The Fruit of the Goodness: Indwelling and Expressing
by Daniel Burton
In computer programming, there is a commonly held notion of Trash In Trash Out. If a person inputs random garbage and nonsensical strings of commands, the program will simply shut down and return the garbage it has been given. But, if there is care and intentionality in stringing together the code, remarkable and beautiful programs spring out with the same intensity as they were given. Whatever input and effort the programmer gives reveals itself through the program. Goodness, in the lives of the spirit-filled Christian, works similarly. Goodness is expressed from the overflow of goodness through us as we invest in the ultimate goodness from above. Likewise, when we ignore spiritual truths and disciplines, the nature of God becomes marred and blurred. Whatever we spend time engaging and filling our hearts with will revealed by what comes out of our actions. While it is certainly true that Christians are saved by faith instead of works, the works of a Christian display the fruit that comes from within a person. Mankind produces whatever has been seeded inside of it and reflects what we truly worship and not what we necessarily should worship. As Christians, we allow the Holy Spirit to move within us and through us to express the abundant goodness and righteousness of God in the public sphere. We stand for the good and the right because God is working through us and has redeemed our own personal unrighteousness for His glory.
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.
What Makes A Man Good
One of the most fundamental philosophical questions remains whether or not mankind is inherently good. 
Yet, as we discussed in the previous post in this series, only God is good. So then what should we make of mankind? At our core, we craved our own sin and destruction. We stood in rebellion against God and our default state on our own is remarkably sinful. The sin mankind chose invalidated and corrupted any form of goodness we might have had. No one can claim that mankind is inherently good as we have demonstrated time and time again that our hearts are not set on the things of God but on our own selfish nature.
But then, Jesus Christ came in the form of man and took on the penalty of our sin. What is more, by the grace of God our hearts were not refurbished but instead we are given a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are replaced with the heart of God having been transformed by the Holy Spirit within us. The more we remove our fleshly nature and take hold of the heart that God is implanting inside of us, the more we stand in the moral righteousness and abundance that God gives to His people. God alone makes a man good and the Spirit’s work turns death to life, imperfect to holy, and evil to good. God makes man good and we are created to reflect the glory of God in all we do.
A Reflection of our Hearts
For mankind, then, our time and our investment shape our heart and guide our steps. Whatever is in a man’s heart will come out. We can claim to be following God but until our heart pains for the things that God pains for and celebrates the things God celebrates, we miss the fullness of God’s goodness. Just as goodness can only be given by God, goodness can only be maintained by God as well. This is precisely why a life marked with vibrant spiritual disciplines is incredibly vital for the believer’s well-being and everyone they come into contact. Investing in our spiritual life and hearing the word of God sharpens and attunes our hearts to the will of God for others and for the world, empowering us to express the goodness that God sets deep within our soul.
Yet, for some, while they may have knowledge of God, they do not have the relationship that comes from truly knowing God. Goodness is shaped by their own thoughts rather than the thoughts of God. They reduce the word of God to short “-isms” and guise the love of God as merely “tolerance” or a reduced form of love. They identify sin and the person as inseparable, loving the sin in order not to offend the sinner. Sins are no longer sins because it may hurt people’s feelings. These are signs that a heart has not been redeemed by Jesus Christ. We do not get to define what is good or right. Our role is to be shaped by God’s goodness in His infinite knowledge and ultimate, sovereign goodness. Furthermore, tolerating sin to “love the person” ignores the moral goodness and abundance of God who craves our redemption, not our subjugation. We pursue God until the lavish and abundant nature of His goodness continually pours out from us, overflowing into all the world.
For more in this series, check out The Fruit of the Spirit
