“Christian Resolutions_2020, Part 26:” by Romans
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We are continuing in our Series, “Christian Resolutions, 2020, and the offshoot review and examination of both the Foundation and manifestation of those Resolutions, The Fruit of the Spirit. Thus far, we have examined Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, and Gentleness. We will advance to the next named Fruit in the Apostle Paul's list of Fruit, found in his Epistle to the Galatians, chapter 5. Tonight, we will examine the Sixth named Fruit of the Spirit, “Goodness.”
What does goodness mean to you? What ideas or concepts come to your minds when you think of “goodness”? Anyone?
As I often do, I would like to start by consulting the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, where we we read a small shopping list of definitions for the word, “good.” “Of a favorable character or tendency, bountiful, fertile, handsome, attractive, suitable, fit, profitable, advantageous, agreeable, pleasant, wholesome, full, well-founded, free from injury or disease...” The list goes on.
What I want to do is go back and zero in on the very first definition for our purposes, here, tonight: “Of a favorable character or tendency.” Remember that the Fruit of the Spirit is something that is manifested by both the indwelling of the Holy Spirit having taken residence in us, as well as our continuing in a genuine walk with the Lord. As I have previously pointed out, in nature, a tree does not bear fruit for its own benefit.
The fruit of a tree, having within them the seeds of the next generation, is an essential part of the plant's reproductive process. In like manner, the Fruit of the Spirit, which are expressed and borne by us, has an outward benefit toward those with whom we deal, and those encounter us. As with physical fruit bearing seeds, those who are positively impacted by their relationship with us, and who experience the Fruit being expressed through us, potentially become part of the Harvest of the children of God.
I want to call to your remembrance, or, perhaps, bring to your first awareness, Jesus' words beginning in Luke 10:2 regarding this: He said, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” We are the laborers Jesus is seeking, to bear the Fruit of the Spirit. When we do so, it is to the benefit of as many as we encounter, whether inside or outside the Household of Faith, and all to the Glory and Honor of God.
For those members of the Body, and in specific regard to “goodness,” we read in Romans 15:14 “And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.”
Of this Matthew Henry writes, “Here, I. He commends these Christians with the highest characters that could be. He began his epistle with their praises, saying in Romans 1:8, “Your faith is spoken of throughout the world,” thereby to make way for his discourse: and, because sometimes he had reproved them sharply, he now concludes with the like commendation, to qualify them, and to part friends. This he does like an orator. It was not a piece of idle flattery and compliment, but a due acknowledgment of their worth, and of the grace of God in them.
We must be forward to observe and commend in others that which is excellent and praise-worthy; it is part of the present recompence of virtue and usefulness, and will be of use to quicken others to a holy emulation. It was a great credit to the Romans to be commended by Paul, a man of such great judgment and integrity, too skilful to be deceived and too honest to flatter.
Paul had no personal acquaintance with these Christians, and yet he says he was persuaded of their excellencies, though he knew them only be hearsay. As we must not, on the one hand, be so simple as to believe every word; so, on the other hand, we must not be so skeptical as to believe nothing; but especially we must be forward to believe good concerning others: in this case charity hopeth all things, and believeth all things, and (if the probabilities be any way strong, as here they were) is persuaded. It is safer to err on this side.
Now observe what it was that he commended them for. 1. That they were full of goodness; therefore the more likely to take in good part what he had written, and to account it a kindness; and not only so, but to comply with it, and to put it in practice, especially that which relates to their union and to the healing of their differences. A good understanding of one another, and a good will to one another, would soon put an end to strife.
2. Filled with all knowledge. Goodness and knowledge together! A very rare and an excellent conjunction; the head and the heart of the new man. All knowledge, all necessary knowledge, all the knowledge of those things which belong to their everlasting peace. 3. Able to admonish one another. To this there is a further gift requisite, even the gift of utterance. Those that have goodness and knowledge should communicate what they have for the use and benefit of others.
“You that excel so much in good gifts may think you have no need of any instructions of mine.”
It is a comfort to faithful ministers to see their work superseded by the gifts and graces of their people. How gladly would ministers leave off their admonishing work, if people were able and willing to admonish one another! Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets. But that which is every body's work is nobody's work...”
And, where our interaction with those who are not our brethren in Christ, we read in 1 Peter 2:11: “ ... having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12). Tonight's Fruit, Goodness, is an interesting concept. We will certainly see, as we go through the Scriptures that define it and express it, clear, unambiguous, and positive examples of goodness.
The world's definition of goodness, however, bears what I would refer to as a liquid definition in that, like a liquid, it conforms to the shape of its container. Let me explain. In the world around us, to hear that something or someone is good does not necessarily always conform to the positive Scriptural or godly ideal. For example, I have heard people who are atheists defending themselves as being good people, even though they don't believe in a Supreme Being, or His Word the Bible as a Standard for goodness.
As I see it, there are two problems with their claim: They claim to be good, but against which yardstick of goodness are they measuring themselves? Surely they can't be measuring themselves against Godly or Biblical Standards since atheists reject both as being true, or relevent, or a part of the reality they have chosen!! The second problem is that within the very pages of the Bible which contains the Standards of goodness which atheists claim to be living up to, we also find it very clearly stated in both the Old and New Testaments that no one is good!
Psalms 14:1 opens by specifically declaring that atheists in particular cannot be good. We read, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works...” But then the verse widens the scope of who is not, and cannot be good when it concludes with the phrase: “...there is none that doeth good.”
Atheists don't seem to realize that the Bible, the measuring stick of goodness that they somehow invoke even though they have rejected it, not only calls them fools for denying God, it does not support their claim, or anyone else's claim to being good! Repeating and then building on the sentiment conveyed in the Psalm we just read, Paul writes, “What then? are we better than they?” {Are we Jews better than Gentiles? Was what he was asking.}
He continues, “No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:9-12).
Matthew Henry gives us a rather lengthy comment about the fool saying in his heart, “There is no God.” He writes, “The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wishes there were none, and pleases himself that it is possible there may be none; he is willing to think there is none. This sinner is a fool; he is simple and unwise, and this is evidence of it: he is wicked and profane, and this is the cause. The word of God is a discerner of these thoughts...
No man will say, There is no God, till he is so hardened in sin, that it is become his interest that there should be none to call him to an account. The disease of sin has infected the whole race of mankind. They are all gone aside, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Whatever good is in any of the children of men, or is done by them, it is not of themselves, it is God's work in them.
They are gone aside from the right way of their duty, the way that leads to happiness, and are turned into the paths of the destroyer. Let us lament the corruption of our nature, and see what need we have of the grace of God: let us not marvel that we are told we must be born again. And we must not rest in any thing short of union with Christ, and a new creation to holiness by his Spirit...
The psalmist endeavours to convince {or, convict} sinners of the evil and danger of their way, while they think themselves very wise, and good, and safe. Their wickedness is described. Those that care not for God's people, for God's poor, care not for God himself. People run into all manner of wickedness, because they do not call upon God for his grace. What good can be expected from those that live without prayer?
But those that will not fear God, may be made to fear at the shaking of a leaf. All our knowledge of the depravity of human nature should endear to us salvation out of Zion. But in heaven alone shall the whole company of the redeemed rejoice fully, and for evermore. The world is bad; oh that the Messiah would come and change its character!
There is universal corruption; oh for the times of reformation! The triumphs of Zion's King will be the joys of Zion's children. The second coming of Christ, finally to do away the dominion of sin and Satan, will be the completing of this salvation, which is the hope, and will be the joy of every Israelite indeed.”
My own comment about this is, When Matthew Henry writes that the Second Coming of Christ... will be the joy of every Israelite indeed, does that joy include us who are Gentiles? I tell you, without hesitation, Yes! We read in Galatians 3:29: “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” In Romans 11, the Apostle Paul speaks of us, Gentiles Christians, as a wild olive tree, whom God has graffed in to the natural olive tree of Israel.
Back to the specific theme of atheists claiming to live up to the Biblical Standards of being good consider that, to the Jews who did not deny God or His Word, but rather believed in both, Jesus said, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11). Yet, I have heard atheists assert that, even though they don't believe in God, they are still somehow good. They are in error.
I would like, now, to discuss something regarding goodness that has been the source of much confusion and controversy. Jesus, Himself, said the following when a rich young ruler approached Him, addressing Him with the words, good Master... Jesus responded with the question, found in Mark 10:18, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” The Jehovah Witnesses cite this verse to bolster their false teaching that this was an admission by Jesus that He was not Divine.
What do you suppose Jesus meant by His response? Do you think His response nullified His Divinity? Rather than a denial of Divinty, which it was not, I read Jesus' answer to be more of an acknowledgement that He was God, than not. What I think He meant was this: Why do you call Me good? Don't you realize, since there is none good but God, that by calling me good you are calling Me God?
From the Homilies on Matthew, I gained this further insight: “If Jesus {were} denying either His own goodness, or His own Divinity, He would have clearly said, rather, 'Why do you call Me good? There is none good but the Father.' But by saying, instead, 'There is none good but God,' and having said in John 10:30, 'I and my Father are one,' He declared and acknowledged both His goodness and His Divinity.
Consider also the opening of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1) This reiterates the unmistakable fact that God can be and is described in Scripture in plural terms. This Divine plurality was established from the very first chapter of Genesis, the first book in Scripture. In the first verse, “In the beginning God...” God is from the Hebrew “elohiym,” a plural words literally meaning “Gods.” Also consider God's words, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26).
Conclusion: Jesus did not deny His Divinity by saying “There is none good but God” because He, too is God. Jesus was WITH God and Jesus also WAS God. Further attesting to both, Jesus said, of Himself in John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
David wrote of God in Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd... But let's go back and look at a few more ways that the concept of goodness can be liquid in modern day applications. Scripture tells us that regarding the Sixth Day of Creation Week: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31).
Consider: Your friend recommends a certain mechanic to you for your car because the mechanic is very good, and you understand that as a positive recommendation. Then, another friend warns you about attending a certain free outdoor concert because a pickpocket has been working the crowds at these concerts, and the pickpocket is very good. And you understand that very good, in this context, is not a positive recommendation. Your friend did not mean by very good, that the pickpocket returns the watches and wallets after he steals them.
Often, when we use the word good we only mean that the person or thing is effective at what he/she/or it does. We often also apply the word selfishly, and with our own needs in mind. When a person hopes for good weather for a vacation or outdoor wedding, he or she hopes for sunny weather without rain. When a farmer hopes for good weather, perhaps regarding the very same weekend, he is hoping for rain and plenty of it. To the farmer, a rainy weekend is a beautiful thing. So, as the world uses the concept of good, it is fluid in that it is also a subjective thing. But in Scripture, God is both the Source and Summation of goodness.
Let us move away from human misapplications of goodness to consistent Scriptural examples that are always positive. We have already covered God's calling His Creation very good. Let's move forward in Bible History to the scene where the Patriarch Joseph revealed himself to his stunned and fearful brothers. This is an event in the Bible that I would love to have been able to witness. (Maybe the Kingdom of Heaven will have DVD's or a Holodeck of all these events!) Was Joseph vengeful towards his brothers? Did he display a “Now I've got you!” attitude against them? No...
What did he tell them, instead?
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Joseph's Faith in God, his ability to understand and willingness to define goodness according to God's Standards, allowed him to suppress hatred toward his brothers and vengeance for the wrong they did against him.
Let's move forward in Biblical History and our examination of goodness to the time just after Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage: Exodus 18:8 and Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. This is confirmed in Psalms 73:1 truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
After the Exodus, however, we find Israel about to inherit the Promised Land. Moses sends 12 spies into Canaan to spy out the land. Of the 12 spies, how many returned with a good report of a the land they were about to inherit? Out of 12, ten came back with a bad report. Only Joshua and Caleb returned with a good report. What did the other 10 spies say about the Promised Land?
We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying the land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof... ( Numbers 13:31-32).
It occurs to me that Faith in God has a part in how we see the world, and how we react to the circumstances we find ourselves in. Joshua and Caleb saw the same land and the same inhabitants that those who brought the evil report saw. Their Faith in God enabled them to define what they saw as good: Notice in Numbers 14:7-8: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey... Verse 9 continues, only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
They tried to bear the Fruit of the Spirit of goodness to the children of Israel. But Israel was a fearful and doubting people. Not only did they not accept the good report, notice their reaction: We read in verse 10: “But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And what happened to the ten spies with the evil report? Let's find out in Numbers 14:37: “Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.” And what happened to Joshua and Caleb? Verse 8 tells us, “But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.”
What happened to everyone else who had been delivered from Egypt? Numbers 32:11-13: Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
Goodness is something God would have us define, accept and act on according to His Standards. Should we consider the world a reliable source for defining good and evil? When and where in history did man begin to define good from evil? When the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, she re-evaluated God's clearly stated restrictions and used her own criteria in determining what was good: Notice: Genesis 3:6: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
But as followers of Christ, we look to God and His Word for Truth and Guidance: Romans 12:2: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Let's read that, again: ... that ye may prove what is that GOOD, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
We are Blessed to have been given His Word so that we can know what is good according God's Standards... 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Notice, also, Paul's remarks about how the law defined what sin is in Romans 7:7 ... Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. And once what is evil is identified, we are told in Romans 12:9 ... Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Does the ability to identify sin keep us from committing sin? No... unfortunately it does not. We should also bear in mind that, while it is true that sin is the transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4), it is also true that, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17). What does Scripture tell us to do when we sin either by commission or omission? We have access to God allowing us to appeal to Him for forgiveness. In the Old Testament, we read in Psalms 25:7, “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.”
In the New Testament, we read in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In addition, because our sinful behavior gives occasion to Satan accuse {us} before our God day and night (Revelation 12:10), we read of Jesus in Hebrews 7:25: Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Besides being our Good Shepherd and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus is also our Our Advocate. Our Mediator. Our Passover. Our Peace. Our Life. Our God. In a word, He is Good...
Besides making us aware of God's mercy and forgiveness and salvation, the Word of God provides to those who believe, Guidance which is not available from any other religion, philosophy or belief system or source anywhere else on earth: Deuteronomy 6:24, “And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. Jesus said in John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” As the Good Shepherd, He added in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”
We read in 3 John 1:11, “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.”
Matthew Henry says of this: “Both the heart and mouth must be watched... It is bad not to do good ourselves; but it is worse to hinder those who would do good. Those cautions and counsels are most likely to be accepted, which are seasoned with love. Follow that which is good, for he that doeth good, as delighting therein, is born of God. Evil-workers vainly pretend or boast acquaintance with God. Let us not follow that which is proud, selfish, and of bad design, though the example may be given by persons of rank and power; but let us be followers of God, and walk in love, after the example of our Lord.”
When we recognize Jesus, and follow Him as our Good Shepherd, we can have the same assurance of goodness that David wrote as he concluded in Psalms 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
Matthew Henry writes, “How confidently he counts upon the continuance of God's favours. He had said (in Psalm 23:1), I shall not want; but now he speaks more positively, more comprehensively: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. His hope rises, and his faith is strengthened, by being exercised.
Observe, (1.) What he promises himself - goodness and mercy, all the streams of mercy flowing from the fountain, pardoning mercy, protecting mercy, sustaining mercy, supplying mercy.
(2.) The manner of the conveyance of it: It shall follow me, as the water out of the rock followed the camp of Israel through the wilderness; it shall follow into all places and all conditions, shall be always ready.
(3.) The continuance of it: It shall follow me all my life long, even to the last; for whom God loves he loves to the end.
(4.) The constancy of it: All the days of my life, as duly as the day comes; it shall be new every morning like the manna that was given to the Israelites daily.
(5.) The certainty of it: Surely it shall. It is as sure as the promise of the God of truth can make it; and we know whom we have believed.
(6.) Here is a prospect of the perfection of bliss in the future state. So some take the latter clause: “Goodness and mercy having followed me all the days of my life on this earth, when that is ended I shall remove to a better world, to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever... where there are many mansions. With what I have I am pleased much; with what I hope for I am pleased more.”
As Jesus said, “There is none good but God.” We serve that good God as the sheep pasture of the Good Shepherd. And, surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life: and we will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, Christian Resolutions_2020, Part 26.”
This Discussion was presented live on Wednesday, July 1st, 2020.
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