This is the sermon preview of sermon five of nine in the preaching series Elect Spiritual Fruit. To watch a recording of this message, visit FBCM’s services and sermons page.
"Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" - Matthew 5:16
“...[A]nd if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” – from Isaiah 58:6-10
Good and bad are such broad words in our language. In these short words, we hide a whole host of concepts. A movie can be good, but so can a selfless person who sacrifices themselves for the good of others in a way so incomprehensible, so awe-inspiring that it leads one speechless. Similarly, a slightly burned meal can be bad, and so can a ruthless, bloodthirsty dictator bent on merciless destruction.
When the Bible speaks of "good" and "light," as it does in the passages above, it speaks of compassion and justice. The sort of justice which comes from God. The sort of righteousness that God gives as a task, a job, a purpose for his people.
Goodness reflects the character of the God who remembers the widow, the orphan, the poor and the needy. That is the quality of the goodness expected of all those who seek to reflect Godliness in their lives.
Does this mean all these works are up to us? Is this "works-righteousness" (the idea one earns salvation by their good deeds) rearing its head again? By no means. It is by grace we are saved (Ephesians 2:8), and we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph. 2:10).
While works do not save us, it is also true that the Christian has a character of life. As Christopher J.H. Wright wrote:
"We are not, and could never be, saved by any amount of good works. But we are saved by God's grace in order to live transformed lives in which doing good is a key part."
Join us this Sunday as we consider just what God's goodness looks like as we elect (choose) Goodness in our lives.
Reflections:
Where have you see God's goodness in your life? Are there ways you have seen God's goodness reflected in the quality of life that others have (by this, I mean their character)?
One of the explicit reasons given (though by no means the only reason) for doing good deeds as that others might see the good works of God's people and praise not us, but our Father in heaven. What do you think people most notice about Christians in our society? If it's not goodness, what is it? What do you think this causes people to think about God?
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