Session III  Do Good

 

By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort; and as far as possible, to all…. Discipline 2004 ¶103

 

Story #1 - A 2008 television ad campaign for Target, Inc., has a byline that says: “Doing good is easy, when doing good is automatic.”

 

Story #2 - Film star – Natalie Portman is the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, an organization that provides small loans and financial assistance to women in developing countries to start small businesses and cottage industries. It is an organization that teaches women to “fish” so that they may feed themselves and care for their families and communities.

 

Consider this scripture: Romans 12:9-20. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser

than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

Read: Do Good (pp. 33-49)

 

Questions:

1. Bishop Job speaks of doing good as, “a proactive way of living,” and calls it a universal commandment without limitations, qualifications, or exemptions (p. 37).

What does it mean to “do good?”

2. What are the boundaries of goodness? Are there controls or stipulations on goodness? Who determines if enough “goodness” has been done?

3. Peacemaking and conflict resolution can nourish and strengthen others but they are complex activities requiring skill, resolution, and compassion.

How do they equate to doing good? Which seems more easily available to the average person?

4. It is the call of discipleship that guards your life and enables you to “do good.” The call to discipleship often leads us to places where we would not have chosen to go on our own; it calls us to step outside of our comfort zone.

What have you been urged by your call to do? What happened in your life as a result of that experience? What blessings came your way?

5. Goodness is not about you or me. “Every act and every word must pass through the love and the will of God and there be measured to discover if its purpose does indeed bring good and goodness to all it touches” (p. 38). This is a clarion call to turn everything over to Jesus.  Is it possible for you to live in this way?

6. Awareness is “the image of God fresh stamped on the heart.” Because of our heightened awareness, which serves for some as the conscious, we are intimately knowledgeable about our own behavior and already know in our hearts, how our behaviors and actions will be experienced by others. Because we do not live in a vacuum, we probably have some inkling as to how our behavior and actions will be judged by God. Think about some of your past behaviors.  How do you respond to this statement? Will this have an impact on your future behaviors?

7. Selfishness or self-centeredness is often a cultural misinterpretation of healthy self denial. If we acknowledge that “each one of us is the deserving object of God’s love,” and that “staying in love with God is the foundation of all life” (p. 47), how do we rise to the challenge to put God first- above all else?

8. “Crucified, laid behind a stone, you lived to die, rejected and alone – like a rose trampled on the ground, you took the fall, and thought of me above all.”2 Peter thought he loved Jesus above all and yet he denied Jesus not once, but three times. So, if this happened to Peter, how rejected is Jesus in our lives today? How rejected is he by our actions?

 

Additional Scriptures

3 John 11 b. Whoever does good is from God.

Acts 10:37-38. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

Luke 6:27-28. ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.’

Matthew 5:43-47. ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

2 “Above All,” Words and Music: Paul Joseph Baloche & Leonard J Le Blanc

Luke 22:27. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it  not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

Zech 2:8. For thus said the Lord of hosts (after his glory sent me) regarding the nations that plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.

Psalm 127. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

John 15:5-7. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Matthew 26:75. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.