PUT ON GOODNESS Message 2 of 8: Dress Code of A Christian series II Peter 1:3-11 NIV

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "PUT ON GOODNESS Message 2 of 8: Dress Code of A Christian series II Peter 1:3-11 NIV"

Stella Waters
5 years ago
Views:

1 MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, 2009 CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NC Reggie A. Braziel, minister PUT ON GOODNESS Message 2 of 8: Dress Code of A Christian series II Peter 1:3-11 NIV (If you have your Bibles with you this morning, I would like for you to turn to our scripture text in II Peter chapter 1 and hold your place. We will be reading this scripture momentarily. ) Re-Introduction to Series If you will remember, last Lord s day we began an eight-part series entitled: The Dress Code of A Christian. In our scripture text from II Peter 1 we find eight virtues or eight spiritual garments every Christian must have in his or her wardrobe. In last week s message we learned the very first garment we must put on is the garment of FAITH. For without FAITH it is impossible to please GOD. (Hebrews 11:6) As we study the remaining seven virtues we will learn that all of them stem from our FAITH in GOD. In today s message we are challenged to PUT ON GOODNESS. Let s read our scripture text: II Peter 1:3-11 Before we get into the message, let s ask God s blessings on our time of study this morning.

2 Illustration: I want you to think back to a time in your childhood when special guests were coming to your house. Perhaps it was relatives or friends you hadn t seen in a long time. Or maybe it was the man your dad worked for. Or perhaps it was the preacher and his family. Before those guests ever arrived, do you remember what your parents told you to do? BE GOOD! (And my parents always added an or else on the end. ) When they said, Be good they were implying, Don t act like you normally act. Be Good meant, Mind your manners. Be polite Say yes sir and no sir or yes ma am and no ma am. And thank you and please. Be Good meant, No burping..no biting..no screaming. No yelling and No amusing stories about little family secrets. BE GOOD..or else!

3 The word GOOD is a word that is overused in our English language. - My goodness! - Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! - Good grief! - Good boy! - Good girl! - Good job! He s good in science! She s good in math! I hope you ve got GOOD brakes! Now that s a GOOD hamburger!.i m hungry for a GOOD steak! Eat your fruit and vegetables, they re GOOD for you! You better mind me if you know what s GOOD for you! He s a GOOD ol boy! She was a GOOD ol soul! It was GOOD of you to come! I m doing this for your own GOOD! *********** Peter tells us in verse 5 For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith GOODNESS As we think about PUTTING ON GOODNESS this morning, let s consider these three simple thoughts: First, OUR DIFFICULT STRUGGLE WITH GOODNESS Secondly, OUR DIVINE SOURCE OF GOODNESS And thirdly, OUR DAILY SHOWING OF GOODNESS *****

4 First of all, let s consider. I. Our Difficult Struggle With Goodness 1. Why is it so hard for us to be good? I believe Jesus answers that for us in the Gospel of Mark chapter 10. In that passage, we read the account of the Rich Young Ruler coming to Jesus asking, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answer to the Rich Younger Ruler revealed a very ugly truth about man. Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. No one is good except God alone. 2. One reason why it is so difficult for us to be GOOD is because we re NOT good. Jesus said, No one is good except who? Except GOD! The apostle Paul underscores this truth in Romans 3: There is no one righteous not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one! 3. Paul talked about his own struggle with goodness in ROMANS 7: Let s all turn that and read it. 4. I don t know about you but every time I read that scripture I can easily identify with Paul s struggle. I want to DO good.i try to DO good I have every INTENTION of doing good..but so often I fail miserably.

5 (A) Why is it so difficult for us to BE GOOD? One reason is because we have a SINFUL nature. Look again at what Paul said in verse 18 (Romans 7) I know that nothing GOOD lives in me, that is, in my SINFUL nature. What is our sinful nature? Our sinful nature is the old person we once were before we accepted Jesus Christ. It is that old nature we were born with that was prone to sin and evil. Let me illustrate what I mean. Back before Christmas (2008) my grandson, Zack, and I were putting down a new laminate floor in one of the bedrooms in our home. As we were taking the measurements of the room, Zack said, Pappy, it feels like this corner of the room isn t level. Sure enough when we put the level on it that corner of the room was almost an inch low from where the house had settled. To remedy the problem we bought a $30 bucket of Floor Leveler at LOWES. This floor leveler is a powdered plaster or cement like substance. And when you mix it with water and pour it out on the floor the mixture naturally flows toward the lowest point and when it hardens, ideally the floor should be level. Think of that floor leveler as our sinful nature. Our sinful nature has a tendency to gravitate toward the LOWEST point. -We develop bad habits we don t want to give up. -We develop bad attitudes we refuse to change. -We tell lies when we know we should tell the truth. -We gossip when we know we ought to keep our mouth shut. -We think things we shouldn t think. -We do things we shouldn t do. -We say things we shouldn t say. -We watch things we shouldn t watch. WHY? Because our SINFUL NATURE is inclined toward EVIL. Every single day we live we have a DIFFICULT STRUGGLE to do good.

6 (B) Another reason we have so much difficulty with goodness is because of the influence of our sinful world. John writes in I John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world----the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does---comes not from the Father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. Every single day our eyes, our ears, our minds and our hearts are assaulted by the evil influences of this world. Illustration: Not long ago I was watching a show on TV with my grandkids when all the sudden we were blind-sided by a Victoria s Secret commercial. Illustration: Linda and I used to like to watch the TV show ER every week. That is until several years ago we were watching it one night and they had one of their female doctors on the show engaging in a long, passionate kiss with her lesbian lover. We have never watched ER since! With these kinds of evil influences coming at us from every direction I believe we can understand now why GOODNESS is such a difficult struggle for all of us. Well if Jesus said, No one is good, except God alone. And we all have this sinful nature which is inclined toward evil. And we are all assaulted by the sinful influences of this evil world every day. How can any of us possibly PUT ON GOODNESS? Well let s consider

7 II. Our Divine Source of Goodness 1. Let s go back to our text in II Peter 1:3-5A. Because GOD alone is good, true goodness can only be found in a personal relationship with God. 2. The greek word Peter used in verse 5 for goodness is the word ARETEE (Ah-Ree-Tee) which means moral excellence. Moral excellence involves a whole lot more than outward acts of goodness. It involves goodness that can only be produced from a godly character within us. 3. I cannot produce goodness myself, but God can produce goodness in me and through me. How does God do that? He does it through His Holy Spirit. Paul writes in Galatians 5:22,23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, GOODNESS (there it is) faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 4. Is it possible for one to do outward acts of goodness and not be good? Absolutely! ADOLPH HITLER used to love to get his picture taken holding cute little furry animals or standing next to little children. And yet Hitler was responsible for the holocaust which resulted in the executions of over 6 million Jews. SADDAM HUSSEIN was often filmed playfully rubbing the heads of Iraqi children. Yet this was the same man who was responsible for committing genocide against hundreds of thousands of his own Iraqi people, including women and children.

8 JOHN WAYNE GACY used to dress up like a clown and throw elaborate block parties for children in his Chicago neighborhood. Yet this was the same man who murdered 33 young men and boys and buried them in the crawl space underneath his house. YES, it is very possible for one to do OUTWARD ACTS of goodness and not be good within. 5. TRUE GOODNESS starts with inward character not outward conduct. TRUE GOODNESS starts with who I am because of God rather than what I do as a human being. 6. The closer I get to God. The more I desire to please God and to do the will of God, the more of God s goodness the Holy Spirit produces within me. Well we have looked at Our Difficult Struggle With Goodness and Our Divine Source of Goodness. Finally, let s consider.. III. Our Daily Showing of Goodness 1. In other words, What can I do to demonstrate the goodness of God each day? There are many things we can do. Here are just a few. -I can show God s goodness by loving my neighbor as myself. (Matthew 22:39) -I can show God s goodness by praying for those who persecute me. (Matthew 5:44) - I can show God s goodness by doing good to those who hate me. (Matthew 5:44)

9 - I can show God s goodness by loving my enemies. -I can show God s goodness by blessing those who curse me. (Luke 6:28) -I can show God s goodness by lending to those who need to borrow from me. -I can show God s goodness by not judging others. (Luke 6:37) -I can show God s goodness by not being a stumbling block to others. -I can show God s goodness by hating what is evil and clinging to what is good. (Romans 12:9) -I can show God s goodness by abstaining from the very appearance of evil. (I Thessalonians 5:22) -I can show God s goodness by sharing the material blessings God has given me with others. 2. By demonstrating God s goodness each day, God can use me to make an eternal difference in someone s life! CONCLUSION As we close this morning, I want to leave with you the great challenge given to us by John Wesley back in the 1800 s. He said 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 can.. To all the PEOPLE you can As long as ever you can! PUT ON GOODNESS!

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and