For the last several weeks we’ve been studying what the apostle Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22. They are the qualities God desires to see in us and displayed in our lives, and that He’s willing to help us develop if we’re wanting to develop them. This morning we come to a very general, comprehensive quality – the quality of goodness, goodness as opposed to evil. God wants us to be good, to do good, and to speak what is good and have good attitudes. Well, you know that, everybody knows that. We should be good, not evil. But what a lot of people are confused about, what we might even be a little confused about, is what is good.
I want us to first notice a very simple but profound truth regarding goodness, and then we’re going to look primarily at one passage in the book of Ephesians.
First, the simple but profound truth –
Goodness in the eyes of people and goodness in the eyes of God are commonly very different things.
Many of you have read the book of Judges in the OT that covers the 300 year period of Israel’s history, from when they settled in the land of Canaan to near the time when they appointed their first king. And you know it’s a very sad dark book. Those 300 years were a time of incredible moral decline and apostasy from God, warfare and violence. There were ups and downs to Israel’s obedience to God during the time of the judges. But by in large they were headed downhill. Their ups gradually got smaller and their downs deeper, and their heroes, that God would use to deliver them, got less and less heroic. The closing chapters of the Book of Judges contain some of the most gruesome accounts in all the Bible; accounts of rape and murder and dismemberment and genocide and kidnapping. But do you remember the repeated statement in the book that summarizes how the people were living, even at the end of the book? It says, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Isn’t that interesting, if you were to go back in that time and ask the typical Israelite, “What do you think about how you are living? Do you think it’s okay that you kidnapped that teenage girl and made her your wife? Do you think it’s okay that you went and crippled that man who stole one of your chickens? What do you have to say for yourself?” He would have said, “I was perfectly right in all that. I’m living a good life. I’m a good person.”
Let’s read some proverbs.
- Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” What’s that mean? That means as you go about life, you’re going to encounter situations where you’re understanding, you’re reasoning, says that option A is the way to go… but God’s going to be saying no, what is right and good is to go with option B. And we need to trust that God knows what’s good, and we need to go with what’s right in God’s eyes and not what’s right in our own eyes.
- Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” The wise man is the man who’s willing to realize that maybe what’s right in his own eyes, is not really what’s right. He’s willing to listen to counsel and what God has to say about it.
- Proverbs 16:2, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives.”
- Proverbs 21:2, “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.”
- Proverbs 30:12, “There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes, Yet is not washed from his filthiness.”
People are very good at excusing and justifying the things they do and say and how they live. In the Nuremberg trials, the judges of the Allied forces (Great Britain, United States, France, and the Soviet Union) tried several of the leaders of Nazi Germany that were involved in the Holocaust. Many of those who were on trial, who had ushered Jews into gas chambers and slaughtered them in other ways, argued they had done no evil, they were just following orders. And those that were giving those orders (from what I understand), believed they were doing humanity a favor; by eliminating the less evolved and genetically inferior.
It’s not too difficult to draw up a long list of things that God condemns but that our society has reasoned are okay, that our society says are consistent with goodness. The idea that billions of years ago, non-living chemicals spontaneously came to life and just so happened to be able to reproduce and, through genetic mutations and natural selection, macro evolution took place over the ages to create all the life forms that we see today – is taught as fact in many schools and it’s called higher education, good education. And since we are just highly advanced animals, every sort of sexual activity, as long as it’s between consenting adults, is perfectly fine and good. You look around at the animal world, and the animals just do it with whoever they want whenever they want. And nobody says it’s wrong for animals to do that, so we shouldn’t say it’s wrong for us. “You and me, Baby, ain’t nothin’ but mammals, so…” (That’s a popular song today, in case you don’t get the reference.) Or, if there is a God who made us, He made me with these desires and He wants me to be happy, so our culture has embraced homosexuality, fornication, adultery, multiple partners, and you name it, as valid lifestyles. And the only evil is to look on any of those things with disfavor. The killing of unborn children is constant and it’s just called a woman’s right. Women and girls dress in ways that encourage lust and it’s just called fashion. Parents don’t discipline their children and it’s called building self-esteem. People covet each other’s property and possessions and money as their god and it’s just called having drive and ambition. Amassing material wealth for self is called being successful. Pornography is one of the biggest industries in our country and it’s just called adult entertainment. One in every six Americans downs eight alcoholic drinks within a few hours, four times a month and it’s called having a good time. We have the highest divorce rate in the world and it just called people not being meant for each other. It’s good to part ways if you’ve lost the feelings you had for each other. Men dressing and acting as women and women as men is called being true to yourself and courageous.
One day Jesus was teaching His disciples in the hearing of a number of Pharisees about money and possessions and how we should use them. It says in Luke 16:14 that the Pharisees who were lovers of money, were listening and scoffing at Him. They were listening to Jesus teach about how we use our money, and they were rolling their eyes and shaking their heads and telling people “This guy’s an idiot! I’ve never heard something so ridiculous in all my life!” Jesus said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” And I don’t think that part has changed. That which is highly esteemed among men today is detestable in the sight of God.
If the prophet Isaiah could preach to America today I suspect he would likely say the same thing he said to the people of Judah in his day in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! 22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!”
So this morning we’re not talking about what our society perceives as good. We’re not talking about what our friends and family or even what we ourselves may think is good. We’re talking about goodness in the eyes of the one who made us and sustains us and who is running the universe and who knows a lot more than we do.
Now, I’d like us to turn to the book of Ephesians. There’s a great section here that describes in some detail what goodness is and what it’s not, and also gives us some perspectives that should make us want to reflect God’s goodness in these ways. I have in mind the latter part of chapter 4 and the first part of chapter 5. In this section there are several commands regarding our behavior, talk, and attitudes. What attracted me to this passage for this lesson is that not only is the word good used a couple times, but in 5:9 Paul says, “for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth“. Those terms, “goodness and righteousness and truth,” I think are Paul’s way of summarizing all the attitudes, behaviors, and talk that he commanded in the previous verses. So in this section we read about what goodness entails specifically and and why it is so important.
We’re not going to look at everything in this section of Ephesians. But let’s notice first here…
What goodness is, in many areas
Let’s first take the area of honesty.
I came across an article on Forbes.com (the Forbes magazine website). The article was entitled, “Lying is Good for You.” I kid you not. And that’s what the article tries to establish. It talks about how much we lie (hopefully we’re weird, if this is normal); apparently we lie all the time, so much so that we don’t even realize. It talks about the benefits of lying, embellishing stories, obtaining more money, etc.
But what is good in the eyes of God. Ephesians 4:25, “laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor“. And I notice that doesn’t come with exception clauses, like “except when it’s tax season and your reporting your income,” “except when the wife asks where you’ve been and you don’t want to tell her,” “except when the boss asks why you were late,” “except white lies,” “except helpful lies,” “except protective lies,” “except lies that save money,” “except lies in court,” etc. It just says lay aside falsehood and speak the truth. That’s goodness in the eyes of God.
Let’s take the area of when somebody or something makes you mad.
Some may see it as normal and fine to scream and throw things at the TV when the Broncos or Seahawks are losing, or to not talk to a person, turn a cold shoulder when you see them, because you’re still ticked and stewing over that thing they did days ago. But according to Ephesians 4:26, this is what’s good in the eyes of God, quoting from Psalm 4 it says, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger“. And 4:31 put away “all bitterness and wrath and anger…” Throwing fits and going around with a chip on your shoulder is not goodness.
Let’s take the area of working for a living.
“28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, [not be lazy and take advantage of the generosity of Christians. He must labor if he can…] performing with his own hands what is good, [and watch this] so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” Goodness in the eyes of God involves earning your own living if you can, but not just that, also earning more than you need if possible so that you can give to people who have need. Goodness in God’s eyes is very unselfish.
How about in the area of our speech.
“29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification [edification means building up, only constructive words, only helpful words] according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” So he’s saying the only words that should come out of our mouths should be those that are like a gift to those we’re talking to, just words that are helpful in some way, encouraging, refreshing, comforting, instructive.
What’s goodness when it comes to dealing with difficult people?
People who annoy you, people with obnoxious personalities, people who are gross, people who have let you down, disappointed you, insulted you, or people who disagree with you on politics or spiritual matters, people in your class who don’t see what’s clear to you. What’s goodness there?
“31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.“
So when you see that difficult person, that obnoxious person, there’s no hint of distain in the way you look at or talk to them, you greet them and you see how they’re doing and you try to say something to encourage them and you pray for them and if they ever need anything, you’re there, that’s goodness.
And how about what runs our lives, the driving motive of our hearts.
Why do we do the things we do? Why do you go to the job you go to during the week? Why do you keep the hours you keep at the office? If it’s to earn money, why do you earn money? Why do you conduct yourself and interact with people the way you do at work? Why do you do what you do when you come home from work? Why do you spend your money the way you spend it? Why do you hang out with the people you hang out with and interact with them the way you do? Most people live for themselves; they do what they do to get more out of the things they want on earth. And even among Christians I think it’s very common for us to be selfishly driven in the things we do. In Philippians 2:20-21, after encouraging them to put the interests of others over their own, he presented Timothy, whom he was sending to them, as an example and he said, “The reason I’m sending you Timothy, not someone else is I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.” Apparently there were a number of other Christians with Paul. But Paul knew they were all still pretty selfish. Only Timothy was really driven to do what he did by what was in the interest of Christ and in the interest of people, and not what was good for him on earth. But though it’s very rare for a person to be like that, that’s goodness in the eyes of God.
Ephesians 5:1-2, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.“
It sounds radical. It sounds extreme. And I’m not here yet totally. I need to still grow to this point. But I hear Paul saying that the goodness to which God calls us is to live not for ourselves, but to be controlled by love, to live for Him and for others, to be a sacrifice to God; where we earn money so we can help others and support the spread of the gospel, we interact with people at work and everywhere else in a way to build relationships and lead them to know Christ, becoming less devoted to our TV shows and more devoted to prayer, we’re seeking less to be served and more to serve.
That’s not saying don’t have any fun. Fun is okay. God richly supplies us with all things to enjoy (I Timothy 6:18). But fun should never come before what’s in the interest of Christ and others. I’m learning, though probably slower than I should be learning it, but I’m learning there is nothing more fun than living for a purpose bigger than yourself. And knowing that you bring honor to God and you are helping people and doing something that actually matters and that God is with you and working with you and pleased with you. That is fun! It sounds very difficult and painful to be a living sacrifice, but incredibly that’s the life of greatest joy and peace.
And let’s talk about sexuality.
Today, even many who are professing to be Christians are doing what is right in their own eyes in this area. According to some surveys and studies I found, it appears only 10-20% of Christian single people are waiting until marriage to be sexually active. 55% of Christian men who are married view pornography at least once a month. 35% of Christian men cheat on their wives at some time or another during their marriage.
But listen to Ephesians 5:3-5, “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
This passage refers to more than just sexual related stuff. The words, impurity and covetousness or greed, certainly can refer to inordinate desires and thoughts and words and actions that are not sexually related. But all of this can be applied to sexuality too. The word immorality refers to sexual activity with anyone who is not your God approved husband or wife. The words impurity and greed or covetousness, include all the stuff that lead up to the final act of sexual immorality; before going all the way, the 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base stuff, down to the flirting and entertaining of thoughts and imaginations about sexual immorality. J.B. Philips translation renders the word impure in verse 5 as, “dirty-minded”. That’s tough today with how much media is constantly putting out sexual images and how socially acceptable it has become.
Paul also addresses here speaking about sexual stuff, when he says filthy and foolish talk and coarse jesting. Some of us, my brothers and sisters, need to pay attention to that. In our eyes there may be nothing wrong with a sexual joke. The TV is filled with comedies built on one sexual joke after another. I admit I have found the “that’s what she said” jokes quite humorous. But we’re not talking this morning about what is good in our eyes, but what is good in God’s eyes, and in God’s eyes there are sexual boundaries that He has set that we need to really respect. Not only should we not cross those boundaries with our actions by actually being with another person, but we shouldn’t cross those boundaries with our minds and in our casual joking with people either. We’re to be pure of heart and word and deed.
Now, real quick let’s notice…
A couple reasons why we want to pursue goodness in the eyes of God.
There are more reasons in the text. But let’s just notice two for time’s sake.
First, you see in this text that we owe God for His kindness to us.
He has forgiven us in Christ (4:32). Christ gave Himself up for us (5:2). He’s sealed us by His Spirit, preparing us for the day of redemption (4:30); that’s the day Romans 8 explains as the day when creation and our bodies are changed and set free from decay and death. Do you realize how kind God is to us in this life and it’s just to prepare us for real life? We’re like a baby in the womb. We’re in darkness here. There’s so much we’re not seeing. We’re growing and developing here. We may not see how we could survive outside of this dark bubble we’re in. And it’s probably going to hurt a little when it’s time to leave this womb. But God is bringing us to real life. That’s so awesome! We owe Him every day, every decision, every breath.
Second, we don’t want to grieve His Holy Spirit (4:30).
Isn’t it incredible that the Almighty Creator of the Universe, in which we are barely specs, feels pain at our sin. We can have that effect on Him. His Spirit can be grieved by our choices.
Now, when Paul writes, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,” I think he has in a mind, and wanting to bring to our minds, an OT story. This language of grieving God’s Holy Spirit is used in Isaiah 63:10 which tells of the story when God had compassion on the enslaved nation of Israel in Egypt, and spoke through Moses and punished Egypt with the plagues and parted the Red Sea for them and freed them from Egypt. Then it says He put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them, protected them, took care of them in the desert and brought them into the promised land and drove out their enemies and gave them the land. Reflecting on the story Isaiah 63:10 says, “But [in spite of all that God did for them] they rebelled [they did what was right in their own eyes] and grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.” They so grieved God’s spirit, that rather than blessing them, God began to curse them with famine and giving them into the hands of their enemies.
Another example of grieving God’s Spirit is king Saul. When Saul was chosen to be king He was anointed with the Spirit of God. And God’s Spirit was empowering and guiding and helping Saul to be an effective king and to defeat the enemies of Israel. But Saul persistently did what was right in his own eyes and not God’s. In the book of I Samuel, whenever Saul disobeyed God, he always had a bunch of good excuses for it.
For example, one time (I Samuel 13) Saul was about to go to war with the Philistines and Samuel the prophet told him, “You are to wait until I come and then I’ll offer the burnt offerings and peace offerings to ask the favor of the Lord in the battle and then I’ll tell you what to do from there.” But Saul waited and Samuel didn’t come as soon as he expected, and so Saul took burnt offerings and peace offerings and offered them himself. Then Samuel showed up and said, “Saul, what have you done? You’ve disobeyed the LORD.” Saul said, “Well, you were late and the men were becoming more and more scared and some were leaving. We needed to take action soon, and so I forced myself and offered the offerings myself.” Samuel said, “You’ve done foolishly. You’ve disobeyed the Lord.”
Another time (I Samuel 15) the prophet Samuel said to Saul, “Thus says the LORD, you are to go to war with the city of Amalek and utterly destroy every living thing. Do not spare the king or any person or even the animals.” But Saul spared the king and the best of the sheep and oxen and spoils. Then Samuel came to him, and Saul saw him coming and he said, “Blessed are you of the Lord, I’ve done what the Lord has told me!” Samuel says, “Then why do I here this bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen, if you’ve done what the Lord said?” And I Samuel 15:15 says, “They [the people] have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” Saul said, “Let him speak.” Samuel said (I Samuel 15:17ff), “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
You notice how Saul kind of takes the commandment of God, with it really appearing to be saying one thing, but he thinks about it and sort of twists and interprets it to be what’s right in his own sight. And I think there’s a lot of that going on today, even in churches. And it sounds like God’s saying one thing, but we twist and interpret it to be what’s right in our own eyes. Saul was doing that and Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” And then in I Samuel 16:14, it says, “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.” God quit helping Saul; He quit guiding him and answering his prayers.
And so, Paul warns us, do not grieve the spirit of God. We have the spirit to help us, to guide us, to change us into the image of Christ, to lead us to glory. Let’s strive to do what’s right in the sight of the Lord, and not what’s right in our own eyes. Nothing complicated about this, but vital. Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding. The way we know what’s right in God’s eyes is through His word.
-James Williams