The Source of All Good Things
Historic One Year Lectionary Epistles • Sermon • Submitted
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Jesus Promises to Send His Holy Spirit, the Helper
Though Jesus has departed from us visibly to the right hand of the Father who sent Him, yet this is to our advantage. For Jesus—who is Lord over all creation, who intercedes for us before the Father, who is preparing a place for us in heaven—has sent the Helper, the Spirit of Truth (John 16:5–15). “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” through Jesus Christ (James 1:17). The Holy Spirit helps us by taking what is Christ’s and declaring it to us. In the Word of truth, the Spirit works repentance and delivers to us the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of Christ, and victory over the devil. For the ruler of this world is judged and defeated by the cross. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we have been brought forth to new life in Him who is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Confident of our resurrection with Christ we confess, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid” (Is. 12:2).
Introduction:
Introduction:
Do you miss watching sports? I do. One of the things I notice when I watch professional and college sports is people making the sign of the cross or pointing up to heaven. They do this as they prepare to bat or shoot a free throw, or when they score a touchdown or get a base hit. Similarly when players are interviewed they often give thanks or praise to God. So it is not uncommon for us to give credit to God for good things. But what do we believe when we say or hear these things? Are we praising God only when things are going well? When we are young and pretty and gifted and successful?
I remember a number of interviews with a former Minnesota Vikings star player that gave me this impression. He who shall remain nameless would give credit to God for all of the blessings in his super impressive and successful life. He seemed to give credit to himself for being a good christian and so God was paying him back. He looked around and saw that he was better than everyone else, fitter, more handsome, more talented. Surely he had done something right because he was being rewarded richly. He made fun of other players for being fatter, slower, and less blessed than he was. Is this a right view of things?
Did God love that player more than the others? Had that player earned God’s favor?
Later on in this players career he suffered major injuries, got caught in an embarrassing scandal, and didn’t achieve as much success. Did God stop being good or stop loving him? Had he failed in earning God’s favor?
Outline:
Outline:
1. (v.16-18) Where do good things come from?
1. (v.16-18) Where do good things come from?
“Do not err/be deceived, my beloved brothers”
Blasphemy if you get this wrong!
And don’t follow some false god, some idol
Don’t get this wrong and miss out on all good things!
“Every good gift and perfect present is from above,”
Not from us or from anywhere down here, nor even brought down or fetched from here. We don’t even initiate getting it.
It is from up there. It comes down.
So we don’t earn it. We don’t cause it to come. We don’t climb up Jacob’s ladder to get it. It descends.
Our good works don’t earn it or create any real good. Our religiosity doesn’t deserve it. Our spirituality doesn’t pull it down or cause it to come to us.
EVERY good gift
Not one good thing is from earth
Not one good thing comes from humans
No deep down goodness in mankind’s heart
No good intentions
Not one good thing comes from Satan or any other supposed god
Not one good thing is naturally or accidentally occuring
The beauty of the sunrises and sunsets are God’s artwork on display
The soaring birds, the incredible mountain peaks, the gurgling streams of fresh water, the twinkling stars in the sky
The smell of a fresh apple pie and the laughter of old friends
The wonder of life. The incredible complexity of the human eye, the miracle of reproduction and the birth of a completely unique person, as unique as every snowflake.
God is the source of EVERY good thing
Where do the evil and corrupt things come from? Scripture tells us...
Satan - the great deceiver, the author of evil
Mankind who believed his lies and brought sin into this world
Death & sickness came from the fall into sin
War & all strife
Poverty & corruption
Evil proceeds from our heart
Every GOOD gift and PERFECT present
When God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, including mankind, He saw that it was very good
God only does good, because He is perfect. So His works are perfect.
2. Who do good things come from?
2. Who do good things come from?
“coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”
“the Father of Lights”
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
He is the Light
He is the Creator of light
no variation or shadow due to change
He does not flicker like a star
He doesn’t go supernova or burn out like a sun
He doesn’t get eclipsed or set behind the planet,
He always shines and always gives light and warmth and life
“Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
His will - not ours
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
He brought us (who are saved) forth
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
BY the Word of Truth
His means
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
“THAT we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures”
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
3. (vv. 19-21) How do I respond to this?
3. (vv. 19-21) How do I respond to this?
Be quick to hear,
Remember that Good things come from God
slow to speak,
Remember that good things don’t come from you
slow to anger
(v.20) for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God
Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness
Remember that we are all sinners
and we live by repentance and faith in the Word. If you quit being sorry for you sin and instead embrace it, letting go of your faith in the Word, you are rejecting God’s gift of salvation!
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.