“A believer’s life does not always follow a straight line but the goodness of God is always there.”
Sermon Title: THE PICTURE OF GOODNESS
Scripture Text: GALATIANS 5:22-23; RUTH 1 – 2
Sermon Notes:
RUTH 1:16-18 NIV
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
goodness | Greek: agathosune
– “to do good.”
Goodness in a Season of Loss
God’s goodness is the root of all goodness; and our goodness, if we have any, springs out of his goodness. — William Tyndale
EPHESIANS 4:32 NIV
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
I. NAOMI: BARE
RUTH 1:20-21 NIV
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
NAHUM 1:7 NIV
7 The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him
PSALMS 34:8 NIV
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
PSALMS 145:9 NIV
9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
“God’s goodness is not defined by our definition or our perspective or our experience of what we think is good. “
“God is good – not because he causes things that seem or feel ‘good’ to happen in our lives, but because in the midst of the storm, God comes closer to us than the storm could ever be.” — Charles Spurgeon
REFLECT.
Have you defined God’s goodness by his performance or usefulness in your life?
II. RUTH: BESIDE
RUTH 1:16-17 NIV
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
GALATIANS 6:2 NIV
2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
REFLECT.
What if God wants to show his presence, his kindness, his goodness to someone through you?
RUTH 2:2 NIV
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
RUTH 2:3 NIV
3 So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
“Nothing happens by accident. Everything happens by appointment.”
III. BOAZ: BEYOND
RUTH 2:8-9 NIV
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.
9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
RUTH 2:11-12 NIV
11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband--how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.
12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
RUTH 2:14 NIV
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.
REFLECT.
Who are you looking out for?
RUTH 2:19-20 NIV
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
20 “The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” …
20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” …
“Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of God.”
I. NAOMI: BARE
II. RUTH: BESIDE
III. BOAZ: BEYOND
RUTH 4:16 NIV
16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.
“A believer’s life does not always follow a straight line but the goodness of God is always there.”
RUTH 4:17 NIV
17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
PSALMS 23:6 NIV
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
“God’s goodness is the root of all goodness; and our goodness, if we have any, springs out of his goodness. — William Tyndale
MATTHEW 12:35 NIV
35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
2 THESSALONIANS 1:11-12 NASB
11 To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:16-17 NIV
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.