Christian Goo-Goos

July 7, 2013

Christian Goo-Goos          Grammar Police Alert:  These Notes are Not Edited

Galatians 6:1-16

SIS—Christians should be readily recognizable by their propensity to do good deeds.

Have you ever heard someone call someone else a “good two shoes?”  Did you ever wonder where that phrase came from?  It comes from a children’s book published in 1795 about a poor, orphan girl named, Margery Meanwell (she means well, get it?).  Margery walks about town with slumped shoulders and a forlorn look because she only had one shoe.  Then one day a kind and wealthy man bought her a new pair of shoes.  She spent the rest of her days running around town knocking on doors and shouting, “two shoes, two shoes.”  Thus, she becomes, Miss Goody Two Shoes.

Do you know any “mugwumps.”  The Mugwumps were Republican political activists who bolted from the United States Republican Party by supporting Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884. They switched parties because they rejected the financial corruption associated with Republican candidate James G. Blaine. In a close election, the Mugwumps supposedly made the difference in New York state and swung the election to Cleveland (Wikipedia).  This term for these “do-gooders” became a negative term for someone who switches parties.

What would you have if you had a full room of “Goo-Goos?”  Well, you’d have a room full of “Good Government Men.”  I know that seems like a contradiction:  good government men, but like mugwumps, Goo-Goos rose up against political corruption.

Goody Two Shoes, mugwumps, and Goo-goos are terms all related to someone doing some “good deed.”  Ironically, these terms became negative terms for people thought to be “high and mighty,” or “holier-than-thous.”

Christians are supposed to be “Do-gooders.”  We don’t want to ever appear “high and mighty or holier-than-thous,” but we certainly want to be known for doing good works.  Let’s Read what our texts says about Christian Do-gooders.

READ Galatians 6:1-10.

1.  Christian “Do-Gooders” Live By the Spirit (7-9)

The entire theme of the Book of Galatians is written to establish the basis for the True Gospel, which is justification by faith, as opposed to the Judaizers that were trying to teach “justification by works.”  Paul presents his argument in Galatians by contrasting the True Gospel, as living in the Spirit, and the false gospel, as living in the flesh.  Verse 5:1-5 solidify his message.  I think it is helpful to read these verses:

5 Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm  then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.  ² Take note! I, Paul, tell you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. ³ Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to keep the entire law. ⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.  ⁵ For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait  for the hope  of righteousness.

Upon this foundation of grace through faith in Jesus our “justification” rests.  It is a wholly spiritual matter to which nothing done in the flesh has, or ever could, contribute.

“Justification” refers to the act of God in removing the guilt of our sin and at the same time making us righteous through Christ.  A simple play on the word might help:  justification is just as if I had not sinned.  Not very scholarly, but pretty accurate.

Apart from this “right standing” in Christ by grace through our faith in Him, nothing we do in this life accounts for any good whatsoever.  It doesn’t matter how much of our money we give to charity.  It doesn’t matter how much of our time we give to good works.  It doesn’t matter even if we die on the behalf of another; there is absolutely nothing we do in this life apart from our relationship to Christ through the Holy Spirit that counts for anything.  In fact Isaiah the great prophet declared that without a relationship with God,

⁶ All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

Paul goes to great lengths in Romans and here in Galatians, and in other places to demonstrate that a person that seeks to do good deeds in his own flesh never amounts to much in this world, and in the world to come, amounts to nothing at all.

The only way to be a “Christian Do-gooder” and bringing honor to God and real blessing to others, is to “Live in the Spirit.” Paul uses a comparison from agriculture to drive home this point in Verses 7-9:

⁷ Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, ⁸ because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit  will reap eternal life  from the Spirit. ⁹ So we must not get tired  of doing good,  for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

Christian “Do-Gooders” live in the Spirit and thus are truly, consistently, and eternally a blessing to people both inside the church and outside. 

The gravest mistake any person could make in light of Paul’s teaching in Galatians, and elsewhere, is to think that any “good deeds,” or a mountain of good deeds could ever make amends for even the slightest sin.

2. Christian “Do-gooders” minister in a spirit of humility (v1)

Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle  spirit,  watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.

The word translated, “caught,” carries the meaning of being overrun by a military power,” in other words, “taken prisoner.”  This is the essence of sin:  we are overrun by the Devil and become his prisoner. 

So, Christians are a little like Seal Team Six.  Do you recall a few years ago when Somali pirates hijacked an American merchant ship and held the captain hostage?  April 8, 2009 four pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama, a merchant vessel.  This is the first time a vessel sailing under the American flag had been taken by pirates since the early 1800’s.  Though it was the first American vessel, it was the sixth vessel in a week to be attacked by pirates who had previously extorted ransoms in the tens of millions of dollars. As the event unfolded Captain Richard Philips was taken hostage with three pirates on a lifeboat towed behind the ship. One pirate remained to negotiate the ransom. Two American warships were in a standoff with the pirates.  All attempts to negotiate for the Captains release failed. In the course of the negotiations, the Captain of the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge convinced the pirates it would be better to be towed into shore (for negotiations) by the Bainbridge.
That’s where the elite Navy Seals enter the picture.  They had parachuted aboard the Bainbridge. The order had been given to take whatever action was necessary if the hostage’s life seemed to be in danger—and it was.  U.S. Navy SEAL snipers, from the on the Bainbridge's fantail, wind whipping the lifeboat as it bobbed on the sea like a cork,  opened fire and killed the three pirates remaining in the lifeboat with a simultaneous volley of three shots.  This is what Navy Seals do—free prisoners.
This is our calling also as Christian “Do-gooders.”  We are to set free, or restore, those who have been overrun by the enemy the Devil.  The Navy Seals did not decide whether the Captain was worth rescuing, they just rescued him.  They never questioned, why he was overrun, or whether it was his own fault.  They just rescued him.
There are too many Christians who are “judgmental and condemning” of sinners. There are also too many Christians who simply turn a blind eye to the sin of others and say nothing.  Neither of these two attitudes is taught here in our text.  We are certainly not to ignore the sin that is apparent in others, and neither are we to take a “criticizing, judgmental attitude” toward the sinner.

Our calling is to “restore people to a right standing with God.” The word restore means to “set in order.” We are not to be “harsh and judgmental.” Jesus condemned a “critical, self-righteous, judgmental attitude” in the greatest sermon ever preached.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said,

Mt. 7    ¹Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.  ² For with the judgment you use,  you will be judged, and with the measure you use,  it will be measured to you.  ³ Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye?

Jesus did not mean we are not to form opinions on people’s behavior based upon the measure of God’s Word.  In fact, in verse 6 Jesus forms just such an opinion in regard to “unrepentant, rebellious” sinners.  He calls them “dogs.”  Jesus formed opinions about the Pharisees.  Jesus formed opinions about the behavior of His own disciples.  So, Jesus does not talking about “never forming an opinion about the acts and attitudes of others.”  Jesus is talking about “judging” in a manner that denigrates, or devalues a person.  Jesus is talking about a “harsh, critical pronouncement of unworthiness.” 

Paul is the interpreter of the life of Jesus and he gives us guidance in how we are to minister to others:  restore such a person with a gentle  spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted (v1).

The words, “watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted” are a reminder that we are all sinners and we can at any point in our life when we are not “watchful” be overrun by the Tempter.  These words are a reminder that Christian ministry should be marked by humility.

There is a story attributed to St. Augustine that one day he was in a town near the waterfront when he was approached by a young man, dirty, dressed in rags, and smelling of alcohol. He begs Augustine for some money. Opening his purse, he gave the man a couple coins. Seeing what he had done, another passerby came over and ask why Augustine had given the man money. Couldn't he see that the man was a bum, a drunk, and a good for nothing. Augustine watched him leave and said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

Too often we see someone caught and a fault and we do as the Pharisees did:  we say, “thank God I am not like that sinner.”  Paul warns us in verse that we should be “watchful because we are sinners like everybody else.”

Goo-Goos are “Good Government Men.”  Christian “Goo-goos” are “Do-gooders” who are motivated by the Holy Spirit within them and who seek to help others in a spirit of humility.

This means, that the essence of being a “Christian Goo-Goo,” or “Do-gooder is to be

3.  partners in a global, good-deeds, mission (v 10)

The summation of this concluding chapter is simply this:

Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work  for the good  of all, especially for those who belong to the household  of faith.

Christians are to “do good” . . . period.  As my Dad would say when he’d give me a task:  “And I don’t want to hear any ifs, ands, or buts about it!”  Just do it.

Christians are to do “good,” not to gain salvation, but because we already received it as a free gift.  Paul says something similar in another book:

¹² So then, my dear friends,  just as you have always obeyed,  not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Jesus said something very similar in the Sermon on the Mount:

Mt. 5:16  Let your light shine  before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

When a person is truly wired into Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and has a humble heart of a servant, then there is an unexplainable urge to do good deeds and meet the needs of others.  John the Apostle says,

^{1John 4    19} We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Ministry is simply, “Love in action.”  Love in action is evidence that God has taken up resident in a person’s heart.  God is love, and those that are God’s children are characterized by an innate, Spirit-born, desire to express God’s love through “good deeds.”

A non-serving Christian is an “oxymoron.”  An oxymoron arises from the combination of contradictory terms, like a “deafening silence,” or “irregular pattern.”  Shakespeare strung together oxymora when Romeo declares:

"O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!

A Christian who isn’t seeking to meet the needs of those around him or her is an “unholy contradiction.”  We were not saved to sit in a pew but to serve on the streets. If you signed up to be a member of the Church, then you volunteered to serve. God is serious about filling up His Church with those He has called to be saved.

In Luke 14 we have what has been titled, “The Parable of the Great Banguet.”  In this parable “A certain man,” who represents Almighty God, was preparing a great feast and festival.  He had invited many guests—apparently everybody who was anybody in the town was invited.  When the time for the party came, the master’s servant reported that one by one all the invited guests gave excuses for why they could not come.  Here is the master’s reaction:

²¹ “So the slave came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame!’  ²² “ ‘Master,’ the slave said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’ ²³ “Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

God wants His house filled and He expects us to fill it by “doing good works” to the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame, and to anybody in the course of our highways and byways of life.”

The Holy Spirit declares in our text through Paul,

Therefore, as we have opportunity,

we must work  for the good  of all,

On this day, the 7^th Day of July, in the Year of the Lord 2013, I do hereby declare war upon the idea of “pew sitting.”  If you are a Christian, you are expected to be a “Do-Gooder.”

John Newton wrote a poem during his days as pastor in Olney.  It was set to a tune and became a beloved hymn of the church.  It says,

There is a balm in Gilead // To make the wounded whole
There is a balm in Gilead // To heal the sin-sick soul

The idea comes from Jeremiah 8:22 where the prophet weeps over the brokenness of the nation of Israel:

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?

So why has the healing of my dear  people not come about?

We should all lament over the sadness, brokenness, and spiritual devastation evident everywhere on our streets.  We should weep over the homeless, we should weep over the hunger, we should weep over the brokenness in homes.  Our hearts should be broken and our eyes awash with tears when we look out over the lostness of our communities, nations, and indeed our world.

But, it is not enough to be broken-hearted.  It is not enough to cry tears of compassion.  We are called to be “Christian Goo-Goos,” or “Christian Do-gooders.”  We cannot let it be said of our community that “there is no balm in Giliead,” no healing for our city.  The last verse of John Newton’s hymn reminds us:

If you cannot preach like Peter // If you cannot pray like Paul
You can tell the love of Jesus // And say, "He died for all".

The “Goo-Goos” were “Good Government Men” committed to standing up against the evil they perceived in government.  They were the “mugwumps” who were not afraid to stand against the corruption in their own party.  And then, there was Margery Meanwell who was so overcome by the kind act of receiving new shoes that she made herself annoying going door to door “telling of her good fortune.”

We must be like Margery.  We must “go door to door all about town in every highway and byway telling the story of God’s good news.”

Let’s Pray.