Goodness-Week 3

We have been talking for this month about God’s goodness and how it connects to justice.

This week we’re talking about how God responds to US with goodness.

Psalm 34:8–10 NIV

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

With God, we will lack no good thing

Something we need to understand about ourselves. With a verse like this, our minds automatically go to wealth and material things. We hear the word ‘stuff’ when the psalmist says ‘no good thing’.

And that’s a problem.

Even at the beginning of this section, the psalmist challenges us - check out how much THE LORD is good. Then 2 sentences later, he says, we won’t ever lack good things. And our mind drifts OFF God.

If you think about it, we SHOULD be saying, SWEET this means we won’t lack God. But we default to - that means I won’t run out of stuff right? I won’t face hard times?

We have this battle as Christ-followers with ‘stuff’. And we seem pulled between these two extremes of ‘the danger of wealth’ and ‘the problems of lack’.

And there are problems in the world regarding hunger and famine and lack of access to proper medical care that are absolute travesties that need to be solved.

The Psalmist isn’t brushing away of these debates. He’s pointing at something deeper.

In all of our hearts,

The problem isn’t lack of things. It’s lack of contentment with the presence of God.

Psalm 34 starts off by the psalmist saying, I am going to brag about God 24/7.

And he sees problems. He says - the righteous cry out - and the Lord answers. There are people who are broken hearted, and he’s close to them. There are people who have felt crushed in spirit - and God saved them.

He sums it up like this:

Psalm 34:19 NIV

The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;

The issue isn’t the presence or lack of problems in life. It’s the presence or lack of contentment with God.

When you face a problem in life, is it good enough for you to say ‘God will take care of this’? When you face troubles, does it bring you to a place of complete satisfaction to say, ‘ya, God will figure this out’.

Do we really TRUST that if God is good - then things are gonna be good, so we don’t have to worry anymore?

There may be problems, there may be relief. There may be plenty, there may be lack.

But the psalmist does seem to trust in one universal constant. In every SINGLE circumstance - there will be God.

and that answer is all the psalmist needs. And it’s all we need too.

But we start introducing ourselves to a world of trouble when we start trying to make sure we have more than simply the goodness of God in our lives.

in 1st Timothy 6, Paul instructing timothy. And he’s warning them specifically against these false teachers who have tried to use godliness for financial gain (unhealthy interest in divisive things, evil suspicions, causing strife and friction).

And wealth is what’s on the table here, but honestly, it applies to any sort of way that we would use our godliness and our relationship with God just for the sake of personal enrichment.

But he says this in contrast:

1 Timothy 6:6–10 NIV

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

He points out - when it comes to any sort of financial or worldly gain. We didn’t bring any of it with us into the world, and we’re not bringing it with us after this world.

How much would you do to get something, anything, if you knew, you knew that you weren’t going to keep it? Not talking about that kind of impermanence like ‘one day, my kids will grow up, and they’ll move out’. Talking about ‘I went to someone’s house, and they gave me this thing to play with temporarily, and when i leave, i’m giving it back’.

Everything weh ave here on earth is ‘I went to this place, and God gave me this thing temoprarily to use, and when I leave, i’m giving it back’.

‘Godliness with contentment is great gain’. AKA - if we have godliness, and we’re simply good with whatever God chooses to give us - we have gained something truly worthwhile in our lives.

Because we have begun that shift from ‘I need these things’ to ‘I need God - he’ll take care of whatever else’.

But paul says, these people who aren’t content simply with being in a relationship with God, and have tried to twist godliness into something for personal gain - they have ‘pierced themselves with many griefs’.

How can we build that kind of contentment?

FIRST -

Ask God to only provide the things that bring you closer to Him

Proverbs 30:8–9 NIV

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

The author of proverbs here doesn’t automatically jump to the negative side of wealth (though we believe it’s there). He just says - wealth can fracture our relationship with God. So he says - if that’s the case, keep the wealth.

SECOND -

Ask God to take away the things that pull you away from Him

STORY - Youth coworker (crazy john) once said, talking to youth about God allowing evil in the world - if God wanted to get rid of all the problems in life by snapping his fingers - I’d be a dead man.

Absolutely, God in all his power, has the power to just erase evil. But that’s us. Instead - he’s trying to help us detach ourselves completely from it. And ‘evil’ unfortunately can be ‘anything that gets between us and our relationship with God’.

1 Corinthians 10:23 NIV

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.

You may be free - but that doesn’t mean stuff in this world is good for you.

That means - your freedom is not the standard. God is the standard. What He wants for you.

We have this default angle of, how do I in my relationship with God get more things? And God wants it to be - what things do I need to give up to get more of God?

So what things COULD you give up to get more of God?

THIRD:

Take refuge in the Lord

Psalm 31:19 NIV

How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you.

When God is working out real, honest goodness in the world, he’s not just giving a thumbs up to every single thing out there.

This ties into above. I’ve been forgiven - so anything is great!

God’s goodness isn’t a permission slip. God’s goodness is a stronghold. A fortress.

We need to learn to ‘take refuge in God’.

STORY - my kids and scary things when they were young. Their reflex wasn’t to stand up tall or to run - it was to take refuge in their parents.

The problem is, sometimes it’s not all scary stuff. Sometimes it’s really good looking stuff.

But even when that comes, we say, nope, I don’t need that. I need God, so I’m going over here instead.

Or when something tempting pops up, we say, I don’t need that thing - I have God!

Now here’s a secret - the more we get to know God, the easier it will be to recognize stuff that isn’t from God. (STORY - How you best learn to tell if money is fake). Because the rule is simple - does it look like God? If not - don’t want it.

God will respond to you with His goodness

Psalm 107:9 NIV

for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

God IS Good. And he knows how to respond with good.

But we need to be WITH him. We need to connect with him.