God's Goodness for us
sermon by Manfred Schreyer
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Psa 100:1- 5 A psalm. For giving thanks. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. :2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. :3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. :4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. :5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
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saac Rankin says that just outside his window is a large wire which carries a heavy current of electricity for light and power. It is carefully insulated at every pole and is out of common reach. "However," he says, "if I could lean out far enough to grasp it, death would be as swift as a lightning stroke. Yet the doves in my neighborhood suffer no harm when they perch on it. They fly from my windowsill, where I sometimes feed them, and preen in safety and contentment on the cables. The secret is that when they contact that wire, they touch nothing else. My danger would be that should I attempt to reach out and do so, the walls of my house would act as a ground, and the current would turn my body into a channel through which the electricity would flow in damaging power. Because they rest wholly upon the wire, they are unharmed. So God would have us seek our safety in complete surrender to His power and love. It is when we reach one hand to Him while still holding fast to some forbidden thing with the other that we are in danger." The story is told of a Welsh woman who lived in a remote valley in Wales. She went to a great deal of trouble to have electrical power installed in her home. They noticed she didn't use very much electricity at all. In fact, her usage was minuscule. They sent a meter reader out to check on the matter. The man came to the door and said, "We've looked at the amount. Don't you use electricity?" "Oh yes" she said. "We turn it on every night to see how to light our lamps and then we switch it off again."This sounds like the way many Christians apply the power of
God in their lives.W
Today I would like to remind us about "the goodness of our God", because depending upon how we think about God and how we think about ourselves depends very much what kind of relationship we have with our creator.
Here are the things we know of God:
God is a forgiving God. We are forgiven! (Christ died for us)
God loves us. . . no matter what! God’s love for us endures forever. (Psalm 98)
God can be swayed! (Sodom and Gomorrah and negotiations with Abraham)
God gave us the gift of a free will! (Adam and Eve)
God gave us the gift of free will and we can influence/ change the world to bring the Kingdom of God on earth! (Genesis/ Matthew)
God gave us the power of prayer which has an impact on us and others! (If you believe you can move mountains. . .Gospel of Matthew)
God gave us life with a purpose! All things work out for His glory and to fulfill His history. (The donkey story)
God is always with us. (You can’t hide!)
Goodness can be very much compare to the term useful. If the equation holds true, then we must also understand that that which is not good is useless!
On numerous occasion did God mention after He created parts of this universe as described in the book of Genesis that: "It was good"
On the first day of the creation week, God said: ""Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good . . ."" (Gen. 1:4). Light is "good" in a practical way. James refers to the "good" gifts that come from the Creator (Jas. 1:17).
The word "good" is often used to signify character (i.e., moral goodness). It is in this sense that God is "good." The Psalmist declares: "Good and upright is Jehovah: Therefore He will instruct sinners in the way" (Psa. 25:8). Though Joseph had endured many hardships in Egypt, when he reflected upon these events near the end of his life, he acknowledged that, in the providential scheme of things, God was working that which was "good" (Gen. 50:20).
When we think of the term "good" I want us to remember one thing, and that is that only God is infinitely good! So the term "good" with God is absolute, where we as humans can achieve "goodness", however we are only relatively.
Professor M’Callen of London College of Divinity expressed it like this:"Moral goodness can only exist for personal minds. The ideal of absolute goodness can only exist in a mind from which all reality is derived. Goodness cannot be explained on naturalistic or evolutionistic grounds"" (1960, 253).
Some may argue that God allows too many bad things to happen, but that is NOT true: God is not responsible for the evil and suffering which afflict us. Humankind introduced sin into this world, and so death and all its consequences have followed as a reaction of human rebellion
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he Creator endowed us with freedom of choice, but He is not accountable for our abuse of his gift for us. Blaming God for our current pain, which we created for ourselves, OR others for us is like charging Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp. if you drop your computer on your foot."Right" and "wrong" are not grounded in what a majority of the population "feels" is ethical. Jesus Christ is a King; He has not implemented a democracy to determine, by majority vote, how human beings ought to live. In the first place, humankind can never be their own guide. "O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walks to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23).
Therefore goodness is only to be found in God. Comfort is only to be found in God. Mercy is only to be found in God.. Forgiveness is only to be found in God.
Human kind’s fallible opinion(s) , multiplied a thousand times, does not change wrong into right. Moses warned: (Ex. 23:2 KJV)"You shall not follow a multitude to do evil".It is necessary to remind ourselves that the path of the majority ultimately is the way of destruction (Mat 7:13-14 NIV)
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. {14} But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.Goodness can only be recognized when we look at our God. When we seek His will for us and when we follow Him in His ways.
Goodness can be felt when we pray and stay in communion with God.
Goodness can be heard when our heart tells us: "Well done!"
Goodness can be heard by others, when we imitate the will of God and do good to others.
Thank God today for the life He has given you and the wonderful moments HE has given you. God is a good God
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