The Life of A Believer

By Dr. Brian J. Bailey

Now since we are to be like our Master in all aspects of His glorious character, the attribute of goodness must be highly developed in our lives. Goodness is essentially the performing of good works with kindness and a generous, willing spirit, out of a heart of love.

The New Testament saints were continually exhorted to good works. It was these works that exemplified their

faith in action. As the Apostle James said, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (Jas. 2:26).

Furthermore, the Apostle wrote to illustrate this, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he

had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith

made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise, also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?” (Jas. 2:21-25). Yes, faith is demonstrated by our works.

One manifestation of good works is the giving of alms to the poor. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Early Church were consistently encouraging the care of the poor. Those in nursing homes and prisons are also to be our concern.

The Lord Himself said, “When I was in prison, did you visit Me?” This signifies that doing it to others is, in effect, serving Him (see Mt. 25:33-46).

In His teaching on the Mount of Olives, the Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the

kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:3). He illustrated this with the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” which we

have already mentioned. The rich man lived sumptuously upon earth while Lazarus the beggar was nourished by the crumbs from his table. However, at death, Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom while the rich man was

enveloped by the flames of hell.

In the first Apostolic Council, one of the charges given to Paul was that he should remember the poor. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:10, “Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.” He faithfully carried out this charge and urged his sheep to do likewise.

Our fellowship has ministries to the poor, which we believe are pleasing to the Lord. We have the privilege

of feeding many hundreds of poor and needy folk in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world.

Good Works

We see the attribute of goodness developed in the lives of those two blessed kings Hezekiah and Josiah,

as their chroniclers tell us:

Josiah

“Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the Lord, and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah” (2 Chr. 35:26-27).

In considering the good works of the kings, Scripture says they sought the Lord, walked in His ways, administered justice to their people, and cared for the poor.

We are exhorted, admonished, and encouraged to major in good works, to become worthy to be the sons and daughters of God. Hence Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus

unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Likewise he also says in Colossians 1:10, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Through Jeremiah the prophet, the Lord made the point to King Shallum that Josiah, his father, knew the Lord as evidenced by his good works. “Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the Lord” (Jer. 22:15-16).

Giving

It is in the realm of giving that goodness is perhaps manifested and seen then most. There are three fundamental rules for giving. They are enunciated in 2 Corinthians 8:4-5, which reads, “Praying

us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”

Thus, we see that the rules are:

1. To give oneself to the Lord, so that all giving is under His direction.

2. To give oneself to one’s pastor, which essentially means to place oneself at his pastor’s disposition so that one can be of assistance to him as need be.

3. To give a freewill offering for the needs of the saints and the poor.

There are other rules to be kept in giving. For example, the Lord said in Matthew 6:1-4, “Take heed that

ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in

heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in

the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.

Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy

right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” The sense here is that whenever possible, we give anonymously.

The Book of Proverbs sums up best the one who manifests the goodness of God by describing him as “having a bountiful eye.” He is one who sees the needs of others and meets them: “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor” (Prov. 22:9).

We have already commented upon the fact that goodness is related to, or expressed by good works. This

goodness is engrafted in creation, since the Lord, speaking of trees says, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Mt. 7:17-18).

Therefore, good works spring from a person’s innermost being, as the Lord in effect was saying to the

scribes and Pharisees, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his

fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good

things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure

of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Mt. 12:33-35).

True goodness radiates from the heart of a man. Therefore, we must attend to our heart as to a garden.

It should be carefully cultivated so that all weeds (works of the flesh) and stones (areas of rebellion and

hardness) are removed. Then it should be liberally sown with the seeds of spiritual cinnamon, which

is a type of goodness. These seeds of goodness will produce acts of goodness towards all mankind, especially to those of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10).

The Beauty of a Life of Goodness

Moses, crying out to the Lord, said, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.” To this, the Lord responded, “...I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy” (Ex. 33:19).

The prophet Zechariah exclaims, “For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty...” (Zech. 9:17). Therefore, His beauty radiates from His goodness.

Beauty pervades the life of the one given to goodness, as this story illustrates.

One person who has, if I can say it in this fashion, fascinated me is a lady who founded a factory that made Victorian dolls. She employed herself in this way solely because she desired to give to certain charities. When interviewed and asked about her very substantial giving, she acknowledged that perhaps she was giving too much, but added that she gave to a very worthy cause. This lady, who was in her eighties at the time of the TV

interview, had an aura of goodness that radiated from her.

In giving alms, all things are made clean to us as we abide in the love of God (Lk. 11:41). Giving purifies us from

covetousness and the love of money, which we know is the root of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). However, we want to say that giving alone cannot save us. Our giving simply enhances our character and advances the kingdom of the beloved Son of God.

This article is extracted from the book, The Goodness and Severity of God, by Dr. Brian J. Bailey. It has been reprinted with covering permission from the author. Scriptures quoted in this article are in the King James Version.