As many of you know, I prefer sharing a message chapter by chapter of a Bible Book, trying to make sure we look at passages in context. But because we are dealing with a pandemic and dealing with social and political issues lately, we have been doing topical messages. I will continue with topical messages for a while until the Lord settles us down a bit. We dealt with the sinfulness of people the last 4 weeks. Now, for at least 3 weeks, starting today, we will look at the goodness of God!
God is good? ….. All the time? …….. God is good!!
How important do you think the word good is in Scriptures? Which word do you think appears more times in the Bible the word good or the word love??
If you do a word search of good in the Bible, you will find it over 700 times and that does not include the word goodness!
How many times do you think the word love can be found in the Bible?? - Only 300 times!
The word good is important to God and should be important to us as well! God actually calls Christians to always think of good and to do good! How often during our days do we actually think of doing good? This is the challenge for today: To daily think of good and do good but only God is good! And so, the best way to be reminded to think good and to do good is to meditate on the goodness of God!
Now, let’s define what biblical good is. Let’s look at the original Hebrew and Greek words for good. Most of the word good in the Old Testament uses the original Hebrew Word “towb” meaning good, agreeable and pleasant! Most of the word good in the New Testament uses the original Greek Word “agathos” meaning inherently always good, also agreeable and pleasant, and useful, salutary, joyful, excellent, distinguished, upright, and honorable!
And so from the original words for good in Biblical Hebrew and Greek, God is inherently always good, agreeable, pleasant, useful, joyful, excellent, distinguished, upright, and honorable! A simple word good can mean so many things with God! God is serious with His goodness and we should take Him seriously with His goodness!
How do we know God is this type of God, always good? Let us today look at how good God is through creation. Open your bibles to the very beginning, a very GOOD place to start!
Read along with me Genesis 1 – 2:3…
Whatever God created was good, which tells us God is good! Now, let us look at a few more creation verses before we have a discussion.
Psalm 19:1-2 tells us “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”
Isaiah 40:26… Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Romans 1:19-20… since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
The heavens above us speaks to us about the glory, the knowledge, and the goodness of God!
Now, let’s have a discussion; are the things God created really good? What makes God’s creation good? From the vast universe, to the ocean depths, to the smallest microorganisms, what makes all of God’s creation good? Why would you personally say God’s creation is good??
God created for survival of people; human beings have all sorts of resources for living (shelter, food, and clothing) all comes from God’s Creation! Ever think about gravity? If God didn’t create gravity, you and I would simply fly out to space and die! We take gravity for granted. When an apple falls from a tree, we would just say it was ripe. We take a lot of things for granted without thinking about God, who is behind everything! By the way, what’s worse than seeing a worm in an apple? – a half a worm!
Now did you know this? After Newton figured out how gravity worked, he pondered on how God can make the earth, moon, sun, and other stars move just the right way! Science is good but God is behind all science and is always good for the benefit of people! Since God created everything and everything is good, we should always think of God in everything!
Now, what are some beautiful things you have seen in your life which make you say, “WOW!”??
God created many beautiful things for us to enjoy and to marvel and wonder at!
Now, if God is eternal and He is in heaven beyond the universe that we know, did God really had to create all that we know, from the vast universe to microorganisms? The Triune God is self-sufficient in heaven and He really didn’t have to create all this stuff that we have including us human beings!
Why did God create all these things when He really didn’t have to? The answer of course connects with the last thing He created and when He was done creating, God said it was very good! What was the last thing that God created before He rested??
The last thing God created were human beings! And so, all the things God created prior to human beings were for human beings! God’s goodness is manifested (is realized) through His creation, all for the benefit of people! Everything created by God were made for you and me!
How do we respond to a good God with His good creation?
Let us look up for a moment,….. do you see God’s goodness to you because?
Now look all around you…. do you see God’s goodness to you?
How often do we actually take time to do this? You know the saying, make it a daily habit “stop and smell the roses!” or for us Christians let us make it a daily habit “Look up and look around and see the goodness of God through Creation and give thanks!”
Take a moment now to quietly ponder about God’s creation and talk to Him.
Take a moment to quietly meditate and pray……
Here are my Closing Remarks…
Prior to today, we have been grasping the truth that ALL people sin against God and fall short of His Glory! Today we noted the goodness of God through Creation. This goodness is given to ALL people eventhough all people sin; how do we explain these 2 truths from God not contradicting each other?
God is good all the time; all the time God is good, BUT people are not good, not a one! God created people and created everything people need to show His goodness, love, and beauty; and in spite of people sinning against Him, God offers an eternal relationship with Him in heaven. God is good all the time and so He gives a glimpse of who He is through Creation in order for people, although sinners, would desire to be with God and God provided a solution through Jesus Christ!
All people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God but because God is good, He gives universal grace to all people with His creation. But as we noted in the book of Revelation, because God is also a Holy God, this time of universal grace to all will soon end and only those who has received the special grace of Jesus Christ will be allowed in heaven!
All people are enjoying the universal grace of God through creation but not all will receive the special grace of eternal life in heaven because of unbelief in Jesus Christ. I pray that all of you have received this special grace of Jesus Christ as your Only Savior and Lord!
Benediction – from the end of Letter to the Romans….
Now to him who is able to establish you by the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him-- to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
