WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.840 So our theme for this evening is kindness. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:11.279 It's incredibly attractive characteristic, kindness. I think we all agree with that. 00:00:13.200 --> 00:00:16.000 Fused with the others in the fruit of the Spirit, 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:26.719 you're tasting, beginning to taste perfection. I think when it's missing in our lives and our 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:34.159 experiences, we long for it and we long for a better world. And when we do experience it in our 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:43.039 lives, it's a little bit of a taste of the world ahead, the world we look forward to, and we want 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:52.239 more of it. I hope you'll be challenged by that. I was tremendously convicted by in preparation 00:00:52.240 --> 00:01:00.480 for this. I kind of came into it thinking, kindness. What new can be said about kindness or 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:08.879 everyone knows about kindness, but I have to say I was deeply convicted by my own lack of kindness 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:16.400 by God's Spirit as I was preparing for this. And I hope that will be the case to a lesser degree 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:22.960 with you, but nonetheless that it will be, not because I don't want the Spirit to convict, 00:01:22.960 --> 00:01:29.120 but because you don't sense and you aren't lacking in kindness as I am. 00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:38.880 My premise this evening is very much that kindness is one of the most powerful apologetics 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:46.799 for the gospel today. Many things that can speak powerfully of Jesus Christ, but I think kindness 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:54.000 in the world in which we live is one of the most powerful apologetics. It's a sign of great spiritual 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:05.280 strength, not softness or weakness. It is intentional grace. It's grace in action. It's love in action. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:13.199 Kindness is a really significant characteristic fruit of the Spirit. So I want to keep to the same 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:19.520 structure that we've been looking at throughout our series on the fruit of the Spirit. What is it? 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:27.199 What is its opposite? What's its counterfeit? And how do we get it in our lives? And 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:38.879 we need to recognize that the fruit of the Spirit and the characteristics are not simply natural 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:48.159 to us. So the word Christos, the word for kindness means useful or good or pleasant, tender concern, 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:55.359 kindness of heart and act. It's very much our benevolence to other people, how we treat 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:58.640 other people. It's more than, you know, we can talk about having a kind attitude, and a kind 00:02:58.640 --> 00:03:04.640 attitude is very important, but it's much more than that. It's the actions of someone who's 00:03:04.640 --> 00:03:10.320 being transformed and is being transformed by grace. Okay, one John 3 says, not with words or tongue, 00:03:10.320 --> 00:03:15.360 love not just with words and or tongue, although I will say a little bit about words and tongue as 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:22.880 well, but with actions and in truth. So it's this recognition of taking God, God's grace and acting on 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:30.159 it in a way that is kind. Okay, so it's a God characteristic. It's not simply a natural character, 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:35.599 it's a God characteristic. Titus 3 speaks about the, we sung about the kindness of God 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:42.319 in both of these Psalms, and the second psalmist wasn't interesting. He cried out to God in despair 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:51.599 and in darkness, where's your kindness gone? Will I ever experience it again? That the deficit of 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:57.280 kindness spiritually was a huge problem to the psalmist. But it's a God characteristic, and 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.840 Titus says, the kindness of God which appeared in salvation or in Romans 2, the riches of His kindness, 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:10.799 His kindness leads to repentance, the riches of His grace and of His salvation leading us to turn 00:04:10.799 --> 00:04:16.079 towards God and to love Him. So it's linked very much with the idea of God's covenant commitment, 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:26.479 God's determination to not let go of us, to be kind to us, and to show Himself to us. There's a great 00:04:26.479 --> 00:04:33.199 Old Testament word which sometimes we speak about, chesed, which is beautifully translated in the 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:40.079 authorized version of the Bible as loving kindness, because there's not really an English equivalent. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:47.120 It's loving kindness, that grace which shows itself in kindness, and it's action, the action of God 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:55.199 stemming from His character, the character that God is love, and therefore God is kind. Okay, the two 00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:04.719 goes together. Now I wonder, in our thinking of God, if we actually think that of God, often do we 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:14.240 think of Him as a kind God? It's often accused of being not a kind God, and yet at the very core 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:21.840 of His character God is love, therefore God is also kind. We didn't read it, we read a couple of 00:05:21.840 --> 00:05:30.000 different passages, but I was tempted to read another passage from Ezekiel chapter 16. We're not going 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.800 to read that today, but if you do have time, go home and read it. It's one of the great passages of 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:41.680 the Old Testament where God gives a story to explain His kindness and His covenant kindness to His 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:49.439 people, and He does so with a great allegory, a great picture of Israel, and He speaks of them as a 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:56.720 newborn child, and that's kind of been a little bit of our theme this weekend in our prayers and what 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:04.880 we've been thinking about almost incidentally. Newborn child thrown out into the desert to die, 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:13.040 post-birth abortion, as it were, thrown out to die, rejected, ignored, put in the desert just to 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:20.960 slowly dehydrate and die. God comes along and sees this child just wallowing in its own blood, 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:30.879 and says, live. He takes this young baby girl, and He takes her into his home, and He washes her, 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:39.199 and He cleans her, and He feeds her, and He clothes her, and He adopts her, and He looks after her 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:44.319 till she is old enough for love, and then He marries her and she becomes the queen, 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:52.079 and then she prostitutes herself, but He still remembers her, and He still takes her back, 00:06:52.719 --> 00:06:59.759 and it's this great picture of kindness, of God's kindness to His people, an allegory of His kindness 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:06.560 to His people, of His long-suffering, and of His, it really speaks of the very nature of kindness, 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:15.519 which is towards those who need it most and who are most helpless, towards the enemy, towards the 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:21.920 ones who can't and who in some cases won't repay, to those who are thankless. How often does the 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:28.079 Bible speak of God pouring out His kindness to those who are disinterested, pours out the sun 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:36.079 and the rain to shine on all the righteous and the wicked. God is love, God is kind, and we recognize 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:44.000 that often. It's this characteristic particularly of showing kindness where it is least deserved, 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:52.079 and often where it is least sought. And there's again a couple of illustrations, the Old Testament 00:07:53.439 --> 00:08:02.000 believer David in the story we read. Is that not a story that brings, I felt quite emotional even 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:09.600 as it was being read again this evening. It's a hugely powerful story of King David showing kindness 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:15.600 to the last person in the world that should have received kindness from a king in the ancient Near 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:24.319 East, the last surviving heir to the throne of King Saul, the grandson of King Saul, Jonathan, 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:32.559 his great friend's son who was crippled, who was a dead dog in his own words. And David said, 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:41.200 you'll eat with me, you'll eat at the king's table all the days of your life. Zeba will be 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:46.960 your servant and all his family will serve you and they will provide for you all the days of your 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:56.639 life. It would have been perfectly legitimate for David to have slain with Phobyshed as a threat to 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:04.800 his kingdom and as a threat to his kingship. But he takes him in and shows him great kindness, 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:14.320 and he was crippled in both his feet. That's the end of the chapter. And it's this act of kindness 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:21.760 to one who wouldn't be able to repay, who was unworthy and who didn't at a human level deserve 00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:27.440 that kindness. And of course in the New Testament there are many examples, but Jesus himself is the 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:35.760 great example of kindness. God is love, Jesus is love, Jesus is kind. And we look through the gospel, 00:09:35.760 --> 00:09:41.520 it's not a soft thing, is it? It's not a weak thing, it's not a sappy thing, it's a strong 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:49.600 kindness that he shows a tender concern for others. So often Jesus is God's visual for us, 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:56.879 he is God's movie for us, it's where we see God. And we see so often his kindness, his kindness to 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:03.199 disciples who didn't understand, who kept getting things wrong, who rejected him, who'd betrayed him 00:10:03.199 --> 00:10:10.639 and who denied him. His kindness to the Samaritan women, kindness to the leper, kindness to a boy 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:18.080 who was having seizures, kindness to Jairus, daughter, kindness to people, people who couldn't 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:25.519 help themselves, people who were at a last resort calling out to him, people who sometimes weren't 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:32.639 even calling out to him, but nonetheless he showed them great kindness. So there's one example I want 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:39.840 to take, it's maybe not one of the most common examples of his kindness. But it was the moment, 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:47.759 just about his greatest darkness in Gethsemane where he had been sweating drops of blood, the pressure 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:53.519 and the intensity, bringing around himatid rossus and the bursting of his capillaries, 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:00.080 mixing with the sweat of the oppression of the moment and all the darkness of his betrayal. 00:11:00.800 --> 00:11:06.960 He rises to meet his oppressors, rises to meet his enemies, and they come at him and there's a 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:13.519 stench of opposition in the darkness, and his disciples are kind of not understanding what's 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:19.200 going on, and he says, if you come at me with swords, I've been in your company all week, 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:25.840 why have you come at me in the dead of night with torches and swords? And in that moment of kind of 00:11:26.800 --> 00:11:33.519 false bravado, Peter takes out his sword and cuts off the servant, the high priest, Jair Malchus. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:40.079 And there's that great act of kindness, isn't there? In that moment of oppression, of heaviness, 00:11:40.079 --> 00:11:48.720 of opposition, shortly of arrest, he just touches Malchus here and heals him. Undeserved kindness. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:56.399 I wonder what effect it had on that individual. We don't know anything more about him. But what 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:04.079 a great act of unsolicited kindness Jesus shows to Malchus, the servant, in that healing. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:11.919 And kindness, its reflection does remains in our world, even when God is left out, isn't it? We do 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:20.240 see many acts of kindness and many kind-hearted people, I think for us, even without God, it's 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:31.039 sometimes some of the best things in life's experiences are acts of kindness or kind attitudes 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:39.440 of others. There's a website called Random Acts of Kindness. And people are encouraged to do kind 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:48.480 things graciously for no reason, you know, share a positive news story, send someone a real letter, 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:55.920 read a book to a child, pick up litter, pay it forward with coffee. There's a world kindness day. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:03.600 People see and recognize that kindness is a beautiful thing. And the paradox is that it's in 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:09.360 a society that can't explain where kindness would come from and why it's a beautiful thing without 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:18.080 a sense of the origin of kindness. And yet the world is transformed by kindness, even at a human 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:25.920 level. But for us here, the fruit of the Spirit is kindness. This is a spiritual characteristic, 00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:34.639 not simply a human one, and we'll see why. Like the other fruit of the Spirit, all of us as believers 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:40.560 are to grow and nurture and share this characteristic. It's not saying that, oh, some in the congregation 00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:48.000 are kind and some are patient and we fuse together. There may be a degree of that, but we are all 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:56.159 to seek after all the fruit of the Spirit because it is all an outworking of love. We learn to be 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:02.960 kind because even our kindness, as we'll go on to see briefly, is disordered without God at the very 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:09.840 heart of it. So the fruit of the Spirit of kindness is rooted in our relationship with God, that we 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:18.720 have been recipients of His salvific kindness that He's redeemed us when we have not deserved that 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:25.440 and when we constantly let Him down and can't bring anything into His presence as an offering 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:33.680 to deserve His kindness. And we recognize and we see the significance of that in our lives. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:40.639 Our trust in our relationship is within this Savior who has been nailed to a tree in order to redeem 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:49.679 us and set us free. So it's rooted in understanding who we are and what He has done, what He is doing 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:55.679 and what He will do in our lives. So it's so significant to recognize and know our own hearts, 00:14:56.959 --> 00:15:02.240 our own unworthiness as we were reminded this morning and yet the tremendous kindness and grace 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:16.000 of God to us in salvation and beyond, in that we are here and God continues and will not let us go 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:21.039 and will protect us and will persevere and we will come through and we will know heaven. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:28.960 So it's rooted in God and therefore it looks like God. It's the fruit of looking like God. We are to 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:40.320 be those who recognize who He is as we are rooted in Him. It's the fruit of being rooted in Him. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:48.720 And it's focused therefore, kindness I believe is focused, the fruit of the spirit of kindness 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:55.040 is focused in the way we treat other people. So kindness is how we treat other people 00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:02.159 because of the grace that we have received. So it's very significant that as we examine ourselves 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:09.199 in the light of Scripture we think about how God's grace impacts on us responding to other 00:16:09.199 --> 00:16:16.399 people. And there's two things I want to just say about that, actions and words. So in terms of how 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:25.919 we act, the kindness of God helps to mellow our natural reactions. It's something sweet and pleasing 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:35.679 the fruit of the spirit. The motive for us to act kindly is simply for the sake of acting kindly. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:42.399 You see the significance of that? It's simply for the sake of it. We are not looking for anything in 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:49.279 return. It's something new, a new disposition in our heart. It begins with our very closest 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:56.879 relationships and in concentric circles works out to every relationship we have. And it shows itself 00:16:58.959 --> 00:17:06.639 particularly to those who are unworthy of our kindness as maybe we think they are. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:14.960 They are shown to those who are against us. It's how love behaves, the love of God, 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:23.759 it's loving kindness. It's a generosity of spirit towards others in willing self-sacrifice, 00:17:24.800 --> 00:17:33.440 even to the ungrateful, to those who can't reciprocate kindness. I'll say a little bit more 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:40.160 about counterfeit kindness and say a little bit more about it in that context. It is 00:17:41.360 --> 00:17:47.840 the kind of giving of the cup of cold water, unremarkable, unspectacular, 00:17:49.680 --> 00:18:00.080 without trumpet call, the kindness of simply treating others with grace in our lives, especially 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:05.599 when we don't want to and we don't think it's deserved. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:14.240 Now I'm just going to use one quick example here and it's a little bit of a stereotypical example. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:23.279 But if you walk to work in Edinburgh any time, you'll probably pass two or three people sitting 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:31.680 on the street begging and we may be passed them and say, well, they're there because it's their own 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:38.879 fault. If I give them anything, money, they'll just drink it. They're probably just part of a big 00:18:38.879 --> 00:18:43.680 network and they live in a big posh house at the edge of the city and drive a Rolls Royce. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:49.440 And we may have all kinds of reasons just for walking past them. We think we're not helping 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:53.920 them by just bringing them a cup of coffee. They need to help themselves. We may have many 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:59.920 different reasons and many of them may be legitimate at one level. But kindness 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:12.880 is simply giving them something warm on a cold day when they're sitting and knowing that they're 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:22.080 despised, knowing that they sense a guilt and a rejection and that our walking past them and 00:19:22.080 --> 00:19:30.640 ignoring them are not catching their eye. We'll simply make things or confirm things to them. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:38.480 All we're asked to do is give charity, to give love, to be kind just for the sake of it. We 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:43.680 don't want to change the world. We're not saying that they will be saved and redeemed, that our 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:52.960 amazing act will be revolutionary. But when 150 people walk past them despising them, maybe one 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:59.519 kind word will make a difference. Maybe going into Greg's and buying them a hot coffee and bringing 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:06.960 it to them. And you know what? Asking their name is just something that is kind for the sake of it. 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:15.440 There's no reason beyond it. There's no master plan. It's simply being kind for the sake of being 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:21.200 kind. Now that's a very stereotypical example. I'm sorry. I'm sure there's a million other ones. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:27.840 Inaction, therefore, the fruit of the Spirit, inaction, and also probably just as significantly 00:20:27.840 --> 00:20:35.440 in words spoken and thought. So kindness is weighing up what we say. Thinking about how it'll 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:42.240 affect the other person. Thinking the best of other people. Being kind even in our judgment of 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:48.160 others, careful especially when we're speaking to them. It's very difficult when you're speaking 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:55.039 about kindness as the fruit of the Spirit with regard to speaking and our thoughts, not to come in 00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:01.759 with the negative side. I'm not going to do that quite yet. I'll come to that. But if you're like me, 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:10.079 this is the area that you will be shocked at how unkind your words and your thoughts can, 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:15.920 particularly your thoughts can be, or how unkind they can be when you're outside of the company 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:23.599 of the person you're being unkind to. So it's about kind words and kind thought. It's a massive area, 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:29.119 the kindness of God and the fruit of the Spirit. Can I say that it changes the atmosphere in a room? 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:36.959 It diffuses tension. It makes a much more beautiful environment in which to live. It's a focus not 00:21:36.959 --> 00:21:42.799 on other people's behavior and on how they treat me, but on my heart changing, my influencing a 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:50.239 situation for good, even when I'm wronged. It's a positive influence that may change a whole 00:21:50.239 --> 00:21:56.479 community and it is the fruit of the Spirit. So that is the fruit of the Spirit. What is its 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:03.759 opposite? Well, can I just read briefly Ephesians 4, 29 to 32? Is that coming up on the screen? 00:22:05.120 --> 00:22:10.880 So this is the opposite of kindness. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:16.319 such is as good for building up as it fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:23.039 hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:29.119 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you along with all 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:35.279 malice. Be kind to one another, tender hearted for giving one another as God and Christ forgave 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:42.159 you. So that's really the opposite, isn't it? The opposite of kindness spiritually is bitterness 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:48.639 and they're kind of all fused in together. Anger, clamour and evil speaking, unkind. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:56.400 Now, think of, as I think of my last week, you think of your last week. What bitterness may be 00:22:57.120 --> 00:23:03.360 in your heart that you're harboring? What mean-spiritedness? Potentially unkind actions, 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:10.960 destructive talk of others, or destructive thoughts of others in the family, in the church, 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:20.160 at your work. A lack of mercy, a self-righteous or judgmental attitude that's harsh. Quick to knock 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:29.840 people down. I do it, and I hear it all the time. What are our conversations and our imaginations at 00:23:29.840 --> 00:23:37.759 home like? Are we as Christians in the workplace or in whatever environment we're in, are we any 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:52.240 different to the world in which we live with respect to kindness? Do people express how kind you are 00:23:52.879 --> 00:24:00.160 as a person? Do people express of our church? What a kind place it is. Is that something that is 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:06.879 intentional within our lives? That attitude of forgiveness and transformation. So the opposite 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:12.400 is really what we read there, and it's very clear. What's the counterfeit of it very briefly? In other 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:17.440 words, there's kindness that is the fruit of the Spirit, and there's also maybe another kindness that 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:25.360 is identifiable but a counterfeit. I think that all therefore stems as with the others about our 00:24:25.360 --> 00:24:34.240 motive and about why we do these acts of kindness. And you can be kind and have a kind heart, as it 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:43.120 were, in order to be seen by other people, for praise, to earn favor with them or with God, 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:51.920 so that our motive is to be doing it in order to get something back. We can do a kind act with a 00:24:51.920 --> 00:25:01.120 really bad attitude, in that we're really doing it grump as a grump. You know, we don't really want 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:06.079 to do it. It's a kind thing to do, but well, I can't really stand doing this, and I can't be 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:16.159 bothered with the person who I'm doing it for. It can be selfish. It could be simply in a self-righteous 00:25:16.159 --> 00:25:21.839 way that we're being kind, or we can be kind only to those who we think, well, I'll be kind to them, 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:27.279 because I'm pretty sure they'll be kind to me back, and they've got the resources to be kind 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:34.559 back to me, and I may need them one day, or they deserve my kindness. I feel I ought to give them 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:39.200 my kindness, because they deserve it. These are all, that's all counterfeit kindness. We're doing it 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:45.519 with a motive either to get something in return, or because we've weighed and judged the person worthy 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:55.359 of kindness, or in order to receive God's praise, or the praise of other people. It may even just be 00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:00.799 to make the world a better place. Now, that's a laudable reason, but it does lack the motive 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:05.919 of doing it for the glory of God, and doing it because of God's mercy to me. 00:26:07.439 --> 00:26:12.479 So there is a counterfeit kindness. And lastly, how do we get this kindness in our lives? 00:26:13.679 --> 00:26:20.559 As with the other fruit, it's a gift of the Spirit, and we know that the fruit doesn't fall far from 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:25.359 the tree. That's a phrase we use, isn't it? She's like in a negative way. We use it here in a positive 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:32.480 way. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. As we are rooted to Jesus Christ, as we are dependent 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:41.119 on this, as we keep in step with the Spirit in our lives, then we will release the fruit of the Spirit 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:47.359 by what we do. It'll become, in a sense, instinctive to us. It's this relational 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:56.240 life we have with God, aware of our need for the outpouring of the Spirit, and aware also, 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:02.719 as the New Testament speaks, of resisting or quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:11.119 by the opposite of kindness in our lives. So the question for us tonight is whether 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:17.519 our roots, how do we root in our lives? And what relationship are we rooting it with? Is it a relationship 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:26.559 with God where the fruit of the Spirit, as we are bedded in that place of refreshment by the 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:35.119 stream, by this great tree that we were being fed to look like the Spirit, doesn't come if we remain 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:41.519 separate and if we ignore that responsibility? It also comes, we get it through repentance, Romans 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:47.839 2 verse 4, or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:53.359 not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? So we have that reality that, 00:27:54.639 --> 00:27:58.799 as I certainly experienced this week, that Christ is a mirror into our souls and there's 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:07.599 sometimes a sharp awareness of our need to turn back to Him and seek forgiveness. The tension that 00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:13.759 we have in this life of falling short, but yet being forgiven and empowered to change and become 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:23.119 more like Him. And we get it also with taking responsibility. Colossians 3, 12 says that we 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:29.439 are to be those then who put on, clothe yourselves as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate 00:28:29.439 --> 00:28:41.439 hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. So for most of us here, unless we are tremendously 00:28:41.439 --> 00:28:48.159 needy physically, most of us will clothe ourselves tomorrow morning. It's something we do. It's our 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:53.279 responsibility. You get out of bed and it's intentional. You need to put your clothes on. 00:28:54.160 --> 00:29:01.840 And here Paul is using that illustration spiritually. You must clothe yourselves with the 00:29:01.840 --> 00:29:10.080 grace of God. It's deliberate. It's intentional behavior in our lives. It's when we come to 00:29:10.080 --> 00:29:15.600 crossroads, when we can be mean and nasty or kind with our words or with our thoughts or with our 00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:23.439 actions, we do what the Holy Spirit commands us to do and what we are created to do in Christ, 00:29:23.439 --> 00:29:31.519 as Jeremy mentioned this morning. We continue to be students and learners seeking to be kind 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:39.759 and seeking to display kindliness in our lives. So my prayer, and I hope that you will take this 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:45.599 prayer with you tomorrow into your life, and tonight as well. Lord, today help me to be kind. 00:29:46.879 --> 00:29:53.119 You know, make an intentional reality of your life that you will have choices to be either bitter 00:29:53.119 --> 00:30:00.319 or harsh or kind, especially maybe with information that you've received about someone. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:08.480 I can take that and pass that particular juicy piece of dubiously true or not information and pass 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:15.360 it on. Or I can think the worst of somebody, even though I don't know their hearts or lives. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:21.839 Maybe that we hear that prayer resonating in our heads throughout the day. Lord, help me to be kind. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:29.759 Make me a kinder person. Make me a kinder person. And I think then when we come to the crossroads 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:35.440 that we do every day, crossroads of choice, crossroads of what we say, crossroads of what we think, 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:43.680 what we pass on, crossroads of who we show kindness to, that it will come back to us, 00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:49.680 that the Spirit will bring it to our attention as we pray for that. I do believe that is a 00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:59.440 significant prayer. Sam Cook wrote a very famous song about longing for his love of a young woman 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:06.400 to be reciprocated. And if it was, he probably wouldn't know much about geography or history, 00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:14.640 but he did know a wonderful world this would be. And I think if we displayed kindness and realized 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:22.480 the significance and importance of this characteristic of God is love, therefore God is kind, rooted in 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:31.200 His grace in our family, in our church, and then I think our world would become a wonderful place. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:37.039 Let's put our heads in prayer. Father God, we ask and pray that you would help us, 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:43.039 that you would forgive us when we are not kind. We sometimes brush over this characteristic as if it 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:54.079 were easy or soft or manageable. We do love kindness. We all love receiving kind acts and kind words. 00:31:55.039 --> 00:32:01.759 We love giving them, but yet we find this battle within us to be unkind, to be ungracious, 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:11.279 to be bitter, to be harsh, to be self-righteous. And Lord, we ask that you would help us to recognize 00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:20.799 as we look at Jesus' life, as we look at David with my phibosheth, as we consider the amazing story 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:30.319 of the newborn baby girl thrown out into the desert to die, that we would understand the kind of God 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:38.000 that we have and the kind of God that leaves us to breathe today, to live, to love, to be redeemed, 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:47.519 to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be adopted, to be those with a future, to be sought in light. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:53.279 And we do pray and ask that you would help us to be kind and kind-hearted. And as we look at Scripture 00:32:53.279 --> 00:33:02.160 that we would find that mirror, yes, often convicting us, but as the light shines in the 00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:10.160 darkness, also cleansing and renewing and redeeming and making us whole and making us as beautiful 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:17.680 as you have intended us to be. Lord, help us then we pray to be kind people, particularly in this 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:28.400 harsh world in which we live, harsh world of media, opposition and harshness and just simply 00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:35.600 unkindness. Help us to reflect a different community, a different attitude, a different heart, 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:48.080 and enable us to recognize as a miracle of being in Christ and that nourishing tree 00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:58.079 where we will bear His fruit. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.