Introduction

Discover how the goodness of God transforms our understanding of human nature. In this powerful message, Revd. Mark Fletcher explores how God’s inherent goodness, first declared at creation, is being restored in us through Christ. Learn why goodness isn’t about being perfect, but about being reconciled to the God who is restoring His image in you.

Are people basically good or are they basically bad? What do you think? Mm-hmm. It is a perennial question, and on one hand you could give countless examples of people’s acts of selflessness and kindness and bravery and generosity. However, you would be very brave to run a business based on people’s inherent goodness. We have accountants and auditors for a very good reason and any serious reading of history or science will leave you with a rather grim picture of the human condition. Our biology and our history look a lot like the survival of the fittest, and so I would like to suggest that the reason why we find that question very hard to answer is that there isn’t a simple answer. One of the reasons why Christianity is so intellectually compelling is that what it offers is a way to make sense of that complexity of the human condition, both our potential for great good, but also our potential for great wickedness. So we are looking at the next in our series on the Fruit of the Spirit. And this one is goodness. But I think we have a problem because we aren’t very sure what we mean by that. If you were to say to a child, be good, I think what you actually mean is don’t be bad. It’s true, isn’t it? Goodness is hard to express other than in the negative. So don’t be selfish, don’t be greedy, don’t be cruel or angry, and so on. And I think as a result, Christianity is much better known for what it is against than what it’s for. The 10 Commandments are mostly don’t do something, aren’t they? But I think it’s true in our culture as well. Good characters are hard to write. They tend to almost end up either being rather prim and judgemental or hypocritical and goodness is perceived as dull. And heroes have to have a dark side to be interesting. And so one narrative is that all goodness is fraudulent. No one is actually good. There is always some hidden agenda or selfish motive. And that claiming to be good is simply a way to judge others or to have some power over them or to exclude them. And of course there is biblical warrant for that position that Jesus says no one is good but God alone, when he is talking to the rich, young ruler and those who claim to be good in the gospel stories very often turn out not to be so. Think of the Pharisees who Jesus calls hypocrites. And so we have a problem with the idea of goodness, but the good news is that the heart of Christianity is not being good. It is good news. As the apostle Paul writes in Romans, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that comes by Christ Jesus. That is the gospel that you are reconciled to God, not by being good enough, not by your good works, but by trusting in Jesus. You can never be good enough, but by faith you can be forgiven and reconciled and redeemed. But where then does that leave this idea of goodness? Is there no place for it? Well, of course, goodness is one of the fruits of the spirit. There was a lovely quote by the excellent Samwise Gamgee. Do you remember from Lord of the Rings? He says, I believe that there is still some good in this world and it is worth fighting for, and I believe that too. Now, our reading was from the creation story in the book of Genesis and you heard the story of God creating the heavens and the earth and then creating man and woman in his image. And then verse 31, God saw all that he had made and it was very good. And so it’s interesting that in the account of creation as he creates all of the different parts of the physical world, God looks at them and says, it is good. But when human beings are in place, when they are in their right role and relationship with creation, with each other and with God, God looks at it and says, it’s very good. Now, of course, you know how the story unfolds. Human beings rebel against God. That image of God that they carry is marred. The goodness of creation is scarred by their actions. Evil comes into the world, greed and lies and violence seem to take precedent, but in actual fact, that image of God remains. You and I remain image bearers of the creator. And so that is the biblical picture of the human condition, and I think it’s so important. This is who we are. Made in God’s image capable of amazing things. But that image is distorted, like if you imagine a broken mirror, which still reflects but does so in a distorted fashion. As image bearers, we are capable of great kindness, great creativity, great compassion and great love, but we are also inherently flawed. Martin Luther puts it like this. He says, human beings hearts are turned in on themselves. There’s a selfishness and a complexity about us, and we don’t understand ourselves. Jeremiah puts it like this. The human heart is deceitful above all things who can understand it? And that complexity is our identity. So what does goodness mean if it is a fruit of the spirit, if it’s something that God can bring to bear in us? So the word that is used is a quite unique one in the Galatians passage, it’s a word, agathosune which means a kind of an inherent goodness or wholeness. And so in many ways what it’s speaking of is that goodness that was there at creation. When God looks and says it is good, that’s the goodness that the fruit of the Spirit is talking about. And so there is this sense that what God is doing in us is restoring that original state of goodness, that through Christ we are being liberated from the corruption of sin and the selfishness of our hearts, and that original goodness is being restored. That restoration begins at the cross. The bondage of sin is broken and we are set free. And there’s a lovely sense, you know that it’s not just us, but the whole of creation. So Romans eight says, all creation waits in eager longing to be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom of the children of God. You see what God is doing is restoring that broken goodness. It’s a wonderful thing. And the goodness that we see in the world and that we see in one another is either an echo of God’s good creation or a glimpse of his new creation. Goodness is not simply an act. It is being what you were created to be. It is as if we were singing in tune with God’s good creation, singing in harmony with eternity. Goodness is the beginning of the restoration of all things. And of course it will not be completed this side of eternity, but it can be seen here and now, and it is to be celebrated. Great Bible translator, William Tyndale put it this way. He said, God’s goodness is the root of all goodness and our goodness, if we have any, springs out of his goodness. Goodness, of course will have a moral quality, but it isn’t simply about morality. It’s about an inherent goodness, an inherent restoration of who we were created to be. And so I think it’s something that we need to celebrate in one another and in ourselves, wherever we see it. Just as we are able to delight in God’s good creation, the night sky or the beauty of the mountains, or the wonders of the autumn colours, so we should rejoice in the goodness that we see around us. And we should tell better stories about goodness. I think there’s a danger that our world doesn’t really believe in goodness. I want you to be the reason why people believe in goodness. In the early church the church told the stories of saints who were heroes of faith and of godliness. They were models of goodness. We don’t do that quite so much anymore but I’m struck that actually you are the saints. It’s your job to be examples of goodness of restored humanity. I’d love us to be better at identifying models of goodness. There’s an interesting thing that is very hard to write. Good characters, good characters in literature. And somebody once said, it’s quite the test of an author to turn a virtuous life into a compelling story. And some of the greatest authors of all have failed it. But there are some wonderful examples. Do you have a favourite good character in literature? There is Samwise Gamgee, who we’ve already quoted, who has a, I don’t know, there’s a sort of just a loyalty and a faithfulness and an incorruptibility to him and a bravery, which is just good. Who else? I love Jane Eyre. I think she’s got such integrity. She’s so much simply herself. She’s so truthful and courageous. There’s a book called East of Eden which I love, and there’s a character in that called Samuel Hamilton. And there’s just this wisdom about him and compassion. He’s a slightly saintly figure. Or right now I’m reading a book or rereading a book called Gilead by Marilyn Robinson. And the figure at the heart of that is called Reverend John Ames. And he’s far from perfect but he is simply good. We should celebrate goodness. We should seek it in others and celebrate where we find it. But of course, our ultimate model of goodness is Jesus, and he is the one who shows the lie that goodness is dull. There is no more compelling figure in history. And so goodness is a fruit of the spirit. It is a product of God’s work in us. It is not a way to acceptance by God, but it is a consequence of our reconciliation with God. In fact, I’m struck that all of our goodness will be marked by an awareness of our not good enoughness. There will be a humility to it. But it is a joyful beginning of the restoration of who you were created to be. Steinbeck puts it this way. Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. Like the tree planted in good earth by streams of water and bearing its fruit in season, so our lives are called to bear simple goodness. And all goodness is as rich and unique as we are. No two humans are created to be the same. And so our restored humanity has a uniqueness to it. You are called to be the first fruits of the new creation an icon or a reminder of the goodness that is to be found in God’s good earth. And we look forward to the day when we see humanity and creation restored to that original goodness. And we will say with all of heaven, this is very good. Amen.