Our Awesome God is Good (Phil. 2:5-11)

Our Awesome God is God

INTRODUCTION:
Someone has said that the love of God is like the Amazon River flowing down to water one daisy. When I first read that, I saw the water overwhelming the daisy to the point that it kills it. You can water flowers too much.

But the goodness of God is the love of God in action; it is the love of God as it works out in the life of God’s children. That being true, the Amazon River would water the daisy with just the right amount of water, and minerals, and it would not wash away the soil underneath the flower. It would give it everything the flower needs, forever.

That is the goodness of God.

“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”- Robert Robinson

We are in ever present need of the Lord’s help to keep our faith alive and guide us in following him.

We have studied 10 qualities of the nature of our God this year, up to this point.

God is One
God is Three
God is Omnipotent
God is Beautiful
God is Truth
God is Immortal
God is Immutable
God is Omniscient
God is Light
God is Jealous

These lessons are available to watch again on our YouTube channel as well as on Spotify. Next month, we will see that God is merciful. Today, we want to discuss that God is good.

You will notice a few of these qualities begin with the prefix “omni.” That comes from the Latin which means “all.” So when we say God is “omnipotent,” we mean God is “all-powerful.” When we say God is “omniscient,” we mean He is “all-knowing.” Today, when we say God is “omnibenevolent,” we mean God is “all-good.” That is, God cannot NOT be good; He cannot NOT do good.

GOD IS GOOD:
Of course the most well-known attribute of God is His love (1 John 4:8). I have not had a lesson on God’s love until now. “Goodness” is the visible sign of God’s love. God doesn’t just talk the talk. He walks the walk. He shows His love by His actions, by His goodness.

There is a word used in the Hebrew which describes the love of God in this way. The word is chesed and it is most often perhaps translated into English as “loving kindness.” Your translation might also have “steadfast love.” The essence of this Hebrew word is that of loyalty, which is compelled by love, that results in kindness or goodness. The word is used 245 times in the OT, which means based on how my Bible is laid out, every 5 1/2 pages uses this word.

God is love and He puts that love into action for the benefit of mankind.

First, a few texts that show God’s goodness:

Isaiah 63:9 - “In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.” Notice that Isaiah describes God as empathizing with His people, in their affliction He was afflicted. That sure anticipates the incarnation. Then Isaiah says “in His love and mercy,” He redeemed them. The redemption is God’s action, His goodness.

Jeremiah 31:3 - “The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.” God’s love is “everlasting” and it is coupled here with “lovingkindess” or “steadfast love.” Loving loyalty or loving goodness.

In Hosea, the nation of Israel is describe as God’s wife and she has been spiritually (sexually) unfaithful to God. But, listen to the words of God through Hosea in 11:4: “I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.” Again, notice that even though Hosea mentions the love of God, it is here described in the context of God doing something for Israel. Because that’s what love is - it does.

Let’s share a few verses from the NT…

John 3:16 - “love gave”
Romans 5:5 - "hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Love poured out…

Everything God has done, is doing, and will do, flows from His loving nature and it is “good.”

It was good that God made man in His image. Among things this means is that man can know God, communicate with God, have a relationship with God. Live with God.

God made mankind in two forms - male and female. This way we can know others, have relationships with others, we can communicate with one another, we can have relationships with one another. God made so that we could enjoy life. That is good.

When man sinned, God promised that He would take care of that sin problem by becoming man Himself. That is good.

In the days of Noah when the whole world was evil and man’s thoughts were only evil continually, God could have destroyed the whole world and no one would have known anything different. But instead, God gave Noah the pattern for the ark and God saved Noah and his family and God kept the whole human race alive - that is good. Not only that, but He had that story recorded in the Bible so that we could study that story over and over and over again so that we could be inspired by the goodness of God.

In fact, every time God chose to forgive, that is an act of His goodness. Every time God accepted an animal sacrifice instead of killing an Israelite who sinned against Him, that is God’s goodness.

When God gave Israel the Law through Moses, to teach them how to love God supremely and serve their fellowman sacrificially, that was God’s goodness. The apostle Paul writes that the Law of Moses “is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12).

Everything God does is good. Giving mankind the right to choose to love and serve Him is a reflection of God’s goodness. Forced love is a contradiction, right? So if God loves, He allows man the right, the freedom, the choice, to serve Him or not. Now, because of God’s other attributes, like His holiness, God cannot tolerate sin. But, it is His goodness that allows Him to offer His Son as a sacrifice for us.

THE INCARNATION IS THE EPITOME OF GOD’S GOODNESS:
Philippians 2:5-11. Jesus coming in the flesh is the supreme example of God’s goodness. The cross of Christ is the complete example of God’s love working itself out. That God would allow Jesus to be sacrificed for us is good.

Jesus giving His life for us is a reflection of Jesus’ goodness. Galatians 2:20.

Jesus is good. When people were hungry, Jesus fed them. That is goodness.

When people were confused, Jesus guided them. That is goodness.

When people were ignorant, Jesus taught them. That is goodness.

When people were hurting, Jesus encouraged them. That is goodness.

Practically all the miracles Jesus performed were reflections of His goodness.

In Luke 18:18ff, a young Jewish ruler came to Jesus to ask Him what to do to inherit eternal life. He called Jesus “Good Teacher” and Jesus responded, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.” Then Jesus tells the man he needs to keep the Ten Commandments, but one thing he lacked. He loved material things too much. But anyone, Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone.” Was Jesus disavowing being “good?” Certainly not. He would be denying reality if He were to do that and Jesus was “truth.”

Rather, we have at least two things going on here. First, Jesus was telling the man if he wants to go to heaven, he has to go to the one who is inherently good - and that alone is God. You have to listen to God and obey God if you want to go to heaven. Secondly, because Jesus was God-in-the-flesh, He was also sending a message that the ruler could have taken away; that is, Jesus is God and therefore, He is good.

GOD CALLS US TO BE GOOD:
Among the fruit of the Spirit is goodness (Gal. 5:22). That is, if we are led by the Spirit, then we will be good. If we are not being good, then we are not being led by the Spirit.

In Romans 15:14, Paul complimented the Christians in Rome by saying that he was convinced they were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish each other. So goodness has to work hand-in-hand with knowledge; God defines “goodness,” not humans. And, one result of goodness is that we “admonish” each other. This word means to correct and instruct. Also in the context of Romans 15, Paul is taking a collection from the Gentile Christians
for the Jewish Christians suffering from a famine. So our collection, our contribution is an act of goodness.

In Ephesians 5:9, Paul identifies the “fruit of the Light” as: goodness, righteousness, and truth. To be good is associated with being right. We are “good” toward our fellowman, and we are “righteous” in the eyes of God when we do what His truth tells us to do. In other words, Christianity has to be lived out in our lives on a daily basis. We don’t just come to worship. We ought to be good every single day. We can have all the right beliefs, but if we are not good toward our neighbors and even our enemies, then we cannot be righteous in the eyes of God.

Finally, in 2 Thessalonians 1:11, Paul writes that he prayed for those Christians so they would be considered worthy of their calling and that God would fulfill their desire for goodness along with a faith that worked with power. Do you desire to be good toward others? Christians should because we need to reflect the goodness of God.

The country music artist Clint Black has a song which says,

I remember well the day we wed
I can see that picture in my head
I still believe the words we said
Forever will ring true
Love is certain, love is kind
Love is yours and love is mine
But it isn't something that we find
It's something that we do

We help to make each other all that we can be
We can find our strength and inspiration independently
The way we work together is what sets our love apart
So closely that we can't tell where I end and where you start

Love is wide, love is long
Love is deep and love is strong
Love is why I love this song
And I hope you love it too
I remember well the day we wed
I can see that picture in my head
Love isn't just those words we said
It's something that we do
And we will. If we are good.

Take home message: Spread kindness like confetti and let the light of your goodness shine bright in a world that needs it most!