Gtcotr/ws1025127
Galatians 5
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 humility, self-control. Against such there is no law.
- Love
- Joy
- Peace
- Longsuffering
- Gentleness
This evening we will be taking a closer look the fruit of the Spirit God calls: Goodness. God is good … all the time! Good will always win over evil.
There was a time when cell phones, iPads and personal computers didn’t exist; Record players were how we listened to music and all three television channels went off the air by midnight. We all longed for Saturday mornings when we got the chance to watch cartoons and the afternoons which were filled with our favorite heroes: Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Dick Traci and one of my all-time favorites, Gene Autry.
My maternal grandmother was an Autry and a cousin to Gene. She and Gene were born around the same time and she enjoyed telling us kids that we were kin. Gene Autry is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance. He was also awarded the very first certified Gold Record, “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine”.
So, Saturday TV was a weekly treat with great expectations that the good guys would always win over the bad guys. Each “good guy” hero had his own following. There were clubs you could join, secret decoding rings you could send away for and the good guys always had a code you had to uphold. Gene Autry published his code. He called it:
The Cowboy Code or sometimes called: The Ten Cowboy Commandments
- The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
- He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
- He must always tell the truth.
- He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
- He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
- He must help people in distress.
- He must be a good worker.
- He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
- He must respect women, parents, and his nation's laws.
- The Cowboy is a patriot.
Good guys and Bad guys --- The way we know the difference is not because they wear different colored hats, anybody can change hats … the way we know the difference is because of their hearts. Jesus said:
Matthew 7
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?
17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
The fruit of the Spirit God calls “Goodness” boils down to what we know as a person’s Character. Goodness = Character > Solomon said a good name is better than riches.
Although Righteousness is ultimately measured by who we are, goodness is measured by what we do. Who we are when no one else is watching? Are we honest, faithful, giving, caring, merciful, upright and true?
Ephesians 5:9 For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
