July 25, 2010

Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Galatians: A Grace-full Life

A basket of fruit: Goodness  a gift of the Spirit (Part 8)

Sermon Series: Galatians: A Grace-full Life

Title: : A basket of fruit: Goodness, a gift of the Spirit (Part 8)  Text: Galatians 5:22-24

 

Introduction: Have you ever thought about what give something its value?

·       A child may think a quarter is worth more than a dollar because it’s shiny.

·       For people and yard sales, the idea is ‘one persons junk is another persons treasure.’

·       Ever bid on something at an auction or on

E-Bay? What you are willing to bid will determine, at least for you, the value of the item you are bidding on.

 

This morning we’re looking at the fruit of goodness, a fruit very underrated when it comes to it’s spiritual value in the life of the Christian.

 

Transition: Turn in your Bibles to Galatians 5:22-24 (Pg. 889 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there we’ll find Goodness: the 7th fruit the Holy Spirit places in our spiritual baskets.

 

Galatians 5:22-24                Goodness

Read: Galatians 5:22-24

 

A. Understanding the fruit

One of the problems we have with goodness is the same we have with love...as a word in the English language, it is overused.

·       Boy that meal was good!

·       She’s really good looking.

·       He’s a goody-two-shoes.

·       She’s a good driver.

 

Same word used to express different circumstances.

 

Originally, the word ‘good’ was related to the word God. In Jewish tradition, the title good was used only for God.

 

Today, it has come to be used as an adjective for friendly, kind pleasant or proficient. But being good is much more than that.

 

ILL: Edwin Chapin once said ‘Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are.’ (Tim Richards)

 

Being good is more than just our actions it involves our attitudes as well.

 

Used over 500 times in Scripture, goodness is most often related to purity of heart and life. Specifically, it often relates to abstaining from evil.

So the idea is we are pure, morally and ethically clean. Biblically speaking, goodness can not be separated from purity.

 

ILL: Someone once said ‘The heart of a good man is the sanctuary of God.’ (James Westervelt )

 

Scripture uses the word good is another way.

 

Read: Genesis 1:9 ff ‘...God called the dry ground land and the gathered waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good....Then God said Let the land produce vegetation...and it was so...and God saw that it was good...God said let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night...and God saw that it was good.’

 

You get the point. God was pleased. Perhaps we could define goodness as that which pleases God? Makes sense. It could be a thought, a feeling, or an action, it could even be a person whose life pleases God.

 

But, there’s more to defining goodness because in Scripture we’re told that God is good. But that’s an idea the world challenges every time there’s a devastating natural disaster or a gruesome, useless crime against humanity. People blame God for all the evil in the world when they should be blaming Satan, or sinful humanity...not God who is good.

How is God good? Scripture reveals two ways: God is good in His nature and God is good in His actions.

 

In His nature: It’s in God’s very make up to be good. He is incapable of doing anything bad or evil. Listen to how Scripture describes it.

 

·       1 John 1:5 ‘This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.’

·       Psalm  25:8 ‘Good and upright is the Lord...’

·       Psalm 34: 8 ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good...’

·       Psalm 106:1 ‘Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good...’

 

Because God is good, always good, we can know that everything that we face in life will ultimately be for our good...even if we can’t see it at the moment. That leads us to the second way God is good

 

In His actions towards us.

 

Read: Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’

Notice it’s not us who make the not so good circumstances, good in our lives...it’s God who makes them good...because He’s always good in both His nature (who He is) and His actions (what He does).

 

OK...I talked about determining the value of something, why is the fruit of goodness valuable to the life of the Christian?

 

1. We were created by God for good works: according to Ephesians 2:10. Want to know God’s will for your life? It includes doing good works/deeds. So, what good works for God have you done lately?

 

2. We are called to imitate what is good: according to 3 John 11. Being Christ-like means we choose to imitate good rather than evil. Choices we will need to make multiple times every day.

 

My take on goodness: Goodness is a pure life, formed in Christ, that expresses itself, in doing what is best for others is pleasing to God, and conforms to His will.

 

Transition: So, how do we grow/cultivate the fruit of goodness in our lives?

 

B. Growing the fruit

1. By having a pure heart.

Read: 1 Timothy 5:22b ‘...Keep yourself pure.’

 

Purity is counter-cultural because our society embraces impurity and is consistently telling us everyone  is doing it...that’s not far from the truth. For example:

 

          -It used to be when a political candidate

          committed adultery they resigned from

         office. Not so much anymore. People

         believed  it when President Clinton said his

         personal indiscretions had nothing to do

         with his presidential character...impurity!

-Dolly Parton once said ‘Marital

 unfaithfulness is OK as long as no one gets

 hurt.’...impurity!

-Society, even our government is telling us

 not only to ‘tolerate’ impurity but to accept

 it as normal behavior.Case in point have

 you heard of the words: same sex marriage,

alternative lifestyle, sexual orientation?

 Impurity

 

But God’s Word doesn’t say any of that. Here’s what it says, over and over again.

 

Read: Psalm 51:10a ‘Create in me a pure heart,

          O God...’

          Psalm 119:9 ‘How can a young man keep

          his way pure? By living according to your

          word.’

          Matthew 5:8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart,

          for they will see God.’

 

If you are going to cultivate the fruit of goodness in your life, you must develop and nurture purity...a heart and mind cleansed by the Word of God and the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 

How? Here’s one way to start:

 

Read: Philippians 4:8 ‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.’

 

2. By being grace-full.

Read: Colossians 4:6a ‘Let your conversation be always full of grace...’

 

This is where goodness and kindness meet, in our relationships. It’s doing what’s best for others.

 

 

3. By making your comparisons with God.

Read: Mark 10:18 ‘“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good, except God alone.’

 

We have a natural habit of comparing ourselves to others when it comes to determining just how good we think we are.

 

Wrong measuring stick. God is the author of goodness. Don’t look across to a neighbor or ever to someone in the church, look up to God, He  alone is our standard.

 

4. By keeping God’s commands.

Read: Deuteronomy 10:12-13 ‘And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?’

 

Keeping God’s Word, obeying His commands will make the ground fertile for the fruit of goodness in your life.

 

5. By using your resources to please God.

Read: Matthew 25:21 ‘His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

 

Use what God has blessed you with to be generous to others. And to build God’s kingdom. This will help cultivates goodness in your life.

 

Conclusion

So, are you a good person?

 

ILL: One of God’s faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, "While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me."

 

In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, "I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God." (Steve Shepherd )

God is good......and all the time.......

 

 

Allen Gardiner not only believed that, he lived it, until he breathed his last breath. Allen Gardiner was a good man.

 

I pray people can and will say that about you. And they will, if goodness is in your spiritual basket.