Weekly Sermon: 05-10-2026 - Values That Stick - Goodness

The Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, O Lord.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, says Jesus.

The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep,

sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away.

And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.

Just as the father knows me and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also,

and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.

I have received this command from my Father.

The Gospel of the Lord.

For April and May, we are preaching on the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians,

and we're calling them values that stick.

And today we are on goodness.

Each week stands alone. You don't have to have been at the other ones for each sermon to make sense.

So this morning we're on goodness. Of course, all of these can be found on our

YouTube page or in the sermon podcast.

So I thought goodness really fits with Mother's Day. I didn't plan it that way, it's just how it fell.

So if you wanna invite somebody to one of these,

I don't know if there's any more of these cards out there, but we're also posting

activities with each one with some cards on Facebook, activities that go with each value or fruit.

So when we first moved to St. Louis from Kansas City when our kids were small,

you've probably heard me say this before, we moved across the street from an

Orthodox rabbi named Zalman and his wife Ellen.

And the very first time we met them, they invited us during the festival of

Sukkot, which is a harvest festival, and they invited us to sit outside in their sukkah,

which they create outside.

It's like a tent of structure and it's decorated with symbols of harvest. It's in the fall.

And we were there in the late afternoon and Leah was still a baby.

Maybe she was 15 months or something.

Jacob was three, Daniel was five. And as is tradition at this festival,

They served us sliced apples and honey, and they gave the kids apple juice in Dixie cups.

And Jacob, three years old, was kneeling on his chair.

You know, he's always squirmy. He wasn't the kid who sat dutifully, you know.

So he's kneeling on his chair. He's reaching for his apple juice.

And instead of grabbing it, he knocks it over and spills juice all over the

table. and immediately he says, well, die, dammit.

I froze, absolutely mortified. Being the stay-at-home mom, he clearly learned

cussing over spilled drinks from me.

This was not the great introduction of the two minister new neighbors to the

Orthodox rabbi and his wife across the street that we were hoping for.

No good mother awards for me.

And much to my surprise, Zal and Ellen burst out laughing.

They have four kids. The youngest at the time was in high school and they had

their own stories of their three boys and their daughter embarrassing them in

front of the whole synagogue.

So from that moment on, we became fast friends and we are still in touch.

They have since moved outside of Tel Aviv, Israel.

So we are in contact with them quite a bit now, praying for their safeties.

You know, toddlers are like parrots. Yeah, exactly.

And all of your worst moments and mistakes come out of their mouths.

Like when Daniel started yelling at the traffic from the backseat like Dan, Mom on, buddy.

And no matter how hard we try to be good, our kids remind us that,

you know, we're just not.

Maybe you have found this to be true as well. And if it's not kids or grandkids

parroting back things you wish you hadn't said or nieces and nephews,

there are other ways that we try to be good and fall short.

We try to be generous, but deep down we worry about the future,

about rising costs, especially $4 and more per gallon of gas,

and so we cling tightly to fear.

We want to help others, but we are afraid to extend ourselves because it feels unsafe.

We want to reach out and befriend new neighbors or visitors here,

but honestly, we're just exhausted.

It's hard to muster goodness these days.

The truth is we're living in a time when goodness feels like it's in short supply.

It's easy to become cynical, to assume the worst, to become worn down and worn out.

The world seems full of cruelty instead of compassion, and we start to wonder,

do our efforts even matter?

Maybe muddling through and being okay is good enough right now.

The good news about goodness is like all of the fruits of the Spirit,

deepening and expanding our goodness does not start with us trying harder.

Goodness, of course, begins with God and who God is.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd.

I wonder why Jesus doesn't just say, I am the shepherd.

We would all know what he means, right? But he says, I am the good shepherd.

He doesn't just say, I am the shepherd. And Jesus says this because Jesus is not like any shepherd.

He's not a hired hand who may be here today and gone tomorrow.

He's not here for the wage, waiting for something better to come along or biding

his time or disappearing as soon as the wolf shows up.

No, the good shepherd ties up his well-being in the well-being of his sheep, his followers.

Jesus is the good shepherd, ultimately the only shepherd, the final shepherd.

Our passage in Jesus describes what this goodness looks like and what such goodness actually does.

Goodness, it turns out for Jesus, is a behavior. The good shepherd knows the

sheep, calls the sheep by name, stays with them, protects them,

even lays down his life for them.

That is goodness.

Not surface-level convenient here today, gone tomorrow, easy,

fleeting acquaintance, maybe your vaguely familiar kind of shepherd.

Jesus offers a costly, committed, faithful, deep, life-giving goodness as our shepherd.

And before we are ever called to be good, we are first claimed by the good shepherd.

We belong to him. We are known by him.

We are held by his goodness. which means that your life and my life is not defined

by how good we manage to be.

If you're the perfect parent and never cuss, or you never show your kids how

to berate other drivers, your life is not defined by this,

but rather by the goodness of the good shepherd who holds you.

Paul makes this very plain in our passage from Ephesians.

By grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

Thank goodness, since I taught my toddlers how to cuss.

You are saved by grace through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not the result of works.

How can a mom who taught her kids to cuss have the gall to stand in a pulpit and preach?

Because I am saved by grace through faith, and not by works,

and not because of my own doing,

and not because of my own failing, and not because of my own misdeeds.

We are not saved by our goodness or condemned by our badness,

but by the goodness of Christ, who claims us, just like he claims Jane Joyce today in baptism.

And if I can be as transparent as that, it is why baptism is my favorite thing

to do, because it epitomizes everything we believe about our faith,

which is it's not our badness that defines us.

It is the goodness of Jesus that we are claimed by faith.

We don't climb our way into God's favor by being better people.

We become better people by the

Christ whose spirit and light are given to us as a gift, as pure grace.

And then Paul says, goodness naturally follows for we are what he has made us,

created in Christ for good works.

I love that distinction. We are not saved by good works. We are absolutely saved for good works.

So goodness isn't how you get God's love.

Goodness is what grows out of having received God's love. It's the result, not the precursor.

You're already claimed. You are already loved. You are already held by the Good Shepherd.

And from that place, God shapes your life into something good,

not perfect, but certainly real, real goodness that reflects the heart of Christ.

And when we look for what that goodness looks like in real life,

it's not often dramatic. It's steady. It's faithful.

It's people who keep showing up. It's people who keep caring,

who keep loving even when it's hard.

And for many of us, we see that in the people who've raised us and guided us along the way.

Today, we pay special attention to our moms.

And if that's not true for you, then maybe it was somebody else.

Our dad, your grandparents, aunts or siblings or wonderful teachers.

People who showed up not perfectly, but persistently. goodness that looks like

daily love and starting again when yesterday didn't go so well.

Wherever you are today, whether it brings gratitude or sadness or longing,

know that you are held, you are known, you are loved,

you belong to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who holds you tight and claims you as

beloved child, just like Jane Joyce is claimed today.

This goodness is for you, no matter what is happening in your own personal circumstances

or what is going on in the world.

So trusting that God's goodness claims you and so fiercely loves us,

I wonder what is the goodness that God is growing in you right now in this season of your life?

Since goodness is not about trying harder, how might God's goodness be flowing

out of you in this season?

What might it look like this week?

Maybe it looks like honesty when avoiding it would be easier.

Maybe it looks like offering forgiveness instead of hanging on to hurt or resentment.

Maybe it means showing up for someone who needs you when you were hoping you could avoid it.

Maybe it means risking a new relationship to welcome someone new or different

here or in your neighborhood.

Maybe it means sharing generously and trusting that somehow God is going to provide for you.

Not to prove anything, not to earn anything, because something new,

some greater goodness is growing inside you because of Jesus' claim upon your life.

You belong to the Good Shepherd.

Goodness grows and flows from Jesus' spirit and presence. taking greater shape in your life.

And of course, this is how children learn and embody the goodness of God.

It's not one word or one phrase misspoken.

It is daily showing up for them over and over and over again,

trusting the goodness of God as the source of all of who we are.

Kids and grandkids and the children of the church or the kids in the neighborhood

or your nieces and nephews, they are all watching us, whether we're parents or not.

How well we treat people.

How we tell the truth. All the ways that we show compassion.

How we make room for others and share what we have. How we help someone else shine and succeed.

That is how goodness grows, not through perfection, but through these small

moments of love and integrity and encouragement and kindness that children absorb over time.

And maybe that is one of the greatest gifts that we can give the next generation,

not just success, not just achievement, but goodness, a life that is shaped

by this grace that holds us together.

A heart that notices others. A willingness to help someone else shine and be a success.

So I want to show a video that I saw this week. Please pray that this technology works.

And I'm going to ask for help if it doesn't because you've got to see this.

Okay, so I'm going to do this and do that.

Okay, it's not showing. Now I need help.

Why does it have a signal one minute and not the next? This is what mystifies me about technology.

It's looking for a signal.

Oh, we have to hit Duplicate again.

Is it this one? Oh, my dear. Duplicate. Oh, look at Linda!

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, just... There.

Good? Okay, watch number 50, and then watch the little guy.

Watch number 50.

Now watch the little guy.

He's so excited, he forgets that there's a game that's continuing.

That boy is claimed by the Good Shepherd, and he learned that from the grownups in his life.

So claimed by the Good Shepherd, we can all behave like number 50,

sharing the goodness of God.

Amen. Go forth into the world strengthened in Christ to live with values that

stick, sharing the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Tell others what Jesus has done for you and invite them to St.

Luke's as you love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks be to God, and we will...