Title: GOODNESS

Text: Gal 5:22-23

Date: 11-19-06.am

Introduction:

Today we are going to deal with the 6^th aspect of the fruit of Spirit - goodness. Why are we talking about the fruit of the Spirit? When we started we showed how these nine attributes referred to singularly as the fruit of the Spirit are basic characteristics of the nature of God Himself.

The Fruit of the Spirit          The Character of God

Love                                       …God is love (1 John 4.8)

Joy                                          He will rejoice over you… (Zephaniah 3.17)

Peace                                      …the God of peace (Hebrews 13.20)

Patience                                  He is patient with you… (2 Peter 3.9)

Kindness                                 …his kindness to us… (Ephesians 2.7)

Goodness                                I will see the goodness of the Lord… (Psalms 27.13)

Faithfulness                            …great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3.23)

Gentleness                              …I am gentle and humble… (Matthew 11.29)

Self-control                             …God, slow to anger… (Exodus 34.6)

The purpose of talking about these character qualities of God’s nature is because the Spirit of God implanted them in our lives to grow and become the attributes of Christian Character. The Character of God lived through us in the world by the power and presence of the Spirit of God. All nine of them.... but we are looking at each individually to understand what they are and how we are to manifest them.

For the Greek philosopher Plato the question of what is good was the central issue of life. He said that the really real things were the eternal ideals that always exist, and in our daily life we strive to find and reach those ideals. The most important thing was to find the supreme good. Later philosophers challenged Plato and said that good is not out there as an ideal. Good is what we determine from our experience. What that says is good is subjective according to experience. Does that sound familiar? One group of philosophers saw “good” as the experience of pleasure and the removal of pain. Others said, no, ignorance is the problem. You discover the good life through education and knowledge. Others saw good as a very practical thing; you do to others as you want them to do for you. Still another ancient concept said good is “the greatest benefit for the greatest number”. And finally there was a group that insisted good has to do with “goodies” or things. The more things you have the better life is. What you notice about these views of good or goodness is they are “humanistic”, ie. human centered “man is the measure of all things”

Why is that important to us? Because those views are today the driving force behind so much of what happens in our society. They are not just ancient views they are modern views.

Listen to this statement:

We are back in the days like ancient Rome and the Greeks. We are a post-modern, multi-cultural society, where we have all sorts of ideas and religions and cultures all rolled into one place. And the driving forces as to what constitutes “good” are the same as the ancient ideas. How do we determine legislation? By the majority vote “ the greatest benefit for the greatest number” How do we determine what is right, what is good? By what is acceptable to the majority of the people at that time. Why have standards changed on what is seen and heard on television? Because we have changed in our views of what is good and bad.

That statement wasn’t made about American society, it comes from an Australian about society in Australia. But it could be applied here and in almost any culture in the modern world. Our moral compass has been skewed. Future generations, the generations of our children and grandchildren will be living in a world that where goodness will be relevant, or maybe more aptly stated irrelevant.

In the Old Testament goodness is used primarily to describe the goodness of GOD (Psalm 31:19, 69:16, 109:21). How great is your goodness, stored up for those who love you. -Psalm 31.19

In the New Testament it primarily describes the goodness of PEOPLE (Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9; 2 Thes 1:11; 2 Peter 1:5).

The obvious difference between the Old and the New Testament is the coming of the Holy Spirit into the believer's life as a permanent indwelling presence.

When we as believers try and determine what good is or what is good we have to start with God. God Himself is “good”. Everything He created is an expression of His “goodness”. God is the standard, and everything(created) is good when it conforms to the will of God. If you look in the creation account of Genesis God says everything He created was good and of man He says very good.

What happened? Sin happened and all of creation including mankind was marred by sin and it’s consequences. So it is important to realize that while there are things that we might call good things and there are actions we can describe as being good our character and our nature can not be truly good until we are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

When we see goodness in this way and understand goodness as an attribute of Christian character ten we can define goodness as moral soundness. Another name for moral soundness is integrity.

Integrity is the foundation for every relationship in life. It is the foundation for a good marriage, it is the foundation for a good business, it is what makes you a good neighbor.

The Scripture promises: May integrity and uprightness PROTECT me, because my hope is in you. -Psalm 25.21

2.      SECURITY - greater confidence: The man of integrity walks SECURELY. -Proverbs 10.9

3.      GUIDANCE - better decisions: The integrity of the upright GUIDES them. -Proverbs 11.3

The lack of integrity can cause serious problems.

Steven Berglas, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of The Success Syndrome, says that people who achieve great heights but lack the bedrock character of intergrity to sustain them through the stress are headed for disaster. He believes they are destined for one or more of the four A's:

1.      ARROGANCE

2.      The pain of ALONENESS

3.      ADVENTURE - seeking

4.      ADULTERY

INTEGRITY ESSENTIALS:

1.      Speak HONESTLY (Ephesians 4:15; Proverbs 20:7).

Speak the truth in a spirit of love. -Ephesians 4:15

Mark Twain once said: Speaking honestly is better, it takes a lot of stress out of our lives. If you tell the truth, you don't have to REMEMBER anything.

Now we need to make sure that when we speak honestly it is always done in a spirit of love. Haven't we known people who speak honestly, but it is not done in a spirit of love. What they say is true but it is not clothed in love or kindness.

2.      Confess REGULARLY (James 5.16; Matthew 5.23,24).

To keep your marriage brimming with love in the loving cup, When you're wrong admit it, when you're right shut up.

Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other.

-James 5:16

3.      Live CONSISTENTLY (Matthew 6:1)

Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. -Matthew 6:1

4.      Commit BOLDLY (Matthew 5:37; Psalm 101:2; Isaiah 45:19).

Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes.' -Matthew 5:37

Commit boldly to the things you say you will do. One of the most remarkable stories of integrity that I have heard in the last couple years concerns a man called Robertson McQuilken. As a young man, he dreamed of becoming the president of Columbia Bible College in Columbia, South Carolina. He adored his father, who had held this position, and he aspired to someday take his father's place.

Robertson McQuilken's dream came true. He served as president of Columbia Bible College for a number of years and did so with distinction. He lead Columbia to become a premier Christian institution that has prepared hundreds of young people for service, both in the United States and overseas.

Then one day this very special man realized he had a tragedy on his hands. His wife began to show the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. This was no slow-moving case, and in a matter of months there were dramatic consequences. She not only lost the memory of much of their life together, but she was unable to even recognize him. She lost all awareness that he was her husband. Robertson McQuilken made his decision. He resigned the presidency of Columbia so he could give full-time care to his wife. Without hesitation he walked away from what he loved as an act of love for her.

There were realists who told him there was no point to what he was doing. Anybody could take care of his poor wife, they told him, but not anybody could be president of Columbia Bible College. And after all, she didn't even recognize him when he came into the room to help her. The man's answer was magnificent. He readily admitted that his wife didn't know who he was. But that wasn't the point, he told them. "The really important thing is that I still know who she is . . . . she is the woman to whom I promised to be there for 'UNTIL DEATH DO US PART'."

Boldly stand by your commitments. If there was any trait that our society needs today is men and women, employees, business associates, husbands and wives, friends, mothers and fathers that will bodly stand by their commitments.

Speak Honestly, Confess Regularly, Live Consistently, Commit Boldly

Is this goodness a part of your character? Then decide from this point on it will be. Make that commitment? Ask God's Holy Spirit to cleanse your life to reveal to you where you fall short and yield to His presence so His fruit can grow in your life so that God’s character will be your character as well.