Fruit of the Spirit - Goodness

Introduction

Galatians 5:22–25 KJV 1900

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Body

Recap:

The fruit of the Spirit are a manifestation of the character of God in our lives

We cannot attain unto them. They are produced by the Holy Ghost resident in us.

They can only manifest in us as we are submitted to Christ and are “attached to the True Vine”.

This can only happen if we are dead to our old nature and alive to Christ

Under grace, we are prohibited from both legalism AND License.

Love

God wants us to love Him, others, and ourselves

Him because He is God and must be preeminent in our lives

Others because God loves them

Ourselves because God loves you

Love will never cease from our lives

Gifts of the spirit will cease

Our present knowledge will be made irrelevant

Love will last forever

Joy and Peace

They’re both internal, not external

independent of circumstances

Come from inside, from being connected to the True Vine

God ensures them

He’s omnipotent

He loves us completely

Longsuffering and Gentleness

Longsuffering has two aspects

Endurance

Patience

Gentleness … We just talked about

Goodness

Luke 18:18–19 KJV 1900

18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

Only God can be good. People cannot be

Romans 3:12 KJV 1900

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Paul goes on to include himself in this group

Romans 7:18 KJV 1900

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

What does ‘Goodness’ look like?

Internal quality - uprightness of soul

Moral excellence - purity

Personal holiness

External qualities - generosity

Generous kindness to others, especially when they are not deserving

Being kind toward others, not harsh

Happiness to do for someone far more than is required by mere commandment

This type of generosity toward others is the antithesis to envy

Jesus demonstrated goodness continually in His ministry

God demonstrates His goodness to us every day

As with every other spiritual grace, this comes fully from God and is manifest truly. Not forced or out of a sense of duty. It comes naturally to a Christian.

Conclusion

It becomes more apparent the farther along we get in this study that these characteristics are very much above us. To manifest them in our lives requires us to be connected to the True Vine from which life flows.