God's Goodwill - ... and Goodwill Towards Men

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" Luke 2:14 (NKJV)Long before the first Goodwill Thrift store opened its doors God has been in the not for profit business of goodwill. Sometimes we forget just how vast the goodwill of God is. But when the voices of a multitude of angels shook the countryside they were proclaiming the ultimate expression of God’s goodwill towards all of mankind, Jesus Christ.I learned something new (please hold your snide comments and show me some goodwill), in accounting goodwill is a business’s value beyond its tangible assets. That’s being worth more than you’re worth because someone assigns you that worth, and that is exactly what God has done to us in and through Christ. In fact our spiritual assets are not just zero but in the red. All of us, all of mankind, every last one is spiritually bankrupt, we are all sinners, we are creatures of not just goodwill but also of ill-will. God sent Christ not because our balance sheets neatly balanced out our good and bad, rather God in his love and goodwill through Christ assigned to as unfathomable and undeserved value. No wonder the angels started with, “Glory to God in the highest!”It baffles me how often God gets a bad rap, is accused of ill-will. Why are we so prone to begin anywhere but ourselves? I don’t think I am exaggerating in assessing our collective human ill-will as staggering, and that without including the neglect of goodwill. “I am not as bad as ___________,” is a poor excuse for not being as good as I should be. And how often do we devalue others, are unwilling to account them some goodwill but rather insists on only seeing and talking about their lack of assets.The lack of peace on earth illustrates this further. Why is there a lack of peace? Just this past week a Chinese and an American warships engaged in a game of chicken – why? You cannot ascribe the lack of peace on earth to any failure of God; he has given us a capacity for peace and peacemaking. It is us who chose otherwise. History is a long indictment when it comes to our lack of peace with each other and with God, it is a long record of both ill-will and a lack of goodwill.I suppose if it were up to us we would have pulled the plug on the humanity a long time ago, at least we would have withdrawn our goodwill. This is how we operate if we cannot see some results to our goodwill, we move on. Fortunately you and I are not in charge. Fortunately God did the exact opposite, rather than withdrawing from our brokenness and abandoning us to our bankruptcy, he simply poured out more goodwill. Actually in Christ he opened the floodgates of goodwill, he flooded eternity with goodwill so eventually all ill-will will be drowned. No wonder the angels shouted over the fields, “Glory to God in the highest.”It is because of the goodwill of God you and I received the gift of today. It is in the goodwill of God human worth and dignity are rooted. It is in the goodwill of God forgiveness and salvation has come to us through Christ. It is in the goodwill of God hope and mercy are offered to sinners whose balance sheets are wanting.Intuitively the shepherds, who heard the angels’ praise, understood that this wasn’t about just hearing some words, but an invitation. An invitation to discover God, to find peace, to experience the goodwill of God – “Let’s go,” … “Let’s see,” was their Christmas response. What is yours?Merry Christmas, to God be all glory, Pastor Hans