Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning!

we are continuing this series on 9 Flavors 1 Fruit and we are talking about the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that the Fruit of the Spirit is…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness..

In Africa…there was this common confession and response that was used to either start service or to start a sermon..… Our associate Kenneth…would often get up with a wide smile.. beaming.. and say...

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME… and the CONGREGATION would respond with ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.

Now what made this incredible is that life was really hard.....in Africa.

Everyone was facing food shortage…under the burden of hyper inflation… inconvenience of power cuts....l no gas.... long lines… High unemployment rates..

As you gather as a community and confess together...

God is Good all the time… All the time God is Good…

What does it do?

It changes your focus… Instead of focusing on the difficulties of life..

It lifts you up ---elevates you above the circumstances… It changes your perspective..

When we use the word Goodness.. what does that mean?

The word ‘good’ is an adjective that we use to describe or modify a noun — We might ascribe goodness to person… John is a good man… or place… Paris is Good city… we might use it of an object.... a ‘Ford is a good car’...

When we say something is good giving Value to something… Whether its a person, place or thing..

When we say God is Good… we saying that God has worth....and value..

That is why Praise and worship is so essential in church… When we gather in worship… it’s more than to singing songs… more than ritual… Worship lifts our gaze from ourselves and our lives… to turn from those thoughts and worries …and to refocus…

Together we focus on the nature and Character of God… Worship reminds us who God is… When we glorify God we are not making Him more Glorious… but rather it is changing of perspective --- of God so that we are able to see his glory...

If we have allot of baggage we are caring it is going to prevent us from seeing the glory of God....

What we thing about God is important...

In his classic book - The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer said,

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Some see God as this old man upstairs.. not up to much… some see God as angry ..waiting to jump on us when we mess up… some might see God who is distant…

What the Bible tells us is that God is a Good God..

Tozer went on to say, “Man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.”

When we Praise God… we are saying God your are Good…

Psalms 136 has 26 verses and every verse it says that God goodness endures forever… the first three verses are the same.. Give thanks to the Lord because his goodness endures forever....

Moses wrote a worship song about the greatness of God to teach Israel about God’s goodness and God’s faithfulness.

Moses Ascribes Value to God.. the Greatness of God..

God is like a Rock that is steadfast and can be depended upon … God character and ways are perfect… there is no deception or crookedness or character flaws… When we speak of Goodness in terms of God’s character we taking about perfection..

The Goodness of God also presents us with a problem because we can not attain the perfection… It is a higher standard than we can achieve.

And if you try and attain perfection you will fail...

C.S. Lewis said: ‘No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good’.

What Lewis is saying that any efforts to reform our selves based on our own willpower and strength will never succeed… the reason is our humanity will always cause us to fall short and fail....

Goodness is about the process of transformation...

The difference between reformation and transformation.. Reformation is from the outside in transformation is from the inside out… Outward influences can reform but they can’t transform..

Our sanctification is not about reformation but about transformation…

This is a continual process..

You see the only way to be truly good is through the power of the Holy Spirit — where the fruit of goodness is produced.

It is through the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit will begin the process that ultimately produces fruit.

Jesus taught that his disciples would be known by the kind of Fruit that they produced....

Jesus said that good tree bares good fruit and a bad tree produces bad tree…

We need to remember that it is not the branch that produces Fruit… in Mark 10:18 the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and kneels before Jesus and says Good teacher how can I inherit eternal life?

Jesus asks him why do you call me good?

Because no one is good except God alone… Jesus making a point that the Key to eternal life is really accepting that he is God… But he says no one is Good… (perfect) except God… Where does the Good

The good person gives out of the treasure of his heart…

What this means is that our actions (on the outside) show what (or rather who) is on the inside.

So if Christ, through his Holy Spirit, takes up residence in our lives, then more and more we begin to show the character of Jesus in the way we think, speak, and act.

Not that we are ever perfect (in this life), but the fruit begins to grow.

There are going to be challenges and tests and life and many questions along the way....

One of the questions will be about the character of God... and especially the Goodness of God...

T/s God’s Goodness is a Gift and gives us three things..

1.

The Gift of Perseverance

When we moved to Richvale several years ago..

We moved cross country from Charlotte NC to Richvale… We had sold quite a few things and just bought the bare minimum.. So, that first Christmas we decided a buy very practical things…things like beds and carpets… and trash cans… Well on Christmas day when the kids open up the presents and they got a trash can they weren’t very impressed with us… We explained that we were doing room make overs… Now just the other night the kids were saying to us that that was really a good idea....

When we thing about the Gift of Perseverance… you might have same kind of response…What kind of gift is that… How about a gift certificate to the spar… How about the gift of rest?

James tells us that in God’s goodness --- He gives us the Gift of perseverance...

James says blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial… The word BLESSED means - Grace of Favored… by God… Grace literally means Gift.... “Gifted is the man who remains steadfast..”.

James has already taught that Christians should persevere when they encounter trials…

It ‘s important when reading the book of James to remember that this is a diaspora letter… It’s addressed the Jewish Christians who have been dispersed in the Roman Empire… they are being persecuted for their faith…

And in many ways we can relate to these Christians… because life can displace us… Thinks come up that throw a wrench in the works… and we at sometime in our lives will have this feeling of being displaced and uncomfortable… well James tells us how to deal with that… It has to do with this Gift of Perseverance… Now this is not the first James has taught this… He has already taught…

In

It the same idea.. Count it all Joy…when you meet trials.. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under the trial...

The reason Perseverance is a gift.. is because what it produces within us.. Testing of our faith produces endurance..… the ability bare up under difficult circumstances… often

Then James tell us if we allow steadfastness have its full effect… it will bring about perfection and completion… lacking nothing…

James says not only will it bring maturity it is going to leads you on this path of wisdom of eternal life.. James calls the “Crown of life.”

James tells us that Perseverance… keeping your eye upon the prize… We often struggle to look 5 years down the road… how about 10 or 20 years down the road… James tells us that wisdom… starts with eternal life…

In the parable of the talents… Matt 25:14ff Jesus tells of a master who gave three servants different amounts of talents… He gives 5, 2 and 1 Talent..

After some time the master returns… and each of the Servants had done something with money they had been given..

The servant with 5 talents makes a trade and doubles the investment..

The same with servant does something similar with the 2 talents…and makes two more... … the servant with 1 Talent…dug a hole in the ground and returned the 1 talent to the master… Two servants that did something with gift — the master rewards… the servant who buried his talent is reprimanded… and he takes the talent it gives it to the servant who had 10…

What is going on this verse?

Two servants took a risk… two servants… persevered… under trial… went through the struggle… the wicked servant… took the path of least resistance… He literally buried his talent…

Can you imagine for one moment if this servant --- had started with the end in mind… If he had thought about the crown of life… He may have taken a few more risks.. invested more of his time, talent and resources.. into Kingdom of God..

Look how Jesus commended these two servants.. who persevered.

Well done Good and faithful servant… Why were the two servants Good?

Because they had submitted to the processes of being made complete..

Jesus says enter in to the joy of the Lord… The wise person is the own who looking to the “crown of life.”

T/s God’s Goodness is a Gift and gives us three things..

1.

The Gift of Perseverance.

2. The Gift of Perspective

Many studies have shown that people tend to exaggerate their own positive characteristics and abilities.

For instance, studies have shown that most drivers think they're a better-than-average driver.

Psychologists call this the state of "illusory superiority" (explored in this illustration as well).

Recently (2014), a team of British researchers tested this common "better-than-average" tendency by surveying 85 convicts at a prison in South East England about their pro-social traits.

The inmates were aged 18 to 34 and the majority had been jailed for acts of violence and robbery.

The inmates completed questionnaires anonymously and in relative privacy.

Here's what the study concluded:

Compared with "an average prisoner" the [convicts] rated themselves as more moral, kinder to others, more self-controlled, more law-abiding, more compassionate, more generous, more dependable, more trustworthy, and more honest.

Remarkably, they also rated themselves as higher on all these traits than "an average member of the community," with one exception—law-abiding.

The prisoners rated themselves as equivalent on this trait relative to an average community member.

James shows that God’s goodness gives us the gift of perspective… of ourselves..

What is being questioned God’s Goodness.

To understand this verse we have to go behind the text… and see what is going on with these early Christians...

James’s readers were living in tough times.

They were Jewish Christians who were being persecuted for their faith… It was causing some to doubt the go

Persecution posed many problems for these early Christians.

One of those problems may be somewhat surprising to us.

Persecution constituted for many a temptation to sin!

In what way?