Why Be Good?

Young at Heart Message

How many of us here make our beds every morning when we wake up?

When I was younger, I never paid much attention to making my bed.

In fact, until I moved here, I never had a top sheet on my bed. I simply slept directly under the blanket.

I noticed many years ago that my top sheet would often just get crumpled at the bottom of the bed at night anyway, so I stopped using it.
 
It wasn’t until recently that I started using a top sheet again, and when I did, I also started making my bed every day.

Many people (including younger me) would argue, “what is the point of making the bed when it’s just going to get messed up again tonight anyway?”

But apparently, research has been done into this very topic.

Numerous sources claim that making the bed sets a positive tone for your day.
 
Apparently, getting into the habit of making the bed each morning allows you to start the day out feeling accomplished.

In other words, you have already checked one thing off your to-do list.

In fact, research considers making the bed a “keystone habit.” Success breeds success, as they say.

So, accomplish that one thing to start your day, and suddenly you experience a ripple effect throughout the rest of your day.
 
Doing this one thing makes you more likely to tackle other things. In your brain, whether you realize it or not, making the bed makes you more likely to continue to be productive – maybe you do the dishes before you leave the house rather than letting them sit until you get home.

Now, I will admit that none of this ever occurred to me when I began making my bed.

What did occur to me is that making the bed in the morning gives the bedroom a cleaner and more organized look.
 
And, when I am ready to get into bed and start winding down, my bed is ready for me, my sheets are straight and I don’t need to worry about trying to straighten them when I sleep.

The other thing is that making sure the fitted sheet is still tight to the mattress is a key factor in getting good sleep (for me, at least).

If my fitted sheet is loose and wrinkly, I find it is very difficult to fall asleep.

And, the research supports my own noticings.
 
Apparently, having an organized sleeping space that looks clean and appealing helps your brain and your body start to relax and shut down as you’re going to sleep.

So, yes, your bed is going to get messed up each night that you sleep in it.

And yes, you should still make your bed every morning if you want to start and finish your day well.

Now, what does any of this have to do with today’s scripture readings?
 
The Message

Great question. In Romans 6:1, the question gets asked, “should we keep on sinning, so that God’s gift of undeserved grace will show up even better?”

In other words, why should we even try to be good people if we are already saved? Wouldn’t God’s grace mean even more if we were really bad people – totally undeserving of that grace – but received it anyway?

If we’re saved either way, why should we care about being good people? What’s our motivation?
 
This is similar to our bed-making question. If we are just going to mess up our bed anyway, why even bother making it?

Likewise, if we’re just going to make mistakes anyway, why even bother trying to be good at all?

Why not lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate? Sometimes those things are easier than being honest and earning a fair living.

Maybe these things are easier sometimes, but what about the impact that they have on others? We were given empathy for a reason.
 
And of course, Romans responds to these questions by saying absolutely we should not keep sinning on purpose.

Many pastors actually get asked the question, “since everyone is saved, why be good?”

In fact, many people who aren’t Christian use this as an argument to demonstrate that morality under Christianity is questionable.

This is what philosophers might call a slippery slope argument. If all your sins are forgiven anyway, what is your motivation not to keep right on sinning.
 
On the other hand, Christians often wonder how Atheists, for example, have any morality at all.

If they don’t have rules to follow or Christ to show them how to be good people, why do they live moral lives at all?

In all honesty, these questions can get us into a deep rabbit hole on the issue of morality and human motivations.

But the response to these questions I want to offer today is this: God’s love changes us.
 
When we know just how deeply we are loved, we don’t want to sin.

God’s grace is so life-giving that we want to live in harmony with it. We want to be loving.

Not because we are trying to avoid punishment, but because we know we are so deeply loved and we want to share that love with others.

And we want to try our best to demonstrate that love outwardly to others because we have been changed. 
 
When we truly absorb God’s love, it changes us.

Similarly, if we place a tea bag in a cup of hot water, it is no longer water. The water has been changed into tea.

We can no longer call the water simply water. It has been transformed into something new.

Likewise, we are transformed when we absorb God’s love.

When God’s love is poured into us, it’s as if our old self-centered selves become new love-centered selves.
 
Our old selves die – they are buried with Christ by baptism into death – and a new, different self is resurrected instead.

Baptism is an invitation to that change. Baptism doesn’t magically change us, but it reminds us of God’s promise to give us new life when we give God our old ones.

Baptism symbolizes the life-cycle of faith: our little self-enclosed self drowns in God’s love, and God gives us a new self made out of pure love.
 
Resurrection isn’t just the after-life, it’s the now-life, the new-life: when we surrender our lives to God in love, God gives them back to us as a gift.

This death-and-resurrection cycle isn’t a one-time thing: we go through it every day, every moment, continually giving our life to God and receiving life anew. Like breathing.

We aren’t literally re-baptized, but we recall our baptismal vows and the grace we received when we entered into this cycle.

God has already called us and claimed us. It is us that needs to continually renew our faithfulness.
 
It is us that need to get up every morning and make our bed, and it is us that need to renew our faithfulness and our commitment to God.

We have allowed God’s love and grace to change us. We have been transformed from water into tea.

God’s grace has given us new life. It is life-giving, and in receiving new life, we want to share that gift – that grace and love – with others.

We don’t just want to – we are compelled to. We are called to share this gift because we ourselves have been changed.
 
We have been transformed.

God’s grace through baptism transforms us.

God’s grace through the sacrament of Holy Communion transforms us.

We may not deserve this grace, but it is given freely nonetheless.

And we may not live perfect lives. We might make mistakes from time-to-time.

And God’s forgiveness does reach us over and over again.
 
And because we are so deeply loved, we receive that grace and we want to do our best to live a life deserving of that grace.

So, as you leave here today, may you be reminded of your own baptism. May you receive the grace of God and know without a doubt that you are loved and you are forgiven.
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And you will be loved and forgiven over and over again because of the grace of God. Amen.
 
Let us pray:
 
Loving God, you have baptized us into Christ’s death and resurrection, so that we may live new lives. Death no longer has dominion over us. Remind us again. As we tell the story of your love, let us die to sin so that we may freely and fully live for your sake, not for our own ease. As we worship together today, speak your good news to us, so that we may follow Jesus with faith and courage, in the power of your Spirit. Amen.