The Fruit of the Spirit Is Goodness
--Galatians 5:16-23
I know many of you were taught to pray and perhaps even taught your own children to pray a famous bedtime prayer that has been around since the eighteenth century:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
My parents had me add a few lines to our version of this childhood bedtime prayer. The one that immediately followed went, “Help David to be a good boy.” Why did my parents and I feel the need to add this petition to my prayer? Because even at that young age, I was not by nature good, and neither were any of you. No parent or teacher every has to teach a child how to be bad. As Annie Oakley boldly sings in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, “That comes naturally!” We do have to take pain staking efforts to set the example and teach them how to be good.
Just exactly what do we mean by a good boy, good girl, good man, or good woman? “The Fruit of the Spirit Is Goodness,” but what is the character or nature of a good person? What exactly do we mean when we say that somebody or something is good?
Last week we took a detour in our series on “The Fruit of the Spirit” as we discovered that “God Is Good, All the Time.” We found that God, and God, alone is by nature good. The Bible continually reminds us that no human being since the Fall has been naturally good. Take for instance Psalm 14:3:
But every one has turned back;
All alike have become corrupt:
There is none that does good; no, not one.
--[Translation: “The Psalter,” COMMON WORSHIP:
SERVICES AND PRAYERS FOR THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, The
Archbishops’ Council, 2000.]
When Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple, he confessed to God in I Kings 8:46, “. . .there is no one who does not sin.” Isaiah declares in Isaiah 53:6:
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Paul affirms the universality of sin in Romans 3:23, “. . .for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God”; and, according to I John 1:8, anyone who claims never to have sinned is nothing less than a liar: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
“God is good, all the time; but all of us are sinners.” How can we become good? If the “Fruit of the Spirit Is Goodness,” how can we produce that goodness? And if we can yield such fruit, what will it look like?
Humanly speaking when we say that someone or something is good, we mean that person or that thing pleases me, satisfies me, is healthful for me, or will bring me happiness. We live in a humanistic society which lives by the philosophy something is good if I like it or if most people like it. The human race is at the center of the universe in our humanistic world, and in such a society there is little if any room at all for God. So in such a society people set the standard for what is accepted as good.
It is not so for the Christian Disciple. God sets the standard of goodness for the Christian. By His standards as revealed in the Old and New Testaments goodness implies what is morally right, what is helpful and charitable. It is unselfish concern for the welfare of others. Goodness is a selfless spirit that is always mindful of the needs and interests of others. Goodness for the Christian means what is morally right as set forth in God’s Word; it has to do with right and wrong behavior and character. The good person is the one who is morally honorable and pleasing to God. The good disciple is enthusiastically seeks, follows, and does the Truth as revealed to us in the life, person, and ministry of Jesus Christ.
As we go back to our original text in Galatians Chapter Five, we remember that before Paul presents “The Fruit of the Spirit,” he warns us not to “gratify” the lust of the flesh. He then clearly states in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Goodness is the diametrically opposed to all such vices and evils. The good person by the grace of God overcomes such evil vices. The good person by the power of the Holy Spirit fulfills Deuteronomy 6:18, “And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord.” The good person is morally upright in character and in action.
Remember in our introductory message on “The Secret of the Fruit,” we mentioned that the “Fruit of the Spirit” is a single cluster with three sub clusters. We are now in the second sub cluster which encompasses patience, kindness, and goodness. These are grouped together as a sub cluster because they are closely related. They complement one another but are not identical with each other. Kindness and goodness are allies, and Jesus once again is our Supreme Example of the One who has lived each to the fullest extent.
I appreciate, admire, and respect the hymns of Charles Wesley very much. The opening stanza of one of his hymns has often become a lesson we teach our children in developing their picture of Jesus. It declares:
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a little child;
Pity my simplicity,
suffer me to come to Thee.
Too often that is the only portrait we have of Jesus, One who is simply “meek and mild,” a “Momma’s Boy,” and not a “Man’s Man.” That is a true picture of Jesus in His ministry of kindness. We see Him minister in such a kind fashion in dealing with the sinful, but penitent woman in Luke 7 who washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with ointment. Jesus kindly affirmed her in Luke 7:47-50, “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” This is Jesus ministering in the spirit of kindness; this is our Gentle Shepherd.
Goodness is more energized in its action. Often this requires taking a bold stand for what might not be the popular thing to do but is the right thing to do. Always concerned for the wellbeing of others, goodness oftentimes has to be firm in spirit and in action. Goodness occasionally must rebuke, correct, and chastise. As parents we have to discipline, rebuke, and correct our children for the development of their character. We often must show “tough love.” Such is the calling of a good parent. Jesus, likewise, was often tough in His ministry of goodness. When He would rebuke the scribes and Pharisees and call them hypocrites, Jesus was showing His goodness. When He overturned the tables of the Money Changers and cast them from the Temple Court, He was ministering in goodness. The prophet Nathan displayed goodness in his face to face confrontation with King David following his dual sin of adultery and murder in II Samuel 12:7-13. Nathan boldly proclaims:
“You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”
In confronting David, Nathan produced the fruit of goodness, because his primary concern was for David’s spiritual restoration. His firm goodness led to David’s repentance and restoration in God’s grace. In Revelation 3:19 Jesus calls the Lukewarm Church at Laodicea to repentance by saying, “I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.” Goodness often reproves and disciplines, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, those it loves because it is concerned for their well being.
“The Fruit of the Spirit Is Goodness.” The Holy Spirit wants to conform us into the image of our Good Shepherd Jesus. Goodness is not simply what pleases me; it is whatever pleases God. God sets our standard for what is good, the standard of “right from wrong.” As our fruit of goodness matures, we will continually do “what is right and good in the sight of the Lord.” As good disciples of Jesus Christ we may be called upon from time to time to be bold and courageous as we stand up for what is right and good in His sight. By the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, may we always be such faithful and good disciples of Jesus.
