The Fruit of the Spirit
Goodness and Faith
Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Mark 4:20 (NKJV) But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
John 15:8 (NKJV) “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
John 15:16 (NKJV) You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
As we saw last week God is into the fruit bearing business and He desires to do a work within us that will produce good works on the outside of us.
Matthew 5:16 (NKJV) “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
So far we have looked at 5 fruits, Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering & Gentleness
This week where going to look at Goodness and Faith.
Goodness
In a book that I was reading a man shared this story:
Once when I was flying from New York City to another city in the United States, I noticed the man sitting next to me had his head lowered against the seat. I could tell he was experiencing some kind of terrible throbbing pain in his head, so I asked him, "Is there any way I can pray for you?" The man peered up at me with a look of joyful surprise. I knew from his response that he was a believer! He was delighted that I had offered to pray for him, so with his permission, I reached over and laid my hands on him. Then I began to speak healing over the pain he was feeling in his head.
After prayer, I asked the man, "What do you do for a living?" He told me, "I am a wealthy businessman. I have joined together with several other very wealthy businessmen, and as a team, we travel the world over to find worthy organizations and evangelical works that need money to advance the Kingdom of God. Once we find them, we make it our business to fund them so they can operate without having to worry about raising money."
When I thought about this man and the goodness of his heart, I was reminded of the word "goodness" in Galatians 5:22, where the apostle Paul writes, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness...." This man's desire to give is exactly what the word "goodness" is all about. His urge to help others demonstrated the fruit of goodness, which is supernaturally produced in the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit.
Goodness:
The word "goodness" is the Greek word agathusune, which comes from the word agathos, meaning good. But when agathos becomes the word agathusune, it means goodness in the sense of being good to someone.
This word was used to portray a person who is generous, big-hearted, liberal, and charitable with his finances. We would call this person a giver.
In Acts 10:38, we find that this fruit of the Spirit operated mightily in Jesus. It says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."
Many times when we preach from this verse we focus on the healing portion of this verse, but today I want to draw our attention to the phrase "doing good," because it is so crucial to this discussion.
The words "doing good" are from the word euergeteo, which is an old word that denoted a benefactor, a philanthropist, or one who financially supported charitable works.
This word would only be used to describe a person who possessed great financial substance and who used it to assist those who were less fortunate.
The implication of the word eugereteo is that Jesus possessed a great amount of financial resources in His ministry. In addition to the offerings that were received for His ministry,
Well pastor, I thought Jesus was poor, you remember it said He had no place to lay His head.
Luke 8:3 tells us that a group of very wealthy women also financially supported His ministry.
Luke 8:3 (NKJV) and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.
Also, we get from Judas' words in John 12:5 that Jesus' ministry had a significant philanthropic outreach to the poor and needy over which Judas had been placed in charge.
John 12:5-6 (NKJV) “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.
John 13:29 (NKJV) For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, “Buy those things we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.
We find this very interesting because it tells us that Jesus didn't only perform supernatural works; He also used His resources to do good works in the natural realm. Jesus cared for the poor; He helped feed the needy; and He utilized the vast resources of money made available to His ministry to meet the basic needs of human beings. Thus, He set an example for us to be concerned for and involved in the meeting of basic human needs as we are able to do so.
This tells us that acting in "goodness" is a character feature of the nature of God.
Luke mentioned this aspect of Jesus' nature in Acts 10:38 right along with His supernatural healing power, sounding the signal that God is just as interested in helping the poor and needy with financial assistance as He is in supernaturally healing their bodies. The truth is, helping to meet the physical needs of other people is an act of "goodness" that Jesus did and still longs to do through His people.
So when the Bible tells us that one of the fruits of the Spirit is "goodness," God is letting us know that He wants us to be selfless, using our resources to help change people's living conditions for the better. This is absolutely contrary to the flesh, which would consume every spare dollar on itself. But when the Spirit is working mightily in us, He shifts our focus from ourselves to the needs of those who are around us.
Thus, the fruit of the Spirit called "goodness" is that supernatural urge in a person to reach beyond himself to meet the natural needs of those around him. When a believer is walking in the Spirit, his eyes are supernaturally opened to see the needs of humanity, and his heart is moved to meet those needs.
This is why there is no greater benefactor or philanthropist than a person who is filled with the Spirit and who is producing the fruit of the Spirit in his or her life!
Romans 12:6-8 (NKJV) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Acts 10:1-5 (NKJV) There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” 4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. 5 “Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter.
God saw this man's giving just like he saw the widow giving all that she had. Amazing.
Acts 20:35 (NKJV) “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Faith:
The word "faith" is the Greek word pistis, which is the common New Testament word for faith. However, in this verse it conveys the idea of a person who is faithful, reliable, loyal, and steadfast. It pictures a person who is devoted, trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, constant, and unwavering. This is so contrary to the flesh, which seeks to be lazy, uncommitted, undependable, and completely unreliable.
2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV) And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
When Paul wrote to Timothy, he told him how to choose leaders, he urged Timothy to choose "faithful" men. This is also the word pistis, which tells us that it is mandatory for this fruit of the Spirit to be found in leaders.
In fact, it is also used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:2, where Paul writes, "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." That last phrase could be translated, "... It is required... that a man be found devoted, trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, constant, and unwavering."
This fruit of the Spirit is a part of the eternal nature of God. The Bible stresses that God is faithful.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV) God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
God is utterly dependable.
Numbers 23:19 (NIV) God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
If this unchanging, constant, stable, unwavering behavior is the nature of God Himself, it shouldn't surprise us that when His Spirit is allowed to freely work in our lives, He makes us faithful and steadfast, just like God.
God is faithful; therefore, we should expect faithfulness to grow in our lives as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
So today in our lives lets become more generous and more dependable.
