“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Today, we come to goodness. As we have been going through this series, I have noticed in particular two things: First, each of these words opens up an entire world of meaning, thought, and possibilities. We could probably spend an entire series, not just on this verse, but on each one of these words. Second, when we want to get to the essence of each of these words, we must begin with God.
That’s because God is the only true demonstration of the purity of these words. In other words, God is the only one who demonstrates true love, true joy, true peace, and so on. Our version of each of these words is only an imperfect imitation. The only way we can even begin to understand the highest meaning of these words is to look at the way that God demonstrates them.
In the Gospel of Mark, a man asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus begins his answer by saying to the man, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” (Mark 10:17-18)
The Bible clearly teaches that God is good. “God is good—all the time. All the time—God is good.”
The world that God created is also good. Of course, we see the world and humanity from the other side of the Fall, and our goodness is not the pure good that God intended. Nevertheless, God’s creation is good. In the first chapter of Genesis, the beginning of the Bible, the word “good” occurs seven times. Whenever a writer uses a key word over and over, you can be sure there is a reason. The writer of Genesis wants us to understand that God’s creation is good.
I’m going to read the account of the creation as found at the very beginning of the Bible. It’s an incredibly beautiful piece of literature. It is not a scientific document. If you try to make it a scientific document, you lose the whole point of the story. The story is about life and meaning and the source of all life. And it is about a creative, creating God who is the essence of good, and who looks at his marvelous creation and declares it to be good. As I read it, I want you to simply listen to the story and enjoy its beauty.
Genesis 1:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
I hope you enjoyed that. It is a beautiful piece of writing. Sometimes we forget that the Bible has some incredibly beautiful literature that should be enjoyed, first of all, simply for its beauty.
In addition to the beauty of the passage is the beauty of its meaning. This passage is about God the creator. Many people focus in on the question of whether or not this is a true account of how the world was created. To that I answer, of course it is true. But not necessarily in the way they mean.
Scientists have studied the earth, its vegetation, and its animals, seeking to understand how things happened in the beginning. Some things they understand quite well, and many other things are still a mystery. And some of the things they understand do not exactly line up with this account in the book of Genesis. But the account in Genesis was never meant to be a scientific explanation, at least not in the way we think of science in this day and age.
The account in Genesis is true, not because it explains scientific facts about the origin of the universe, but because it explains the truth about God, our creator. I doubt humans will ever know scientifically how God created the world. But Genesis tells us the truth that God did indeed create everything, and he proclaimed it to be good.
Every day, when God finished his work, he looked at it, and then it says God saw that it was good.
If you keep reading, you will read about how sin entered the world—what theologians call “The Fall.” It is because sin entered the world that Jesus came to die for our sins, so we might be restored to a right relationship with God. Jesus Christ restores us and the Holy Spirit works in our lives to restore us once again to the image of God, remaking us once again into the people we were created to be—created in the image of God.
The message of the first chapter of Genesis is that God created everything and he called everything good. That is because God is good. “God is good—all the time. All the time—God is good.”
The entire creation is a reflection of the goodness of God.
As with the other words that describe the fruit of the Spirit, goodness is most clearly demonstrated by God. But one of the ways God demonstrates his goodness is through his creation.
The earth is a good place. Do you ever stop and think about the way the earth is so amazingly suitable for humans, animals, and plants? How often do you simply stop and enjoy the beauty of this earth? Those scientists who study the earth; who study plant and animal life; who study the human body—never run out of more amazing things to discover. Thanks to science, we know so much that was unknown even a few years ago.
I know there are those who say science and Christianity are at odds with each other. I could not disagree more strongly. I’m certainly not a scientist. But the more I know about the science of the universe, the more I am amazed by God’s greatness as the creator. And the more I know of science, the more convinced I am that our world could not possibly exist without our creator, God.
And God’s creation is good. In fact, as God said at the end of the sixth day as he finished up, “It was very good.”
The Genesis account also tells us that God gave humans the responsibility of caring for the earth. After God created humans it says “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”
The care and management of the earth was assigned to humans. Many—probably most—of the natural disasters we witness in our world are caused by humans failing to do a good job of caring for this earth of ours. I believe that as Christians, we need to care deeply about the earth. We need to care about human needs, but we also need to care about the earth.
It’s true that not everyone agrees exactly what this means. I can’t imagine, however, that any thinking person could possibly disagree with our need to be careful in our use of natural resources. That’s a part of goodness. God has given us this earth as a good gift, and we need to care for it well.
There are many ways for us to be good. The problem, of course, is that often, we would rather be bad—or at least settle for being less than good. Maybe just lazy. Toss the can in the garbage rather than rinse it out and recycle it. Chop down a forest with no thought for tomorrow.
Maybe you have thought that something as mundane as recycling has nothing to do with being a Christian. I disagree. I think everything we do matters. None of us will ever be perfect, but all of us need to make an effort.
The passage we read earlier reminds us that it’s not always easy to keep doing good, but it is what we are called to do. I don’t think this verse is about recycling, but in a way, the same principle applies. The point is that the way of goodness is God’s way, and it is a good way for us. Galatians 6:9-10 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
I think we can apply these verses about doing good to what we are doing as a church. Sometimes, we are tempted to become weary in doing what is good. Perhaps we look around and wonder if anything we are doing is actually accomplishing anything. God calls us to do good. To do the highest good we know in everything we do. And he promises that the harvest we will reap will also be good.
That’s because it’s the way this good world that God created works. If we do things well and do not become weary in doing good, the harvest will come. There may be lean years and famines, but in due time, the rewards for doing good will come.
God is good, and he calls us to be good. “God is good—all the time. All the time—God is good.”
Prayer:
Creator God, we marvel at this world you have created. We marvel at your goodness, and the goodness of your creation. We are amazed at your creation, from the grandeur of the mountains to the tiniest detail of a single cell to the vastness of the universe. All of creation reflects your glory and your goodness.
Help us Lord, to be wise in the way we live our lives. Holy Spirit, work in our lives the fruit; goodness. You, Lord, are the beginning and the end of true goodness, and you have created us for goodness. Thank you for creating us in your image. May we be a reflection of you, our creator. Amen.
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