July 18, 2004 Fruit of the SPIRIT is goodness.
The fruit of the Spirit is goodness. This single statement of Scripture makes some people cringe today. Why? Because when you talk about the “Spirit”, “good”, and “evil” you are using spiritual terms. When President Bush used the term “axis of evil” to describe, Iran, Iraq and North Korea, this made some Americans cringe and accuse the President of being religiously motivated instead of politically motivated. In other words, we are supposed to address the problems and challenges of this world from a worldly point of view - not with the idealism of what our religious convictions are.
Is that possible? Several years ago I was asked to give a speech for a public high school’s graduation. But I was troubled by the idea that many people were coming to that PUBLIC graduation not to hear a sermon - but to celebrate the achievement of their son or daughter. Something didn’t feel right to me about speaking about my faith and spiritual goals to a group of people who weren’t there to hear it. So I thought, I could try to give a secular speech talking about the importance of hard work - Biblical values - yet also mentioning the meaningless of this life with a final reference to the need for faith in Christ. But then again, this was a PUBLIC forum, so I didn’t feel it was really fair to some of the parents who came for that purpose. I honestly didn’t feel I could just give a secular speech. Jesus is an integral part of my life. I couldn’t separate Him from my speech. The point I’m getting at is that I don’t know how it’s possible to separate religion from life. You enter every situation with your “religion” saturating your soul and your mind. How can you separate the two?
The fruit of the Spirit is goodness. In his letters Paul continually spoke of this world as being a battle ground between good and evil. Yet there is a huge push in today’s society to take religious terms - the very concept of “good and evil” and bury it under kinder, gentler terms - not calling an actual sin a sin - but instead labeling it as an addiction, illness, choice, environmental influence, handicap and natural desires. I believe that our society doesn’t really know what “good” and “evil” really are or if they even exist. Everything is thought of as a “grey” area. We can’t do that. If there is a fruit of the Spirit called goodness, there has to be good and evil. As we study this fruit of the Spirit - goodness - let us pray that -
The Holy Spirit Gives Us the Gift of Goodness
I. By showing us what is evil
It’s kind of sad to see what people’s concept of “evil” actually is. What is actually “evil” any more? Is pornography “evil”? According to our society, it’s just a natural avenue for a man to let off his sexual tensions. Premarital sex isn’t evil. It’s boys and girls discovering their bodies and expressing themselves. Is strapping a bomb to yourself and blowing up women and children and yourself on a bus “evil”? According to many it’s not. Instead, it’s the result of many years of tyranny and hopelessness - it’s the cry of a hopeless victim. But it’s not evil. Our society has even allowed a web sight which uses computer generated naked children in sexual positions. According to some, it’s not evil. It’s the expression of free speech.
So what really is evil? Listen to what Paul graphically listed as evil in the first chapter of Romans -
Romans 1:28-32 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Notice what Paul called “evil” in this paragraph. It’s not just homosexuals and adulterers and terrorists. He also associates the following as evil -
• greed
• envy
• murder
• deceit
• gossip
• arrogance
• disobeying your parents
• being ruthless
Whether they seem right or not, or whether people know it or not, these things are evil.
Why do we need to point this out? Not to make us feel better about ourselves or try and send other people to hell. We also call ourselves “evil” because we have been arrogant, deceitful, disobedient, and gossipers as well. Instead, people need to know that there are moral absolutes - that there is good and evil - because we will all have to answer to God on Judgment Day. If we don’t call “evil” what it is, how will anybody feel the need to repent of it? If people are given a false doctrine that will deprive someone of the Gospel, eternity is at stake. Paul said in Romans 2:8-11 that “for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil:”
One thing that made Martin Luther such a wonderful Reformer was first and foremost his clear view of himself as an evil sinner who needed a gracious God. I am somewhat shocked that in four years I have not had one member come to me to confess any sins. Either we have a perfect congregation, you don’t trust me yet, or we have people whose sins don’t really bother them. How can you look at that list of evil and not be concerned about your salvation? You may like to say to yourself, “yeah, I’m a sinner, but everyone’s a sinner.” But can you say, “I’ve done evil. I slapped God in the face. I was a coward. I was a traitor to my Savior.”? The way to deal with evil is not to excuse it, but to admit it. We are not doing anyone a service, including ourselves, by explaining away sin just because it’s a common occurrence or “we can’t help it.” We need to recognize what is evil and call it what it is.
II. By showing us what is “good”
Another problem we have as Christians is in the way we view good in the world. We tend to judge good by the outward appearance of things. If a young boy learns how to open the door and mow his grandma’s lawn, we call that good. When a man plays with his children and is sociable we consider him a “good guy” or a “good prospect.” We look at those who feed the poor as “good people.” In a worldly sense, they may be doing “good things.” But we need to look at the deeper picture. Consider what God said through the prophet Hosea -
Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.” Then Haggai said, ”‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the LORD. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled. (Hag 2:12-14)
It didn’t matter WHAT the Israelites did or WHAT they offered, it was defiled. They could have offered a hundred sheep, a million oxen - but it DIDN’T MATTER - because deep inside they were just self centered and unrepentant! When God looks at someone - before He even considers what they’re doing - He first of all has to see what’s on the INSIDE. Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Jesus said you need to have “good stored up” in your heart in order to do good. What do you need to have?
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews says that without FAITH it is impossible to do good. So the ironic thing is that you could have a Buddhist working for free and performing operations on hundreds of people - saving lives left and right - and God won’t even recognize it. But on the other hand, you could have a Christian who perhaps works a forty hour work week and performs his duty as a husband and goes to church - nobody really knows him - yet God looks at HIM as “good.”
I also believe that we are too generous with the term “good.” I remember hearing how one kid had been caught with some drug pipes and had a “habit” of shoplifting. But then another Christian said, “but he’s really a good kid.” What? Just because the kid may have had a decent attitude and wasn’t dead set on doing bad stuff doesn’t mean he’s “good.” If that’s a “good” kid, I’d hate to see an evil kid.
The point I’m getting at is that “goodness” is not a matter of me being “better” than someone else or even having a “good attitude”. It isn’t a matter of how much I can do or what my intentions are. My goodness has to continually go back to the promises of God in Christ. God’s Word says very clearly -
• Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• 1 John 1:7 The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
• 1 Corinthians 6:11 You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The only place we can find goodness is when we run to the cross and dive head first into the blood of Christ. Goodness is in seeing God put His Son to death in my place. Goodness is in seeing God stick to His promise of salvation even when it means damning His own Son in my place. Goodness is in seeing God accept that sacrament for our sins. Goodness is in seeing God wash our filthy bodies out through our baptisms and give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. We need to continually cling to our baptism and hide our sins in the promise of God that we are cleansed in Christ. This is what God defined as good when He said of Stephen - He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. (Acts 11:24) Goodness is not a matter of what we do, but what God has given us through faith in Christ. No matter what religion you are, when you have a repentant faith in Christ, you are not only good - but holy in Christ - because your evil is covered in Jesus’ blood.
III. By enabling us to do “good”
But goodness does not end there. Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. He isn’t pointing at the trunk or the roots of the tree but at the fruit of the tree - the result of the tree being planted in fertile soil. The key to goodness, then, starts with a proper view of WHO I AM. But it continues in WHAT I DO. There are two extremes that we can take as Christians.
1) you can have your head buried in your evil / forget about your new status as a saint
When we look at ourselves from this point of view, it is easy to assume that the evil within will have control over us - and assume that nothing we do will please God. After Paul complained about what a wretched sinner he was - how he had a sinful and evil nature within him - he also proclaimed - thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Co 15:57-58) We need to - like Paul - remember that Jesus won the victory over our sins by burying them in the grave. We need to remember that our sinful nature was buried with Him at our baptism. Goodness is not something that is beyond us - impossible for us to do. By the grace of God - we can lead God pleasing lives.
2) forget about DOING good and simply excuse your evil because you are a “sinner”
The Catholics are often ridiculed for using absolution as an excuse to sin. Some have been known to knowingly do what is wrong with the comfort of just going to confession that week. Many Lutherans have fallen into a similar trap - the trap of laziness that excuses sinful and evil behavior because sin is inescapable. If you’re committing the same sins you were ten years ago - still saying idiotic things to people - still losing your temper - still blowing your money - still being stingy - still slandering people - you need to honestly ask yourself - have you TRIED to improve - to get better? Or have you just accepted your sinful behavior and given in to it because you believe it’s just a part of your nature? It may be a part of you, but it’s a DEAD part of you. Paul clearly said to the Ephesians -
Ephesians 5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
Peter also said in -
2 Peter 1:5 Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
Instead of using your sinfulness as an excuse to sin, use your Savior as a motivation to serve.
The fruit of the Spirit is goodness. Goodness sounds kind of corny, doesn’t it - like a lofty sermon topic - a concept that nobody really gets but everyone talks about. But goodness isn’t some far out concept. It also means to be “useful.” This gives the word some teeth, doesn’t it? If you want to be good, then ask - how can I be useful? It means helping your wife with the kids. It means encouraging your husband to achieve his goals. It means helping your neighbor cut down a tree. It means standing out ABOVE the heathen world by doing things that are useful. That’s what goodness is all about. The last thing the world needs is more Christians trying to blend in with it. You’ve already got perfection. You’ve already been given the Holy Spirit who enables you to do “good things”. If we aren’t going to aim for goodness and try to produce this fruit - then who is? Amen.
