makes us alive together with Christ.
- 4
4We must move from striving for God's approval to resting in the grace He has already given — God loves us because of who He is, not because of what we do.
A story from life
The preacher's story about striving to earn his father's approval through baseball, then quitting, and his father's response that approval was never in question
- 5
5Salvation is entirely by grace through faith — it is a gift, not a reward — so we have nothing to boast about in ourselves.
“God loves me because of who he is, not because of what I do”
- 6
6We are God's masterpiece (poiema — His poem, His work of art), created in Christ Jesus to walk in the good works He planned for us as a loving response to His grace.
- 7
7Living from grace requires faith, not feelings — choosing to trust God's Word when the world's pattern tells us it can't be right.
Paraphrase
feelings are real, but they're not always right.
“We are God's poem. What is a poem? A poem is something that brings to life thoughts, feelings, objectives, reality in a condensed form using words”
“One rested in the love and the rescue and responded to that love. One always saw it as a threat and wanted to run into its own thing. They both died. But it was a very different life”
A story from life
The preacher's story about two rescued dogs — Buffy, who rested in love and lived loyally, and Sandy, who kept running and was killed — as a picture of grace versus goodyism
“We live from grace, not Goodeism”
Application
The pastor's call is simple and searching: which dog are you — the rescued or the runner? Start the year by honestly asking whether you have been approaching God, church, giving, and obedience through goodyism — performing to earn approval and get what you want — or through grace. If it is goodyism, the first step is to accept that you cannot earn what you do not have. Then stop striving and rest in the truth that God loves you because of who He is, not because of what you do. From that place of rest, obedience stops being a burden and becomes a joyful response — the living out of what it means to be God's poem, His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to walk in the good works He planned for you long ago.
