May 27, 2001

June 8, 2003

Service Theme – "Our God is Good"

Galatians 5:16-26

Temptation and Goodness

Introduction

Illustration – John Wesley had this rule for life: 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 (as cited on SermonCentral.com).
We don’t really understand the power of true spiritual goodness, and we’ve got to if we’re going to defeat the cycle of sin outlined in James 1 by Bill Perkins. We need to understand what true spiritual goodness is if we're going to see the evidence of that fruit in our daily lives. So today we’re going to start out a little differently by looking at James 1:13-15 to see what this cycle of sin is and how we are tempted to counterfeit goodness.

Scripture Passage

James 1:13-15 (NIV) - When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

(NEW SLIDE) Preoccupation/Enticement (verse 14) – the only stage where we can stop ourselves from sinning. I believe one area where we are tempted to counterfeit goodness the most is manipulation. In other words, we’re tempted to be good to people who we want to do something for us. We like to call it "buttering up" but it really is a form of manipulation. When someone has something we want or can do something we need done, instead of just politely asking them we are sugary sweet and kind and good to them, maybe not quite so obviously, but we do it regardless. We treat them well or give to them because there is something we want from them. Isn’t that the essence of manipulation? Our obsession lies in our motivation. We become obsessed with being good to someone for our own benefit, and unless we stop obsessing, we’re going to sin by manipulating them.

(NEW SLIDE) Ritualization/Conception (verse 15) – we begin setting the sin process in motion. We can’t just blatantly manipulate someone, I mean, after all we’re Christians. And our pride doesn’t allow us to just ask someone else for help, I mean, after all we’re independent Americans. So we approach the person we need something from, and as we do we think of ways to be good to them or to give them something that won’t cost us too much. And most of the time we do it subtly enough that we don’t set off too many red flags. But the ritual here involves the scheming and dreaming up of good deeds for the purpose of getting the other person to do what we want. Our selfishness gets us in trouble the second we acting good to them for our own purposes. Once again, we’re sunk.

(NEW SLIDE) Acting Out/Birth (verse 15) – the unthinkable is what we wind up doing. We get to the person, open our mouths, and the false-hearted good deeds start pouring out, both in what we say and what we do. If we aren’t too overt about it, the person will just think we’re being nice. But shaded in those actions are subtle manipulations of what we want the person to do. Sometimes in the end they even think it was their idea in the first place. And we have just sinned because we’ve deceived them. It doesn’t have to be asking someone to do something to be counterfeit goodness. It can also be the conditions we set for helping someone out. The process is similar, and the end result is the same: sin. Any time we are good to someone else for our own benefit, we are sinning.

(NEW SLIDE) Shame/Death (verse 15) – we have to face the pain of shame because we’ve just committed spiritual suicide. We have just used another person for our purposes. And whether or not we’ll admit it, the shame is deep. There are only two ways of dealing with coming back to life and with our shame: bringing it before the cross of Jesus by confessing our sin and asking for forgiveness and turning our backs on that sin; or to medicate the pain of the sin even further by sinning again. Medicating ourselves only locks us into that vicious cycle of sin that, by ourselves, we are helpless to get out of.

True Spiritual Goodness

We’ve seen how the cycle of sin gets us caught into the trap of counterfeit goodness, but what does true spiritual goodness look like? How do we live it? What does the Bible say about it?

(NEW SLIDE) Exodus 33:19 says The Lord replied, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, ‘the Lord,’ to you. I will show kindness to anyone I choose, and I will show mercy to anyone I choose. True spiritual goodness is a character trait of God.

(NEW SLIDE) Psalm 119:40 says I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness. True spiritual goodness renews us.

Ezekiel 18:20 says Righteous people will be rewarded for their own goodness, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. True spiritual goodness comes from righteousness and is rewarded by God.

(NEW SLIDE) James 3:13 says If you are wise and understand God’s ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. True spiritual goodness is a fruit of God’s wisdom and understanding.

Here are some definitions of what true spiritual goodness is.

(NEW SLIDE) Easton’s Bible Dictionary (Logos): "in man is not a mere passive quality, but the deliberate preference of right to wrong, the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil, and the choosing and following of all moral good."

(NEW SLIDE) The New Bible Dictionary (Logos): "The acknowledgment of God as good is the foundation of all biblical thinking about moral goodness. ‘Good’ in Scripture is not an abstract quality, nor is it a secular human ideal; ‘good’ means first and foremost what God is (‘he is good’, Ps. 100:5, et al.), then what he does, creates, commands and gives, and finally what he approves in the lives of his creatures… Man is good, and things are good, just so far as they conform to the will of God."

(NEW SLIDE) The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Logos): "Goodness (agathoµsyneµ) may be thought of both as an uprightness of soul and as an action reaching out to others to do good even when it is not deserved."

Matthew Henry (Logos): Goodness "shows itself in a readiness to do good to all as we have opportunity."

Theological Dictionary of the NT (Logos): "This is the quality, or moral excellence, of the good person. It is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) or of light (Eph. 5:9), the content of the Christian life (Rom. 15:14)."

Greek English Lexicon of the NT based on Semitic Domains (Logos): "the act of generous giving."

(NEW SLIDE) The bottom line is that true spiritual goodness is the fruit of living out our relationship with God in our daily lives. It comes from allowing God to build His character within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. It will show in our attitudes toward others. It will show in our giving of ourselves and our resources to Christians and non-Christians alike. It is a choice to allow God to live through us fully and completely. We must surrender to totally and unreservedly to His will to be filled with true spiritual goodness. So we know how we’re tempted, and we know what true spiritual goodness looks like, but how do we defeat temptation and build true spiritual goodness into our hearts and lives?

Help and Hope

God has graciously given us the power of the Holy Spirit to defeat sin in our lives and build His fruit into our hearts and lives. We can start defeating sin the second we begin to be tempted, and that’s good because the enticement stage is the only place we can defeat sin. Here is what we must do.

(NEW SLIDE) First, we’ve got to pray a prayer thanking Jesus for the victory He is giving us, and continue to spend quality time in prayer each and every day. Jesus died and rose again to break the power of sin and Satan over our lives. Jesus already won the victory. All we have to do is appropriate its power through prayer and relationship with Him. We begin by praying a prayer like this, as Bill Perkins suggests: "Thank you, Lord, for saving me from this sin that I’ve tried to medicate my pain with (and list it specifically). Right now I’m looking to Jesus and trusting Him to live His life through me. I’m now trusting Him to use His Word to purify my mind." Claim the victory in prayer and continue in prayer.

(NEW SLIDE) Second, we’ve got to focus our minds on what we should focus on, not what we shouldn’t by memorizing Scripture. The more we focus on not thinking about temptation, the more we’ll think about it. We have to focus on thinking about God’s Word. The Holy Spirit will bring those verses we’ve memorized to mind when we need them the most. Scripture memory is hard work, but we can do it if we work hard at it. You can, too. So what Scripture do we use to fight the temptation to indulge in counterfeit kindness? (NEW SLIDE) How about 2 Peter 1:5-8 from the NIV? For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve got to memorize Scripture, using the same tool Jesus used to defeat Satan when He was tempted in the wilderness.

(NEW SLIDE) Third, we’ve got to have accountability. When you have to look other Christians in the eye and tell them the truth, it really helps keep you from giving in to temptation. We have to ask ourselves this question and answer truthfully. Is there anyone in your life who you have given permission to ask you about how you spend your time and your money, and about how your relationships are going? We can’t resist temptation without accountability. Prayer is great, and memorizing Scripture is great. But we won’t consistently use them in our walk with God and we won’t consistently walk closely with God without accountability. It just won’t happen!

We’ve got to learn to allow the Holy Spirit to give us true spiritual goodness so that we can defeat the cycle of sin in our lives that fills us with counterfeit goodness.

Conclusion

Please bow your heads and close your eyes. Where are you at in the cycle of sin? Have you been effectively defeating it at the first stage, not allowing yourself to become preoccupied with temptation, praying and focusing on God’s Word in your heart and making yourself accountable to fellow Christians? Or has the sin cycle been getting the best of you? If you are struggling with sin, remember what 1 John 1:9 says: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Right now we’re going spend a few minutes checking our own hearts and allowing God the Holy Spirit to show us any areas where we’re struggling with sin.
What has God been saying to your heart? If you want to begin the process of defeating the cycle of sin in your heart and life, now’s the time to start. First, you must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, otherwise the Holy Spirit has no power in your heart. If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and you want to begin to appropriate His power to break the cycle of counterfeit goodness or any other sin in your heart and life, pray right now and repeat after me. "Thank you, Lord, for saving me from this sin that I’ve tried to medicate my pain with (and list it specifically). Right now I’m looking to Jesus and trusting Him to live His life through me. I’m now trusting Him to use His Word to purify my mind. Amen." If you prayed that prayer, I challenge you to do two things. First, start working on memorizing 2 Peter 1:5-8 today, not tomorrow, not sometime this week, but today. Second, find someone who will lovingly but not permissively hold you accountable, and find them today. Confess your counterfeit goodness and the rituals you practice. Then meet with them weekly if at all possible, confess to each other, strengthen and encourage each other. But get started today, or you simply won’t do it!
Now of you’re serious about the commitment you’ve made to Christ to break the cycles of sin in your life, please come forward, take the bread and the juice and kneel at the altars. Spend some time in prayer reaffirming that commitment, and then partake of the bread and the juice when you’re ready. So if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ and you are serious about defeating the cycles of sin in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit, come forward and celebrate communion at the altars now.