Listen up, little ones
Listen for the word good.
Reading
Mark 10:17-22—No One Is Good Except God Alone
Optional Reading
Nahum 1:7
Keys for kids
- A rich young man called Jesus “good teacher.”
- Jesus told him only God is good.
- Jesus is God and is good.
Questions
- Who alone is good?
- What did Jesus mean by his answer?
- How can we have goodness?
Notes
(See Saturday for authors.)
Nahum tells his readers that the LORD is good—even in distress. In our reading here, a man runs up to Jesus addressing him as good teacher. Jesus gives a surprising answer—No one is good except God alone. Some use Jesus’s answer here as proof that Jesus knows that He is not ultimately good and that He is not God.
On the contrary, as Sproul notes, Jesus was calling attention to the rich young ruler’s superficial understanding of true goodness, a superficial understanding we all share. We tend to think of good as “better than others.” This young rich man thought he could be good enough to deserve salvation. He couldn’t be. We can’t be.
Barnett suggests that Jesus’s answer was intending [this rich young man] to include himself humbly as one who lacked goodness before God.
Had he done that, he could then by faith enter the kingdom of God. If we do that, we can then by faith enter the kingdom of God. Only in Jesus, who is truly good and is truly God, can we have any true and ultimate goodness. This goodness comes by faith in the One who is ultimately good. Paul speaks of this as righteousness by faith. Luther speaks of it as an alien righteousness—that is, it is not mine by my nature, but it is God’s by His nature and in Jesus; he gives it to me. That’s good news from the One who is good.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 86a, 57b
Prayer
- Rejoice if you have received “alien” righteousness from the One who is good.
- Pray for change in you from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.