The Fruit of the Spirit - Kindness Luke 6:27-36

1 The Fruit of the Spirit - Kindness Luke 6:27-36 Today as we continue our look at the fruit of the spirit, we come to kindness, a fruit that seems to be pretty simple to understand. At first it seem fairly ordinary, but when we begin to dig into it, kindness is remarkable and inspiring. When we live out the fruit of kindness, it can literally change the lives of those around us. When you think of kindness, one person who may come to mind is Mister Rogers. Did you know he was an ordained Presbyterian Minister? A year or two before Fred Roger s death someone in Philadelphia where he lived stole his car. The news media got a hold of the story and before long all the local TV stations were broadcasting the story. Thousands of Philadelphia citizens saw the story, including the thief who stole the car. This criminal had dealt with his own share of difficult times, but he knew that when he was small Fred Rogers had been a positive influence on him. Within 48 hours the car was back in the spot where he left it, along with a note saying "If we d known it was yours, we never would have taken it!" Theologian William Barclay once said, More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world. As we dig into the Scriptures dealing with kindness we find that God s kindness does not come easily to us. It does not come naturally to us. Romans 3:12 tells us All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good (literally kindness the same word found in Galatians 5:22), not even one." Left to ourselves we do not naturally do kind things. So as Christians we are encouraged to constantly live out God s kindness. Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Right about now you may be thinking, aren t there a lot of people in this world who do kind things? Yes but the world doesn t think about kindness the same way God does. For example: Jesus gave us a brief statement on how to be kind to others. It s called the Golden Rule. Do you remember what it says? Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 Did you realize that Jesus wasn t the first to say something like this? * 500 years before the time of Jesus, Confucius said "Do not unto others what you would not wish done to yourself." * The Buddhists who were around before Jesus said it this way, Putting oneself in the place of others, kill not, nor cause to kill. * In the book of Tobit in the Apocrypha it says: "Do not do to anyone what you yourself hate." * Rabbi Hillel (20 B.C.): "What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law; all the rest is only commentary" ALL of these religious statements came before Jesus. At first reading most people would think they said what Jesus did but that s where most people would be

2 what I like to call - wrong. Look again: Confucius said DO NOT unto others The Buddhists said: Kill NOT Tobit said DO NOT DO to anyone what you d hate And Rabbi Hillel said WHAT IS HATEFUL TO YOU don t do that But notice how Jesus differed from all these great philosophers and religious teachers They said DON T Jesus said DO DO to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 That is a significant difference between God s of KINDNESS.. and the world s An evangelist told of the time when he was a boy he came home one day to find his mother sitting at the table with an old tramp. Apparently she had gone shopping, met the tramp along the way, and invited him home for a warm meal. During the conversation the tramp said, "I wish there were more people like you in the world." Whereupon his mother replied, "Oh, there are. But you must look for them." The old man simply shook his head, saying. "But, lady, I didn t need to look for you you looked for me." To the world, kindness is just going about your own business and not hurting anybody. God s kindness is the type that goes looking for you. But aren t there people who DO good things for others? Who go "looking" for people to help? Of course there are. And they aren t even necessarily Christians or religious people. There were all those people who joined the Peace Corp. And there were all those who helped out after hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the earthquake in Haiti, the tornados in Oklahoma and other natural disasters around the world. If you thought long and hard enough about it you could find example after example of good decent people doing wonderful things for people in need. But even here there is a difference Look at our Scripture Luke 6:27-36. Take a look at the Golden Rule in its context. Take note of these phrases again. "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.... Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. What is the result? Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because HE IS KIND to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Notice when Jesus talked about the Golden Rule, He was NOT just telling His followers just how to treat other people. He was telling them how to treat their enemies. the ones who hated them the ones who cursed them the ones who mistreated them

This is what God means by kindness and that doesn t come naturally to us. We can be nice to just about anybody except that jerk down the street. As one person once said: It s easy to be an angel when nobody is ruffling your feathers. God s Kindness is the kind that reaches out to everyone especially those who are hardest to love. Kindness, like the other fruit of the Spirit, is really an attribute of God. The reason we are to show kindness is because He has shown kindness to us. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:4-5a) Kindness isn t a state of mind or a mood; it s an action. And until it becomes a natural part of who we are, it is important to be intentional with our kindness. That means our eyes should be open and looking for opportunities to practice kindness. Kindness isn t just a matter of rescuing a cat from a tree or helping an old lady cross the street. This kind of kindness really doesn t get in your way. It doesn t require us to change our schedule, our lifestyle, or our mood. It s Kindness light do nice things without really changing your day! Sometimes kindness doesn t work out that way. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan? Can anyone tell me the nationality of the man lying in the ditch who d been so badly? He was a Jew! The man who showed compassion to this Jew was a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans were not good neighbors. They hated each other. They called each other names and avoided one another whenever possible. If a Jew and Samaritan were going down the same side of the street, one of them would pass over to the other side just to avoid talking to the other. Jesus deliberately used the parable of Samaritan helping his enemy as the example of how we ought to love our neighbors. ILLUS: A young factory worker noticed one day that a valuable tool was missing from his toolbox. Later he recognized it in the toolbox of a fellow employee. The young man was the only Christian in the shop, and he wanted to have a good testimony for Christ. So he went to the man and said, "I see you have one of my tools, but you may keep it if you need it." Then he went on with his work and put the incident out of his mind. During the next 2 weeks, the person who had taken the tool tried to soothe his conscience. First he offered the young man something of equal value, then he offered to help him on some home projects, and finally he slipped some money into his coat pocket. Eventually, the co-workers became good friends, and the one-time tool thief admitted he couldn t resist the man s kindness. Kindness is probably the most effective tool we Christians have in our toolbox. It has significant impact on the people around us because it isn t a natural response to mistreatment. It is so important to God for us to polish this tool and use it effectively, that the Bible teaches us that no matter how we are treated kindness is to be our watchword. 3

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. It s easy to think that going to Church would keep you from being unkind. But in the story of the Good Samaritan it s the religious people who ignore the man in the ditch. A PRIEST happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a LEVITE, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. Luke 10:31-32 These were religious people. They were in the synagogue every Sabbath day. They faithfully gave a tithe of all they earned. They studied the Bible religiously. In fact, they probably had more Scripture memorized than most of us would ever hope to. AND YET they passed on the other side and ignored a man in need. Being religious does not guarantee that you will be a nicer person. It is not a behavior that will make you kind. It can help. but it won t necessarily change how you and I behave. In Galatians 5 we re told that the fruit of the SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness (Galatians 5:22) What does that mean? It means that the more of God s Spirit we have in our lives the more we will exhibit His joy the more His peace will rule in our lives the more patient we will be with each other and the kinder we will be to our enemies, and to those who mistreat us. This is our gas gauge. This is how we know if we re walking in His Spirit. This week that little light in my car came on that told me, you need to get gas soon! So I stopped by a gas station to fill my tank with gas. Why did I stop to fill up my tank? Was it because I enjoy paying $3.70 a gallon for gas? Of course not! I stopped at that gas station because my gas gauge was informing me that I was running on empty. Galatians 5 is our Spirit gauge. Reading verses 22-23 tells us if we re running low on God s Spirit. If we are lacking in any one of fruits of the Spirit, then we ve a got a problem. A problem that will only be solved by connecting with God s Spirit. Missionary Hudson Taylor said If your father and mother, your sister and brother, if the very cat and dog in the house, are not happier for your being Christian, it is a question whether you really are. How kind we are to others in what we SAY to them, how we TREAT them, and especially in how we THINK of them The kinder we are the more like Christ we become. Jesus loved the sinners who wanted to change Jesus touched the ugly and the deformed that no one else wanted to touch Jesus showed compassion even for His enemies from the cross Father forgive them That s the type of kindness and mercy God wants us to show others. A biblical illustration of showing kindness is seen from the life of David. The 4

former king, Saul, had despised David and sought to kill him several times. But David never took advantage of Saul; in fact, Saul s son Jonathan became his closest friend. After the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, David asked, "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan s sake?" (2 Sam. 9: 1). It was then brought to David s attention that Jonathan had a crippled son, Mephibosheth (v. 3). David sent for Mephibosheth, and 2 Samuel 9 concludes by saying, "So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king s table; and was lame on both his feet" (v. 13). In addition to providing for Mephibosheth continually, David also restored to him the land that had been confiscated from Saul. This was true kindness in action. Being religious will not make us kind people. But when we walk in His Spirit, when we try to treat others the way Jesus treated us, then people will know to whom we belong. One of the amazing ideas that come from Scripture is that you and I are actually invited to be channels of God s loving kindness to others. Each of us has opportunities every single week to reject the temptations of power and bitterness and instead express God s loving kindness to a person who doesn t deserve it. Whether it s a rebellious child or a bitter ex-husband, an angry co-worker or a demanding boss, an abusive parent or someone who takes advantage of you in business, every time we don t return evil for evil but rather return evil with good, we live into the loving kindness of God and share in His ministry of reconciliation and hope. This doesn t mean we should be co-dependent and enable bad behavior. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is speak truth to a person and hold them accountable for the things they say and do. And yet to be a channel of God s kindness to others when they don t deserve it is to reject the desire to be bitter or to get even. We can leave justice in the hands of God, who is in a much better position than we are to sort things out, and we can look to Him to be our defender. When we are channels of God s kindness in the world, we create hope and healing, and the rippling effect can be dramatic. When David brought Mephibosheth Jonathan s son to live with him, he exhibited that his compassion and kindness were above the hatred of Saul. Kindness was more powerful than anyone can imagine. When the Samaritan picked up the robbed and beaten up man on the road and left him with a physician to be cared and healed for, what an impact he was making in the life of this man and the physician also. Our acts of kindness can radically impact people who may never change, but these acts may break them to transform. You just can t imagine what impact you are leaving in their hearts when you show acts of kindness to people around you. That is the power of kindness. 5