The Essentials: The Main Thing - Goodness

Well, this idea that we cannot be moderate in our faith is what

we want to talk about today.

We want to talk about the main thing, the goodness of God.

You know, probably the first prayer you ever learned was, God

is great.

God is good.

Let us thank him for our food.

And you were probably two or three and said it, and your parents

thought it was really cute, and everybody else did too.

But you were saying at that early time, the cry that has been

the centerpiece of what Christian heroes have summarized

of their challenges and their opportunities all through generations

in Scripture, when their blessings overflowed, they say, the

Lord is good.

When they faced disaster, they never wavered in their unshakable

standing that God is good.

We see this so often in Scripture.

David, after he was made king by Saul, and Saul tried to kill him.

The whole thing was a mess, and he was made king.

David said, give thanks to the Lord,.

For He is good.

Nahum.

When he was a prophet to the people and they were being oppressed

and overridden, he said to them, the Lord is good.

A strong refuge when trouble comes.

Jeremiah, when the Israelites were being exiled into Babylon, said

this to them.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.

They're plans for good and not for.

Disaster, to give you a hope and a future.

James, the half brother of Jesus, after Jesus was crucified

and rose from the grave after the resurrection, said this about

it all.

He said, every good and perfect gift comes from above.

And Paul, when he was helping Timothy work through theological

hairsplitting, and what can you do?

What can you not do?

And what will offend and what won't offend?

He summarized it up this way.

He said, everything God made is good.

Everything.

And then, of course, God himself, after.

Creation, looked it all over, looked at everything he made, and

he said, it is very good.

It was good because God is good.

You see, goodness is the essence of God.

God created all good, and all good comes from God.

And that may be the most simple message in the Bible and to

our faith, but it's the most essential because we have to understand

that the goodness of God is foundational to everything we believe.

And that's why I chose for our verse of the year this year.

For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever, and his.

Faithfulness continues to each generation.

The Lord is good.

But how do you define that?

What's it mean that God is good?

It's a concept we sort of understand.

But how do you say, well, God is good?

How do you Find that you can't say, well, God is good compared to

something else.

It would be like saying, well, you know, fried chicken Thursday

in the calf is really good.

And that's compared to all other fried chicken.

But God's goodness isn't graded on the curve compared to how

the rest of the world is.

You say, well, God is morally perfect.

And yes, God is morally perfect, but his goodness is not

limited to his holiness.

You say, well, God is merciful.

And every time we see the mercy of God, we also see the goodness

of God coupled with it.

But his goodness goes way beyond just mercy.

You see, the challenge we have is that the goodness of God is really

beyond our human understanding.

It's just more than we can grasp in our mind.

It's his character is the goodness of God.

It's not a trait, it's not an attribute.

It's the core of who he is through and through.

God is good and God's goodness is infinite.

It's always been, it always will be.

And there is nothing in him other than goodness.

And that's why we say goodness begins with God.

And all goodness comes from God, because the goodness we have

comes from God.

But that's indescribable.

How do you really put that in perspective?

It's kind of like trying to describe space.

Have you seen these latest NASA telescope.

Pictures that have come out here in the last couple of weeks?

25 years ago, NASA launched this probe to take close up pictures

of the stars.

It's now 6,500 light years away from Earth and it's taking these

amazing pictures.

That are just hard to describe.

We've never been closer to these stars.

25 years, 6500 mile light years away,.

But it's already taking pictures of of galaxies that are

so far away it will take it another thousand years to get to

them.

To take the close ups like we're getting today.

You see, we can't describe the enormity of space any more than we

can explain the unlimited nature of the goodness of God who

created that space.

But God always gives us a handle.

So he gives us two ways to understand his goodness within our

framework.

The first is this.

To understand the goodness of God, look at the good he has done

for us.

God loves every person in this room unconditionally.

He is good.

God created us in his image to reflect the character of his goodness.

He didn't create us as some kind of play toy, something to look

at.

No, he created us in his image to share his goodness with the world.

He promises eternity with him through redemption in Christ.

That's how good he is.

And he speaks directly to us through.

Scripture and through prayer.

That's how good he is.

God's goodness fills us with confidence when we are afraid.

It strengthens us with.

Energy whom we're exhausted.

And it offers us his wisdom whom we're conflicted and we don't

know.

That's how good God is.

So that's one way to understand the goodness of God.

The other way to understand the goodness of God is to look at

the life of Jesus.

Look at Jesus.

Goodness was made flesh in Jesus.

Jesus was God.

And goodness came to earth in the form of a man.

And Jesus.

So look at his life, look at his priorities, look at his relationships,

look at his worldview.

Understand how he sees the world.

You see, we have been created in the image of God and as a child

of God to reflect that goodness of God.

So what Jesus did in his goodness is what we want to do.

Our job is to distribute God's goodness in the world.

And that's what Jesus came to equip us and to teach us how to do.

Because God is good.

Because God is good.

We should first of all be asking for more goodness in our lives.

I think some of us are afraid.

To ask for more goodness.

No, ask God for more goodness.

Jesus talked about the widow who begged for more goodness in her

life.

That's a good prayer.

And he said, don't lose heart in asking.

Ask for God's goodness in your life and more of it.

Because if it comes from God, the more of you have it, the more

you can share it with others.

Secondly, because God created us to be good, we should be related

to others with goodness.

Exceptionally gracious.

Jesus taught us when our enemies attack us, when people give

the wrong motives about us, when people try to assign blame to

us, it's not our fault when people are rejecting us.

When you're hurt, we need to respond with goodness.

Jesus taught us.

And then not only relating, but we should shape our identity

with goodness.

Jesus said, we are the light of the world.

It is our job to be the light of the world.

To show his goodness to those around us and let his goodness shine

out.

That's our task.

That's our calling.

And because God is good and we are his children reflect his goodness.

We.

We can do that.

Well.

God is not only good, but God is good all the time.

Goodness is absolute.

God can't be anything other than good.

There's never a time God is not good.

So even when we can't see it in our lives.

God is still good.

When Moses wandered in the wilderness for four decades and God

provided, God was still good.

When Joseph was sold into slavery by his family, God used it

for good in order to feed his family.

When David went on his years of sinful spree and turned his back

on God and did all kinds of horrible things, God was still good

and stayed with him until David could finally say,.

Restore to me the joy of my salvation.

When John, who thought he'd been exiled to a desolate island,.

Found that God was good because it was from there he could

see the future and see eternity and write the book of Revelation.

God's goodness does not depend on who we are.

God is good because of who he is.

And accordingly, God is good all the time.

God is good all the time.

But because God is good all the time, we don't always feel that

when.

There are disappointments and setbacks and failures and sufferings.

You know when God's good.

When things go well, when you got into Belhaven, God is good.

When you got the right roommate, God is good.

When you got into the class that you wanted, God is good.

Good.

When the team or the rehearsal is.

Going well, so far, God is good.

But what about the team things?

When it's going not what you consider good?

God is still good.

God is good all the time.

See, God doesn't define goodness based on our limited perspectives.

He does so based on his purposes.

And his purpose is that we should become like Jesus.

Nothing will stop God from sanctifying you.

And me so he can be glorified.

And so there are times we will go through tough times and difficult

times, and he will use those for good because he uses those to

bring us into deeper relationship with him, deeper trust

in him, because he's always good and.

And he's using it for good.

God is good all the time.

Do you believe that God's sovereign over all.

If God's sovereign over all the world.

See, there's never a time you need to be asking, well, why me?

Why did these terrible things happen to me?

No, God didn't take time off the clock and he wasn't asleep when

something.

Bad happened to you.

God is so good all the time.

But see, Romans 28 is for God will make all things work together

for good.

For those who are called according to.

His purposes, for those who love Him.

It's his purpose that he's trying to achieve, not just the things

on your wish list.

God has much higher dreams and desires for your life than that which

he could just easily give you, you know, in some churches, pastor

will often start on Sunday morning and he'll say, God is good.

And the congregation will answer back all the time.

Do you go to that church?

Try it again.

God is good all the time.

We got the front third.

Let's try for everybody.

God is good.

There you go.

We need to remind ourselves that God.

Is good all the time.

It's easy to remember God is good.

When it's going our way.

But God is always good all the time.

All the time.

There will be challenges, there will be times it doesn't go

your way, and there will be setbacks.

And when those times come, God is good.

All the time.

Don't get mad.

Ask what God is saying during those tough times and he will speak

to you because he's that good.

There are going to be times you won't be recognized.

Maybe there are times you're going to have a family financial

strain.

Maybe there are times you're going to feel left out.

Don't get discouraged.

Trust him more.

Because God is good all the time.

Even in the rough times.

Maybe you've had some disappointments or maybe you've had

some hurts, or somebody's going to lash out at you and you're

going to get angry and you're going to want to respond in kind,

but let God's goodness take over your emotions instead.

Because when you do, then God is good in that all the time.

And that's what we want.

Or maybe you come from a broken family.

Maybe you got suffering in your life.

And nobody knows your story, how tough it is.

Maybe your dreams have been smashed.

Don't give up.

Hold tight.

Because God is good all the time.

Well, our verse of the year about God being good, but there's

another part to it.

It says his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Because God is always good.

And every generation is different.

Every generation looks at the world differently,.

Has different things that control their culture and their society,

has things that this.

Culture before never had.

Because generations change and go.

But God doesn't change because his goodness is stable throughout

every, every generation.

And I've been thinking a lot about your generation this summer.

Part of why I want to do this series on the Essentials.

Because you've had a tough time.

I think we can call that straight up.

You've had a tough time.

And I pray for you.

I got an awful lot of hope in this generation.

You want to do good things.

You're willing to work together, you're willing to make

some Sacrifices in order to have an impact in the world.

So I'm very hopeful.

Hopeful about you and your generation.

But you've been through a lot, I think, of what you've had to face.

You went through the trauma of a post pandemic time.

Pandemic was hard enough, but then getting over it's just as hard.

In some ways, you may feel like, well, I got shortchanged best

years.

I missed some of them.

I didn't get my senior year in high school, or I didn't get my prom

or I didn't get to do this or that.

And yeah, you didn't.

Nobody can change that.

But God's still good.

I think you're also in a world.

Where we've got an awful lot of political tension that you have

to face.

We've never had it in such a way that it's on your phone and it

comes through your scroll and it just keeps coming and coming and

coming at you.

And the political turmoil and the division and the vitriol is something

somewhat overwhelming.

And then you add to it the.

What if scenarios that hang in the air because of a close call assassination.

Attempt on a boisterous president, and it's a pressure cooker

ready to go off.

And then for your generation, you want to be biblical.

You know that God said, reach the whole world and love.

Everybody has value in God's eyes.

And then in contrast to that, you hear a lot of America first,

and.

The isolation resonates with many because of the dramatic rise

in immigration that subsequently raises the temperature

of xenophobia.

And that's the world you live in.

And that's a tough order.

We're kind of glad when the Olympics came, gave us a break from

it all.

Olympics in Paris came, and all of a sudden we kind of put all

that stuff on the sidelines for a while in the Olympics in Paris.

And, you know, the Olympics have kind.

Of always done that because this was 1920, 19, 2024.

But 1924, the Paris Olympics were also held.

And that year was Johnny Weissmuller, who was the champion

swimmer.

Johnny Meifweeler went on to star in all the Tarzan movies.

Saw any of those when you were growing up?

And Eric Liddell, championship runner from England,.

Wouldn't run on Sunday because.

For the gold medal race, because he.

Thought it would hurt his witness, and he didn't want to hurt

his witnesses.

That was more important to him than the fame of winning the race.

But he's probably the most famous athlete from 1924 because

his story was told in Chariots of Fire, and he went on to be a missionary

after that.

So the Olympics were a break then,.

The Olympics were a break now.

But you know what, it's interesting, the.

Challenges and the obstacles that you've had.

To bear your generation are almost the same ones of a hundred

years ago.

The pandemic then was called the Spanish.

Flu, killed millions of people.

People had to isolate and wear masks for years.

The presidential candidate was not Donald Trump who got shot.

It was Teddy Roosevelt got shot.

And the bullet hit a little book he had in his pocket, saved

his life.

The America first isolationism was not Republicans on Twitter.

It was a Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, who was president, who was

calling for America First.

In that generation, God is good.

In your generation, God is good.

Circumstances haven't really changed that much.

God is good all the time.

His goodness is pure.

It's never, ever stingy in how he shares his goodness, and it's

never dependent on the receiver's response.

God is good all the time, through every generation.

Let me pray for us.

Thanks.

Dear Lord, as we look at the essentials of faith, we start with

the character of who you are, the source of all goodness.

Thank you for entrusting us with the responsibility to reflect

your goodness to the world and give us the strength and the courage

to do so.

In your name we ask it.

Amen.