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The Fruit of the Spirit | 5: Goodness
Tom, Jack and George all signed up to join the police force. They were being trained by a detective who had a photo of a man. He showed it to Tom for five seconds, “Take good look.” Then he took it away, and asked, “What did you notice about the man? How would you describe the suspect?” “Easy,” replied Tom. “He only has one eye.” “Don’t be silly,” replied the detective. “It only looks as if he’s got one eye because it’s a profile shot.” He showed the photo to Jack. “What did you notice about the man? How would you describe the suspect?” “Easy,” replied Jack. “He only has one ear.” “No, you idiot. It looks as if he’s got one ear because it’s a profile.” So he showed George. “Now think before you say anything silly. What do you notice about the man? How would you describe the suspect?” “Easy,” replied George. “He’s wearing contact lenses.” The detective looked puzzled. He said, “Just a moment,” and walked out of the room. He checked the suspect’s file, and found that he did, in fact, wear contact lenses. He returned to the room, and said, “Amazing. How on earth did you do that?” “Easy,” replied George. “He couldn’t possibly be wearing glasses, because he’s only got one eye and one ear.”
So much of life is a matter of perspective.
This is the fifth message in this series on The Fruit of the Spirt.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Perspective: What is goodness?
Ask someone, “Are you a good person?”
And they’ll most likely reply, “Yes”
People instinctively know they have to be good to go to heaven.
So is goodness a matter of opinion, or is there an absolute standard of goodness?
Mark 10:17-19
Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ “
When this man asked about going to heaven, Jesus referred him to the Ten Commandments.
Because that’s where God’s standard of goodness is revealed.
The person who keeps these commandments perfectly is a good person.
There are two ways to heaven.
Now bear with me here.
The first way to heaven is that you must pass a test with a perfect score.
This isn’t my test; it’s God’s test.
We might call it the Goodness Test.
And here’s a reminder.
To get into heaven, you have to pass God’s test of goodness with a perfect score.
Don’t worry, if you fail this goodness test, there’s another way into heaven.
Which I will reveal at the end of this message.
The test you must pass perfectly all your life is the Ten Commandments.
You’ll find it in Ex 20:1-17.
So let’s take a look at this 10-part test.
1. No other gods before Me
The words translated from the Hebrew as “before me” literally means “to My face.”
You shall have no other gods to My face.
It’s a phrase that’s used when taking a second wife while the first wife is still alive.
What the Lord is saying is that He expects an exclusive relationship.
There shall be no taking on of other gods.
2. You shall have no idols
Exodus 20:4-5
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
What these first two commandments are all about is that God expects that nothing will come before our relationship with Him.
Always.
Not money, not ambition, not desires, or career, or family, or friends.
Nothing.
How are you going so far?
I can’t truthfully say that I’ve put the Lord first my entire life.
I’ve already failed the test right at the start.
3. Don’t take His name in vain
Exodus 20:7
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Did you pick up a bit of a threat there?
Because God’s name is holy.
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, one of the first things He said was, “Hallowed (holy) be Your name.”
There are consequences for those who misuse His name.
In vain means uselessly, without a (valid) purpose.
Obviously this includes using God’s name as a swear word.
But let me tell you what else this includes.
It includes using His name as an exclamation:
For example, “Oh God, no! OMG!”
That means that we need to be careful about jokes that feature God or Jesus.
They may be very funny.
That doesn’t make them right.
This commandment is all about respect for the holiness of His Name.
4. Keep the Sabbath
The Pharisees had so many laws on how to keep the Sabbath.
They tied the people up in knots with them.
Some church groups today can be just as bad.
Some are so legalistic they’d almost take the swing out of the budgie cage on a Sunday so that the budgie couldn’t have too much fun on a holy day.
Jesus had something to say about the Sabbath and its purpose.
Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.
Maybe we’ve lost the meaning of the Sabbath; it’s a bit like intermission.
When you go to a performance, what’s the intermission for?
Today it’s to sell food, drinks, T-shirts, CDs.
But originally, it was a theatre term.
Intermission existed, not for the audience, but to create a break for the actors or musicians.
They could have a drink, go to the toilet, take a breather – to refresh themselves and continue on reenergised for the task at hand.
That’s what the Sabbath was originally meant to be for.
A day of rest, refreshing, recuperation.
If we work and work and work with no break, that’s no good for anyone.
5. Honour your father and mother
I’ve got lots of ideas on how my kids can honour us: Give us lots of money, buy us presents, mow our lawn, send us on overseas trips, say nice things about us.
A survey was conducted from 1973-1983. They asked what quality parents most value:
Number 3 on the list: Obey parents
In the parents’ home, live by the parents’ rules.
Number 2. Use good sense / judgement
Proverbs 17:25
A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.
The Number 1 quality, by a long way was honesty.
How important is this commandment, to honour your parents, to God?
The 10 Commandments is in two sections.
The first four cover our relationship with God.
The remaining six cover our relationship with people.
Top of the list of commandments on our relationship to people is: honour your father and mother.
There’s a reason for this.
All of society is based on the family.
So Satan attacks the family unit – marriage / divorce, redefinition of marriage, undermining of parental authority.
Having children in proper relation to their parents is essential.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
What the!!!
I think my entire generation would have been wiped out!
But that’s how important honouring your parents is to God.
Have you always honoured your parents?
And notice that God never says, “If they earn / deserve it.”
6. You shall not murder
You might be thinking: well, I’ve never broken that commandment.
Let me tell you a story.
In the early days of my pastoring, we were awoken by really loud music just across the road, at 2am; yet again.
I got out of bed, stormed out of my house, marched across the road, and yanked a bunch of fuses out of my neighbour’s fuse box.
His house lights went out, the music stopped, and I dropped the fuses down the nearest drain.
My neighbour came tearing out of his house, and yelled, “What are you doing?”
I said, “Getting some peace and quiet.”
He took a swing at me.
I ducked and hit him.
The next thing you know, he was on the ground.
I leaned over him and said, “And it’ll be the same next time too.”
You’re probably thinking: Hubba-bubba! And this guy’s a pastor.
But it all happened... in my head.
The problem is not just murder.
It’s the violence in our hearts.
It’s the angry tone in our thoughts.
If that sounds like you too, you’ve broken that commandment.
Jesus pointed this out as being the true intention of this commandment not to murder.
Matthew 5:21-22
You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.” But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, “Raca!” shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, “You fool!” shall be in danger of hell fire.
So how are you going on this commandment?
7. You shall not commit adultery
God invented sex, and everything He invented is good.
But sin has taken something good and twisted it.
Jesus made this an issue of the heart too.
Matthew 5:27-28
You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Here’s problem, from a guy’s point of view: women look good, and men’s brains are wired to see women and be attracted to them.
But sin has perverted that.
Adultery starts inside with lust.
So what is lust?
Lust means to set your heart on, to long for, to desire.
Lust isn’t necessarily purely sexual.
And that’s true, both in English and in New Testament Greek.
Galatians 5:17
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh;
Notice that this verse tells us that the Holy Spirit lusts against the flesh.
It’s the same word Jesus uses when talking about adultery.
To lust means to desire.
And in this case, the Spirit desires against the flesh.
What we can see from this is that it’s still adultery even if doesn’t involve actual sex.
So ladies, if you’re thinking: I wish I was married to Brad Pitt, or Justin Bieber, or Michael Buble, or Danny DeVito…
I just threw that last one in there to make sure you were still listening.
But just to want someone other than the person you’re married to is adultery of the heart.
8. You shall not steal
I remember the first time I stole something. I was about ten years old, at a fruit shop with my mother, and I saw a box of peas. I couldn’t resist the temptation to take one and eat it.
Question: How many times do you have to steal, to be thief?
Just once.
I once saw an Afghan movie, so it was a Muslim setting.
One of the characters in the movie made a statement that I found very interesting.
He said, “Every sin a form of stealing.”
There’s a lot of truth in that.
If you boast, you’re stealing God’s glory.
If you commit adultery, you steal someone’s virtue.
If you lie, you steal the truth, which is the basis of trust.
So, have you ever stolen anything?
And keep this in mind: God has no statute of limitations.
Just because you’ve forgotten about it, doesn’t mean He has.
9. You shall not lie
A preacher asked his congregation to read Mark 17 for the following Sunday. On the following week he asked how many read the passage. A large number of people put up their hands. He said, “Well, there are only 16 chapters in Mark. Today I’m speaking on honesty.”
In TV shows (sit-coms, dramas) people lie constantly.
A Roy Morgan poll asked: Is lying good for a relationship? 71% said yes; and 29% said no.
US politician Charles Peacock once said, “I’m a politician and as a politician I have the prerogative to lie whenever I want.”
Professor Jeff Hancock asked thirty people to keep a diary for a week, and asked them to keep a record of how often they lied while interacting with others.
He discovered that lies made up 37% of phone conversations, 27% of face-to-face conversations, 21% of text messages, and 14% of emails.
That’s a lot of lying.
Truth is the basis of trust.
So, have you ever told a lie?
10. You shall not covet
You can’t covet your neighbour’s wife, servant, ox, donkey, or anything.
Including their house, their car, their bank account, even their clothes.
Covetousness says, “I want what he’s got.”
It’s founded on discontent.
Hebrews 13:5
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
This is what the writer is saying: Be content with the presence of God.
Everything else is just extras.
This brings us right back to the beginning of my message, where I said there were two ways to heaven.
The first way is: Keep all of the Ten Commandments perfectly for your whole life.
Anything less than that is failure.
Anything less than that means we’re not good enough for heaven.
If you’re like me, you’ve failed that test bigtime.
You have no hope of getting into heaven, and no hope of avoiding hell.
But there is another way.
It’s the only way of reaching God’s standard of goodness.
His name is Jesus.