Sunday's Message: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit - A Look at Galatians 5:22-23 (Goodness)

On Friday, August 12, SPC had its annual Summer Day Camp entitled “Big Heart Farms: Where God’s Fruit Grows.” During the day, the children looked at Galatians 5:22-23 and talked about the Fruit of the Spirit. Building on this theme, during nine of our worship services, we’ll consider how we can integrate this fruit into our own lives. We’ll focus on the following qualities:

• August 14 - Love
• August 21 - Joy
• August 28 - Peace
• September 4 - Patience
• September 11 - Kindness
• September 18 - Goodness
• September 25 - Faithfulness
• October 2 - Gentleness
• October 9 - Self-control

And so, as we move into the Fall, let’s talk about how we might cultivate the most important crop of all, the Fruit of the Spirit.

In this sixth message, we considered goodness as a spiritual fruit. The sermon text and podcast is below:

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Now, as we’ve done the last five Sundays, this morning, we’re continuing a sermon series entitled Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: A Look at Galatians 5:22-23. And as most of y’all know, it’s based on the theme of our Vacation Bible School that we had back in August, and it’s focused on this passage from Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. [Galatians 5:22-23, NRSVUE]

Now that’s what we’ve been doing. 

And over that time, we’ve looked at the first five spiritual fruits, starting with love, something we said is essential and active and Godly, and then joy, something that we said is given and empowering and contagious. And we’ve talked about peace and how it can change our perspective of God and others and ourselves and then patience, a quality that we all know is important and that we can develop when we decide to pause and to trust, to pray and to act. And then last week, we discussed kindness, you know, how, according to what the Apostle Paul wrote, it’s a quality of God and not in our nature either to do or to accept and yet it’s something that God still wants us to show, something we can do when we make the decision to stop being jerks and to start being as useful and helpful as possible. Now that’s where we’ve been. And remember, you can find both the sermons and the services on our Facebook page, YouTube channel and church blog.

And this morning, we’re going to look at what Paul called the sixth fruit of the Spirit, but it’s not going to be generosity. Now, I know that’s what it said in the passage we just looked at from Galatians and that’s what it says right there in the bulletin, but this morning, we’re not going to talk about generosity. Let me explain. 

Now y’all may not know this, but the original language of the Bible wasn’t English. Instead, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic and the New Testament in Greek. And that’s fine, if you happen to speak Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, but if you don’t, man, you’re out of luck, aren’t you? And so that people all over the world could understand it, the whole Bible has been translated into 704 languages and the New Testament alone into an additional 1,551 more, including English. As a matter of fact, there’ve been more than 100 English translations over the last 700 years or so. And in all those translations, somebody took each word in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek and translated it into an English word. Now, that’s what translating is all about. Of course, it’s a little more complicated than that, but basically, this is how we got the Bibles we use. Anyway, as y’all may have noticed, there are two translations I really like. My favorite is called the Contemporary English Version, the CEV, and I like it because I think it’s really easy to understand without sacrificing a lot of accuracy. And the other translation I kind of favor is the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, the NRSVUE, because, in my opinion, it’s an excellent translation that’s still fairly easy to read. But even though they’re both very, very good, I don’t always agree with the way certain specific words are translated in either version. For example, in Galatians 5:22, the word ἀγαθωσύνη was translated “generosity.” It’s related to another Greek word, ἀγαθός. Now that’s what’s found in the New Revised Standard Version. Therefore, it’s in those two verses listing the fruit of the Spirit, according to the NRSVUE. But you know, as I was working on this specific word last week, you know, so I could write this sermon, according to the New Revised Standard Version itself, not only is this be the only place in the whole New Testament where those two words refer to generosity, no other version that I could find has this same translation of Galatians 5:22. Instead, they all translate this word goodness, directly related to the word good, the standard translation of ἀγαθός. 

And so that’s what we’re going to focus on this morning. In other words, instead of dealing with generosity, we going talk about that fruit of the Spirit that Paul called ἀγαθωσύνη, goodness. And we’re going to do that by looking at three steps, all of which I believe are grounded in Scripture, that we can follow, if we’re serious about showing this fruit, this quality in our own lives. 

And I’ll tell you, according to what I see in the Bible, showing goodness starts with accepting that this is exactly what God wants us to do, you know, that God wants us to show goodness. In other words, he wants us to be good people. And understanding this desire on his part, man, I think that’s the first step if we’re serious about showing it.

Of course, I don’t think it should be a surprise to anybody here this morning that God wants us to be good. I mean, dah. Of course, that’s what he wants. And why shouldn’t he; when you get right down to it, goodness is a characteristic of God himself, isn’t it? I mean, according to the Psalmist,

You are merciful, Lord!

You are kind and patient

    and always loving.

You are good to everyone,

and you take care

    of all your creation. [Psalm 145:8-9, CEV]

And the prophet Nahum wrote, 

The Lord is good.

He protects those who trust him

    in times of trouble. [Nahum 1:7, CEV]

You see, according to the Bible, God himself is good, and he expects the same from us, you know, his children. But he doesn’t just leave us stranded, to sort of fend for ourselves. No, he also shows us how to do it. I mean, just listen what Jesus said to a young man who came to him for some advice:

A man came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?”

Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. If you want to have eternal life, you must obey his commandments.” [Matthew 19:16-17, CEV]

Now that’s what he said, and I want you to think about what it means. So that we, his children, might be good, God’s given us direction, he’s given us instructions that we can claim and follow. And we can find them in his Law and commands. And I’ll tell you, that’s probably why Paul said this: Still, the Law and its commands are holy and correct and good. [Romans 7:12, CEV] You see, if we’re serious about showing goodness, I believe we need to accept that this is exactly what God wants us to do. And in my opinion, that’s step number one.

And the second step, well, if we want to be better at showing goodness, at being good, after understanding that it’s what God wants for us, I really believe we really need to put our heads down and work to overcome the obstacles we’re going to face. And trust me, we’re going to face obstacles, and they won’t all be speed bumps. In other words, showing goodness isn’t a cake walk and being good isn’t a piece of cake. Man, it’s tough. I mean, it’s every bit as tough as being truly kind. And I’ll tell you, if we’re not willing to accept that reality, I’m not sure we’ll ever be truly good, at least, not in the way God intends. 

And you know, I think the writers of the Bible knew this, and that’s why they wrote what they wrote. For example, I believe they understood that, when we decide to be a little more intentional in showing goodness, we’re going to face a bunch of challenges on the inside, and I’m talking about within our minds and hearts and wills. In other words, just wanting to be good isn’t enough; at least, that’s something the Apostle Paul was forced to accept. Just listen to what he wrote to the Romans:

I know that my selfish desires won’t let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them. [Romans 7:18-20, CEV]

You see, I think Paul understood that being and doing good can be a real struggle, and I’m talking about on the inside. But I’ll tell you, it’s not all that better on the outside. Frankly, I don’t think showing goodness is the best way to win friends and to influence people, not in the world as it is. But that’s really not new. I remember one of the worst play-grounds insults we had was calling a person, “Little Goody Two-Shoes.” Lord have mercy. Nobody wanted to be called that. At least, I didn’t so I’ve always kept my goodness under control. And even though I’m absolutely sure the Apostle Peter never stepped foot on the Crossroad Elementary School playground, I think he understood what every Goody Two-Shoes has faced. He wrote this in this first letter:

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. [1 Peter 3:13-17, CEV]

You see, whether it’s fair or not, there are some real obstacles to us showing goodness. And you know, I think that’s the reason we need to be very intentional in following the word of God and the example of Jesus Christ. But even more than that, I believe we need to claim that Holy Spirit which is in each one of us right now, because it’s through that presence and it’s through the people God has led and is leading into our lives that we’ll have the ability and strength to overcome the very real obstacles to showing goodness. And for me, that’s step number two.

And then after we understand that it’s what God wants us to do and after we start working to overcome all the internal and external obstacles we may face, if we’re serious about showing goodness, we need to help others and to do it actively. That's the third step. And although I’ve said this many times about many different things, for me, man, this is where the rubber hits the road. I mean, wanting to understand and working to overcome doesn’t really mean much unless we’re also willing to do something about it. In other words, being good actually means, brace yourself,  being good, you know, doing good things for others and becoming the kind of person God has called and created us to be. 

And you know, along with the other two, this is also something we see in scripture. For example, just listen to what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: 

Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. [Ephesians 4:28-26, NRSVUE]

And a little later, in the same letter, he wrote, “You know that you will be rewarded for any good things you do, whether you are slaves or free.” [Ephesians 6:8, CEV] And then, as he wrote to the Romans: My friends, I am sure that you are very good and that you have all the knowledge you need to teach each other. [Romans 15:14, CEV] Now that’s what he wrote. And so, whether it involves the work we do or the words we say, goodness is shown by our willingness to help others. And I’ll tell you, when we decide to do that, I mean, when we decide to listen to that wonderful command of Jesus Christ and love one another as we’ve been loved and when we gather as a community filled with the Holy Spirit so that as one body we can overcome the obstacles that we might face and when we decide to work together to make a real difference in our families and in our community, then we’ll be showing to others the kind of goodness God has called us to show. And brothers and sisters, for me, that’s step number three.

You know, regardless of how you translate it, the reality is still the same. We can certainly be better than we are right now, because we have the ability to show goodness all over the place. And if that’s something we’re serious about doing, I think we can move in that direction by taking three very clear and definite steps. First, we can show goodness by understanding that it’s what God wants us to do. And second, we can show goodness by working to overcome the obstacles we might face. And third, we can show goodness by actively helping others. One, two, three. And in my opinion, that’s how we can cultivate this wonderful fruit of the Spirit, and I’m talking about goodness.