Goodness | October 22nd, 2023
Call To Worship: From Psalm 106.1-3
Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise him enough? There is joy for those who deal justly with others and always do what is right. ____________________________
Holy Harvest: Fruits of the Spirit
Goodness
Matthew 5.13-16
CPCC 10.22.23
Big Idea: Goodness flows from imitating Jesus.
INTRO: Did you know that a shopping cart may determine whether you are a Good or Bad person?
At the start of COVID, a popular theory exploded on Social Media claiming that what a person does with their cart after shopping determines if that person is intrinsically Good or Bad.
Some of you are getting a little nervous right now.
Think about it. After unloading your cart, the kind thing to do is to return it to its designated area. But do you?
Keep in mind, you don’t have to return your cart. It’s not illegal to leave the cart in the parking lot. No one will fine you, arrest you, or force you to return it. You gain nothing by returning the shopping cart; unless you shop at Aldi They charge you a quarter to use their cart, and then return your quarter when you return their cart. At any other store, returning your shopping cart to its proper place is simply the right thing to do.
However, countless people on Social Media claim that the Shopping Cart Theory is the ultimate test of whether a person will do what is right and good without being forced to do it.
One online observer posted that a person who is unable to return their cart is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be forced to do what is right with fines or punishments. Another commentator suggested that women should use this test on their boyfriends and take them shopping. If he returns the cart, he is a keeper. If he abandons the cart, dump him!
Personally, I like what Mitchel6 wrote on Twitter: Good people will always do the right thing, even when no one is looking.
Mitchel6 may be a Christian. Doing good simply because it is the right thing to do is a biblical concept.
Today, we are going to look at the Fruit of the Spirt: Goodness… and as you probably can guess by now, it means so much more than being good.
Let’s start by looking at one of Jesus’ more famous statements on the topic.
READ: Matthew 5.13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Jesus is preaching His Sermon on the Mount in this passage. In these two famous examples, Jesus is teaching His followers that their actions; specifically, their Good Deeds, will lead others to know God’s influence in their lives, and lead everyone to give their praise to God.
I find it interesting that if you ask almost anyone if they are a good person, the answer will be yes. Most people think they are Good. They do good things. They usually think their family and friends are good people too. I haver never officiated a funeral where people stand up and say the deceased was a real jerk, even if the person was. I have presided over several funerals where family and friends had to stretch the truth about their loved one’s character or temperament. I would bet that even in those instances, if I asked, people would have said the deceased was a good person…and that’s the problem, everybody sets their own standards for what it means to be good.
I know there are really bad people in the world, but among the people I know personally, I can’t think of anyone who is evil. I know three people who served prison sentences and while in prison accepted Jesus as their Savior. They were completely changed. Their old nature was gone and they were transformed into new creations full of God’s love and Goodness. I was surprised by all three when they told me they had been in prison.
ILLUS: But the most dramatic change for good was someone I met while pastoring in Monrovia. Stephen Lungu, had been a gang member in Zimbabwe, robbing and mugging white people. As a youth, he was a Marxist who wanted to start a revolution and kill whites in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. SHOW PIC
As Stephen sat in my old office in Monrovia, he told me how in his teens he hated white people. He shared with me the story of being sent by his gang to bomb an evangelistic tent meeting of a white preacher. He and 12 other gang members went with a bag full of firebombs ready to kill everyone in that meeting. He sat inside the meeting and told his gang that when he gave the signal at 7 pm, they were to throw their bombs and kill everybody. As he sat waiting, an elderly woman sitting behind him reached forward and tapped his shoulder and said how glad she was that Stephen was there. When the evangelist started speaking, Steven heard the message of Jesus’ love and realized he didn’t want to kill these people, he wanted to join them. He canceled the attack.
Steven went from being a very bad person, to a man who reflected the goodness of Jesus to all people, regardless of race in his racial segregated country. At 20, Steven became an evangelist. He was called the Billy Graham of Africa leading hundreds of thousands of people across the African continent to Jesus in huge crusades, as well as in small churches, and even restaurants. Wherever Stephen went, he preached Jesus and reconciliation, calling black and white people to be brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
I met Stephen in South Africa when he became the President of African Enterprise, leading a group of 50 other evangelists to share the Gospel of Jesus and reconciliation across the African Continent. When Stephen died of COVID complications two-years ago in Malawi, people remembered his incredible passion to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with anyone who would listen. Stephen was always excited to tell his story of transformation to anyone who would listen. All of us who knew Stephen’s past praised God for what an incredible person he was because of Jesus. We knew what a difference Jesus made in his life. His kindness, goodness, and passion for God was so evident in the way he loved other people. God used Stephen’s life and testimony to transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Africa. Stephen was full of God’s Goodness!
The Fruit of the Spirt, Goodness goes far beyond being Good as most people understand goodness. It reflects the essence of Jesus’ nature. The word good was originally a church word. In early Anglo Saxon English, Good meant, “Of God. To be Good was to reflect the character of God.
Last week we looked at Kindness. Originally I was going to preach about Kindness and Goodness together because they are closely related. Kindness is the result of our Goodness. Kindness is an outward expression of God’s goodness. It is the practical way we show love others.
As a fruit of the Spirit, Goodness is more intrinsic. Goodness relates to our Spiritual and Moral status. The Greek Word used for this Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians is Aga-thō-synē ἀγαθωσύνη. It only appears four times in the New Testament, but each time it refers to the virtue of our character as followers of Jesus. Put plainly, Goodness encompasses Godly qualities including moral excellence, honesty, righteousness, and integrity.
Goodness from God is more than being a decent person. It is reflecting the best of God and generously demonstrating that goodness to others. This has lead some modern translations to interpret Aga-thō-synē as Generous, but I think that might be confusing because we often think of money when we hear Generous. But it makes sense when you realize how God gives to us: generously and lavishly. Goodness for followers of Jesus Christ includes showing lavish and generous goodness to others!
Getting back to my comment about people setting their own standards for what it means to be good, What is God’s standard for deciding if someone is Good?
In non-Church circles, good can mean the person was decent. He didn’t hurt others. She wasn’t a problem. Maybe he was part of a club, or she was generous with Halloween candy. Maybe good people volunteer their time. All these are good, but Good in the Biblical sense means something greater.
First of all, Goodness is centered on Jesus. The greatest person in the world, as far as the world defines Good, could still fall short and not be good enough in God’s definition.
In Matthew 25.31-46, Jesus makes a startling statement about what it truly means to be Good according to God’s definition. Speaking of the Final Judgment at His return, Jesus surprises a lot of people who think they are “Good.” Pay attention to the actions of those He calls, the Righteous ones. Righteous is another way of saying Good.
Jesus says:
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. 42 For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ 44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ 45 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ 46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
In this example, Jesus says those who are righteous or good are those who show loving kindness to others. They are not even aware they are doing it as a reflection of God’s character. They simply serve others out of the goodness of their faith. This should make anyone sitting here or watching at home pay attention. God’s definition of Goodness is a much higher standard than what most people pass off as good.
Many people do good deeds because of what they get from it: recognition, praise, or a tax write off. God’s goodness urges followers to do good as an extension of Jesus’ love for others.
Listen again to the verse I read last week that cover kindness and goodness:
Luke 6.35.
“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.
Goodness is God’s gift to us to change us from the inside out.
People may think they are good people, but apart from God, no one is good as far as God defines goodness.
Mark 10.17-18
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good.
Ecclesiastes 7.20 Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.
The point of living out Godly goodness is to transform into people who love God and love others like Jesus loved.
The Fruit of the Spirit passage from Galatians 5.22-23 is the answer to the problem chapter 5 presents: If we are free in Christ, why do we still get tripped up and do foolish things by following our sinful and selfish nature?
Paul’s Answer Be lead by God’s Holy Spirit. Let God’s gift of the Fruit of the Spirit, including goodness, transform your life.
Galatians 5.16-17
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
5.18-23 LIST OF SINFUL ACTS THEN LIST OF THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5.24-26
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
Even seemingly good people are capable of doing mean and selfish acts.
Since God is good all the time, as God’s followers, we should be too.
ILLUS: YouTube Video of an older gentleman being interviewed about growing older
He told the story of an experience he had at a McDonalds drive-through
Long line of cars
Taking a while to pull up to the menu board
Took time deciding his order
Young woman behind honking and shouting obscenities
Pulled up to the cashier window and paid for his order…and hers
When the woman pulled up to the cashier she was told the man ahead paid for her order
She waived and mouthed Thank You! to the older man.
The man drove up to the final window to receive his food
He showed both receipts, and he took his food…and hers.
He drove into the parking lot and watched the young woman’s reaction that she had no receipt and no food! Her order was gone, and she had to get back into the long line and wait all over again!
The man said never mess with older people. We have been around the block a few times!
I thought that was a great comeback, but clearly not a kind act of goodness.
How would a person filled with God’s Goodness reacted?
How would you have reacted?
The Fruit of the Spirit of Goodness is reflecting the best of God and generously demonstrating that goodness to others.
So what are you going to do differently this week?
Here are some Practical steps:
To be safe, return your shopping cart and stay out of the McDonalds drive-through. Proverbs 3.3-4
Five BE attitudes of Goodness
Be selfless
Be obedient to God’s teaching and leading
Be kind with no expectation of reward or return
Be Good to others as a reflection of God’s love in you
Be lead by the Spirit in every part of your life. Galatians 5.25
Above all:
Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Pray
BENEDICTION: Psalm 121
I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.
Opening Hymns:
#317 Crown Him With Many Crowns v.1-4
#473 What a Friend We have in Jesus v.1-3
Closing Hymn:
#426 Blessed Assurance v.1-3