Goodness and Faithfulness

Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things

there is no law.”

Goodness and faithfulness go together, because your faith or

faithfulness is demonstrated by how good you are. People

like to say that goodness, is just doing good things. And while

there is some truth in that idea, the meaning of goodness as a

fruit of the Spirit goes much deeper than just doing something

nice for someone. We all know very nice unbelievers who live a

basically “good” life. Now, if that was all that goodness was,

there would be an awful lot of unbelievers that have the fruit of

the Spirit growing in their life. And since we know that’s not the

case, we have to investigate further.Here is the earthly logic that we have to avoid when it comes to

being good. The idea that all we need for heaven is to be good.

When you ask an unbeliever if they think they are going to

heaven when they die, what do they normally say? “Yes.” And

when you ask them, why they think that, they normally say,

“because, I’m a good person.”

What do they mean by that? Most of the time it just means

they are not involved in some deep sinful behavior. They haven’t

killed anyone, or are not currently on drugs, so they are obviously

good…right? This is the line of false thinking that satan loves

to plant in people’s minds.

The problem with the good works of an unbeliever is the

motivation behind them. They come from a place of selfishness.

The “what’s in it for me?” Motivation drives most of what we

think about as good work. It’s all about image. It will make me

look good if I give to this charity. This person will owe me if I

help them out with their problem. I get to put my family name on

the lobby wall if I give $1,000 to the building fund. Good work

that is motivated by self promotion is not a fruit of the Spirit.

Are you able to separate the sin of pride from your good works?

Ecclesiastes 7:20 “20 Surely there is not a righteous man on

earth who does good and never sins.”

You may be saying, “hang on a minute. I didn’t say, I never sin.”

That’s right. You sin, I sin, everyone sins. There are many other

verses that talk about how no one is righteous or without sin. It’s

the one thing that ties us all together. Our desire to sin. This

next passage is describing how the Jews were no different than

the Greeks when it comes to sinning.Romans 3:9-18 “9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No,

not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews

and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is

righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for

God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become

worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat

is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom

of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and

bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their

paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have

not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

There you go. That sounds just like people, doesn’t it? Yes, at

least it sounds like most of the people I’ve met. I know it sounds

harsh, but it is accurate. This is not the “I’m good, you’re good,

we all get to go to heaven” lie, that satan wants you to believe.

That’s right, the idea that everybody get’s to go to heaven is a lie.

Everyone will not be in heaven, regardless of how good they

think…or you think they are.

But that’s not the end of the conversation. Just hold on, there is

lots of hope. And that hope is found just a couple of verses later

in this same passage. It doesn’t start great, but it has a good

ending.

Romans 3:23-24 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through

the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

But if no one is good, what is the biblical description of goodness

that we are talking about when we se the word goodness listed in

the fruit of the spirit? It’s goodness of heart and life.

Goodness, means to be good, as a state of being…not just do

something that looks good, or makes you feel good.The kind of goodness that is a fruit of the Spirit, goes way

beyond just being nice. It’s about becoming good from the

inside, which will produce good things on the outside. Is that

the kind of goodness that is operating in your life?

The Greek word for goodness, that is used in the fruit of the Spirit

passage, is unique to those of us who have placed our faith in

Jesus. Because He has placed His Holy Spirit in us…which

allows us to not just do good things, but to have goodness living

on the inside of us. Without God, no one can be good.

In the gospel of Mark, we read about a rich guy who came up to

Jesus and asked Him how he could have eternal life. This guy

seemed to have it all. He had an abundance of wealth here on

earth and now he wanted to know how to live forever in the

afterlife. The best of both worlds.

Mark 10:17-18 “17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a

man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good

Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus

said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good

except God alone.”

The first thing Jesus does, is to not answer his question. The

first thing Jesus does is ask him a question back, in response to

something very interesting that the man said. Jesus asks him,

“why do you call Me good?” Then He follows that question

with a statement. “No one is good except God alone.”

The way this man addresses Jesus as “good teacher,” is a very

curious way for a jewish man to address another man. It’s clear

from the next part of their conversation that this man knew the

law. And as part of that, he would know what the scriptures said

about no one being good. We find this concept in Psalms,

Isaiah and Ecclesiastes.So why did this guy call Jesus good? It seems that he wasn’t

just saying that Jesus was a proficient teacher. And even more

curious, why did Jesus zero in on it? The response Jesus gives

might confuse you. Because on the surface, it appears that

Jesus is saying that He Himself is not good. But what He is

saying is the exact opposite. He is asking the man why he called

him good, because no one who is just a regular guy is good.

The question Jesus is asking is actually: Are you calling Me

God? If so, then you should listen to what I say. Jesus wasn’t

just a good teacher, Jesus was God…and still is. But when

Jesus finally does tell this guy what is required of him, in order to

inherit eternal life, the man decides the price is too high, and he

walks away sad.

Because Jesus was God, He knew what was in this guy’s heart.

And what was in his heart was the love of money. Jesus said he

should sell all that he had and give it to the poor, then come and

follow Him. But this guy was wealthy with possessions and was

unwilling to part with them. He made his choice. Eternal life or

stuff here on earth. He chose the stuff.

What about you? If Jesus asked you to abandon all of your

comforts and strictly follow Him and completely trust in His

ability to care for you…would you do it? Could you do it?

When you get to the point of understanding that all you have

worked for in this world, job promotions, houses, cars, savings

accounts. It is all worth nothing in eternity…will you be willing to

let it all go? Wether you have a little or you have a lot. There is

nothing in this world, that is worth having over eternal life.

Matthew 16:24-26 “24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone

would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his

cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will loseit, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what

will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his

soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Let’s move on to faithfulness.

What does it mean to be faithful? Faithfulness is fidelity. Which

just means to be loyal. The concept of what it means to truly live

by faith as a Christian, Is best described as “Believing Loyalty.”

Hebrews 11:6-12 “6 And without faith it is impossible to

please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe

that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By

faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet

unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his

household. By this he condemned the world and became an

heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By

faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a

place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out,

not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live

in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with

Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he

was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose

designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received

power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she

considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from

one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as

many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable

grains of sand by the seashore.”

This is a passage from what is known as the Hall of Faith. It

shows how the old testament saints were saved. Remember, this

was way before Jesus was born. In the old testament, Faith was

the requirement for salvation. And their faith was shown bytheir loyalty to Yahweh. This was a time in history when there

were many options as to which god they would serve. And when

I say other gods, I mean god with a small g. They were just

spiritual beings that desired men to worship them. This got them

in a lot of trouble with the one True God, Yahweh.

Let me make this abundantly clear, there were, and are not any

other gods like Yahweh. He is the One, God Most High. The

Creator of everything. He is species unique. There is none like

Him. He made all things visible and invisible. And that includes

all of the other spiritual beings that the humans of that time had

chosen to worship and serve.

In the Old Testament, the way a person was considered righteous

or saved, was by turning from the little g god they served and

being loyal to worship only Yahweh. And that loyalty was

shown by their actions. It’s the way repentance works. They

turned away from their old life and conformed their lives to God’s

way.

This is what the 10 commandments are all about. Look at the

very first one. It sets the tone for how Israel is supposed to live

in order to be God’s people.

Exodus 20:1-3 “And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am

the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out

of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods

before me.”

The word that is translated to gods, is the Hebrew word Elohim.

And it just means spiritual beings. The word that has been

translated “before” means, besides or in addition to.

So it reads like this: You shall have no other elohim besides

Me. They had other options, like the elohim they served back inEgypt. But only Yahweh had rescued them from their slavery in

Egypt. Does this commandment make more sense now? They

were to turn from their old gods and follow Yahweh only.

It is the same for us today. In order to be saved, we repent of

our old lifestyle of worshiping and serving ourself and turn toward

conforming our life to Jesus. We must have a believing loyalty to

Jesus. Our believing loyalty is demonstrated by the actions we

take.

The saints from the Old Testament who are listed in Hebrews 11,

all showed they loyalty by their actions.

This is why there should be an obvious difference in the way an

unbeliever thinks and acts and the way a believer thinks and

acts.

James 2:14-18 “14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone

says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save

him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily

food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed

and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body,

what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have

works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I

have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and

I will show you my faith by my works.”

There it is, faith, faithfulness, goodness, good works all tied

together. In order for your good works to be actually considered

goodness from inside your being, it has to be accompanied by

faith or believing loyalty…which is the right motivation.

Believing loyalty, which is the description of faithfulness, is

the process of turning away from your old life, which is

repentance. Repentance is the first step to having the Holy Spiritindwell you. The Holy Spirit in you is what allows you to not just

do a charitable act that is good, but to have the spiritual fruit of

goodness growing in your life.