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GALATIANS 5:22f
(Reading: 2 Thess.1:1-12; Gal.5:19-25)
The Fruit of the Spirit is … Goodness
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…
With the fruit of “kindness” we began to consider how we relate to others in this list of the fruit of the Spirit. “Kindness” brought us into that panorama of how we are to be as Christ to those right next to us, wherever and whoever they might be. It’s “kindness” which recognises that as we are in Christ Jesus we are to be genuinely open and responsive to the needs of those around. The love and joy and peace and patience which is working inside begins to influence what’s happening on the outside. “Kindness” brought us into relating with others. And now “goodness” describes what it is that makes us do this.
So let’s look at “goodness”. And we’ll do that in three ways. Three ways which will be illustrated using the re-occurring picture of a baptism.
First of all, we realise that the spiritual fruit of “goodness” is not just doing it. GOODNESS IS NOT JUST DOING IT.
Congregation, in many churches a baby is baptised because it’s time for the child to be “done”. So there it is a tradition. These people will often use the word “christening” for this ceremony. To them this is the time that you give the baby a “name”. That’s the ritual they have always followed. If they didn’t follow this custom they wouldn’t feel right.
But true baptism isn’t just doing it. Rather, baptism is a gracious working of God and should not be performed for reasons of custom or superstition. You don’t just do it! There has to be the right motivation. And that’s exactly the same for “goodness”.
There are some very telling passages in Scripture that point to having this right motivation. For example, Acts 5, the verses 1 till 11, has that terribly sad story about Ananias and Sapphira. They were part of the early New Testament Church. They were in that keen, dedicated, and strongly united group. They were those who were sharing everything together.
Luke writes of this early church in Acts 4, the verses 32 till 35, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but the shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was with them all. There were no needy persons among them. From time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”
Congregation, it’s a lovely Christian scene. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and such a blessing! And all because they had that right motivation! How much don’t we see the fruit of the Spirit there!
Yet even there Satan was busy. He was planting his lies. He filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira so that they withheld from the Lord.
Oh, they went through the motions alright. They weren’t going to be the ones who were any different. They sold property. But it wasn’t for the Lord. And it certainly wasn’t done in the right spirit - by his Spirit! They were not being good!
Mind you, their appearance gave the impression they were. They brought some money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. I’m sure that if we had been there, we would have seen it as a fine gesture. They were a great couple! They were giving like everyone else was giving!
But that, congregation, was the lie! There was absolutely no good in this giving! That’s why Peter reacts so harshly. For what do we read in the verses 3 and 4 of Acts 5? Listen to Peter speaking: “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Ananias and his wife Sapphira suffered the consequences of their unbelief. And we should also wonder what makes us think of doing such things! For how often haven’t we lacked goodness in our living?
Take the way we came into worship this Lord’s Day. Did you do it the “good” way? Have you thought about why you’re here before you came? Or is it a bit of a habit? It’s what you do every week the same time.
There was a congregation which very nearly had a terrible split. People who had once been so close were suddenly set against each other! And you know what it was all about? It was all over the time for the second worship service.
While the Session of that church had presented a very good case for changing the time, for some there could be no change! It was going to upset their whole Sunday routine. As if the Lord shouldn’t have been the centre of that routine in the first place! And, you know, I think it showed that for many of them he wasn’t. One of the loudest voices against changing the time was a person who never came to the second service!
Congregation, we should always be examining what we do. For it has to come out of our love for the Lord. That’s the true motivation.
Now, there has been a lot of talk about motivation over the last few decades. This is a motivation which is about getting-ahead financially. Lots of magazines and commercials promote this. They very appealingly say things like, “Be vibrant, active and dynamic!” “Success can be yours!” “You’ll sell like you’ve never sold before!”
But this is not the same motivation as being good. This is an outward style to life. And despite however many people say it comes from a change in your thinking it’s not from the heart. People can use this motivational thinking for bad things as much as for good things.
And that’s really where we dig a little deeper into what this spiritual fruit of “goodness” is all about. For, in the second place, GOODNESS IS HONESTLY MEANING IT.
Congregation, this “goodness” is not just doing it. It’s not a “goodie-goodiness”! It especially has to be meaning it!
The Apostle Paul, writing in Romans 15 verse 14, points to this. He says there, “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”
Fancy that - we are good! Almighty God has so moved in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that we’re able to show him in all that we do!
I have a friend who likes to be very precise in his theological terminology. He will ask me how I am. I used to respond, “Good, thank you.” And then he swooped! “Ah, but we’re not truly good are we? “We’re all sinners – we’ve fallen far short of God’s glory!”
He’s quite right. No one does good - not even one, to use the word of Romans 3 verse 12. Yet we are “good”. It’s here in Galatians 5 verse 22. And we can be even more the good!
Sounds strange, doesn’t it? But this is part of the paradox of the Christian life. We call it “the already and the not yet”. We live knowing that we are perfect in the sight of God, because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and yet also very much showing the effects of the sinful nature in and around us. It seems a contradiction. But it really describes a struggle.
We go back to the illustration of baptism. We have heard that to do this meaningfully parents cannot do it because of custom or superstition. So why should they do it? Why would they present their child to have water sprinkled on his head? What do you think?
I can hear some of the boys and girls. You’re thinking, “It’s because they love Jesus.” That’s spot on! They want the best for their little boy. And what better thing than for him to be brought up to share the same faith as Mum and Dad?
Parents, isn’t that what you want for your children? Because we live with the Lord we so much want that for those the Lord has given us. And doesn’t it cause so much heartbreak later in life if your child chooses another way? That’s a grief which has such a heavy burden of its own!
But at the time of baptism there’s so much hope and anticipation. We have this sacrament because for us it’s the beginning of a new life in the covenant. It’s not a social occasion following tradition. It’s not waiting until the child is old enough to give a cute smile for the dozens of cameras festooning the church! Instead, it’s the introduction of our child to the Body of our Lord. We affirm what God has done and where God has put him.
It’s something that child has to grow in. And that’s what we want! One day my child will be in such a church, professing before his fellow saints the relationship with God with which he’s been so blessed.
Until that day, though, and after it too, there will be that constant struggle to guide and to teach. We want so much to carry over to them where we stand with the Lord. We really mean what we promised in those baptismal vows.
And despite the sinful distortions which appear so often in our lives, the inner motivation is always there. Our lives should be summed up as meaning it! This Christianity thing is no joke. Look how seriously and joyfully these believers are living for their Lord! There’s something there! And it’s from in here! For we have an attractive inner “goodness”. That’s the harvest they see. That’s the fruit of the Spirit.
John Calvin wrote once about this: “Even our enemies cannot deny our fine detail in commanding men to expect the good which they want from none but God, to confide in his power, rest in his goodness, depend on his truth, and turn to him with the whole heart - to recline upon him with full hope, and to turn to him again in necessity. That is, at every moment to ascribe to him every good thing which we enjoy, and show we do so by open expressions of praise.”
How wonderfully that confirms 1st Peter 2 verse 12! Then you’re living “such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
Congregation, we come to acknowledge that when GOODNESS IS HONESTLY MEANING IT, it has to be that ... GOODNESS IS TRULY LIVING IT. This is our third aspect.
Think again of baptism. We’ve seen how for the believer baptism doesn’t come out of custom or superstition. Instead it’s part of a living, loving relationship with our Father God. We love Jesus and we so much want the same for our child. That’s why we recognise that it is God, and he alone, who is able to do that. This is when we are truly living it.
So you need to think about baptism often. God said then that you are his child. Are you showing that?
Congregation, we realise that “goodness” comes from the fount of all right action. There’s only One upon whom we can depend. And we know him because he knows us through the faith he has placed in us. What tremendous security!
You see, you know those feelings you have, which so quickly change according to time and place, don’t really count. And what others might think or say is also completely irrelevant. But when it comes to the Lord!
Take the example of Jesus in Mark 11, the verses 15 till 17. Jesus there drives out those who are buying and selling in the temple. And you might be thinking, how can this show “goodness”? How is this from the fount of all right action?
Well, think about why Jesus did it. He did it because the temple wasn’t being used as the house of prayer for God. That’s why God had made it. So there was a principle at stake.
But how would you be the one to challenge those there trading the way they were? “Hey, they’ve been doing that for years!” “That’s their livelihood!” “And, anyway, aren’t they helping us to worship by providing this additional service?”
Congregation, it might seem a strange way to show “goodness” but the Lord was spot on! If our sermon is telling us that loving people are good people who are kind to others, then Jesus was extremely merciful in removing this evil from Israel. For as long as it was there it was taking something away from the goodness of God.
You see, once we have removed ourselves even the one step from drawing directly from the goodness which God is, we haven’t been kind. In fact, the worse thing we could do for a fellow believer would be to allow them to break Scriptural principles because of how they are physically or emotionally.
What type of parent sets down clearly plain rules for their child only to ignore the punishment when things go wrong? Then you place the most enormous psychological pressure on your child. Years later he’ll remember that moment as a time when he should have got smacked but wasn’t. It will even affect them that much they themselves will find difficulty genuinely loving their own children.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is … goodness.” It’s not what comes naturally out of us. For then we’d always want a bit of the credit ourselves. What beautiful gifts the heavenly Father has given us we spoil so very quickly. Just as money changers had come unawares into the temple of God. That’s the danger of the works of the flesh sinful just above the text.
This expression – “works of the flesh” – is very accurate in comparing it with the fruit of the Spirit. One is of the earth and is very temporary. The other is from heaven and lasts forever. One thinks of the ultimate good of those right next to us. The other uses a quick thrill to have evil rule over people’s hearts.
Congregation, loving people are good people who are kind to others. Not because of anything they have. It’s only because their robes have been washed in Jesus’ blood. It’s now his cleansing which can make us truly good.
People of God, may we do as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians to do. For in his second letter to them, chapter 1 verse 11, he says, “we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfil every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power...”
When we do this we are the harvest God is reaping. Then the motto of Calvin is true in our lives. For he said, “Lord, I offer my heart, promptly and sincerely.”
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
LORD God, may we offer our hearts also - promptly and sincerely. Because it’s your Spirit moving in our hearts and lives. More and more we are giving you the love of our hearts, the love that goes bone deep.
Then this world will see you through us. Then being good is being godly. Through the One who was perfectly good, Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray,.
Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright, Rev. Sjirk Bajema
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