Goodness

Lamentations 3:22-33

When Whitney Houston died, manyof us were shocked and deeply saddened.She was, after all, one of the greatest singers to have ever lived.  At her funeral, Kevin Costner, her co-star inthe early 90s classic, The Bodyguard,recalled the time when she did her screen test.Everyone on set was so excited to be in her presence, yet when it cametime to do her test, she was nowhere to be found.  Kevin began to frantically search for her,and he finally found her, staring intently at the mirror, with a sadexpression.  Kevin told her it was timefor her to do her test, and Whitney, peering deeply into the mirror wonderedaloud, “Do you think people will like me?Do you think I’m good enough?  Doyou think I’m good enough?”  Wow.  Here you have one of the greatest singersever, in a film that would feature her stunning voice, wondering if she wasgood enough.  You know, in our own way weall look into the mirror from time to time and wonder, “Am I good enough?”  We wonder if our performance really measuresup.  Goodness seems to be so elusive.

A“Good” Culture

Here’s the irony of goodness:Most people in our culture would consider themselves to be fundamentally goodat the end of the day.  You know, as I’veentered into spiritual conversations with people who aren’t followers of Jesus,I’ve found that just about everyone acknowledges sin.  Everyone would agree they’ve thought, saidand done things they should not.  We allpretty much co-sign on sin.  But the realbarrier comes when people conclude, that while they’ve sinned, they’re stillfundamentally good.  The reason theyarrive at this conclusion is because we are looking to other people as ourstandard for goodness.  So, yeh, sureI’ve lied, but I’m not a pedophile.Okay, I’ve gossiped, but I’m no murderer.  Yeh, I’ve indulged some in porn, but I givegenerously to that philanthropic cause.Look at the balance sheet at the end of the day and I end up in theblack.  I’m pretty much good, as theargument goes.  

The problem here of course isthe Christian worldview says we’re using the wrong standard.  Goodness, in the Bible is not ultimately amatter of your neighbor’s behavior, but the character of a holy, sinless God.  Now that changes the game.  It’s sort of like when I was in grade schooland failed a test I would always conduct my own Gallup poll, asking my studentswhat they got.  Now you know why I didthat, right?  I knew if everyone failedthe teacher would have to grade on a curve.But inevitably there’d be some know it all kid I’d want to lay hands onand not for prayer, why?  Because theybroke my curve.  Fundamentally, thiskid’s perfection changed the standard.That’s why Jesus was rejected.  Helived the life we could never live.  Hewas that kid who aced life, and through his actions created an impossiblestandard of goodness we have no hope of living up to outside of Christ.  The Christian worldview says we cannot begood on our own, because God, not our neighbor, is the standard.  

But on the other hand, while wemay think we’re good, our attempts at white knuckled morality, at striving,says that we don’t really think we’re good.And so to convince ourselves we’re good, many of us go down the path ofperformance.  In fact it was the socialpsychologist, Leon Festinger who put forward the social comparison theory inthe 1950’s.  He said we all have twoquestions, Why Am I here, and How am I doing?  In other words, we tend to judge our worthbased on how we stack up against others. We live in a performance orientedculture that seeks to feel better about themselves through theirachievement.  A recent NYT article pointsto this.  In this article theyinvestigated a growing trend among elite schools- a steady increase in depressionand suicide.  Interesting.  Here you have environments filled with thetop performers, and there’s suicide and depression?   Kathryn DeWitt, a student at the Universityof Penn had this to say, “As the elderchild of a civil engineer and preschool teacher in San Mateo, CA, Ms. DeWitt,now 20, has understood since kindergarten that she was expected to attend anelite college.  [Once there] She awokedaily at 7:30 a.m. and often attended club meetings until as late as10p.m.  She worked 10 hours a week aspart of her financial aid package, and studied furiously, especially for hermultivariable calculus class.  Would shenever measure up?  Was she doingenough?  Was she taking full advantage ofall the opportunities?  Then came acrushing blow: a score in the low 60s on her calculus midterm.  The class was graded on a curve, but surelyshe would fail it, she thought, dooming her plan to major in math and toteach.  ‘I had a picture of my future,and as that future deteriorated,’ she said, ‘I stopped imagining another future.’  The pain of being less than what she thoughtto be was unbearable.  The only way out,she reasoned with the twisted logic of depression, was death.’”

TheChristian Ethic of Goodness

Stanford University has coineda term to describe students like Kathryn, who seemingly have it together butare falling a part on the inside- duck syndrome.  Just like a duck appears to be gliding acrossthe water, but is furiously paddling, performing, struggling to keep afloat,that’s so many people in our culture.Our InstaGram and social media posts may depict good people living thegood life, but if we could look beneath the surface of our lives we’d see usfuriously paddling, trying to perform, wondering how much longer we can keepthis up.

Friends, the Bible offers acompletely different vantage point on what it means to be good.  The Bible defines goodness as holiness inaction.  Goodness begins with our hearts,and seeps out into our action.  The Biblemakes it clear that goodness can only be attained as we walk in relationshipwith God, and not in our efforts to perform.In fact, Isaiah would tell us that our righteousness, that is our selfmanufactured attempts at goodness still isn’t good, they’re as filthyrags.  Romans 5 would tell us that all ofour lives have been touched by sin because of Adam and Eve’s sin in thegarden.  But now here’s the hope- we canbe good, but that goodness does not come from our performance, but for whatChrist did for us on the cross: “Therefore,as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousnessleads to justification and life for all men.For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so bythe one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous”- Romans 5:18-19.  Goodness awaits us friend, but it does notcome through our performance, but stands in the person of Christ who lived thelife we could not live.  But what doesthis mean for us practically?  And how dowe express goodness to others?

Goodnessis Performance-Free- 22-23

If God is truly the only goodOne, and that any hope of goodness I may have can only be found in relationshipto him, then if I want to know what goodness is, I should look at God as themodel for what it means to be good.  Tohelp us with this I want us to go the book of Lamentations, but I warn you,this is an extremely dark book.  Readingthrough the book of Lamentations feels like sitting in a really long funeral,of a person who it’s hard to say anything good about.  In fact, I had the same feeling readingLamentations as I did reading Elie Wiesel’s book, Night.  The reason why thebook is so dark is because God’s people had sinned greatly, and after years ofwarnings, God finally allows his people to be sent into exile, with the holycity of Jerusalem being under siege.  Infact, the name of Lamentations in Hebrew is the word “How,” taken from thefirst word in the book, and it’s a book about How Jerusalem has suffered.

And yet in the middle of allthis darkness and night in the book, our passage offers great light and hope inthe context of despair.  And it alsogives us a view to what it practically means to display the fruit of goodnessin our lives.  Look with me at verses 22-23.  Jeremiah, the author, begins by telling thesewayward, sinful people that the steadfastlove of the LORD never ceases.  TheHebrew word translated as “steadfast love” is hesed, and this is a powerfulword.  Hesed speaks of God’s covenantallove for his people.  It speaks of a lovethat never gives up, gives out or gives in.It’s a performance free love.  Howdo we know God is good?  Because Goddoesn’t love us with a quid pro quo kind of love.  He loves us period.

We see this performance freelove all throughout the bible.  One dayGod shows up to the prophet Hosea and tells him I want to use you as a visualaid to depict my performance free love to my wayward people who have brokenfaith.  Go and marry a woman of illrepute, Gomer.  She will break yourheart, and when she tries to leave, go get her and take her back, because that’show I am with my people.  Or take Jesus,God’s Son.  On the day of his baptism inMatthew 3, the clouds part and God speaks saying of Jesus, this is my belovedSon in whom I’m well pleased.  Now mindyou, this is before Jesus ever performed a miracle or healed or preached.  He simply said I’m proud of you (good wordfor we parents).  Performance free.  The apostle Paul would hint at this when hetold Timothy that even when we are faithless, God remains faithful.  Performance free love, this is a huge part ofwhat it means to be and do good in our society.

Tony Campolo, a follower ofJesus and sociologist’s, tells of the time when he had flown from his home inPhiladelphia to Honolulu.  Jet lagged andunable to sleep he wanders in a diner in the middle of the night only toencounter a couple of prostitutes in the middle of a crude conversation.  The one, a woman named Agnes, let it slipthat her birthday was the next day, and how she had never had a birthday partyin her life.  Tony knew exactly what todo.  He got the word out on the streetthrough some friends, and decided to throw a surprise birthday party thatabsolutely stunned Agnes.  When Agnesleaves, Tony prayed a prayer of blessing over this young prostitute, a littleodd I know.  Harry, the guy who ran thediner, at the end of the prayer said, “Hey, what kind of church do you belongto?”  Tony said, “I belong to a churchthat throws party’s for prostitutes at 330 in the morning”.  Harry said, “No you don’t.  No such church exists, if there was I’d joinit”.  Oh the power of goodness, aperformance free love to shock and welcome the world!

GoodnessInspires Hope- 24-26

As we journey onward in ourtext we see the goodness of God in his performance free love, and because ofthis, Jeremiah points out, his people have hope.  What happens when a person receivesperformance free love?  What happens whena person gets goodness they don’t even deserve?I tell you what happens, they get hope, because this person realizesthey are not their performance.  In fact,this passage teaches us that God never views you and I through yesterday’sfailures, but through today’s mercies.Wow, now that’s shouting stuff right there!  

In Robertson McQuilken’s book, A Promise Kept, he chronicles his loveaffair of 40 plus years with his bride Muriel.For years, Robertson was the president of a university, but when hiswife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s he resigned to care for her full time.  In the early days of caring for her, theywould travel together and Muriel had the habit of being so overwhelmed with hersurroundings she would take off and run.On one such trip in the Atlanta airport Muriel took of running yet againand her husband Robertson ran after her, caught up to her, placed his armaround her and said, “It’s okay sweetheart.It’s okay”.  Right then, Robertsonnoticed a young woman off to the side sitting down who mumbled something.  When he asked her to repeat what she said,the young woman said, “Oh dear sir, I was just saying, I hope I find a man to loveme like that”.  His running after hiswandering bride inspired hope in a watching world.

Oh friends, that’s what Goddoes to us, and what he calls us to do to others.  Goodness is not just seen in how we treat theloveable and the upright, it’s in how we relate to those who are different andseemingly unloveable.  When we refuse togive up on one another, but keep pursuing each other, even when there’s sin andmess, this is goodness, and this is when the church is at its finest.  If you want a picture of goodness real timelook to the great AA scholar and preacher, Robert Smith, Jr, whose son wasbrutally murdered.  His killer wascaptured and is serving time in jail.While in jail Robert reached out to his son’s killer, and showed himastounding goodness, a performance free love, by forgiving them and the two arenow friends.  In fact, his son’s killeris a believer and wants to attend seminary when he gets out.  Robert Smith, Jr. Has started a scholarshipat the seminary he teaches in memory of his slain son, and has every intentionto award his sons killer the scholarship.Why?  Because he’s received thegoodness of God, and is passing it along.And this goodness is inspiring hope in his son’s killer, and to thewatching world.  

Goodnessis Fixated on Others Well-Being, Not Their Happiness- 31-33

As our text comes to a close, look at what Jeremiah says inthe last several verses.  He talks aboutGod casting off and causing grief, watch this now, all underthe heading of God’s goodness.  This isshocking, but it shouldn’t be, because it teaches us a valuable lesson aboutgoodness.  Goodness is not alwaysconcerned with happiness.  Instead, whatwe learn about goodness is that it is fixated on the other person’s well being,not ultimately their happiness.  God ismore than comfortable either causing or allowing short term pain for long termshalom or well being, and sometimes the way he gets to this is throughdiscomfort and even pain.  What’s gooddoes not always feel good.

Prosperity can be an awfulteacher.  The poet Robert BrowningHamilton understood this when he wrote, “Iwalked a mile with Pleasure/She chattered all the way/But left me none thewiser/For all she had to say.  I walked amile with Sorrow/And ne’er a word said she/But, oh, the things I learned fromher/When Sorrow walked with me”- Robert Browning Hamilton.  What’s good does not always feel good.  There was a recent article in the Atlantic entitled, “Let Kids Play With Fire, And Other Rules for Good Parenting”.  In this article the author points out thelack of resiliency he’s seeing among today’s younger generation.  He says the reason why kids are growing up soweak is because of helicopter, hovering parents, whose biggest concern in lifeis the happiness of their kids.  They wantthem to feel good.  He argues that doingwhat feels good for your kids is not what’s ultimately good for them.

Conclusion:

Goodness does not always equateinto happiness, and this changes the ballgame as it relates to our perspectiveof God and how he parents us.  See, Ithink one of the main reasons we get so upset at the problem of God and evil,is because in our hearts we think God is ultimately for my happiness.  But when I see that God is more for mywholeness than my happiness, now I understand that sometimes this means Godeither doing or allowing some rough things in my life, because he has the longview on my development.  And thisperspective also changes the ballgame when it comes to how I husband, parentand friend.  Goodness is not just givingmoney, or spending time, but goodness is also having a hard conversation,risking the friendship because I’m concerned about their shalom.  Goodness is also making my sons read bookswhen they’d be more happy playing video games all day long.  Goodness is saying no to that person’srepeated requests for money because you’re realizing your enabling and notempowering.  This is goodness too,because I’m concerned for their wholeness, and not just their happiness.  

So as we prepare our hearts forcommunion, this different perspective on communion helps us to betterunderstand the horrors of crucifixion and a good God.  God was good to, as Isaiah said, crush Jesuson the cross.  Why?  Because that was the only way we could beadopted into the family.  And as you takecommunion, some of you maybe going through difficult times right now.  Hard times.This is God’s goodness.  What’sgood for you, doesn’t always feel good to you.Thank him for his goodness.