Fruit of the Spirit, Goodness

Goodness (Unedited - see WORD document)

Intro -

Let me ask you a question. Are you a good person?

Do you think the person sitting next to you is a good person?

If I privately asked the person next to you if you were a good person what would they say.

All of us want to think we are good people.

To make sure that we meet the standard of goodness we compare ourself to others.

We start checking boxes: (use you hands to check off)

I don’t...Steal, Lie, Look at or read things I shouldn’t, I go to church, I’m nice to people, I pay my taxes, I’m kind to children, and I don’t kick small animals.

To decide if we are good or not we check boxes.

Transition - Here what the scripture says about being good.

Natalie Reads

Mark 10:17-27

When it comes to goodness - vs 18 says “No one is good except God.”

What is goodness?

Good is what God approves of.

Good is what meets the standard of God’s holiness.

Goodness is the character of righteousness.

It is obeying and doing right consistently.

How is your goodness?

How are you doing at obeying consistently?

Every time we compare our goodness to God it’s a loss.

It’s like trying to race a Jamaican in the 100meter.

You’re never going to win.

Illustration - I like to tease and play small tricks on my family.

(Bring the tea kettle.)

Story, Turtle Toenail Tea.

Sometimes the student become the master.

I drank the tea and it tasted fine.

But was it good?

-No, nothing good about that tea.

-That tea had the appearance of being good.

-It had been tainted. -It had been spoiled.

-It should have been thrown out to rot.

-Your life and my life have been spoiled by sin.

-Many times its sin that no one else will see. It’s a sin on the inside.

I fail at goodness. I fail daily in having the character of righteousness.

I’ve broken everyone of the ten commandments.

By 9am I’ve already sinned in attitude or thought.

God will always be better than us. He’s always good.

He is always righteous. He is always right.

-Is my life and lifestyle something God 100% approves of?

-Do I meet the standard of God’s holiness?

So we have the bad news.

We are not good.

However, we are called to be good.

NOTE TO SELF THE BEGINNING OF THIS SECTION SHOULD BE

“POINT 1.

ONLY GOD IS GOOD”

If this man had faithfully obeyed the ten commandments and was not good, what hope is there for us broken human beings?

The bad news. No one is good but God.

Unpack this … God is a good judge.

There is hope in goodness.

We will look at 2 kinds of goodness.

Goodness Ascribed and Goodness Applied.

We have Goodness Ascribed

The Great Exchange - Once I saw she understood, I proceeded to equate her dirty napkin with our sin and my valuable coin with Christ’s righteousness. When Jesus died on the cross, He took our sin from us and bore it in our place. Then, our sin is “exchanged” for Jesus’ perfect life (life without sin). If we repent and believe in Jesus, this exchange takes place and God (Holy God) sees Jesus’ perfect life when He looks upon us. That is how we are able to stand before God as sinners.

Illustration -

I helped some friends lay 4 pallets of sod.

I wore an inexpensive tshirt.

After the work the shirt was permantly stained with sweat, clay, soil, grass stains. The only thing that shirt was good for was to clean fish in.

-It was all but a rag at best.

What if my friend said. Hey, I’ve got something for you.

OK. I’ll trade you your nasty tshirt for this $1000 gift card to Dillards and so you can buy yourself several sets of new clothes and shoes.

-I would have thought he lost his mind.

-No one makes an exchange like that.

-Rediculously loving and generous.

“What did Jesus take from us?” She answered, “Our sin.” “What did Jesus give us in return?” She answered, “His perfect life.” 

 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness” (Lev. 16:21–22). In this hand-laying ceremony three things stand out: (1) Aaron lays his hands on the head of the goat, which signified the transfer of something (cf. Num. 27:18; Deut. 34:9; 1 Tim. 4:14); (2) in this case, the high priest transferred the sins of the nation to the scapegoat, evident by the fact that he confessed Israel’s sins as he laid his hands on the goat; and (3) the goat bore the sins of the people and carried them outside the camp.

The good news.

This goodness, this righteousness that you do not hold a candle to, you

Imputed Righteousness.

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

this was before circumcision.

Transition - One of the evidences of Goodness Ascribed, is that flowing out of our life is goodness applied.

2.We have goodness Applied

Great Exchange

Jesus was good because he was God.

When one comes to faith in Christ there is a Great Exchange that takes place.

Illustration -

I helped a friend unload by hand 4 pallets of grass in the summer.

I wore an inexpensive tshirt

The shirt was ruined.

-Sweat, grass stains, clay stains, dirt stains.

-Even after I washed it, I would never where that shirt again, unless I was cleaning fish.

The shirt was only good for a rag.

But what if the friend I was helping at the end of the work said.

I want to make a trade.

You give me that gross shirt and I give you a $1000 gift card to go to Dillards to buy several sets of all new clothes.

_A nasty shirt full of dirt sweat for $1000 to get new clothes.

That would be an amazing ridiculous exchange.

Transition - God made an exchange with you that makes that shirt exchange look cheap.

Enter the Scapegoat

In the Old Testament there was a yearly sacrifice that was made on the day of atonement.

Atonement means to pay for a wrong or to make a wrong right.

The Day of Atonement in the Jewish calendar was when the sins of the nation of Israel were made right.

-Leviticus 16

-The High Priest took 2 goats.

-1 Goat was sacrificed to God for the sins of the people. Some of the goat blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.

-The carcass of this goat was taken outside the camp into the wilderness and burned.

-the second goat was the Scapegoat.

-This is where we get our term “scapegoat”. Someone innocent who takes the blame.

-High Priest would place 2 hands on the goats head.

-Confess all the sins of Israel.

-Symbolically, The sins of Israel would be transferred from God’s people to the goat.

-The goat would be led outside the camp deep into the wilderness.

-Released

-Symbolically the sins of Israel would be taken away as the goat went in to the wilderness.

Transition - But today there are no goats in our worship.

Jesus permanently did for us what no goat would ever do.

Jesus took on your sin. But this was not symbolic.

Jesus took your sin guilt on Himself.

The scriptures say that while he never committed any sin, that Jesus became sin for you.

-He got up on the cross and spilled his blood, so that God would be merciful to you and save you.

Where did He do this? Outside the city, outside the camp, away from Temple of God.

2 cor 5:21

When you come to Faith in Jesus there is a Great Exchange.

You exchange your sin for His Righteousness.

“Dress in his righteousness alone faultless to stand before the throne.”

Your position before God is no longer that of sinner, but that of one who has been atoned for - one who is righteous. You have been justified.

Because a great exchange as taken place.

This exchange of God’s purity, His righteousness, His goodness for your sinfulness is not earned.

The scriptures tell us this in

Romans 4:3

Before Abraham was circumcised. Before he could do good works … He was counted as Righteous. God’s righteousness (God’s Goodness) was applied to Him.

When you trust in Christ and His work for you He...

Ascribes/pronounces you as righteous.

His Goodness is applied to you.

I spoke with a friend recently who grew up in this church, she attended FBC Louisville for over 40 years. She attended Sunday, morning and evening. She was many of our ministry groups, including the choir. She attended VBS and served in VBS.

-One day she realized that she had been going through the motions. She was not saved. She had not come to Jesus in faith, she did not have Jesus goodness Ascribed to her.

She was religious, but did not have a saving relationship with Jesus.

Maybe this is you.

If you have not fully placed your faith in Jesus, He is inviting you right now to come to Him.

-You do not clean yourself up to come to Jesus.

-When you come to Him He spiritually cleans you.

-The invitation is to come to a Good God who loves you.

-To fully trust that He died on the Cross for your sins.

-To give all of your life over to Him, as your King, following His rule over you life.

-The God who made you and loves you will forgive you.

-At the moment of fully trusting Jesus, He ascribes faith to you.

Transition - Not only has God placed His goodness on us, but He has given us His the power of His Spirit to live a life of goodness.

God does not just want us to be positionally good before Him.

He wants our lives to reflect His goodness.

This is God’s Goodness Applied.

Point 3

Goodness Applied

Jesus’ life gave us a perfect example of how to walk in God’s goodness good.

Being good means that you do what is right, even when it is difficult.

Consider these 2 examples of Jesus Goodness.

Jesus heals 10 lepers. Luke 17

Jesus was in Galilee and 10 Lepers cry out to Jesus from a distance of healing.

If you were a leper you life was ruined. You couldn’t get a job, you had to seperate from your family. You had to stay at a distance from people. When you walked near a crowd you had to yell out “Unclean”. So, people could move away.

These 10 lepers are desperate for healing.

They cry out to Jesus from a distance to be healed.

If a leper became well he had to go to the priest to be inspected before he could join society.

Jesus heals the Lepers. They ran to go to the priest.

One leper, turned, came back to thank Jesus.

Just 1 of the 10 came back to say thank you.

He healed the lepers despite knowing in advance he wouldn’t be thanked.

Jesus healed the lepers not because He expected and Thank you, but because He was good.

Have you ever helped someone, served, loved someone well - and thought that maybe you would be thanked, but that “thank you” never came?

Jesus calls you to serve others (not to be recognized), but because God has made you good.

Being good means that you do what is right, despite difficult circumstances.

Transition - Jesus shows us his goodness when he was arrested before He went to the cross

The disciples and Jesus were at the Mount of Olives.

Jesus had prayed to His father and sweat drops of blood.

Judas the betrayer arrives with members of the Sanhedrin and Temple soldiers armed with clubs and swords.

As this crowd moves into arrest Jesus.

Peter tries to protect Jesus. He takes a sword and swings it at the head of the servant of the high priest. His misses the head, but cuts off the man’s ear.

Jesus rebukes Pete and tells him to put his sword away.

THEN!!!! IN THE GARDEN

In the midst of Jesus emotional & spiritual suffering.

As Jesus is being betrayed...

At the moment of Jesus arrest...

As Jesus faces beatings, false accusations ...

The goodness of Jesus breaks forth.

Jesus reaches out to this man who is his enemy and fully restores/heals his ear.

How is it that Jesus would minister and show such mercy to one trying to arrest Him?

Jesus is good.

He chooses to do right, even to an enemy.

Is there someone in your life who has tried to hurt you.

Someone who has betrayed you?

Being good means that you do what is right, despite difficult circumstances.

This is goodness applied.

We only can do this by the power of God’s Spirit who is in us.

Gospel and closing.

God has been so good to you.

Even when you were his enemy, he reached out and offered you spiritual healing.

Will you come to Him.

God has been so good to you.

When you had no power on your own to be good, He has empowered you with His Spirit.

Will you go to that person that needs goodness shown them and be the goodness of Jesus to them?

Pray