Needed: A Few GOOD MEN

How do we become the kind of men who leave behind a good or even great legacy that matters? How can we stay focused on a destiny that will make the world a better place, bring great honor to Jesus, and great defeat to the Evil One? Scripture teaches that reaping a great destiny is the result of a process that, day-by- day builds character. As someone has said, sow a thought reap an attitude. Sow an attitude reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. This episode is the third in our April series Building the Mental Toughness of Jesus. Today we examine two more of the fruits of the Spirit, goodness and faithfulness. Today we take another step towards building a destiny that honors our Commander in Chief.

My RTS counseling professor once remarked, “men love the heroic, but struggle with the mundane.” Perhaps that is why building Christ-like attitudes is so tough. It only happens a little at a time. Let’s look at the Scripture behind this sowing and reaping process. Sow a THOUGHT reap an ATTITUDE is the message of Rom 12:2 be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Sow an ATTITUDE reap an ACTION is taught by Jesus, when he remarks, out of the abundance of the heart a man’s mouth speaks (Lk 6:45). Sow an ACTION reap a HABIT is the principle in view when Paul challenges believers to the daily habit of putting off dirty clothes and put on clean ones: put off your old self…and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God. (Eph 4:22-24). Sowing a HABIT and reaping CHARACTER is Paul’s point in contrasting the works of the flesh to the fruit of the Spirit in Gal 5: Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, etc. Sowing CHARACTER and reaping a DESTINY is explained a few verses later in Galatians, The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Gal 6:8). So how do we build goodness?

GOODNESS

The Greek word is AGATHOSUNE. It refers to what is morally pure and right in its character and therefore beneficial in its effect. This quality is the inclination to always pursue the good of others. It is similar to kindness in that its focus is on others. Kindness, however, is more about being sensitive to those around us and thoughtful in addressing their needs. GOODNESS also devotes itself to focusing on others but implies a moral awareness of what is GOOD for them—what helps them be restored to rightness. GOODNESS, as opposed to wickedness, helps others towards what is right, wholesome, and, therefore, beneficial, as opposed to evil, which always harms. Countless times we are urged to pursue what is good.

• Rom 12:9 Abhor what is evil; cling to what is GOOD.
• Gal 6:10 Let us not grow weary of DOING GOOD, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us DO GOOD to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
• 1 Thess 5:15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to DO GOOD to one another and to everyone.
• Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with GOOD.

GOODNESS APPLIED

This work of the Holy Spirit in us generates a posture towards others of always seeking what is best for them. It is the opposite of hostility, apathy, or passivity. It is rooted in Paul’s command to hate evil the way an oncologist hates cancer—because it always destroys. GOODNESS is intent upon restoring to good, what evil has marred. Let’s consider three ways GOODNESS needs to be lived out in 2023.

A. GOODNESS longs for the restoration of every human to a personal relationship with God. GOODNESS leads to a restless intentionality in seeking to introduce Jesus to the lost. It is valuable to take note of how many different approaches there are to sharing our faith. It is not always interrupting a stranger on the beach.

• Confronting approach: Peter Repent for the forgiveness of your sins (Ac 2:39) This approach to evangelism is often at the end point when the seeds that have been sown are ready to be harvested.
• Intellectual approach: Paul So he reasoned in the synagogue and in the marketplace every day (Acts 17:7). Friendly apologetics discussions or giving C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity are frequent ways God brings others to faith.
• Testimonial approach: Blind man. Whether he (Jesus) is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.
• Invitational approach: Samaritan Woman. The woman went into town and said  “Come, see a man who told me all I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
• Interpersonal approach: Matthew (Levi). And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. This is warm, friendship evangelism.
• Discovery approach: Andrew.  Andrew first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Andrew helped Peter find out more about Christ. This could be a book on marriage, parenting, apologetics or the video, Christianity Explored.
• Service approach: Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity (Act 9:36). Acts of mercy powerfully open the hearts of the lost to the gospel.

B. GOODNESS refuses to allow evil to reign unchallenged. Paul commands, As we have opportunity, let us DO GOOD to everyone. This virtue includes the responsibility of God’s covenant people to teach our culture what is good and what is evil because it has been revealed to us through God’s special revelation, Scripture. Paul points out that the appointed role of government is to punish evil and reward good (Rom 13). But how does the state know what behavior is good or evil? The role of the church in God’s design of church/state relationships is to DEFINE good and evil. But many Christians today argue, “Churches shouldn’t get involved in political issues.” The subtext of the argument seems valid:

• Politics deals with complex issues that can’t be boiled down to a right political position and a wrong political position.
• All through history, politicians have tried to leverage Christians and the Bible to support their political ambitions.
• The church must never be too closely linked with a political group or country--but exists universally INSIDE every country. Our true citizenship is in the Kingdom of Heaven, not the USA.

1. Let’s consider this argument carefully, starting with the term political issues. POLITICS is not a category of issues; it is the PROCESS we use to work through the issues in a democratic republic, where there is government of the people, by the people, and for the people. There are economic issues, moral issues, environmental issues, the definition of marriage issues, criminal justice issues, and educational issues. The political process in the West is what we use to work through any issue as we attempt to order our lives together.
2. For Christians, the critical question about an issue, then is not “is this issue being debated now in our political system” but “does God care about this issue?” If God cares about an issue, so should we! The Bible doesn’t speak to which side of the road we drive on, but it does have a lot to say about marriage, gender differences, and the value of each life. When God cares, we should care.
3. Christians living in Western democracies have been given the extraordinary privilege of impacting their culture through the political process. Not only were God’s people assigned the task of shaping culture from the beginning of time, Jesus, also emphasized that Christians are light, salt, and leaven for the world. However, many Christian leaders today avoid the cultural hot potatoes like God’s design of male and female differently, homosexuality, the fatherlessness at the root of our urban problems, or the definition of marriage. But they speak loudly on issues like racial injustice, caring for the poor, and human trafficking, as they should! God cares about them all. But this selective engagement is very revealing. It suggests that the real concern is not about political involvement, but about offending cultural sensitivities. Martin Luther challenges Christian leaders about reluctance to speak truth that offends cultural sensitivity:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are attacking at that moment, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all battlefields, is mere flight and disgrace, if he flinches at that point. (Who Speaks for God, Chuck Colson).

Praise God that the great legacy of the church is to not flinch but to courageously pursue good, even though it offended cultural sensitivities. Christians have stood against totalitarianism, abortion, suicide, child abandonment, widow immolation, the Nazi party, adultery, gladiatorial fighting to the death for entertainment, child abuse, alcohol, pornography, and drug addiction, child sacrifice, prostitution, sex-trafficking, foot binding of women in Japan, and chattel slavery.

My question is whether the men of the church of 2023 will stand up and protect thousands of troubled, pubescent, emotionally conflicted, confused teen girls who are being pushed down the path to taking puberty blockers, the most common of which is Lupron, a drug used to permanently sterilize sex offenders, and which has never been approved by the FDA for use in teens to arrest puberty. 99% of those urged down this path who take puberty blockers move on to cross gender hormone treatments that have a 100% sterility rate. When teen girls identify as trans, they join a group of teen girls that has six times the rate of suicide of other teen girls.

If you want to PURSUE GOOD for the teen girls of our land here is some info.

• The concept that gender identity is distinct from one’s binary biological sex is a scientifically outdated theory proposed by John Money over 50 years ago.
• Genetics has discovered that all 30 trillion cells in the female body are marked with XX chromosomes and males XY. Embryology discovered that the presence of testosterone in the male baby’s brains changes the way it develops. Endocrinology has discovered how the differences in the levels of testosterone and estrogen in males and females impact behavior. Science totally disproves gender theory.
• The intersex condition, which is a disorder of the reproductive system does not prove the existence of more than two genders any more than disorders of the heart or lungs prove there are two types of hearts and lungs.
• The explosion of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria among teen girls since 2012, has been shown to result from prolonged Internet immersion and peer contagion. Research shows, however, that if children are left alone, in 81% of the cases, the confusion will resolve on its own.
• To “affirm” the delusion of a girl who thinks she is a boy and needs puberty blockers is no less cruel than to affirm the delusion of an anorexic 98lb girl who thinks she is fat and needs to be on a starvation diet.
• The argument that we must support a girls’ belief that she is transgender, or she will commit suicide is totally false. Zero legitimate data supports this lie.
• The overwhelming majority of medical doctors over the last fifty years have said that a girl thinking she was a boy in the wrong body was a symptom of gender identity disorder. They would have never supported the radical gender theory lie that children need “affirming medical care.”
• The U.K. completed a comprehensive study of its gender clinic, Tavistock, by Dr. Hilary Cass, former President of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, and in August of 2022 shut it down. She said, “staff have told us that they feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach.”
• In 2020 the Finish National Gender Identity Development Service recommended psychotherapy as the primary treatment for young, gender-confused people, not sex reassignment.
• Sweden no longer allows gender-affirming surgeries on youth under the age of 18 and only child psychiatric specialists can refer children to gender clinics.

The fruit of God’s Spirit producing GOODNESS has always meant ignoring cultural pressures and standing for what is best, especially for women and children. I pray that today’s church leaders will man up and do the same today! If I can help you do this in any way, let me know.

C. Do Good to Those Who Harm You. The biblical perspective that enables Christians to see the destructive nature of sin must urge us to act to stop it where we can. But that very vision and call to pursue GOODNESS in our culture can easily lead to hostility towards our ideological opponents, whose lies are doing very serious harm to children.

Yesterday, one of the vendors our ministry uses regularly called me and told me that their employees had taken a vote and are refusing to do business with us anymore because of the content of our ministry. In other words, we were identified by those in the LGBTQ+ movement as worthy of being canceled. The business owner said they wanted him to drop us without any transition time to a new vendor. But he would not allow that and is working with us to find another vendor. I challenged him to think carefully about the folly of letting himself be used to shut down free speech by political ideologues. But his response was that he could not afford to lose his most key employee over this issue. When I got off the phone, I began to think about marshaling Christians against his business, in retaliation. Then I read Luke 6:28ff. DO GOOD to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you….love your enemies, and DO GOOD… and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.  

Does this text mean that it is wrong, in view of Budweiser’s recent transgender commercial, to spend my beer drinking money elsewhere? Is it wrong for a Christians to try to oppose evil and promote the good, by trying to leverage our buying power and urging other Christians to not buy beer from Anheuser-Busch? Don’t the company executives need to hear that radical gender theory ideologues are not the majority of their consumers? If Christians don’t send this message who will? Yet, economic coercion can’t be the way to fight this battle if it requires Christians to return evil for evil. I’m not smart enough to figure this all out. But in the case of our vendor—I believe it would be returning evil for evil. Neither our Lord, nor Paul ever said that sorting this out in a democracy would be easy.

So the spiritual fruit GOODNESS requires a commitment to 1) help others come to Christ, 2) stand against harmful practices in the culture and 3) only return good for evil.  

FAITHFULNESS

Fortunately, for today’s schedule, FAITHFULNESS is easier to figure out. As this word, PISTIS, is used in this context it refers to proven trustworthiness. Proverbs 20:6 asks the question, Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find? The answer should be, “I found some faithful people; they are the worshippers of a faithful God and want to be like Him.” Faith in God is not just vague trust in his character. It is very specifically trusting God to keep his promises. One who bears the name of Christ, one who seeks to be godly, must be a man who keeps his word. Jerry Bridges, in his book, The Practice of Godliness identifies three helpful facets of the virtue of FAITHFULNESS.

1. Absolute honesty. Being trustworthy means being honest. Scripture says,

• You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Ex 20:15-16).
• The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in the trustworthy (Prov 12:22).
• A false balance is an abomination, but a just weight is his delight. (Prov 11:1)
• The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death (Prov 21:6).

So, faithfulness requires absolute honesty. Is your conscience clear?

2. Utter dependability.

• He who swears to his own hurt and does not change… will never be shaken. (Ps 15:4)—This is about keeping your word, even when the situation changes.
• One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much (Lk 16:10).

Here are some useful descriptions of aspects of dependability.

• Fulfilling what I consented to do even if it means unexpected sacrifice.
• Knowing and doing what both God and others are expecting of me.
• Knowing what factors will diminish the effectiveness of my work if neglected.

3. Unswerving loyalty. A faithful person is not only honest and dependable, but also loyal. There is perhaps no greater description of friendship than the words from Proverbs 17:17, A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Do you have that kind of brother in Christ?

The deepest faithfulness is to our Master. It is whole-hearted allegiance. Jesus described it, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Unswerving loyalty does not mean that we never fail. In fact, sometimes we fail because we are so exhausted trying to fight for the kingdom in our culture, that we surrendered again to temptation. But Jesus died for that sin a long time ago. Allegiance is quickly getting back into the ring and fighting even harder.

I can’t think of a better way to end this episode than with the words of Paul at the close of his life, words which proclaimed his legacy, his faithfulness to his mission, and his destiny. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Tim 4:7-8).

For Further Prayerful Thought.

1. In the chain of sowing and reaping, which ultimately produces a great destiny, what part of that sowing and reaping process do you find the hardest?
2. It seems obvious that true GOODNESS would mean that we always pursue what is best for another. But if that is the case, why aren’t Christians more intentional about pursuing opportunities to share Christ with others?
3. Which approach to evangelism resonated most with you?
4. What would you say to someone who says the church should not get involved in politics?
5. In your own experience, what issues does today’s church need to be more bold in confronting?