FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: SON-RIPENED FRUIT- GOODNESS (GENEROSITY)
Ephesians 5: 1-14
Today I want to talk with you about another fruit of the spirit --Goodness:
Did you know that there is more then one way to honk a horn.
Two weeks ago after the sermon a man said to me that his
Most difficult time with patience was in his car.
He just looses it.
I thought about that and wondered
Is it really a problem with impatience or
is it that we have a problem with our inherent goodness?
Are we self centered people who believe our rights and feelings
are more important than the person in the other car?
1. The first way to honk a horn is the Christian way.
Beep beep. Watch out.
You honk to calls attention to the situation.
2. The non-Christian way calls attention to the situation
and also calls attention to what the honker feels about the situation.
Coming home from Texas a few weeks ago.
I turned into a intersection on a green light only to discover that
I hadn’t quite given the oncoming driver the room he thought he should have.
He gave me a honk, and then he honked to give me a piece of his mind.
I never knew a car could talk,
But did you know your horn has a whole vocabulary?
A horn can say a lot!
This morning I would have loved to have given each of you a horn.
So that you could just go ahead and honk the way your feeling.
Or the way you felt trying to get everyone up and ready for church.
That would be an experience.
1. Some of you would give the happy honk
Hi There.
Hell-low
2. Some of you would give the “hold it horn.”
No no
Nooooo
3. Some of you would give a bad week “shove it horn”.
Bam bam bam bam (Both fist on the horn)
4. Some of you give that look of death—the idiot horn.
Yoooou iddddittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
That’s when the blue smoke come out of the tail pipe.
(Turn to look from one side to the other.)
That was the honk I got from the man I turned in front of.
I felt bad for about a block.
I’m not so pure in my honk either.
As I was going down the interstate.
I came up on a little white hair senior citizen who was following behind a semi.
I followed for 10 miles and then decided to pass her and the semi.
Just when I went around her she decided to pass the semi as well.
She didn’t’ signal,
Just turned right into me.
I had to take the skirt of the road.
I have to admit it does feel good to honk.
I saw a Bumper sticker the other day that said:
“Honk away your ulcer”.
I misread it. It said: “Honk away, its your ulcer!
The Greek word goodness: is agathosune
It Combines- being good and doing good.
It is the character or quality of sound goodness.
When we say someone is really good and sound.
It doesn’t mean someone is a goody goody.
Or a goody two shoes.
a sickly sanctimonious, hypocritical type of goodness
But sound goodness means the merchandise is quality.
You can stand on its reputation.
Like the shoe repair man does a sound job repairing our shoes.
It not their cleverness, but the quality of character that is dependable, and honest and true.
This is the fruit of the spirit that all people can see and value in others.
We’re not born with it.
When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said “Good master what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said: Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.”
Ever since sin came into the world
Our chance at goodness went out of the world.
Only God is good.
Yet, how many times when I am meeting with a family
To plan a funeral
I asked them about the faith of the deceased.
They always say: Well he wasn’t much for the church, or religion
But he was good man.
Friend our goodness won’t get us one toe into the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags: we all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
Psalms 14: 1 “… there is no one who does good.”
GOODNESS-As the fruit of the spirit means to be God-like.
25 time in the Bible Goodness is used to describe the moral or ethical character of GOD..
God is good because he is
pure, holy, forgiving, loving, and giving.
So therefore, if we’re good people,
then these characteristics must be true of us.
But we discover just the opposite.
We want to honk our horns and put ourselves first.
Because we are not good, patient, and kind and generous with others.
So this morning let me suggest 4 ways to put on GOODNESS.
As a spiritual fruit in your life.
First of all.
I. THERE MUST BE PURITY IN OUR LIVRES
That kind of goodness can only come from God.
When we put off the old nature and put on the new.
When we are born again.
Ephesians 2:3-4 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression—it is by grace you have been saved.”
God doesn’t save us because we are good.
But because He is good we are saved.
We become good AND THEN
We began to do good.
That is the only way you can put on goodness.
Ephesians 5:8-9 “For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of light consist in all goodness, righteousness and truth”)and find out what pleases the lord.”
A good person is someone that is honest with you.
You don’t have to protect your wallet
You don’t have to plug your ears or your eyes.
You don’t have to guard your wife, son or daughter.
You can let him have access to your house.
He or she is soundly good.
Sometimes, when someone bids me "goodbye," they’ll add,
"Now be good Pastor," & I respond,
"Hey, in my profession it’s hard to be anything else."
Think about that.
You expect me to be good because I’m your preacher, don’t you?
After all, everybody knows that preachers are paid to be good.
You folks on the other hand “can be good for nothing.”
Nowhere else can we show the world that we are different
as in the Way we live our lives in an immoral world.
in an immoral culture.
With immoral people.
And it’s not going to get any better, folks.
How many of you are trusting the lyrics of Rock bands and Rappers, MTV and weekly sit-coms to Give your children their view of life.
Do you know what they’re listening too and watching?
Focus on the Family reported that:
One CD album of two live crew: “As nasty as they want to be.”
Had on it 227 uses of the F word
265 reference to female or male genetalia
86 reference to oral sex
69 uses of the slang for a prostitute.
170 uses of the vulgar word for excrement.
It goes on and on.
Violence against women
Hate against the police
Suicide among teens.
Its time we stop the music,
And discover what it is influencing our children.
Did you know that the Calvin Klein ads or the Fredericks Lingerie Ads
Is More revealing on our Television
then the Playboy pornography of 1957.
Playboy was less explicit.
Ephesians 4-5
Vs.25 Put off all falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor…
Vs. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths.
Vs. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander and every form of malice
Vs. 5: There must not be any king of sexual immorality, impurity, greed obscenity foolish talk and coarse joking.
“A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things.” Matthew 12:35
We live in an immoral world.
IF WERE TO PUT ON GOODNESS as the fruit of the spirit.
We must be good like God
I. THERE MUST BE PURITY IN OUR LIVES.
II. THERE MUST FORGIVENESS IN OUR HEART
Because God IS FORGIVING
If were to put on the GOODNESS as the fruit of the spirit
Then we must exhibit the spirit of forgiveness.
A new hair salon opened up for business right across the street from the old
established hair cutters’ place. They put up a big
bold sign which read:
"WE GIVE SEVEN DOLLAR HAIR CUTS!"
Not to be outdone, the old Master Barber put up his own sign:
"WE FIX SEVEN DOLLAR HAIR CUTS"
Jesus said; Matthew 6:14-15, "If you forgive men when they sin against you, you heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
Too many people bury the hatchet, but they leave the handle sticking out.
And at the slightest provocation they pull the hatchet up again.
Now those are frightening verses, because they say that if I’m not forgiving,
then I cannot be forgiven. If I go around holding grudges, then I won’t receive the forgiveness of God because it is blocked by my unforgiving spirit.
Three bragging kids WERE HAVING A CONVERSATION:
One said: his father owned a factory.
Another said his father owned a farm.
The third boy, a pastor’s son, said My father owns hell.”
Oh yeah said one of the boys, How can a man own hell?
The pastors son said; “My mother told my grandmosther that the deacons of the church gave it to him last night.”
If we are to live in the fruit of the spirit of GOODNESS
We must be forgiving as God is forgiving.
GOODNESS MEANS WERE LIKE GOD
I. THERE MUST BE PURITY IN OUR LIVES.
II. THERE MUST BE FORGIVENESS IN OUR HEART
III THERE MUST BE CONSISTENCY IN OUR CHARACTER.
We are men and women of integrity wherever we are consistent in our character.
One of the most potent forces in the healing between the North and the South was the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. He refused a triumphal march into Richmond after the victory. When he arrived on foot, he went to the room where Jefferson Davis had governed the Confederacy and for a long time sat at the desk with his head bowed down upon his arms, weeping--- weeping for the fallen on both sides. That sight of the weeping President broke down more barriers and healed more wounds between the North and the South than all the speeches given for a united states.
He was a man of integrity and goodness.
How do you rate in goodness?
In being Consistent in your character?
I read of a man who finally got his chance to make the Really Big Sale.
He was going into the final interview on the biggest contract bid he had ever written.
An assistant ushered him into the office of the executive buyer. After giving him coffee, she left. The atmosphere was cordial, and he knew he was giving his
best presentation ever. Then the assistant tapped on the door, re-entered the office and spoke briefly with the executive. She stood and said, "I apologize, but I have to
tend to a matter. I’ll just be a minute or two." And she followed her
assistant out of the room.
The contractor looked around the beautifully appointed office. He
saw her family pictures on her desk. Then he noticed a contract on her
desk. She had evidently been studying a bid from a competitor. Leaning
forward, he could see the column of figures, but it was obscured by a can of diet
pop. He was tempted to move the can and see the bottom line of his competitor’s
bid.
What harm possibly could there be in reading her private information?
After all, she had left it out in plain sight, almost. After wrestling with
himself a while, he finally decided to take a peek.
As he lifted the pop can, he discovered that the can wasn’t filled with
pop at all. Instead it was a bottomless can filled with 1,000 BBs which
gushed out, and ran all over the desk and cascaded onto the carpet. His
attempt to short cut the competition was exposed.
Not every failure at being good is so embarrassing.
That is the goodness the world looks for
That is the goodness that causes a few brave men and women to rise
not to seek fame or fortune, But to seek goodness of a consistent character.
A critic of Woodrow Wilson said: “Well he talks just like Jesus Christ.”
It wasn’t meant as a compliment, but his goodness
Outlasted the sneers of the skeptics.
Psalms 86:17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
GOODNESS MEANS WERE LIKE GOD
I. THERE MUST BE PURITY IN OUR LIVES.
II. THERE MUST BE FORGIVENESS IN OUR HEART
III THERE MUST BE CONSISTENCY IN OUR CHARACTER.
IV. THERE MUST BE GENEROSITY IN OUR GIVING.
Rich young ruler. “Good teacher: What must I do to inherit the eternal life.”
Jesus said: “You know the commandments”
The Man said: “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Jesus looked at him and loved him and said:
“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” Mark 10: 17-21
Friend if you want to exhibit the goodness of God
it must be seen in your generosity.
For God’s goodness was so great that he gave his only Son
To die for us in our sins.
The goodness of God is seen in his eternal generosity.
Ananias and Sapphira were two who attempted to imitate the goodness of God.
Through their generosity.
They said they gave all they had but didn’t.
They sold their land but only gave half.
Both had heart attacks and died on the spot.
This husband and wife team conspired to counterfeit goodness.
To seek approval from the church and from God for something they hadn’t done.
They said We are tithing and giving as good Christians,
but their records showed they were living to themselves.
They were not sound in their intentions or their generosity.
We put into your bulletins the giving statistic
that are a part of the church.
If you would ask the person on the bottom step
of the ladder if they were committed Christians.
They would say: “Oh yes we are.”
But they do not do what they say:
In reality too many are like Annanias and Sapphira
Committed to live life spending on themselves, or to impress others.
Goodness must have a heart of generosity.
Ephesians 5:1 “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
If we are to participate in the goodness of God
we need to become generous, too.
To give cheerfully.
God asks us to tithe 10% of our income.
Because the one-tenth is a symbol of acknowledgment
that the nine-tenths belongs to God.
Just as you pay your rent to acknowledge that the rented house belongs to another.
So you give one-tenth to acknowledge that the nine-tenths belongs to God.
"You never look more like God than when you are giving."
Don’t give out of guilt.
Don’t give out of obligation.
Give because it’s the right thing to do.
Matt. 6:22 Moffatt “If your eye is generous the whole of your body will be illumined.”
Friends I didn’t put this giving ladder insert in the bulletin to discourage you.
But to challenge you to take one step up from where you are.
If you not in the Tithe bracket yet.
take one step in acknowledging what God has given you.
Take one step until you are in step
with Gods will in your giving life.
1 John 3:1 says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"
PUT ON THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT OF GOODNESS
BY ALLOWING GOD TO GIVE YOU
I. PURITY IN OUR LIVES.
II. FORGIVENESS IN OUR HEART
III CONSISTENCY IN OUR CHARACTER.
IV. GENEROSITY IN OUR GIVING.
