Fruition: Goodness: Love that Acts by Pastor Paul Dazet

Devotional

Day 1: Created "Very Tov" in God’s Flourishing Image

The Bible begins with a bold declaration: humanity is crafted in the divine image, stamped with God’s own “very good” (tov) design. This Hebrew word means wholeness, beauty, and life as God intends—not a shallow moral label but a deep identity. To be “tov” is to carry God’s creative purpose, meant to spread flourishing like Adam and Eve tending Eden. Shame’s lie—“you’re rotten at the core”—collapses under this truth. You are not a problem to fix but a beloved image-bearer. [01:06:25]

God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and yes, earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! (Genesis 1:26-28, 31, The Message)

Reflection: How might your choices today shift if you truly believed “very good” is your core identity, not a distant ideal?

Day 2: Unraveling Shame’s Grip with Belovedness

Shame whispers, “You’re rotten,” but Scripture thunders, “You’re God’s child.” Toxic theology—like framing humans as “totally depraved”—distorts the gospel into sin management, not transformation. Jesus’ death wasn’t to appease an angry God but to restore broken image-bearers. The cross says, “You’re worth reclaiming.” Like the pastor’s shoplifting story, our worst moments don’t define us. Goodness isn’t earned; it’s remembered. [01:01:09]

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where has shame labeled you “rotten,” and how might God’s voice of “beloved child” rewrite that story?

Day 3: Goodness as Enemy-Love in Action

The Good Samaritan parable isn’t about nice deeds but enemy-love. Samaritans were despised, yet Jesus makes one the hero. True goodness crosses tribal lines, disrupts prejudice, and risks comfort. It’s not charity from above but solidarity with the wounded. The priest and Levite feared ritual impurity; the Samaritan saw kinship. Goodness asks, “Who have I been taught to ignore?” then moves toward them. [01:11:28]

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. (Luke 10:33-34, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your life feels like a “Samaritan”—unlikely, uncomfortable—that God might be nudging you to love actively?

Day 4: Receiving Goodness When You’re in the Ditch

We often fixate on being the helper, but Jesus’ parable also invites us to identify with the wounded man. Receiving help requires humility, especially when others ignore your pain. Churches can unintentionally become places where the bleeding stay unseen. Yet God’s goodness comes through bandages offered by unexpected hands. To heal, we must first admit, “I’m in the ditch.” [01:13:23]

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you need to stop “performing wellness” and let someone’s kindness bind your wounds?

Day 5: Cultivating Goodness Through Trinitarian Community

The Trinity—Father, Son, Spirit—models communal love that overflows. We’re not made for solo holiness but shared flourishing. Like the Samaritan paying the innkeeper, goodness thrives in networks of care. The church, as “Haven,” isn’t a club for the polished but a field hospital where image-bearers restore each other’s “tov.” Together, we become God’s answer to the world’s brokenness. [01:07:29]

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: How can your small acts of goodness this week ripple into communal healing, reflecting God’s triune love?

Sermon Summary

Trinity Sunday sets the frame by naming Father, Son, and Spirit as truly good, with the fruit of the Spirit showing the family resemblance of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Goodness then steps forward as the Spirit’s work, not as sin management but as real transformation. A childhood story of getting caught shoplifting shows how shame teaches a false identity. A father’s line, How did you become a rotten kid, exposes the inner script many carry: I did something bad, so I must be bad. That script often gets baptized in churchy language and becomes the air Christians breathe.

The doctrine that names humans as nothing but rotten through and through turns into toxic identity. Jonathan Edwards’ angry God imagery and a life aimed at avoiding sin feed Dallas Willard’s phrase, the gospel of sin management. By contrast, the gospel of the kingdom announces a truer center: a beloved image bearer is the baseline, and disconnection from God’s life is the problem. God keeps pursuing; people drift. The Spirit aims at transformation into who humans were made to be.

Genesis 1 sings that design. God says, Let us make human beings in our image, and then looks at the world and calls it very good, very tov. Tov means whole, flourishing, life as God intends. The plural let us hints at the Triune community making humans for community. So the human story starts good, not rotten. The New Testament word for goodness pushes that identity into motion. Goodness is love helping life flourish. The design from Eden sent humans to spread the garden’s flourishing into the world. That call still stands.

Jesus’ story about a man in a ditch makes the point concrete. A lawyer asks for the limit on love. Jesus answers with a Samaritan, the despised outsider, who sees, stops, spends, and stays. The expected moral leaders pass by. The enemy becomes the neighbor. That is revolutionary goodness, not sanitized niceness. God’s image shows up outside tribal lines, and goodness refuses the us versus them script.

There is a second mirror. The wounded one in the ditch teaches how to receive goodness. A church named The Haven aims to be that place where the wounded find home, help, and healing. Those who have learned to receive goodness are the ones who know how to give it well. So two questions linger: where is goodness needed right now, and who is God inviting to help flourish this week.

Key Takeaways

1. Identity begins as very good Genesis 1 names humans as God’s image, called very good, very tov. That origin story grounds dignity before performance and before failure. True repentance grows inside this blessing, not outside it. Work starts from belovedness, not toward it. [66:40]
2. Shame theology distorts the gospel When total depravity becomes identity and an angry God drives the narrative, people learn to fear, hide, and manage sin. The result is spiritual exhaustion and stunted love. The kingdom gospel restores the center as beloved image bearers called into transformation. Grace reattaches the heart to God’s life. [63:37]
3. Goodness is love helping flourish Goodness is not vague niceness. It is concrete, generous action that moves a life from barely surviving to flourishing. The Spirit grows that kind of goodness so that people and places become whole. Eden’s assignment still stands. [68:22]
4. Enemies can teach neighbor-love Jesus makes the Samaritan the gold standard of neighborliness to collapse the us versus them story. The one most written off becomes the model of mercy, cost, and presence. God often lets goodness break in from outside the tribe to heal the man in the ditch. That surprise is part of the lesson. [71:28]
5. Receive goodness to give goodness The ditch is a classroom. Those who have bled know what help really requires, and they will not mistake pity for presence. Learning to receive restores humility and calibrates compassion so that help actually heals. [74:22]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[56:00] - Trinity Sunday and triune goodness
[57:03] - Fruit of the Spirit: goodness and preview
[58:06] - Summer story and a shame script
[60:04] - Rotten kid and the weight of shame
[62:21] - Total depravity and toxic identity
[63:37] - Gospel of sin management exposed
[64:30] - Kingdom gospel and true identity
[66:02] - Genesis 1 and very good tov
[68:22] - Big idea: goodness helps life flourish
[69:15] - Who is my neighbor
[70:50] - The Samaritan as the shocking neighbor
[72:43] - Outsider goodness and tribal walls
[73:23] - Learning from the ditch
[75:07] - Prayer for goodness in action

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Genesis 1:26-31 (ESV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Luke 10:25-37 (ESV)
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” [...] 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. [...] 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. [...] 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Observation Questions

In Genesis 1:31, God calls creation “very good” (tov). What does the Hebrew word tov mean, and how does it redefine human identity compared to shame-based narratives? [01:06:40]
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, why is it significant that Jesus uses a Samaritan—a despised outsider—as the example of neighborly love?
How does the sermon contrast the “gospel of sin management” with the “gospel of the kingdom”? What key difference does it highlight about our identity? [01:03:37]
What two roles does the sermon suggest we might occupy in the story of the man in the ditch (Luke 10), and why is both important? [01:13:23]

Interpretation Questions

Why do you think the priest and Levite in Luke 10:31-32 avoided helping the wounded man? How might their religious or cultural context have influenced their actions?
The sermon argues that shame-based theology teaches people to see themselves as “rotten” rather than “very good.” How might this distorted view affect someone’s ability to love others or trust God? [01:00:27]
The Samaritan’s actions required sacrifice (time, money, risk). What does this reveal about the relationship between goodness and cost?
How does receiving goodness (like the wounded man) prepare someone to give goodness well? [01:14:22]

Application Questions

Reflect on a time when you felt defined by a mistake or shame. How might embracing your identity as “very good” (tov) change how you view that experience?
Who in your life or community is an “unexpected” example of goodness (like the Samaritan)? How could their story challenge an “us vs. them” mentality you hold?
The sermon asks, “Where is goodness needed right now?” Identify one practical way to help someone “flourish” this week—whether through time, resources, or presence.
When have you been the person “in the ditch” needing help? How did that experience shape your understanding of what true compassion looks like? [01:13:54]
What habits or thought patterns reinforce a “sin management” mindset in your life? How could you intentionally shift toward living from your identity as a “beloved image bearer”? [01:04:30]
Is there a relationship or situation where you’ve avoided acting because of fear, judgment, or tribal divisions? What step could you take to embody revolutionary goodness there?

Sermon Clips

36s

“They were considered the, enemies of the Jewish people. There's a long history. And that history includes some stories of Samaritans, before they were known as Samaritans, their their family tree of rape and murder and all all kinds of things. So when they thought of, Samaritans, they oftentimes stereotyped as rapists and and murderers and things like that. And so Jesus is telling a story of the very enemy of the of the people who are listening is the one who is a good neighbor. And that would be the most shocking revolutionary message.”

37s

“Now we we we have a doctrine of original sin, but that's not the way the Methodists believe. Methodists believe we're a mixture of the goodness of God and the opportunity to as pastor Amy said earlier, opportunity to do some bad stuff also. But bad is in our identity. But but there's a variation of that called total depravity. And if you've been in a church like that, that is your identity. You are rotten through and through, and there's nothing good in you. And that, my friends, is a very toxic doctrine and theology.”

29s

“We put ourselves into the shoes of the good Samaritan in the story. That's the natural way readers do. But what if we would put ourselves into the shoes of the person who was beat up and left in the ditch? Have you ever been that person? You ever been the wounded person? Who maybe you are that now. Have you ever been the person who people walk by and not not help? That is a very, very difficult situation to be in.”

35s

“there was this part of me that felt like, you know what? I did something bad, so I must be bad. And that's what we define as shame. And so it was a very shame filled situation for me. And I spent, as many of us have been here, spent time in in in junior high and high school and college and as an adult and in the workplace trying to prove my value, prove that I'm good, prove that I'm not bad. And many of us spend our entire lives doing that very thing.”

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