Cultivating Goodness

Warren Brosi

6/29/25

Dominant Thought: Goodness grows from God who gives.

Objectives:

I want my listeners to learn the difference between good and bad.

I want my listeners to rest in God who gives generously.

I want my listeners to choose one way to cultivate goodness this week.

As we begin today, I want to play a game called “Good or Bad.” I’ll show you pictures and you tell me if it is good or bad. Here’s the pictures: ripe fruit (good), rotten fruit (bad), rusty car (bad), restored car (good), smile (good), angry made face (bad), flower in bloom (good), flower dead/dried (bad), not sharing toys (bad), sharing toys (good).

Generally, we are pretty good at identify good and bad things. But who tells us what something is good or bad? What’s the standard or the measurement to know if it is good or bad.

The words good and goodness appear more than 600 times in the Bible (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, “Goodness”). In fact, we meet the word “good” in the fourth verse of the Bible, “God saw that the light was good” (Genesis 1.4). Throughout the account of creation, we hear the refrain “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1.4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Seven times in the first chapter of Genesis, we hear “that it was good.” When God created mankind he concluded, “it was very good.”

Then, God made the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad (Genesis 2.9).

Eve and then Adam eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of good and bad and we’ve been in trouble ever since.

Today, we continue our study of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5.22-23. We come to the description of goodness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness… We are tracing the fruit of the Spirit through the wisdom books of Solomon. Today, we find good or goodness in Ecclesiastes 5.18-20.

But before we get to Ecclesiastes, let’s set the stage a little more about good. What do we mean by good. Philip Kenneson, gives us three descriptions of good in his book, Life on the Vine—Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community (pp. 158-159).

First, the consistent witness of Scripture and the church is that God alone is unequivocally good. “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good” (Psalm 136.1). Even Jesus replied to the rich young man, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10.18).

Second, if human bondage to sin makes us incapable of goodness apart from God, we are nevertheless created with the capacity and potential for goodness. Psalm 14.1,3 repeat, “There is none who does good.” We are not able to do God without God’s help. Paul tells us we are saved by grace through faith for good works (Ephesians 2.8-10).

Third, if God alone is good and humans are capable of good only by the work of God’s Spirit, then knowing what counts for good can also only be determined under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness… God’s Word inspired by the Holy Spirit can show us and help us to live out His goodness in a world that has a lot of bad.

The main idea for today’s message is: Goodness grows from God who gives.

In Ecclesiastes 5.18-20, Solomon gives a couple of observations about the goodness of God.

First, we experience the Goodness of God in daily life.

Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 5.18 could be read, “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and experience a good thing in all the toil with which one toils under the sun...” The NIV states, “finds satisfaction.” It literally means, “to experience a good thing.”

Solomon says it is good to eat drink and find satisfaction in your toil of life. Eating and drinking are daily activities.

He broadens the scope to include eating and drinking “in all the toil with one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.” Solomon comes back to this theme of toil throughout Ecclesiastes. Even in the in pain, one can find and experience goodness.

Even the sunshine is a gift from God. Jesus says that God “causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Matthew 5.45). In daily life, we can experience the goodness of God.

Ecclesiastes has much to talk about work. In invite you to read through Ecclesiastes to see how the teacher talks about work and toil under the sun. Several years ago, I participated in Men’s Fraternity taught by Robert Lewis. In the study, “Winning at Work and at Home” he highlighted four key motivations for work: paycheck driven, passion driven, philanthropy driven, purpose driven. Each of these motivations are good, but as you mature, you can see each level becoming deeper and carrying more meaning and impact.

The Apostle Paul shares to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Second, we experience the Goodness of God in God’s gifts.

The teacher reminds his audience that we have just a few days of life. But even these few days, “God has given them.” Three times we see references to gifts of God or God giving. We experience His goodness in God’s generosity.

James 1:17 ESV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Later in James, he teaches us that our life is like a mist or a vapor (James 4.13-17).

In Ecclesiastes, he teaches about when God give someone wealth and possession and the ability to enjoy them. Everything we own is a gift from God. Earlier in Ecclesiastes 5, he highlights the dangers of loving wealth and never having enough or finding satisfaction (Ecclesiastes 5.10). What we have is a gift from God. The ability to enjoy them is a gift from God.

A question one can ask in relationship to wealth and possession is, “Do I rule over my possessions or do my possessions rule over me?”

Solomon experienced some of the greatest wealth in the history of the ancient world. 1 Kings 10:21–22 “All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.”

And still Solomon says, it’s like chasing after the wind.

Jesus challenged His disciples about worrying about eating, drinking and clothes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6.25-34). Jesus invites the disciples to look at the birds. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Then Jesus asks the question, “Are you not more valuable than they?”

Then, Jesus invites them to see how the flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. “Yet I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of these” (Matthew 6.29).

Jesus concludes this section of teaching by commanding them to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6.33-34).

Back in Ecclesiastes, twice, the teacher “for this is their lot” or “to accept their lot.” God is the one who is in charge. You may think you are in charge, but wealth and health can be taken away.

Tim Mackie in the Bible project video on Ecclesiastes summarizes the message to of the book as to see all of life as a gift of God and to “enjoy life as I actually experience it and not as I I think it ought to be.” In other words, let’s enjoy life as we experience it and not as we expect it to be.”

What are some ways you want to cultivate goodness in your life this week?

1-Confession. Maybe you need to confess to someone that you are not trusting God’s goodness. Maybe you need to confess areas where you have made bad decisions. Maybe we as a congregation need to come clean where we have not honored God’s ways. Confess you need a Savior. His name is Jesus.

2-Saturation. What’s your daily intake of Scripture look like? God’s Word given to us through His Spirit will help us see good from bad. God’s word will direct us and guide us.

3-Imitation. Do you see some healthy examples of people living out the goodness of God in their lives? Do you see people trusting in God regardless of what life throws at them? Philip Kenneson, highlights that many be admired Mother Theresa rather than imitated her.

Ecclesiastes closes with these words in Ecclesiastes 12.13-14

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 NIV

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.