Introduction:
1. Last week we talked about "kindness." This week we look at another fruit of the Spirit that on the surface doesn’t seem all that spiritual, "goodness."
2. We joke about being good with one another. We say things like, "Some people you have to pay to be good while others are just. . . good for nothing."
3. Sometimes we use the word "good," to mean something is actually bad. We say, "Oh yeah, that was really good."
4. There is a lot of confusion about the word and it begins early. A child thinks it’s better to have a bright shiny quarter than it is to have a dollar bill. A kid would rather have an ice cream bar than a $100 bill. So how do we determine what’s really good?
5. What’s good for one person might not be good for another person at all, let me illustrate. You’ve heard the expression, "One man’s junk is another man’s treasure." It’s true. You might not think my good stuff is good at all.
6. When I went to India on the mission trip earlier this year I experienced food that the people there thought was really good and I didn’t think was good. Now, for the most part, I enjoyed the food, but they served a yogurt type food with something like cottage cheese in it. They thought it was really good and I thought it was. . . well, let’s just say I only ate it one time.
7. As much confusion about what’s good and what’s not good, we can easily tell the difference between good and bad in some situations. Let me illustrate by sharing a list of names. You and I have an immediate opinion about whether each of these people was good or bad.
Cell #1--
Adolf Hitler
Mother Teresa
Albert Einstein
Osama Bin Laden
Jimmy Carter
Saddam Hussein
Billy Graham
Al Capone
Florence Nightingale
8. Perhaps the words of Edwin Chapin will help us prepare for the thinking I want us to do this morning. He said,
Cell #2--
"Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are." Edwin Hubbel Chapin, (1814–1880)
9. Does that really capture what Paul’s talking about when he speaks of the fruit of the Spirit? It does, at least partially, but not completely. As we have done in each sermon in this series let’s read Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit has nine different expressions. This morning we discover the sixth fruit of the Spirit.
Cell #3--
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (NAS 95)
Prayer- - -
10. There is a lot of confusion about goodness so let’s begin with the question of. . .
Cell #4--
I. What Is Goodness?
1. This is sort of what we talked about in the introduction to the sermon, but it’s also very different, because here I’m not interested in our definition of "good," or "goodness," but God’s definition. There is often a radical difference in the way God sees things & the way we see things.
2. God doesn’t merely do things that are good, He is good. He is very different than we are. Even at our best we fall far short of His perfection, but that doesn’t mean His perfection is lost on us. Remember, the fruit of the Spirit is a list of nine characteristics that are to be a part of each Christian’s daily life. We aren’t the source of these fruits, God’s Spirit living in us is to produce them in our lives.
3. I’m sort of getting ahead of myself though. Let’s slow down and take a little bit of time to look at the meaning and background of the word "goodness" in this passage on the fruit of the Spirit. Understanding what goodness is all about is a bit of a challenge for several reasons.
1) First, the Greek word used here for "goodness" is found only in scripture. Even in scripture it’s only used four times. When a word is not very familiar to us, we often misunderstand what it’s all about. That is the case with this word. There is some confusion about exactly what it means.
2) In contrast, the word "goodness" is based upon the root word, "good." This word used over 500 times in the New Testament. However, because it’s used so often, it’s meaning too is a bit unclear. It’s used in such a wide variety of ways that it can mean many different things. As I mentioned earlier consider the different ways we use the word good. It can describe a good book, or a good meal. It can be used sarcastically of something that isn’t good at all. It can mean the quality of something is top notch, or it can serve as a contrast between something which is excellent and something which is merely good.
3) I like the way Pastor David Reynolds put it. "The fruit of kindness. . . is closely related to the fruit of goodness, but they aren’t the same. . . Kindness is a more mellowing quality; it is a gentle spirit. The word goodness is a more energized word. It is more vigorous and sharp in its very nature. To be kind is to be ’harmless as doves’; to be good is to be ’as wise as serpents.’"
4) This word carries the idea of generosity or someone who goes the second mile when only one mile is required. This certainly isn’t a natural, these are traits that are ultimately produced by the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
4. In fact, that brings up something else that we must understand about goodness. We can’t produce it in our own lives. We have the potential to be good, but not the ability to be good. Let me illustrate what I’m talking about from the life of Jesus. Let’s look at Matthew 19. The passage contains the story of how Jesus dealt with a man who was trying really hard to be good. Let’s read it together.
Cell #5--
16 Someone came to Jesus with this question: "Teacher, what good things must I do to have eternal life?"
17 "Why ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "Only God is good. But to answer your question, you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments."
18 "Which ones?" the man asked. And Jesus replied: "’Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely.
19 Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
20 "I’ve obeyed all these commandments," the young man replied. "What else must I do?"
21 Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 But when the young man heard this, he went sadly away because he had many possessions. (NLT, Matthew 19)
1) Jesus made two major points with the rich young man. He tried to communicate with him that we can’t be right with God on our own. The young man didn’t understand that Jesus was God in the flesh. So, Jesus told the young man not to call Him good, because no person is truly good. We may look good in comparison to others who are worse than we are, but we don’t look good when we compare ourselves to God who is perfect.
2) The second major point really reinforces the first. I like the way Pastor James Westervelt put it in a sermon he preached on the fruit of goodness. He wrote that Jesus point was, "You have underestimated who I am & you have overestimated who you are!"
3) It’s appropriate to do good things of which we know God approves. On the other hand, it’s not proper to try to earn our way to God by being good. Too often people in our culture think that if you do more good than bad, you have earned your way into heaven. What Jesus said to the man illustrated that. It was as if He said, "There’s no way you can be good enough to get to heaven. Let me show you what I mean. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor." Were we to try to earn our way to heaven by being good, it would require a perfect willingness to do whatever He asked without question.
A few years ago I received an excellent e-mail that illustrates the very point the passage makes here. You can’t be right with God aside from accepting what Christ has done for you. In the story a man dies and goes to heaven. St. Peter meets him at he Pearly Gates and says, "Here’s how it works. You need 1000 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done and I give you points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 1000 points you get in." "Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same wonderful woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart." "That’s wonderful," says St. Peter, "That’s worth 3 points!" "Three Points, the man yells?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported it’s ministry with my tithe and service." "Terrific!" says Peter. "That’s certainly worth a point." "One point?" "I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans." "Fantastic, that’s good for 2 more points," he says. "Two points!" the man cries. The man is highly frustrated by this time and yells out, "At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!" Peter said, "You’ve got it." "1000 points! Come on in!"
Cell #6--
II. How Does Goodness Look in the Real World?
1. The fruit of the Spirit spoken of here is an internal goodness that produces an external goodness through the power of the Holy Spirit. Before there can be a goodness that is obvious to others, there must be an internal goodness. Let me show you what I’m talking about as we examine Matthew 12:33-35. Jesus is speaking in this passage & ultimately He was telling us something about goodness. While goodness is something we are through God, it’s also the way we live as we allow Him to carry out His work in our lives. Let’s read the passage together.
Cell #7--
33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
34 "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. (Matthew 12, NAS 95)
2. For a moment focus on the statement at the end of verse 34. The mouth speaks out of what fills the heart. In other words, "what’s inside comes outside." What’s inside the heart ultimately comes out through the mouth.
3. Now, let’s move to verse 35. The person who does good things has those good things start inside & the person who does bad things has those bad things begin inside.
4. Now, let’s look at how "goodness" might look in someone’s life. There are two people in the book of Acts, a man & a woman, who have the word "good" applied to them. I want to take a brief look at each of them to illustrate the goodness spoken of as a fruit of the Spirit. The passage you can look at with me is Acts 9:36. Let’s look at the woman described as good first.
Cell #8--
36 There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. (NLT Acts 9)
5. Again, the goodness that was inside of her kept coming to the surface. The good she was experiencing inside served as a motivator to make her be the good person we read about here. The good things she was doing, weren’t the exception, they were the rule in her life. She was, "always doing kind things for others." Do you remember what we studied earlier? She was doing these kind things for others because what she was doing came from the heart.
6. Then we have the example of a man who made a big impression on a lot of people. We find his story in Acts 11:22-24. Turn there with me if you have your Bible & we will read about how & why his life touched others.
Cell #9--
22 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.
23 Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;
24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. (NAS 95 Acts 11)
1) Let’s focus our attention on verse 24. First, notice the opening statement, he was a "good man." Again, it’s the same root word that the word goodness comes from in Galatians 5:22.
2) Second, he was full of the Holy Spirit. What are we studying in this series of sermons? That’s right, the fruit of the Spirit. The fact that he was good was connected to the fact that he was "full of the Holy Spirit"
3) Third, what was the result of these facts? We must go back to verse 23 for the complete answer.
1} He encouraged them from the heart. Do you see the emphasis on the inside again? What did he encourage them to do? To remain true to the Lord.
2} The second result was that many people came to know the Lord. It wasn’t the fact that Barnabas appeared to be good. It was the fact that this goodness was coming from the Lord. The power of this goodness, wasn’t Barnabas’s power, it was the work of the Holy Spirit in his life and the result was people coming to know the Lord.
3} To put it in perspective, this goodness produced supernatural results, because it was a supernatural goodness. When we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives, the results will be supernatural as well. The power to change lives didn’t come from Barnabas, it came from the Holy Spirit who was working in Barnabas.
A number of years ago, when I was pastoring in Rolla, I had the opportunity to speak briefly to one of Southern Baptist’s most beloved theologians, Calvin Miller. I don’t remember the details of what he spoke about at the conference I was attending, but I do remember that at the time I was frustrated by how little change I saw in the lives of our church members in spite of the fact that I was preaching the truth of scripture to the best of my ability. When I was honest, I had to admit that I didn’t even see the level of goodness in my own life that I wanted. I remember that Calvin Miller patiently smiled & asked how long I had been pastoring. He understood that the struggle to be good is one that we will never fully win while we are living on this earth. Yet, it is one that we must never quit striving toward. It’s one that we will never win on our own. Ultimately, it’s not a struggle to be good, it’s a struggle to allow God to be good in us & produce good through us.
Conclusion:
1. As we conclude I want to take one more brief look at something which on the surface doesn’t seem connected. We all know that we are to followers of Christ. We are to imitate His lifestyle. We are less comfortable with people imitating other Christians, but when Christians are living the good lives God desires, that’s exactly what happens. In 1 Corinthians 4:16, Paul tells us that we are to imitate him. While many of us are comfortable with the idea of imitating Christ, very few of us would feel comfortable with the thought of others imitating us. But when we are allowing the Spirit to produce His fruit in our lives, we too should be able to humbly encourage others to follow us, as we follow Him.
2. Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your heart in such a way that He’s producing in your the fruit of the Spirit that we’ve been talking about for the last couple months? Later this month we will be having revival services, which we are calling, "Connecting to Christ." As you connect to Christ, you are connecting to the power of the Holy Spirit who wants to produce the fruit we’ve been studying in your life.
3. The last Sunday of the month we begin "Forty Days of Purpose." To get the right benefit of these special things which are coming, we need to be connected & committed to Christ. I think you would all agree with that statement. So, here’s the question. Are you? Are you committed to God to the point that you are allowing Him to change your life? Should the answer to that question be, "no," then I want you to recommit yourself to Him this morning.
4. I am reminded of the words John Wesley. He said,
Cell #10--
"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can."
5. However, the only way that all that goodness will really make much of a difference, is if it’s the goodness that comes from the Holy Spirit as He works in your life. Let’s pray.
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1) Melvin Newland, Goodness- Fruit of the Spirit, (Sermoncentral.com, Central Christian Church) 8-1997.
2) Joe Bedy, The Spirit Led Life- Goodness, (Sermoncentral.com, Central Christian Church) 4-9-2002.
3) James Westervelt, The Pear of Goodness, (Sermoncentral.com, Grace Fellowship) October, 2001.
4) Wade Hughes, Fruit of the Spirit- Goodness, (Sermoncentral.com) May, 2002.
5) R David Reynolds, The Fruit of the Spirit is Goodness, (Sermoncentral.com) May, 2004.
6) Joel Pankow, The Holy Spirit Gives us the Gift of Goodness, (Sermoncentral.com) July 18, 2004.
7) Brian Bill, Gliding Toward Goodness, (Sermoncentral.com) July 15, 2001.
8) Richard White, Goodness, (Sermoncentral.com) January, 2003.
9) Brad Bailey, Grounding Ourselves in the Goodness of God, (Sermoncentral.com) April, 2001.
10) Bruce Barton, Linda Taylor, David Veerman, Neil Wilson, Life Application Bible Commentary: Galatians, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers) 1994.
11) R. Alan Cole, The Tyndale New Testament Commentary: Galatians, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) 1989.
12) Timothy George, The New American Commentary: Galatians, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press) 1994.
13) Philip D. Kenneson, Life on the Vine, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP) 1999.
