“Defining Good”   Eph. 5:8,9; II Thess. 3:13; James 4:17   3/22/09

We have been looking at the fruit of the Spirit that stands in sharp contrast to giving into our sinful nature.  Last week we looked at the fruit of kindness, and this week at goodness.  They are two different words, but can you tell the difference between kindness and goodness?  In the Greek kindness (crestotus) means helping people whether they deserve it or not.  The word “goodness” (agothune) means actively and even aggressively doing good for another.  Kindness is passive, goodness is active.  Kindness is protecting the woman who was about to be stoned- forgiving her.  Goodness could be driving the money-changers out of the temple.  Goodness is actively making the world a better place, and it is a concern with God’s honor and righteousness.  In the past, most in America agreed on what was good.  It was like everyone agreed this hymnbook I'm holding is blue.  But now some are saying it is pink, and so we have to do the difficult task of saying why we believe it is blue. 
II Thess. 3:13- “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”  James 4:17- “So then, if you know the good you ought to do and don’t do it, you sin.” 

            Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a nobel laureate.  He lived through terrible persecutions in exile in Serbia.  He was basically kicked out of Russia and moved to America in a time of economic crisis (double digit inflation, souring gas prices and shortages, and double digit unemployment), and a growing threat from the Soviet Union.  He was asked how western democracies could avert being destroyed from within and without.  He answered I think very profoundly and plainly,
 “Distinguish clearly between good and evil.”  That is a profound answer that we need to hear today.  How do you know if something is good or not?
            For some people, goodness is just a matter of taste or feeling.   So what may be good for me may not be so good for you.  They would say, “If it feels good do it.”  This is an ancient philosophy that was held by the Epicureans and some Herodians in Jesus’ day.    For such people, the greatest evil is pain and suffering.   But you don’t have to look hard to see that just because something feels good to one person, does not mean it is good for all.  Last week in Austria, Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life in a mental institution for locking up and raping his daughter for twenty-four years.  He actually was responsible for the death of one of their seven children.   Maybe Fritzl lived by “If it feels good do it.” 
            Some modify the idea of goodness.  They would say, “well it must feel good, but it also must not hurt anyone else- or at least do the most good for the majority.”   The problem is no one can fully measure hurt or pain.  No one can take a poll every time something happens.   The Nazis thought that killing Jews was better for the common good.   They were wrong.  The Nazis thought that it didn’t matter what God said about killing.  What mattered was the majority of public opinion- what the polls say.   If you took a poll of Rwandan Hutus in 1994 they would say that Tutsis did not deserve to live and killed 800,000 of them. Today the Sudanese government is starving 15 million in Darfur.  But like my mother said, “If everyone jumps over a cliff, that doesn’t mean it’s good and you should too!”   There are times when the majority thinks wrongly- even the Christian majority.   In the south my ancestors thought wrongly about slavery, and they were not alone.  
            Some think that we are all naturally good.   If anyone isn’t good, then it is because they are sick.   For example, the Austrian government called Mr. Fritzl (who committed incest) sick, not evil.   He can be “cured” of his disease and released in fifteen years.  Wrongness is more than sickness.  If sin is just sickness then we all need a cure.   While there are genetic tendencies- do not underestimate the power of the human spirit to choose wrong- or to by God’s help do good.
            How do you tell if something is humane or good?   Who determines it?  Should it be an elite group of “experts” social scientists who have degrees?   Sometimes even educated people do dumb things, and sometimes lose sight of the wrongness of manipulation. Bernie Madoff was educated when he stole millions for himself.   He was a financial expert- a financial “guru.”  He was on the board of two universities.  Sometimes educated people say some pretty manipulative things because, in their pride, they think they know better.  Kenneth Clark, head of the American Psychological Association, said that we should force each world leader to take non-aggressive pills.  Maybe if we gave everyone drugs, the world would be better!  Many have seriously advocated putting birth control pills in the world’s drinking water to cut down on population growth (including Kermit Kranty of the Medical University of Kansas).   Social engineering- takes away freedom.   There is always danger to thinking that a government, a congress, the armed forces, an elite group of scientists knows what is best for us and has our best interest at heart, so we should submit to them no matter what.    There is a higher standard than even our government or our experts.  It is a standard that has been tested for two thousand years and has been the best around.  That is the key.   Scripture can be abused, misused, misinterpreted, but it is still the best standard around, more than anything I can come up with or that the experts can find.   It is most suited to the way we were made and live. 
            There was an article in the editorial page that said that the problem of the world is religion, and religion is causing us to lose our humanity toward each other.  But it is religion not atheism that teaches us to  love our neighbor as ourselves.  Atheism means we’re just a bunch of atoms without souls.  If we are just a bunch of atoms, and there is no such thing as soul or spirit, tell me why should we bother to be humane?   What difference does it make if one proton hates another proton versus loves another proton?  If we are only flesh and no soul, then love is just an illusion- a chemical reaction.  I am sorry I refuse to think of loving my wife as just a genetically determined or chemical attraction.  Without the human spirit and the Spirit of God to keep us in check, there is no such thing as humaneness.   Let me remind you of what the atheist governments have done.  The three best examples of atheist governments were the USSR , the Republic of China, and on a smaller scale Pol Pot’s Cambodia.   We might could add Hitler’s Germany which followed Nietzche’s philiosophy of the superman and super race and killed 3 million Jews and others.  According to Solzenitsyn Stalin is responsible for 66 million deaths in the Gulags.  Thirty five to Seventy six  million were killed by communist China.  Two million were in the death camps of the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.   Let’s talk about “man’s inhumanity to man”.   The very first ethic agreed upon by most is “do no harm.”  I might also add that it is not Christian ethicists who are pressuring us to encourage abortion or euthanasia or assisted suicide in our own culture.   Religion motivates us to leave our comfort zones.  I can tell you I didn’t see many atheists going down to Mississippi and Louisiana to help rebuild houses, but we saw Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, and Catholics.  They were not there to convert, they were there to help.  We’re taking a trip to Peru this summer, not because we know those people, but because we think Christ wants us to help others get some clean water that won’t make them sick.  I do not doubt that non-believers can do some good.  But faith- and I would say especially the Christian faith- motivates, energizes not just a few but millions to do better, to love neighbor, and to do good.  It is a fruit of the Spirit and by their fruits you shall know them.
            There are two things our passages of scriptures say that we need to hear.
I. IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD AND YOU DON’T DO IT- THAT IS SIN.
            Sin is not just avoiding evil.  There is an illusion that if we turn off the junk on TV, keep to the Christian radio stations, and avoid terrible evil, then we are okay.  Sin is not just the absence of evil.  It is also not doing good.  John Calvin was great at teaching that the ten commandments weren’t just  a bunch of “Thou shalt nots”  they also implied some thou shalts.  Thou shalt not kill implies we need to respect the life of others.  Thou shalt not steal means to help someone keep their property.  In a day of foreclosures, I wonder how many believe that. Thou shalt not lie implies speaking the truth. 
            The parable of the Good Samaritan is about people trying to get on with their lives and avoiding getting their hands dirty while leaving a guy to wallow in his wounds.  The difference between goodness and kindness is goodness is not just lying back waiting for an opportunity to help.  It is actively changing the world. 
II. LET US NOT GROW WEARY IN WELL-DOING- End
            Raphael Nadal and Roger Federer have one of the greatest tennis rivalries ever.  They have played each other on seven grand slam titles.  But one of the best tennis matches ever was last year’s Wimbeldon where they met in the finals for a five set match.  They would hit volley after volley, and it just looked like Nadal just kept it going better.  It is so easy to get tired doing good.  Many times in scripture it says not to grow weary in doing good.   It says it because in our finiteness, we get discouraged, tired, and we are tempted to give up.  Many burn out .  Many are like a shooting star that lasts only for a minute.  But doing good is not for one minute of fame, but for a steady, faithful blaze.  Let me tell you this- whenever you try to do ANYTHING good, some will oppose you.  I think it is a spiritual battle .  The more important the task, the more opposition you will get even from people on your side. Nine days ago Syracuse beat the University of Connecticut 127-117 in six overtimes and almost four hours.  It was one of the longest basketball games ever.  People were getting physically sick from playing.  Walk-ons who had never played before were now playing. UConn was really the better team.  But they grew weary.  Do not grow weary in well doing for in due time you will reap if you faint not.