Main Idea: The Spirit’s goodness within me cannot ignore the wrong around me.

On September 11, 2001, David Karnes was at his accounting office in Wilton, Connecticut, watching on television the horror unfolding at the World Trade Center in New York City. David Karnes is a devout Christian and when he saw the second plane hit the second tower he knew he had a mission ahead of him. Karnes had spent 23 years in the infantry as a United States Marine and felt a deep sense of duty to help. He told his colleagues, "We’re at war" and told his boss he wouldn’t be around for a while.

David Karnes immediately got a military haircut, went home and put on a pressed set of Marine fatigues, grabbed his gear, got into his car and headed to New York. Before he left town he went by his church and asked his pastor and church family to pray for him. By the providence of God, Karnes was waved through several checkpoints and arrived at "the pile" of rubble that was the World Trade Center around 5:30 p.m. This was the same time the first responders were being pulled off the pile due to darkness and flames that were shooting up from the debris.

Karnes encountered another Marine named Jason Thomas and the two of them went onto the pile to search for anyone who still might be alive. Together they cried out, "United States Marines, if you can hear us, yell or tap." After an hour of searching and calling out they heard a voice from under the debris. They zeroed in on the sound and were able to locate two Port Authority police officers, Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLanglin, who had been trapped for nine hours in the wreckage of the Twin Towers.

Will Jimeno was afraid Karnes would leave so he shouted, " Don’t leave us!" Karnes reportedly responded, "We won’t leave you. You are our mission." It wasn’t long before Jimeno was removed from the wreckage and six hours later McLanghlin was saved as well. Karnes followed Jimeno to the hospital and slept while the doctors operated on him. While he slept, the hospital cleaned and pressed his uniform. (Source: "An Unlikely Hero," by Rebecca Liss, Slate.com) Karnes would later spend nine days at the World Trade Center and reenlist in the Marines, serving in the Philippines and then in Iraq for seventeen months.

The actions of David Karnes were heroic but they are also a portrait of what we mean when we talk about the fruit of the Spirit called goodness. What David Karnes did that day was recognize that the Spirit’s goodness within him could not ignore the wrong around him. When faced with the reality of a horrible evil that marked that day, David Karnes reacted to the compelling of the Holy Spirit and made rescuing people his mission.

You may be thinking that David Karnes’ actions were heroic, brave or courageous but how can they be termed as "goodness?" The problem we have when we think about goodness is we immediately think of being nice and doing nice things. Showing the goodness of the Holy Spirit can involve doing nice things for someone and being nice to others. Yet the Bible makes it clear that the goodness of the Spirit and the actions of goodness called for in believers may not always appear nice. If one thing is good, it naturally implies that something else is wrong. If something is wrong then the Spirit’s goodness will not ignore it. The goodness of the Spirit will long to find a way to change what is wrong. The problem is that he will disturb our complacency with the wrong and call us to confront it with the Spirit’s goodness. What I want us to see today is that the Spirit’s goodness within me cannot ignore the wrong around me.

Our text for this series has come from Galatians 5:22-23. Galatians 5:22 says, "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness…" The word for goodness is a word that means something that is excellent, admirable or good. It is used only three times in the New Testament. It is very closely related to kindness yet has more of a sense of action to it. It essentially means meeting the need of someone else through or by your actions. Goodness is distinguished from kindness in that goodness seeks to do what will bring the most benefit rather than just do something nice or kind. "The purpose of this fruit of the Spirit is to do or bring that which is most beneficial, whether or not it is that which is most popular." (Beth Moore) While we said that kindness was "goodness-with-a-smile," goodness is "action with a purpose."

This morning I want you to look one chapter over in Galatians in chapter 6, verses 9-10. Paul said in Galatians 6:9, " So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time." This verse lets us know several things that the Bible tells us about goodness. The first thing you notice is that accomplishing goodness isn’t easy. In fact it can be exhausting. If it were easy to do then Paul would not have advised these Christians to not "get tired of doing what is good." The reason a person would get tired of doing what is good is because the goodness that the Spirit wants to produce through us is going to be opposed by the wrong that is around us. The forces of evil in this world are going to continually be in opposition to God and his purposes for our world. That is why Paul uses so many military analogies in his letters and would say at the end of his life, "I have fought the good fight" (II Tim. 4:7). Goodness isn’t easy.

It is entirely possible for believers to let the wrong around us cause us to "get discouraged and give up." The words actually describe a soldier in battle who turns cowardly and runs from the battle. Whatever good you would feel led by God to do you can know that the forces working against you are determined to make you want to quit. Yet he reminds these believers that their actions of goodness will not be forgotten. He says that by not giving up " we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time." In other words, God doesn’t ignore the goodness that is produced through your life. You may imagine that it doesn’t matter or count but God remembers and assures us that it will be honored and rewarded. That may not happen now and it may be hard to see but God’s word promises blessings for our actions of goodness. Goodness isn’t forgotten.

Paul goes on to say that our actions of goodness are not limited to a select few. He says in verse 10, "Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone…." This is one of those verses that on the surface just says, "Be nice to everyone," but a deeper look at it says that our actions of goodness are not exclusive. It means that as a believer we look out on a world that is void of God’s goodness and when we open our eyes we begin to see points and places of things that are wrong. When we see them, really see them, the Spirit of God begins to make us uncomfortable and we know we can’t ignore the wrong. God has shown us the opportunity and the need is in front of us to do what is right. The choice then is ours. Will we let the Spirit’s goodness work to change what is wrong? That can be something as simple as a person needing a ride to work or realizing they need a car of their own to get to work. Actions of goodness move from being "everyone" to being "someone" who needs the wrong made right. Goodness isn’t exclusive.

Galatians 6:9-10 tells us that goodness isn’t easy, isn’t forgotten and isn’t exclusive. There’s another statement that Paul makes about what is good that really will make us uncomfortable. Romans 12:9 says, "…Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good." This tells us two things. First, it tells us that goodness isn’t relative. By that I mean the Bible is clear that there are things that are wrong and things that are good. Our culture desires that you and I see the individual as defining what is good. That we are the final authority for what we think to be good and what we think to be wrong. The Bible, however, is our authority on what is good and what is wrong, not you and I. There are things in our world that are to be good and there are things in our world that need to be accepted as unquestionably wrong. The "wrong" and the "good" for a Christian are not left to our choice. Goodness isn’t relative.

A second thing this verse says is that goodness isn’t harmless. Did you catch the militant expression in those words, "Stand on the side of the good" The other translations say, "Cling to what is good." It’s the word for the bond that a man and a woman have in marriage. The thought is that as a believer we can’t divorce ourselves from what is good but we are to defend it and stand for it with all the vigilance we can. If we choose to "stand on the side of the good," then know you are going to be a threat to somebody. That somebody may be a person but it is ultimately Satan himself. When you accept that goodness isn’t relative and you become militant about what is good, you are going to cease to be harmless! This is where it will take courage, boldness and just plain guts to defend what is good. Goodness isn’t harmless.

I want you to look at one more verse in Romans 12. It’s verse 21. It says, "Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good." When you and I allow God’s Spirit to lead us to challenge the wrong with the Spirit’s goodness, we are gong to be opposed. That opposition can wear us down and try to overwhelm us. Our temptation will be to strike back in revenge and want to get even. Yet Paul says that it will be goodness, our actions of goodness, that can conquer or vanquish evil. It is important to notice that again Paul uses military terms to describe the conflict because we think of evil as powerful and good as weak. Yet what he says is that goodness isn’t weakness! Goodness has the power to defeat evil! What is wrong can be conquered not by the spirit of revenge and retribution but by doing what is good. Goodness isn’t weakness.

This past Monday, a deranged man named Charles Carl Roberts went to a school in the Amish community of Nickle Mines, PA. There he killed five girls and wounded several others before taking his own life. That unspeakable act of violence was compounded by the fact that it occurred among a people known for their faith in God, devotion to community and a desire to live freely in peace.

What has made the event more mind-boggling to the watching world is the immediate offer and actions of forgiveness that the slain girls’ families have extended to the family of the murderer. They have gone to Robert’s widow’s home, invited her to the funerals, and included her family in any fund set up to assist with costs and expenses. And of the 75 people at Carl Roberts’ funeral Saturday, half of them were Amish. They believe literally in the words of Jesus to "love your enemies" and by offering forgiveness have shown the entire world that it is possible to "conquer evil by doing good." This community of faith and innocence has demonstrated that goodness isn’t easy, isn’t exclusive, isn’t forgotten, isn’t relative, isn’t harmless and isn’t weak!

Let me ask you: Are you just wanting to be nice or are you wanting to let the Holy Spirit produce his goodness through you? If you want to be nice then you can keep on ignoring the wrong and pretend that all is well. However, if you are willing to see what the Holy Spirit wants you to see then you will become increasingly uncomfortable with the wrong around you. What will you do? What can you do? You may choose to allow the Spirit’s goodness to challenge the wrong quietly by prayer and less obvious ways. The Spirit’s goodness may cause you to challenge the wrong vocally, using your voice to speak out and speak up for what is good. The Spirit’s goodness can cause you to confront the wrong actively where you begin to participate deliberately in promoting what is good. However God leads you—quietly, vocally, actively—we must always do what is good gracefully. The Spirit’s goodness and human arrogance, pride or self-righteousness are incompatible.

Where do you start? That’s not a simple question to answer. The movie Radio is based upon the true story of a high school football coach (Ed Harris) and a developmentally challenged young man, known as "Radio" (Cuba Gooding Jr.), whom he takes under his wing. The coach invites Radio to team practice sessions. He drives him back to his home. He invites him to school, to be a part of the class. In one scene, Radio’s mother and coach Jones are seated at her kitchen table having a talk.

Mother: You know coach, it wasn’t that long ago, I see you drive up in that truck of yours and be wonderin’ why you’re doin’ what you’re doin’. So, why are you doin’ what you’re doin?"

Coach: "I figure it’s the right thing to do."

Mother: But there’s a whole lot out there that’s right. Don’t mean we always do it."

There’s an inexhaustible supply of the Spirit’s goodness in the lives of the people of Christ. There’s a whole lot out there that’s wrong in our world. Christians can go on being satisfied with being nice and choose to ignore the wrong. Or we can let the Spirit’s goodness within you make you so uncomfortable that you cannot ignore the wrong around you! Being nice or doing good-they are not always the same thing!

Sunday, October 8, 2006 a.m.

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org