“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
The Christian message is that evil has been overcome by good. On the cross, Jesus defeated Satan and bore the the sin of the world whilst remaining perfectly obedient to God. Even though, he was treated unjustly and abused in the lead up to his brutal crucifixion, he did not retaliate, but bore it all to bring about our salvation. Jesus overcame evil with good.
Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness
Light and Goodness
At the end of our service, we are going to give Amelia a lighted candle. When we do so, we will talk about how as Christians, God has called us out of darkness to be a people of light. It is beautiful imagery, but what does it mean?
Well, Jesus who is himself, the light of the world tells his followers, “You are the light of the world.” But what does that mean. He goes on to say,
“In the same way, let your light shine before people, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Living as people of light means being good, it means learning to please God in the way that we live.
Fruit of the Spirit
At St. Luke’s we are doing a series on the fruit of the Spirit. We are looking at the characteristics, that as Christians we should be naturally developing to imitate God’s character in our day to day lives. This week, the characteristic we are considering is ‘goodness.’ For Christians, those who seek to follow Jesus, because we believe God is good, we too are to be good in the way we live.
But that is not a view that fits easily with the outlook of many. In today’s world, we have an increasing tendency to see ourselves as victims of our circumstances, to focus and dwell on the ill-treatment we so often receive from others, and the problems we face as a result. From this perspective, the problem is not my lack of goodness, but the forces of evil in the world, whether it be sexism, racism, or the abuse of those in power.
Such an attitude can mean we struggle to believe that there is a good God. When all we focus on is the oppression and evil in the world around us, then we are likely to say, “How can there be a good God, when the world is full of so much suffering and evil?”
There is all the difference in the world, between seeing yourself as a child of a good God and the victim of a corrupt society. The first viewpoint can lead to a life full of goodness and faith, the second is more likely to lead to despair.
We cannot deny the wickedness and evil in the world, but as Christians we believe that they are not fundamental or permanent, what is ultimately fundamental and permanent is the good God of Jesus Christ.
As it says in Romans:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
This truth is played out powerfully in the story of Joseph.
Joseph’s Goodness
Many of you will know the story of Joseph, it is one of the best-known stories in the Bible and it has even been turned into a musical: Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat.
Joseph has every reason to see himself as a victim. Although he had been his dad’s favourite child, symbolised by the fact that his dad had given him a beautiful coat to wear, his brothers out of jealousy had kidnapped him taken away his coat, sold him as a slave covered the coat in goat’s blood and told their father that he had probably been killed by a wild animal.
Joseph is then taken to Egypt and sold as a slave into the house of Potiphar an official to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So, he finds himself, an oppressed slave and a despised foreigner. Yet, the Bible asserts that God was with him.
Joseph’s Good Work
Joseph could have sunk into despair and self-pity. He could have given up in the face of terrible circumstances. But he doesn’t. Instead, he does good. In particular, he does good work for his master Potiphar. So much so, that everything he does is so successful, that Potiphar notices and keeps promoting him, until in the end he trusts him to run his whole household.
Joseph, who lived hundreds of years before Jesus, nonetheless shows us what
it means to:
“… let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
He is also living out the promise made to his great-grandfather Abraham,
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3)
By doing good work for his master who is an Egyptian, Joseph enables God’s blessing to flow through him to the Egyptians.
God’s calling to us as Christians in our workplaces is to be those who do good work, who bring blessing to the companies or organisations we work for, whether those companies or organisations are kind to us or not.
Joseph resists Evil
But goodness is not just doing good work, it is also resisting doing what is evil.
Joseph was a naturally very good-looking young man. But good looks can be a curse, they can bring unwanted attention. In this case his master, Potiphar’s wife, took a shine to Joseph. She asked him to sleep with her. In fact, she kept asking him to sleep with her!
But Joseph resists the temptation. He tells her that he can’t do it, because it would betray the trust that has been given to him by his master, it would disrespect their marriage, and it would be a sin against God. Indeed, Joseph describes what she is proposing as wicked or evil and refuses to even be with her.
Joseph, demonstrates goodness, by not just resisting doing something he knows is wrong, but by being very clear why it is wrong and seeking to avoid the temptation altogether by avoiding being with her.
Joseph does not make light of sin. He does not downplay why it is wrong or flirt with the possibility but draws out the full seriousness of sin and flees from it.
In this way, he mimics Jesus who famously, resisted the temptations of the Devil. Indeed, the New Testament says that Jesus was completely without sin. He was totally good.
Goodness does not flirt with wickedness it is repulsed by evil.
Joseph is a great example of what it means to live a good life.
Potiphar’s Wife
But then comes the twist. Potiphar’s wife destroys the good Joseph. Although Joseph is a victim of her wickedness, she is the one who plays the victim.
Joseph’s brothers had betrayed him and taken his coat. Now in an echo of that moment of injustice, Potiphar’s wife, in a desperate attempt to seduce him forcefully removes some of his clothing, but Joseph flees from her.
Then she twists the story. She calls her servants in and plays the victim. Here she is the victim of an attempted rape by this foreigner that her husband has brought into the house. She builds sympathy for her fate, by appealing to her servants’ racist tendencies, as well as the natural loathing of their boss.
When she tells her husband her version of events, he is naturally furious and Joseph ends up in jail. In playing the victim, Potiphar’s wife is creating a victim in Joseph.
Was God good to Joseph?
But this raises the problem that we started with. Is God really a good God? Was he good to Joseph?
At the start of the story, the stress is that God was with Joseph. Although he had been sold as a slave by his brothers, God had helped Joseph to be successful in his new situation. But that all comes to nothing. Joseph ends up in jail.
Crucially, this is not the end of the story. The jail he is thrown into is the one where Pharoh’s prisoners were kept. Joseph will end up correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer, who will be restored to Pharaoh. When Pharaoh, then has trouble interpreting the dream, the cupbearer recommends Joseph and so Joseph ends up not just running Potiphar’s household, but the whole of Egypt. He does so to help Egypt and other nations survive a terrible drought. Even his brothers end up saved from starvation, because of Joseph’s leadership and are reconciled with him.
At the point of being thrown into jail, Joseph may well have doubted that God was good. But by the end of his life, he could look back and say to his brothers,
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
Jesus died for our good
Even this mirrors what would later happen to Jesus. He was put to death on the cross by wicked men, who brought all kinds of false charges against him. But although Jesus was the victim of a great injustice, God had always planned that his death would be for the greater good.
He died in our place, he took the punishment for our failure to be good, for the times we have not done good work and for the times when we have not resisted temptation to do evil.
But his aim is not just to rescue us from punishment for evil, it is also there to help us become people who do good, who bring a blessing to the world around us, and ultimately bring glory to God. He died that we might be brought out of darkness to be a people of light.
As Jesus says,
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
So, will you join the people of light? Will you trust that God is a good God, that Jesus died so that your failure to be good can be forgiven, and will you seek God’s help to live good lives from now on?
St. George's Church Ramsgate 