LIVING IN THE SPIRIT OF GOODNESS

“A Question of Goodness”

 A sermon based upon Luke 16: 19-31

Dr. Charles J. Tomlin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

September 26, 2010,  Proper 21C

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (1Co 13:11 KJV).  So goes one of the most familiar quotes from the apostle Paul.

Some of the very first words I thought “as a child” were a prayer.  Some of you memorized it too.  The prayer went: 

“God is great.  God is good.  Let us thank him for our food. 

By his hands, we are fed.  Give us Lord, our daily bread.  Amen.”  

Saying that “God is good” made all the sense in the world to me, because the world immediately around me was good.   I can clearly say that I had a “good” childhood.  It wasn’t perfect, because I as an “only child” I always wanted a brother or sister, so to soften my loneliness I had a few extra toys to entertain myself.  Once, even invited myself to a wedding at our church that was next door, and they tell me I went by myself in my diapers.  Church was good, family was good, the community was good, and I even believed that the world, at least the world I lived in was a good place to be.

GOODNESS CAN BE QUESTIONED

This is “perfectly” good, relatively care-free world of my childhood, all began to change when I started to school.   In those days, I had to walk to school, and mom told me “not to talk to strangers.”  The nice policeman at school, Sergeant Serino, also told us, “If  a stranger ever stops and offers to give you a ride home, don’t get into the car with them.”  Then, it wasn’t long after that, during Halloween Trick or Treating, we were told not to accept “apples” or “homemade” candies from someone we didn’t know, because some child got a razorblade in an apple.   Suddenly,  the world I thought was “good” wasn’t as good I had first thought it to be.   It was then, that I started to “put away” some of my “childish” things, understandings and thoughts because the world was not always good.

Then, there came another awakening that hit closer to home.  My Father was the chair of deacons and treasurer at our church in town. One day, he was informed that the pastor might have been involved in an inappropriate relationship.  Since he and the pastor were good friends, my Father went to him alone and questioned him about the rumors.  Not only did the pastor refuse to talk to my Father, on the following Sunday, the pastor got up in the pulpit and “indirectly” berated “those who were accusing God’s man!”   It what was the most confusing moment of my childhood, when we had to leave “our church” and set out on a journey elsewhere.  I’ll never forget going back at Christmas the next year, because my parents realized I was missing my friends.  I just couldn’t understand “why” we had to leave.   Not long after that, my Father started a business in the country and we moved back to the family farm and to my Father’s home church.   But the whole process of leaving was not good to me.  It was my first realization, that everyone is not as “good” as they seem and that life might not always be as good as I would like it to be.   It was another step in my life, of having to put away that believed to be “perfect world” as one of those “childish things”.  

Some people who discover a lack of “goodness” in the world lose faith, sometimes in people, sometimes about life, and unfortunately, some even lose faith in God.  I’m thankful, that because my parents really were who they said they were, I did not have this kind of moral confusion.   Even though there are moments that I question what is “good”, I never have questioned that there is a good, nor have I seriously questioned God.    Oh, yes, I’ve studied the “Question of God” and I’ve even questioned what I believe about God and I surely don’t have the same understanding of God I had as a child.   Surprisingly, instead of my understanding of God becoming more complicated, it has become very simple.    In fact, one of my favorite theologians, Karl Barth, a deep intellectual of the last generation, was once asked by Billy Graham, what is the greatest thought you’ve ever had about God?   The great Swiss theologian answered by quoting an American song:  “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”    I’m too am more sure of God’s love than I’ve ever been.  In this way, I’m still living the best “good” thought I ever had in my childhood.

But In respect to understanding what is “God” and what is “good”, and even what “God’s love means in Jesus Christ,” in many ways, I’m still on a journey.   The apostle Paul, suggest, and rightly so, we will continue on this journey of “knowing only in part” until that day when we move beyond the “smoky glass” into the moment when we “know as we are known” and come to know, “face to face”, as Paul imagines.  We are all on a journey of discovery, adventure, and maturity and hopefully growth in both our understanding of God and our understanding of what is “good”.  

GOODNESS IS MORE OF A QUESTION THAN AN ANSWER

While it might sound “bad” that we need to question “what is good” in our lives, asking questions is often the only way to get to the right answer, not because you get all the answer, nor you  will discover the “final answer”, but by asking the right questions you start learning how to “live the questions” even when you don’t have any answers. 

Looking for the right way to ask the question of “goodness” brings us to our Bible text today.  As we consider the sixth fruit of the Spirit: goodness, we come to one of Jesus’ parables that can cause us to question all kinds of things.  In fact, the serious consideration of this parable once made a man with three doctoral degrees (one in medicine, one in theology, and one in philosophy) leave civilization with all of its culture and amenities and depart for the jungles of darkest Africa?   This man was recognized as one of the best concert organists in all of Europe and it made him go to a place where there were no organs to play.   He was also motivated to give up a teaching position in Vienna, Austria to go and deal with people who were so deprived that they were still living in the superstitions of the dark ages for all practical purposes. The man gave up all these “good things” was, of course, is Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and the single story that so radically altered his life and made him question everything was this very parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

What is it in this parable that can make a person question their life?  In this parable we learn about the unnamed rich man who went to Hell and the poor man named “Lazarus” who went to heaven.   Only one time in this story does the word “good” appear, but the way it appears might also shake us at the very core.      

Consider that his ‘rich man’ is the person who had everything that seemed “good” to him at that time and still seems “good” to most of us today.   Whether he inherited it, earned it, went after it, or just got lucky, this fellow had everything we might call the “good” life.   If he could have, he might have worn one of those patented shirts with the slogan: “Life is good”, because for him it certainly was.   Our text describes him as someone “dressed in purple” (which means he lived like a “king”) and it says that he lived “in luxury” every day.  There is no other way to see into this story, other than to see that this man is the kind of man most people dream of being everyday.  He was the proverbial guy “who had everything” and he had it each day.

This man lived what he certainly believed was “the good life.”   He could have even thought to himself that “having it all” is the only “good” that matters.    He was so “stuck” in his own version of “goodness” that he couldn’t see or imagine there might be another kind of “goodness”.   He had many distractions in life, and he had so much to do to hold on to the good he had, he never entertained the idea of anything else.  He was so caught up in his own life, he never even noticed the beggar, laying right at his own gate, sores all over his body, eating his good “trash”, having no medical care except for the stray dogs who licked his sores. 

You cannot miss the point Jesus is making:  This  “rich man” was so stuck on his own version of “goodness” so he could get, have, live, and keep his “good life” that he had no room for another version of “goodness,” which could include helping this human being at his gate, whom he should have stopped to notice and should have taken time to help, but he didn’t.   It was this man’s own version of “goodness” of taking only taking care of himself, which kept him from considering God’s “goodness” which would have included this “neighbor”.

This brings us to the second part of the story.  This wealthy, rich, man who had more than he ever needed, finally comes to understand another version of goodness than he had ever realized before.  The most disturbing truth is “where” this “rich” man comes to an understanding of real “goodness”.  He’s in the afterlife and in torment, and part of the “torment” is that he can’t go back to correct his own mistakes.   This man who had all the “goodness” he wanted never questioned in his heart what would be good for someone else other than himself.   All his life he remained “stuck” in his own version of goodness, though he had all kinds of opportunities to learn another version of goodness.  Now, in Hell, he’s really stuck.  He’s stuck in his own version of “goodness”, just like he’s always been, but now his “own goodness” can’t help him, nor is anyone else willing to help him.   We are told exactly how stuck he is because he sees the beggar Lazarus, who once laid unnoticed at his gate, now living where he can’t help but notice, living “far away” in comfort, where the angels have carried him.   But the angels didn’t come for him, and he is in the torment of the “grave” (Hades) he has dug for himself, with his own version of goodness, and he is stuck in the “the agony of this fire” and is begging for a single drop of water placed on the “tip” of Lazarus’ finger to cool his tongue.  He has used up all his “goodness” just for himself, so that now there is no “goodness” left when he needs it the most. 

All of these powerful, sobering and unforgettable images of this tormenting death (Hades), we also call Hell, brings us to the most unsettling use of the word “good”.  After we hear the rich man “begging” for a small act of “goodness” toward him, we then read Abraham’s response: “But Abraham said, Son, remember….”   Isn’t this what this guy can’t stop doing.  In Hell, as he suffers all he can do is “remember” how good he once had it, and how bad it is now.   But continue on, it gets even worse:  …”Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things.”  Notice the extra little word “your”.  While Lazarus only had “bad things” in his life, this rich man had his own version of “good things” in his life.  But now, his life is over.   The ‘luxury’ of living his own version of “goodness” is over, but his own version of goodness continues to affect him.  He now suffers the consequences of living by his “own” version of “goodness”.   It is now, as C.S. Lewis once said, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'    By getting the “good” that man always wanted, he failed to get the “goodness” that he really needed.

Here we come the most critical question of this text, which makes me ask you, what I must continual ask myself: whose version of “goodness” am I living, right now?    Am I only living my own version of “goodness” or do I seek after, ask for, or knocking upon to door of God’s version of goodness---which we know to call “the fruit of the Spirit of goodness?”  Which kind of goodness have I gone after in my life?  This is the question of goodness Jesus wants us to ask ourselves from this thought provoking story.   What we don’t ever want to do, if we don’t want the “torment” or “agony” of Hell, is to go through this life without asking the bigger question about goodness, than just asking what’s in it for me?   Let me suggest two questions to help you ask the “bigger” questions of goodness, which the Bible continually asks:   

GOOD IS WHO WE ARE TO GOD.  As Christians, we don’t have to guess what is good.  We’ve already been told.  We still have to grow in our thinking, understanding and responding to God’s version of goodness, and part of question about goodness will forever remain unanswered, but we don’t have to “wonder” what “good” is.   We see the answer in the gospels; especially Jesus’ encounter with another rich man.   Do you remember him?   He’s the guy who came up to Jesus asking the right kind of question, though he was still seeking the wrong sort of answer.  He too, had his own version of “goodness” that he would not give up.  

In Matthew 19: 16, this “rich, young, man” came to Jesus asking, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”   Jesus was immediately on to his lack of understanding about “goodness”, when he scolded him, “Why do you ask me about what is good?”  There is only one who is good.  “If you want to enter life, obey the commandments...”

Jesus’ point seems to be that we already know the “right” answer about “goodness”.  The “right” version of goodness should already be “written on our hearts” and should be as “plain” as the nose on our face, since it has been with us since the very first “commandment” God ever gave.   “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and mind….”    

If you really want to find the good and be good, you will “love” God.   This is what “keeping the commandments” means.   We start “keeping God’s commandments” when we start asking our lives each day:  WHO AM I TO GOD?   This is why Jesus tells this man, if he wants “eternal life”, all he needs to do “follow”.  But this man cannot love God with all he has, because he will not give up his own selfish “version” of goodness.   He will not let God decide what is “good,” but he will only decide it for himself.

Who are you to God?  This is the kind of question, that if you ask it every day of your life, you start living a different kind of life and you start imagining a differing kind of “good.”   I recall in one of my very first “religion” classes in school that the professor, Dr.. Alice Cullinan, asked us a question I’ve never forgotten.  She ask: “Who are you when you are by yourself?”  You should not define yourself by who you are when you are around other people, but you only know who you are when you are all alone, only with God.  Who are you to God?  This is how you begin to find the answer to goodness!   Goodness begins to be defined by asking: Who am I to God?

GOOD IS WHAT WE DO FOR OTHERS  The other part of the “answer” Jesus gave this second rich man; this man has a chance to change version of goodness, but still blows it,  comes as Jesus tells this second rich man, that love for God must also result in love for your neighbor:  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  All the Law and the Commandments hang on these two.  (Matthew 22: 37-40).     

Don’t miss the way the word “your” contrasts to how Luke used it.  Just as Abraham told the first rich man: “Remember you received “YOUR” good things and this points out his big failure,  Jesus corrects that mistake when he tells him, “Love the Lord God with all YOUR hear….YOUR soul…and YOUR mind …  and then love YOUR neighbor as yourself---that is: make the good of your neighbor as important as the “good things” you go after for yourself, then you will have “eternal life”.   The “good” you need, is the good that you “do”, with God and for others.

That wonderful preacher of the Gospel, Fred Craddock tells of a time when he and his wife, Nettie, Craddock, had a guest in their home, spending the night.  As Fred read the paper, this guest played with their kids and taught them a new game. Fred thought to himself, “How long has it been since I [came] home from work, got down on the floor, and played with the kids and taught them a new game?” He felt himself judged by his guest’s actions.

Following dinner, the guest said to Mrs. Craddock, “I certainly appreciated the meal. That was just a wonderful meal.” Fred tried to remember when it was that he had said that to his wife, Nettie, following dinner. He thinks it was in 1949.  And he was judged again.

The guest went out for a walk and came back in and said, “Oh, those are nice folks next door. I met Mr.Yung and his wife from Seoul. They are a very nice young couple.”

Fred says, “Well, I had heard some Koreans moved in down there, but I didn’t know. When he said their names, I was judged.”

Just a familiar pattern of my own “goodness”, says Fred Craddock. “I Come home, read the paper, and eat supper. Then here comes someone strange, who has a whole different version of goodness.  Suddenly, everything around me looks different, and I think to myself, ‘Where in the world have I been?’” (From Craddock Stories, by Graves, Ward and Craddock, 2001).

We have no indication that the rich man was himself a bad man. He just lived by his own version of goodness and in eternity said to himself, “Where in the world have I been?”   Which version of “goodness” are you going after?    My one hope is that you will stop believing you have the “answer” and will start asking yourself the right questions: Who am I to God?  Who am I to others?  If you want God’s version of “eternal life”, you must ask yourself the question that gets you beyond the “good” you see, so you can see the “good” God sees.

Where do we start looking for God’s version of goodness?   I like the answer E. Stanley Jones gives when he tells of the missionary in the jungle.  The missionary got lost with nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places.  He finally found a small village and asked one of the natives if he could lead him out of the jungle. The native said he could.

            “All right,” the missionary said. “Show me the way.”

            They walked for hours through dense brush, hacking their way through unmarked jungle. The missionary began to worry and said, “Are you quite sure this is the way?   Where is the path?”

            The native said, “Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path.”

In a world where there is so much confusion about “what is good” we all need have Jesus as the path to finding God’s version of goodness.  Amen. 

© 2010 All rights reserved Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, B.A., M.Div. D.Min