Good God It’s Christmas 1 | Good God, Bad Man

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:16–19)

This Christmas season, the goodness of God shines clearest against the backdrop of our deepest need.

Remembering Simple Truths

It's not uncommon for me to stand up here at the beginning of a service and say, "God is good." Many of you know the response: "All the time." A couple of decades ago Christians said it often—"God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good." But as things become common and traditional, we can do or say them without thinking much about them. Sometimes people have asked me, "Why do you say that all the time? Don't you have something new?"

Maybe we do have something new, but I also think it's important from time to time to be reminded of simple truths. This is why Jesus told his disciples to partake of the bread and the cup often—so that we would remember something easy to forget: the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. Peter said it is good to remind you of these things, though you be established in the present truth. You may already know that God is good, but from time to time we need to remind ourselves: He is good, all the time.

A Culture That Has Forgotten God's Goodness

We live in a culture that has in many ways disregarded the goodness of God—and even that there is a God at all. The late Christopher Hitchens wrote a best-selling book in 2007 called God Is Not Great, holding an atheistic position that many have adopted. Hitchens died of cancer a couple of years ago, and I suspect he is no longer an atheist. Many westerners, both in the United States and in Europe, have taken up that mindset. Atheists and agnostics are still a minority, but they are a vocal, loud minority, so people perceive far more have disregarded this truth than really have.

In place of an awareness of the goodness of God, man has substituted the idea that man is good—inherently good. Twenty-first-century westerners, both inside and outside the church, have largely set aside the doctrine of original sin. That leads people to be surprised by evil.

Surprised by Evil

This is not new. In the 1950s, a number of social commentators recognized that, after the Second World War, disregarding original sin and clinging to the idea that man is inherently good would supposedly bring about a utopian society. They were shocked by what was uncovered in Nazi Germany. They could not believe such an advanced, enlightened people could do such things.

A professor at Columbia University wrote a book some years ago called The Death of Satan. In it he describes FDR, who for a long time refused to believe the death camps really existed because he could not imagine someone doing such things. FDR later admitted, in a conversation with a young theologian, that his disregard for the doctrine of original sin had led him to think, "No, they just couldn't do that."

We are further down that line today, believing man is born good. But if you've had small children, you know that's not true—or go work in the children's ministry and you'll find out. We are not born inherently good. The doctrine of original sin makes us aware that we are sinners, and we ought not be surprised by evil. We are confronted with wickedness constantly—turn on the evening news and you'll see the atrocities in our communities, our nation, and the world. This past week we were treated to a not-so-rare display of man's wickedness as rioters did what they did in Ferguson, Missouri. You can argue the justice or injustice of how things went legally, but the aftermath was a display of man's innate wickedness.

Be Careful When You Judge

One thing that happens within the church is that we look out at the world and point the finger of judgment—"Look how wicked they are." We need to be very careful. Paul addresses this in Romans 2:

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judges; for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. (Romans 2:1–2)

Only God can rightly judge wickedness in the world, even though we are tempted to do so. Paul goes on: do you despise the riches of God's goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads to repentance? When we are tempted to cast judgment, the truth is this—and this is point one: God is good, and man is not. God's judgment is according to truth; He alone judges rightly.

The Christian's Answer to Evil

If you're a Christian, you probably don't struggle with saying man is not good. If you're not a Christian, especially raised in Western culture, I understand you'd take issue with it. But let me point out: because the non-believer rejects the doctrine of original sin, he has no basis from which to answer the question of evil and wickedness in the world. The Christian does.

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God." (Romans 3:9–11)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

You could not get any more all-encompassing than that. Many of us first learned this on the "Romans road": all have sinned (3:23), the wages of sin is death (6:23). And this sin is not just something we do—it's something deep within us:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

It Was Very Good

The Christian's answer goes back to the very beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and at the conclusion of the first creation account we read:

And God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)

Seven times in the first chapter of the Bible God says it is good. It was pleasant, right, excellent. Even after He made man it was still very good. The first negative comes in chapter two—not that something was evil, but that it was incomplete. So in His goodness God completes it by bringing man the gift of a woman. As Proverbs says, he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

God created a garden, Eden, and placed man in it. He said, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat." But He also gave a command:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Genesis 2:17)

Up to this point, man had known only good—a good creation, a good God, a good gift. With this tree came the opportunity for the knowledge of evil.

The Temptation and the Fall

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"... "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1–5)

The serpent, more subtle than any beast of the field, plants a question against the goodness of God in Eve's mind—and Adam's, since he was apparently with her. The essence of the question is really a statement: God is holding you back; He's keeping you from what's really good. Isn't that the impetus for sin so many times in our lives? We come to think that what the world offers is better than what God is saying to us.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)

There it is—what John calls the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden and hid themselves. In an instant innocence was lost. The opening of their eyes did not bring the great knowledge they were promised—it brought shame and fear. In Genesis 2 they were naked and not ashamed; now, under the same conditions, shame and fear entered through the fall.

We Still Need the Gospel

We have the answer to the question of evil—we understand its origin and source. But let's be honest enough to recognize that the longer we walk with Jesus, the further we get from our testimony, and the less we tend to think original sin applies to us anymore. We begin to think, "I'm actually pretty good; it's those people outside who are wicked."

It is true, as Paul says, that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). Ezekiel 36 prophesies the day God would give us a new heart. So if you're a Christian, you have a new heart. And yet you still bear the old nature. "There is none righteous, no, not one" is still descriptive of you, even if you've been a Christian for a long time. We still need the gospel daily—many times a day—to remember the grace of God. Anything we have is of grace, not of works, lest any of us should boast.

I love the progression in Paul's life. Early on he calls himself "the least of the apostles." Later he says he is "less than the least of all the saints." In his final letter he says he is "the chief of sinners." That's the right progression—the longer we walk with the Lord, the more we recognize how great His grace is toward us.

Even Religious Nicodemus Needed New Birth

When Jesus speaks the words of John 3:16, He is speaking to arguably the most religious person of the day. Nicodemus, a zealous Pharisee, comes to Jesus by night, and Jesus blurts out, "You must be born again, or you'll not see the kingdom of God." Everyone in Nicodemus's day considered him a morally good man—keeping the law of Moses, the traditions of his fathers, the ceremonial cleansings, the sacrifices at the temple, checking off all the boxes every day.

Jesus essentially tells this morally good man, "You're not good enough."

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

From the human perspective Nicodemus had it all together religiously, but at the heart level he still needed new birth. Like Nicodemus, we Christians must lay hold of the truth that we need His grace perpetually—whether you've been a Christian for 30 minutes or 30 years.

The Wickedness of the Heart

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

We know ourselves better than anyone else ever will, yet we still don't fully comprehend the depths of our own depravity. Sometimes I'm surprised by what comes out of my heart and proceeds out of my mouth. I'll say something and think, "Where in the world did that come from?" And God says, "Yes, that was in there." He searches the heart of man and knows it fully, even when we don't.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. (Mark 7:21–22)

When we look at the wickedness in the world, we should not say society imposed it on us. It came from within—from the heart, which causes the mind to conceive it and then brings it into the world. So point two: from the heart come evil thoughts and evil actions. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that every good tree bears good fruit and every bad tree bears bad fruit. Our actions come not from things imposed upon us but from the root of who we are.

Sin Is Lawlessness

Some people don't like the little three-letter word "sin"—maybe because they don't know how to explain it. Simply put, sin is lawlessness: using what God has given you in a way against what He intended.

When you buy a new device—a tablet, a phone, a camera—it comes with a manual describing its intended uses, and that's what keeps it under warranty. If you use it against the manufacturer's intended use, you void the warranty and you'll probably break it. That's what sin is. God is the manufacturer; Genesis 1 and 2 say He made us, and Psalm 139 says He knit us together in our mother's womb. He has an intended use, given in Genesis 1: "Let us make man in our image." We are image-bearers of God. When people see us, they should see Him reflected. Anytime we act against His intended use, we fail to reflect His image—and that is lawlessness, that is sin. And it brings brokenness to the world. People who do bad, immoral, wicked things are acting out of brokenness.

Our Greatest Need

The awesome thing is that God is still good. This broken world reveals to us our greatest need. The best gifts to give are the ones that address a true need. We've all heard it's hard to buy for the person who has everything—which is why we have stores like Brookstone, full of trinkets nobody actually needs. I call them "does-nothings." But the best gifts meet a real need, and God has the perfect gift for the need we all have. Point three: we are in desperate need of the goodness of God.

But having a need that someone else can meet doesn't guarantee you'll receive it—unless something else is present. And here is the other thing we learn about God: He is not only good, He is love. First John 4:8 says God is love. Compelled by His love, God brings us the very thing we need that He has and we don't.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Point four: compelled by love, God has extended His goodness to a needy humanity. He gave not just any gift, but the greatest gift for the greatest need.

Christmas Reveals the Goodness of God

Point five: Christmas reveals the goodness of God. It can get lost in all the clutter—parties, gifts, food, travel, bonuses, shopping. The year goes by so fast that, somewhere around the end of November, I find myself saying, "Good God, it's Christmas—it's already here!" And then it hit me: Good God, it's Christmas. He is good, and He wants us to recognize that Christmas reveals His goodness. It expresses the very thing all of humanity needs. If we miss the goodness of God in Jesus Christ at Christmas, we've missed one of the most important aspects of this season.

If you're not a Christian today, I hope you'll at least understand we all have a deep need we cannot fill on our own—not with money, not with self-denial or religious effort. It can only be received as a gift, because only God has it. Thankfully, compelled by His love, He has extended it. The question is whether you'll receive it. I think it would be a foolish thing to refuse it, but God has given you that choice. He who did not spare His own son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?

Ambassadors of the Greatest Gift

If you're a Christian, let me encourage you. This should be a merry, happy time of giving gifts. On average it's expected this year that families will spend just under a thousand dollars on Christmas gifts—up eight percent over last year. You'll give sweet things, good things, fun things. But in all the buying and giving and receiving, don't fail to give the greatest gift for humanity's greatest need: Jesus. We all have friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers who don't yet realize they have this need—but you have the gift, and God has made us ambassadors.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation... Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:18–21)

If today you've received the gift of grace in Jesus Christ and put your faith in Him, you have everlasting life—and you've been given that same gift not to hoard but to give. Every December we are given a wide-open door, because people are already thinking about happy and good things, and Christmas is about the coming of Christ. Yes, some will say He wasn't born on December 25th—we don't really know that, and it doesn't matter; we're celebrating His birth. Billions celebrate Christmas, even people who have no idea about Jesus. That opens a wide door for us who know what it's about to extend the gift of God's grace. People let their guard down this time of year. Seize that opportunity. Amen.

Closing Prayer

God, I thank you for the gift of grace that you've given to us. It is a gift none of us deserve, but a gift every one of us needs—not just one time in the past, but every day in the future. We will need your continual grace in our lives, and we thank you that you are a good God who, compelled by your love, has extended your goodness to us through the gift of your son. Now, as we prepare to leave this place, compel us by that same love to extend that good gift to those we know who don't yet know their need. We ask this in Jesus' name.