h2>Scripture
3 – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness-through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.
4 – Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 – For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 – and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 – and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
8 – For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 – But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
A few weeks ago as I jogged on the treadmill, I passed the time by watching a movie. I often do that because I find it helps me keep up my pace-especially if the film has a lot of running in it, like Chariots of Fire, or Marathon Man, or Jurassic Park. The film I chose that day didn’t have running in it but rather riding because it was an academy-award winning western from back in 1992 whose director was also the star. The movie was Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Unforgiven is film about cowboys in the Wild West and it has realistic violent gunplay, so I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to children, but I think adults would agree that Unforgiven is a very powerful story with an interesting twist on the typical western plot. One reason I say that is because in this movie it’s hard to tell who the good guys are. The color of their cowboy hats doesn’t help nor does their occupation. In fact, in this film, goodness and badness seem to swap sides because the sheriff and his deputies are portrayed as the bad guys and the outlaws and the women of ill repute are portrayed as the good guys. This portrayal works because as you run-I mean, as you watch-you find yourself actually rooting for the gunslingers and booing the long-but crooked arm of the law. I think one reason this film won several Oscars that year, including best picture, is that most people can identify with this plot-because these days life is like this film at times in that goodness isn’t always where you expect it to be. Many times on this fallen world of ours it’s hard to know who the good guys are. It’s hard to know what is truly good. This brings us to the next “garment” of grace in our study of this text from 2 Peter-where we find the dress code of the Christian described-because today we are talking about goodness.
As I said, these days goodness is hard to identify. It’s hard to nail down. As Buchanan puts it,
“Goodness has grown dull. The word itself has become so bland, so shapeless, that it is almost void and without form. Biblical clarity about goodness has gone begging in an age which calls good everything from Mother Teresa’s legacy to the latest rap star’s obscenity. This looseness and vagueness, where one man’s goodness is another’s folly, plagues our ability to have meaningful conversations about the good.”
Buchanan is right-and because of this confusion and vagueness, goodness is a word that can be difficult to comprehend. Here are a few facts about this virtue that I think will help.
(1) First, we need to understand that when it comes to genuine goodness-Biblical goodness-being comes before doing.
I say this because the Greek word for “goodness” that Peter uses here in verse 5 is “aretee” and it means “essential, intrinsic goodness.” “Aretee” is a state of being that leads to doing. It’s who we are inside. If Peter wanted to describe goodness as simply doing, he would have used the Greek word, “chrestotes” which is a goodness that is limited to action. But Peter chose “aretee” a word that starts with being. So when it comes to this virtue, Peter is talking about a quality of the soul that results in good actions like giving mercy to the sick, kindness to strangers, hospitality to outsiders, or justice to underdogs. Think of it this way: Even people who are evil can do things like that. The bad guys in the world can do good things.
- Hitler’s favorite camera pose was with him gently holding furry animals or caring for little children.
- Idi Amin is said to have cried whenever he heard sad stories.
- Stalin was kind to his children.
I could go on and on because even the wicked know how to do good. They just lack the capacity to be good. Genuine goodness-biblical goodness-the real thing is a virtue that flows from our relationship with God. It’s part of the fruit of His Spirit that lives in us because without God in us we can’t be good and we can’t truly do good-Godly good. Do you remember Paul’s words from Romans 7? He writes:
“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Paul was saying that Christ in him was his hope of true goodness. So one thing we should take from our study of this text is that trying to do good without first being good is doomed to futility. We can’t keep doing good on our own, we can’t do for the right reasons and in the right ways. We need God’s presence and power. We need His guidance. Look at verse 3 once again. Peter says that God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness-"through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.”
(2) But, as I inferred, aretee-goodness-is not just being. No-it is an inner virtue that leads to outward sacrificial Christ-like actions.
Bridges puts it this way. Biblical goodness is “kindness in action.” And he is right, because true goodness tends to show. It issues forth in visible acts.
When I was in junior high school, one of the first non-fiction books I read was, Shackleton’s Valiant Voyage and it told of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s brave expedition to reach the South Pole in 1908. It was a journey filled with incredible hardship. As they approached Antarctica Shackleton’s ship got stuck in the ice and after several weeks it was crushed between the massive flows. His team had to abandon the ship and they set out on the ice using dog sleds but bone-weary and famished they were forced to turn back less than 100 miles from their destination. In his diary, Shackleton tells of the moment their food was almost gone and they were down to a few scraps of hardtack-which is a bland, dried biscuit. Shackleton distributed the hardtack evenly among the men. Some hungrily ate it right there and then, licking the crumbs off their fingers like starved dogs. Others stored it in their food bags for a time when their hunger worsened. That night, Shackleton awoke to a sound. He opened his eyes and, lying still, watched. In the ragged circle of firelight he saw a sight that made his heart sink. He saw his most trusted man opening the sack of the fellow next to him and taking out his food bag. And then Shackleton saw a sight that made his heart leap: His most trusted man placing his own hard tack into the other man’s bag. He wasn’t stealing bread. He was sacrificing his own.
Friends, that’s goodness-a inner virtue that issues forth into outward acts-acts that are selfless. And-this is one of the things that makes genuine goodness so special-so good because apart from God’s grace most of us naturally tend to be concerned about our responsibilities, our problems, our plans. But the person who, with God’s power, has learned to make every effort to wear the garment of goodness has expanded his thinking outside of himself and has developed a genuine interest in the happiness and well-being of those around him-even if it requires personal sacrifice.
We tend to think that the opposite of good is bad, but I would agree with Gene Appel from Willow Creek who says that the opposite of good is actually selfishness. 2 Timothy 3:1-2 says, “Mark this. There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves-not lovers of the good.” In other words in these last days, the bad guys are usually those people who care only about themselves. On the opposing side of the field of life are the good guys and they are those who love not self-but rather they love “wearing” this garment of grace. That’s their “uniform.” They are the ones who put on goodness and do good deeds that benefit others even if it costs them to do so. They are the ones who take on the burdens of others. They are the ones who allow their hearts to break for the hurting people of this world.
(3) A third thing we should note about this virtue is this: Doing good feels good.
Proverbs 11:17 says, “Your own soul is nourished when you are kind. It is destroyed when you are cruel.” This lines up with what Jesus says in Acts 20:35: “It is more blessed to give than it is to receive.” In his book, Making Life Work, Bill Hybels tells of a time he was flying home to Chicago from Los Angeles. Instead of a quick flight, he endured several delays and canceled flights that combined to make the length of his journey five times what it would have been. This led him to be very ticked and exhausted as he got on the plane that would finally take him home. He collapsed in his seat and describes his grumpy mood by saying, “The only thing I wanted to do was sin. I was thinking bad words and I wanted to say them, but I choked them back because I am a pastor which supposedly means I am a Godly man.”
They were ready to back away from the gate when a woman suddenly rushed through the door and began stumbling down the aisle carrying an assortment of bags that were spilling all over the place. Hybels writes, “What made her situation nearly impossible was that she had one eye literally sewn shut and she seemed to be unable to read her seat number with her other eye. The flight attendants were nowhere to be seen, undoubtedly huddled in the back playing cards (I was thinking the worst about everybody by that time). I was fuming and feeling sorry for myself when I heard God say, ‘Yeah, Bill, I know this has not been a banner day for you. You’ve missed flights and waited on the tarmac and stood in lines and all that stuff you hate. You’re feeling pretty beat up and frustrated. But you have a chance now to turn the whole thing around by getting up out of your seat and showing kindness to a desperate woman. I won’t make you do it but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised if you do.'”
Hybels obediently got up, made every effort and put on goodness. He walked down the aisle, asked if he could help the woman, and discovered she didn’t speak English so he picked up her bags, and motioned for her to follow him as he helped her find her seat. He stowed her stuff, helped her take off her coat, hung it up for her, and made sure her seat belt was fastened and that she was good to go. Only then did he return to his seat. He says, “When I sat down, a wave of warmth and well-being flowed through me. The frustration and anxiety that had filled me for most of the day started to dissipate. I felt like my parched, dusty soul had just been washed by a warm summer rain. For the first time in almost 18 hours I felt good.”
Hybels discovered the truth of this Proverb. Our souls are nourished when we do good. When we do good we feel good. Have you ever had an experience like that? You didn’t feel like being kind. You didn’t want to help that person. but you obeyed the Holy Spirit of God in you and put on this virtue and when you did when you acted good to others-you felt good? I know I’ve been there. It really does feel good to do good. Ironically, it makes our burdens lighter when we take on the burdens of others. Perhaps this is why it is said that Jesus “endured the cross for the joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). There is indeed a joy that comes from obedience to God. It is more blessed to give and the only people who don’t know that are the people who have never tried it.
Now-why do you think this is true? Why does it feel so good when we do good?
(A) Another reason we experience this feeling, is because we are made in the image of God.
And as Psalm 73:1 puts it, “Surely God is good!” Goodness is part of God’s nature. By the way, in the beginning of the English language, the word, “good” carried the same connotation as the name, “God.” And in Jewish tradition, the phrase, “The Good” was actually used to refer to God. Maybe this is why we call God’s Book-the Bible-the “Good Book.”
I think our feeling good after our good actions is actually God’s pat on our backs. When we do good, our good God smiles and says, “That’s what I hoped you would do! Way to go! I’m so proud of you!” In our household, we usually tune in to the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies on TV and if you do as well then you know it’s always wise to have some tissue handy because the Hallmark commercials they show during those films are real tear jerkers. One of my favorites is the one where a little boy comes home from school. He’s looking all over his room for one of his toys-a lunar module I think, while his mom sits on his bed and goes through his back-pack to make sure there’s nothing alive in there-which mothers have to do every day when their sons are that age. Among other typical “boy” things she finds a Hallmark card from his teacher thanking him for staying in during recess to play with a handicapped class-mate who couldn’t go out on the play ground. Do you remember the mother’s proud smile and the way she praised her son for his good acts!
When we do good, when we pattern our lives after Jesus, Who “went around doing good” (Acts 10:38), when we do good like Him, we feel our Heavenly Father’s proud smile. We feel his pleasure-which is part of what makes us feel good when we do good.
(B) That leads to a second reason we experience joy when we “wear” this garment of grace. You see, God designed us to do good.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Think of that-there are specific good works, God custom-made you to do. So, when we do them, we fulfill part of our purpose for being alive. We grab hold of a piece of our destiny. When we do good, we do what we were designed to do.
The great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, willed his marvelous violin to Genoa-the city of his birth-but only on condition that the violin never be played. It was an unfortunate condition in his will, because wood shows little wear as long as it is used. When it is not used-when it is discarded and lays idle-well then wood begins to decay and that’s what has happened to Paganini’s violin. The exquisite, mellow-toned instrument has become brittle and worm-eaten in its beautiful case, valueless except as a relic. I think his decaying violin serves as a reminder for us-that a life withdrawn from all service to others-the life of someone who does nothing good-loses its meaning. It misses out on the abundance Jesus promises us as His children. Let me ask, do you feel like Paganini’s violin is your life kind of moldy and meaningless right now, or do you feel fit as a fiddle that is used to benefit others?
With our understanding of this virtue strengthened, several questions come to mind. We look at all the good that desperately needs doing in this fallen world and we are overwhelmed and ask: “When are we to do good? Where? To whom? How often?” To wear Godly goodness requires a plan because as finite individuals we can’t possibly respond to every need in the universe. Committing random acts of kindness may be a nice idea and a catchy slogan for mugs and T-shirts and bumper stickers but in reality we may have to apply a bit of thoughtful strategy. So what does the Bible say that helps us feel less overwhelmed by the implications that come from applying this virtue to our daily lives?
(1) Here’s the first. Do good, find a concrete way to help, but only the truly needy.
Proverbs 3:27 says, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.” This verse implies that there are those who don’t deserve acts of goodness. A clear example of this is a group of people in the church in Thessalonica during the first century. Paul wrote to the Christians there to help with the situation. Apparently believers in that city had established a food pantry to feed those who were unable to work and provide for themselves. However, some able-bodied men and women saw the food pantry as their ticket to easy living. So they quit their jobs and began to live off the goodness of the responsible, hard-working, compassionate believers who had stocked the pantry shelves. In other words, people who were not needy took food from the mouths of those who were. Listen to Paul’s very clear teaching on the matter. In 2nd Thessalonians 3:6-15 he says,
“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”
Pretty clear instructions-wouldn’t you agree? The text from Proverbs I read a moment ago says that some people do genuinely need our help and we are called to help them. No doubt about that. But it also says that those who try to take advantage of goodness don’t deserve it. We must not waste our limited supply of goodness on people who are not really needy. Doing so “steals” from people who are truly hurting. Now-when in doubt always do good. As Paul says, “never tire of doing what is right.” Don’t let lazy, selfish people harden your heart toward the truly needy. It’s better to err by trying to do good even when we are taken advantage of. But if you can, make sure your good acts meet a legitimate need. Before you give money check on the charity that asks for your contribution. When possible, if someone asks for food, give them food instead of money that so often goes to buy things that do more harm than good.
(2) That leads to a second Biblical guideline I want to mention. Do good, minister to people, but only if it really helps.
Proverbs 16:26 says, “The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on.” These words may sound cruel-but what Solomon is saying is that, hunger and other kinds of personal need can be good for us in that they motivate us to work hard. Don’t misunderstand me here-but any acts of goodness that diminish the recipients’ drive to work hard and meet their own needs is mis-spent goodness. It robs them of the unique God-given blessing that comes from working. You know, many people embrace the erroneous belief that work was God’s penalty for man’s disobeying His one rule in the Garden of Eden. And, whereas it is true that sin did lead to consequences that have tainted our work, we mustn’t forget that God introduced the concept of human labor before the fall. When Adam and Eve were still innocent of sin, God gave them jobs to do. Adam was to name the animals and both he and Eve were to tend the Garden and prepare food.
Why would a loving God put His children to work as soon as He created them? Why not just give them lawn chairs and lemonade and put them on the beach somewhere? He did this simply because He knew that human labor was a blessing. He knew that work would provide them with challenges, excitement, adventure, and fulfillment that nothing else would. And God still knows that creatures created in His image benefit from devoting their time to meaningful, creative tasks. Ecclesiastes 5:18 refers to this principle when it says, “it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him.” So, work was not a punishment for the fall. Work was and still is a wonderful blessing. This is why, as Calvin Miller puts it, “God has always been against unemployment.”
I know welfare reform has been a hot issue at times-and I’m not saying we don’t have a responsibility to help the unfortunate or those who are unable to work. But what I do think the Bible teaches is that often the best good we can do for someone is giving them meaningful work instead of an unearned pay check.
(3) Here’s a third Biblical principle: Do good, help others, but only for the right reasons.
In Luke 14:12-14 Jesus said,
“When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; If you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.”
Jesus is not discouraging family gatherings here. No, of course not. The principle our Lord is proclaiming is that we must not do good in order to benefit ourselves. As I said earlier, true goodness is selfless. Jesus is saying-we must not do good things that will yield some future reward for us personally.
Another thing. We must not do good to be seen. Do you remember Ephesians 2:10 that I quoted earlier? Paul says, “We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do, that we should walk in them.” That word “walk” suggests our common, everyday experience-not the unusual and heroic-not the actions that are sure to make us noticed. I mean, we all love the spotlight. We want to be seen and therefore known as good people but that’s not godly goodness. No-our Heavenly Father has created us to do our good works in the midst of the often-unseen humdrum of daily living, but many of us ignore this and aim for those kinds of good acts that are big and noticeable.
Bridges writes, “Much of the happiness of the world depends upon what are termed little things; and it is rare that God honors us with heroic and famous distinctions in doing good.” I think we all daydream of building a house for Extreme Make-Over and being televised as we say, “Move that bus so the world can see the big goodness I have done!” We all dream of giving a million dollars to some needy cause and telling the story of our great act of goodness on Good Morning America. Buchanan refers to these big noticeable things and says, “We admire this kind of glorious martyrdom but Jesus calls us to die a little every day.”
In 1 Timothy 5:9-10 Paul gives us an illustration of the ordinariness of most good deeds. He says that in order for a widow to qualify for church assistance, she must be, “well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble, and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.” None of these items on Paul’s list is especially exciting or glamorous. They are simply opportunities to do good in the course of daily living. Bridges says, “The challenge is for us to be alert for these opportunities and see them not as interruptions or as inconveniences but as occasions for us to do the good works that God has planned for us.”
I’m reminded of a goodness that Bobby and Kim experienced this week. They have the keys to their new house but their lawn mower is still in the mover’s warehouse so Bobby asked Angela if he could borrow theirs. The next day Pat and James showed up and mowed the Cook’s new lawn. Pat and his family saw an opportunity to do good in an everyday sort of way and they did it. That’s goodness! By the way, Pat, when my leaves finish falling in a few weeks, could I “borrow” a rake?
I hope these guidelines don’t discourage you from doing good. If they do, then hear Proverbs 3:27 again, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it.” Please don’t miss those first four words: Do not withhold good. Don’t shrink back or chicken out or get lazy or turn the other way when an opportunity to do good comes your way. Remember God is lavish in His goodness! He is good to us all the time and He has called us to do the same. aS John Wesley says, “Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you canto all the people you can as long as you ever can.”
And imagine how our world could be transformed if the 2 billion people who call themselves Christians embraced Wesley’s way of thinking! What would it be like if the church universal followed God’s leading and wore this garment of grace every day doing genuine good for the truly needy for all the right reasons! One reason our world is as bad as it is one reason this is a dream and not a reality is because most believers don’t obey this part of the dress code. They don’t let the call to goodness penetrate their hearts and minds and souls and mouths and hands and feet and bank accounts. I mean, how many opportunities to do good did you miss yesterday or just this morning?
(4) Now, before we end this service I want to say one more thing. As people who have personally experienced the amazing grace of God we must remember that the best good we can give someone is Jesus.
Think of it. The greatest suffering, the greatest burden people bear in life, is not physical. No. It’s the soul-wrenching burden of sin that separates them from God and makes them terrified of a death they cannot stop. The greatest need people have is not tangible. It is spiritual, because lost people need the Lord. Only Jesus can take away their sin burden and reconcile them to God. How many opportunities to do that have you missed? How many divine appointments have you avoided? Remember, if you only meet physical need, you aren’t really helping that person over the long haul. The only good gift that truly keeps on giving is when we lead them to respond to what Jesus did for them on the cross. When we give people Jesus we give them everything.
Closing Prayer
Father God,
Speak to us now. Soften our hardened hearts. Make them tender for the people all around us who are in physical and spiritual need. With the power of Your Spirit in us-enable us to see genuine need and respond in ways that help. Make us sensitive to need that often goes unnoticed. As a church, we know that we are called to be Your body-help us to act like it-by using our hands and feet to do good. Thank Your for this Garment of Grace-thank You for every opportunity you give us to put it on and experience the joy of joining You in Your work. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen