Matthew 12.33 commands make the tree good and its fruit will be good, or make the tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

The key verb here is ‘make.’ The work of the church, the work of the parent, the work of the community, is to ‘make’ good people so that good exists in our society. Who defines good determines what is produced. This is the battle we see in our country today.

Those who ignore God and love power and control call good unbridled sexual desires and unhindered responsibility from sexual activity. Thus one political party seeks to make laws furthering the unrestrained sexual behavior of some and their ability to murder the product of their behavior without consequence. Their ‘good’ is taught in the schools and promoted through our media. But is it really good?

Good cannot be defined by people because the feelings and thinking of people changes with the culture. Good is to be defined by God, which is objective from human thought or feeling regardless of place or age. God has revealed what is good to us and what He requires from us, through the Scriptures.

The people of God, the Church, the children of God, the family, are to teach what God declares good to our children and to one another so that we all grow in obedience to all God has commanded us. The people of God cannot teach the world’s definition of good if the world is to be good according to the definition described by God in the word of God. God commands us to teach what is good as He has defined it through His word, so that people are ‘made’ good and He promises to judge each of us by what we taught as good.

The people of God must saturate themselves with the Word of God so that they can constantly encourage one another toward love and good deeds.