Goodness I. Introduction A. Goodness: it's a good thing, right? 1. Galatians 5:22: goodness to be an attribute of a Christian 2. 3 John 1:11: need to imitate "the good," not "the evil" B. Some "good" things 1. A double Whopper with bacon: tastes good 2. Favorite sports team winning: good victory 3. Many other examples C. Yet the Whopper is not good for me, and my sports team winning means another loses, and that is not good for their fans! D. Goodness, therefore, might be complicated E. What is good? F. Let us consider what the Scriptures may teach II. What is Good? A. The fundamental question comes to us: what is good? 1. How do we define what is good? 2. What's it based on? B. "Good" things would seem to be automatic, right? 1. Many things taste good, like Whoppers 2. When things go favorably, like in a sports game or in an election, it's a good thing 3. If something feels pleasurable, it's good 4. If something sounds right, it is good C. Such represent the way that "good" is determined D. Is that, in reality, true? 1. If someone does not like Whoppers, they're not good to them 2. If there is a winner, there is a loser, and losing is not good 3. Something could feel good yet have bad consequences 4. Many things that sound right end up being wrong E. Most people, in fact, define "good" by themselves 1. After all, we often speak of "good" people 2. How many people think of themselves as "bad" people? F. There are certainly many self-professed "good people" 1. On the other hand, we see on the news statistics showing how many people commit crimes, adultery, fornication, lying, cheating, etc. 2. There are too many of them to all fit into the self-professed "bad people" category! 3. How can it be, then, that "good" people would do "bad" things? G. The reason is that the judge of what is good and bad ends up, too often, being people themselves 1. After all, if you can rationalize your behavior to prettify it and make it "good", you can still be a "good" person! 2. "Good", therefore, ends up being what is advantageous and positive for me and my interests H. This is not what God intended! I. The New Testament makes it quite clear that we are not the judges of what is good and bad! 1. Jeremiah 10:23 2. More explicitly, Isaiah 5:20 J. In reality, God is the one who establishes what is truly good 1. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 2. 1 Peter 2:3 3. 3 John 1:11 4. Romans 12:2 5. God is good, and that which He establishes from the Scriptures equips us for every good work K. It should also be noted that "good" is more than the final product 1. If we were to baptize 10 people, that would be a good thing, according to the Scriptures (1 Peter 3:21, Acts 2:38, etc.) 2. But if the people were baptized in order to obtain a financial benefit we offered, or if we compelled them by force to be baptized, it is not good at all! 3. To truly be good, we must do what God says to do according to His ways of doing them! L. In the end, therefore, the "good" is that which God has determined to be good, both in method and in final product! III. Who is Good? A. Who, then, can be good? 1. As previously indicated, we often speak or hear of "good people" 2. Who does the Bible teach is good? B. Matthew 19:16-17, Mark 10:17-18 1. Jesus is called a "Good Teacher", asked about what is "good" 2. Jesus indicates that only God is truly good! 3. In both passages, Jesus then turns to the commandments-- those who do them are the "good" (Matthew 19:18-19, Mark 10:19-20) C. Those who do God's commands, therefore, are the "good people" 1. Yet none of us perfectly keep God's commands (1 John 1:8)! 2. This is why, in the end, only God is truly good 3. We are all in stages of goodness, hopefully trying our best to be good, but having bad characteristics, attributes, etc., that need improvement (2 Peter 3:18) D. It is not "good enough" to be "good"! 1. No one is truly good-- therefore, being an "overall good person" is not enough to lead one to be saved 2. After all, it is not by man's definition, but God's! 3. The centurion Cornelius would be easily described as a "good man", and yet he needed to hear God's message of redemption, believe, and obey to be saved (Acts 10:1-4, 22, 34-48) 4. Being "good" was not "good enough", and still is not! E. "Good" people, therefore, are a matter of definition 1. By God's judgment, no man is truly "good" 2. A humble servant of Christ, striving to obey Him, could be considered as "good" (Matthew 13:38) 3. According to man's definition, those who try to live moral lives are "good" 4. As long as we remember that "being good" does not, by itself, mean "saved", we can speak of people as "good" F. Even "good" people need to obey Christ to be saved (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)! IV. What, Then, is Good? A. Seeing who is "good", and knowing that what God establishes as good is "good", what is that which God has established? B. We are to be a good people with good minds doing good works 1. 3 John 1:11 2. Philippians 4:8 4. Titus 3:8, 14 5. 1 Peter 3:10-11 C. Good minds come from thinking about that which is good and lovely and pleasing to God (Philippians 4:8)! 1. As the mind thinks, so the person acts (Romans 12:2, Matthew 12:34-35) 2. If we have a mind full of good thoughts and good motives, good deeds should follow! D. We have been made for good works, and should do them (Ephesians 2:10) E. Many good works are explicitly spelled out in Scripture 1. "The commandments": Matthew 19:17 2. Helping the poor: Mark 14:7 3. Act to the advantage of others: Luke 6:27, 33-35 4. Listening to God: Luke 10:42 5. Obeying civil authorities: Romans 13:3-4 6. Doing nothing to make a brother stumble: Romans 14:21 7. Speech for building up: Ephesians 4:29 8. Having good will in what one does: Ephesians 6:7 9. Praying for authorities: 1 Timothy 2:1-3 10. 1 Timothy 5:10 provides a sampling of good works 11. Accepting the discipline of God: Hebrews 12:10 12. Suffering for doing God's will: 1 Peter 2:20, 3:17 F. Likewise, since the Scriptures equip us for every good work, anything the Scriptures teach us to do is also good 1. Proclaiming the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20) 2. Avoiding works of the flesh, manifesting fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:17-24) 3. Anything God commands us to do! G. We should also make sure that we are doing what God establishes is good in the ways that God desires us to do them 1. As we have seen, "good" things accomplished in "bad" ways are not, in reality, "good"! 2. Converting people to anything but the Gospel is not good (cf. John 6:26-27) 3. Burdening the church and not the individual is not good (1 Timothy 5:16) 4. Attempting to defend the truth using carnal tactics and works of the flesh is not good (1 Peter 3:15-16) H. We must make sure, therefore, that we do what is good in good and holy ways! V. Conclusion A. Romans 12:9 1. We must cling to what is good 2. What is good is what God establishes is good (2 Timothy 3:16-17) 3. We grow in the faith by constantly practicing good (Hebrews 5:14) B. We must let God define what is good, and seek after it C. We must seek after it in good ways also D. We must also recognize that only God is truly good, and we must continue to seek to manifest goodness in our minds and our actions E. Let us be filled with goodness! F. Invitation/songbook