Fruit of the Spirit - Kindness
We continue this morning talking about the Fruit of the Spirit as laid out in Galatians 5:22-23. We are getting to the point now where we will start to see some overlap between many of the parts of the Fruit. Today we are looking at Kindness. Kindness as defined in Scripture comes from the Greek word “chrestotes” which implies a gracious attitude and describes the quality of being helpful and beneficial. But it goes even beyond that.
We tend to think of kindness in terms of being nice. It’s something we are constantly teaching our kids. To create some generational division here this morning, it was the motto of one of my favorite stores, “Be Kind, Rewind.” Just be nice and return the VHS rewound and ready for the next person who rents it. But as with every other characteristic we have looked at thus far, the Spirit-gifted kindness that we are talking about goes much deeper than where our minds initially take us. It’s much more than just being nice. One commentator defines it as “a disposition of the heart that seeks the welfare of others.” Let’s look first at how God shows us who He is in terms of kindness.
Kindness in the Nature of God
A. Kindness isn’t reserved for those who deserve it (Luke 6:32-36)
It’s easy to love those who love you in return. It’s easy to lend something to someone you trust and you know will give you back what they borrowed. BUT, Jesus says, what about your enemies? Love them, do good to them, lend to them even if you don’t expect that any of that will be reciprocated. Well that doesn’t feel natural! Yes, because it’s not! It’s a supernatural way to treat others, and we are able to do it because that’s who God is, and we have God the Spirit indwelling us.
“God is kind to the ungrateful and evil.” How? How does God show kindness to those who are ungrateful and evil?
Titus 3:4-5 - “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit..”
The lovingkindness of God was made manifest in the sending of Jesus to save humanity, to redeem humanity to Himself. He looked upon the helpless estate of humanity and driven by compassion, through His kindness towards those who did not deserve it, He sent Jesus. In Romans 2:4 we see that it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.
B. Kindness involves compassion towards action (Mark 6:30-44)
We won’t read it all this morning, but this passage in Mark is the story where Jesus feeds the 5,000. Most of us know that story well, but the story begins with Jesus looking at the 15,000 plus men, women and children, physically and spiritually hungry, and knowing their great need, He “had compassion on them, because they were like a sheep without a shepherd.”
Kindness is who Jesus is. His compassion towards the helpless drove him to kindness in fulfilling the need that they had. Remember kindness is a disposition of the heart that leads to action. Kindness and compassion are very similar in this way.
But we see these 2 truths in the nature of God.
1. God shows kindness to those who don’t deserve it
2. God’s kindness moved Him to action
Kindness in Scripture
Turn over to 2 Samuel 9. A bit of context before we get into this passage:
David and King Saul had quite a tumultuous relationship. Saul had been anointed King, but because of his disobedience, the Lord took the throne from him and gave it to David. This didn’t happen immediately however, so Saul tried his best to kill David to make sure that wouldn’t happen. Scripture tells us that “an evil spirit tormented Saul,” so he summoned David to come and play music for him whenever that would happen. David and Saul’s son Jonathon become really good friends, and one day Saul grows really jealous of David and throws a spear at him trying to kill him, he misses and David escapes. David ends up marrying Michal, Saul’s daughter, which makes things worse.
Saul tries to kill David in his sleep, but Michal warns David and he escapes. David goes on the run from Saul, and ends up hiding in cities and caves to elude Saul. This is where a lot of the Psalms David writes come from. Saul gets pretty close a few times, so close that David is able to cut a corner of Saul’s robe off without him knowing. A lot more happened, but for the sake of time I’ll just say that David was on the run from somewhere between 4-8 years.
Eventually, Saul and his son Jonathon die in battle, and David finally takes his throne as the King. Fast forward now to 2 Samuel 9. Remember, Saul chased David for around 5 years trying to kill him. David went through some of the lowest points of his life because of Saul’s hatred of him. 2 Samuel 9 gives us one of the most beautiful pictures of kindness in Scripture.
Read 2 Samuel 9:1-8
This is why this is so significant. David had every right to act out the customs of the time, which would have been to condemn Mephibosheth because he belonged to a condemned family. However, because of a covenant David had made with Jonathon, David instead acted in kindness in a pretty extreme way. So much so that even Mephibosheth recognizes that it didn’t seem right. David gives him all the land that belonged to his grandfather. David gave him a seat at his table for the rest of his life. And Mephibosheth’s response? “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”
1. David showed kindness to someone who didn’t deserve it
2. David’s kindness moved him to action
Read 2 Samuel 9:9-13
So undeserved. So extreme.
But David really understood the kindness of God! In fact, in many of the Psalms that he wrote, David used the Hebrew word “hesed” which is a use of the word love that means steadfast loving-kindness. David recognized that this attribute was at the core of who God is. Alright so we see kindness in the nature of God. We see David, a man of God giving us an example of kindness in action. So what about us? As branches drawing life from the vine, from Christ…as believers empowered by the Holy Spirit to live differently…how do we show kindness to others?
Kindness Through Us
I think we can circle back to Luke 6:32-36, because in the midst of this truth about who Jesus is, there is instruction for us as well. Specifically, let’s look back at verse 35 of Luke 6: “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” If you want to show kindness like the Most High…
Love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them. Expect nothing in return, why? Because the Lord is kind to them. This is completely unnatural. We talked about this last week when learning about patience. Long-suffering with those who mistreat you. But kindness seems to take it a step further. Kindness seems to mean that we do something to show love to the person that mistreats us. This just sounds crazy! All of these characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit are unnatural. This does not make sense to us.
Our enemy as laid out in Luke 6:35 would be anyone who is actively trying to harm us. In fact, jump up to Luke 6:27. Read Luke 6:27-31. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. All of this in the context of treating others like God treated us, and at the bottom of this section we see that it all goes back to Him showing kindness, taking action to benefit those who do not deserve it!
It’s hard for us to imagine being nice to someone who is actively trying to hurt us. It’s harder to imagine showing the kindness of God, kindness in action, doing something for that person who doesn’t deserve it. But this is the kindness that God showed us, and so we need to be mindful and intentional with showing this same kindness to others.
By the way this needs to be true of us in the context of the church as well, in the context of fellow believers. Paul in talking to the church of Ephesus says in Ephesians 4…
Ephesians 4:31-32 - “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Think about what Paul says in 1 Corinthians13, in that famous love chapter. “Love is patient. Love is kind.” A way that we show love to one another is by looking out for their interests, by being driven to compassion and action, doing what benefits them. Remember that’s the definition of kindness in the Greek. “A disposition of the heart that seeks the welfare of others.” So how do we take all of this and condense it into a really simple takeaway this morning?
Application
1. Show kindness to someone who does not deserve it.
2. Be driven to action out of an overflow of Holy Spirit kindness.
We can probably all think of people that are very difficult to be kind to. Even at the surface level of just being nice, it can be a challenge. Take that to the next level and expect that we act on that kindness, and it’s a totally different conversation. But this is what we are talking about. So the challenge for us becomes, then, how do I show kindness to the person that does not deserve it? What can I do this week to go the extra mile to show kindness? Again, it’s an unnatural thing for us. Even beyond this, we can talk about the stranger that we don’t know.
How do we show kindness, how do we do something to benefit somebody that we don’t know? Let me ask you this. What goes through your mind when you drive past someone who is homeless and holding up a cardboard sign on the corner? Is your first instinct to help? Or is your first instinct to look the other direction? Listen, it’s happening right here in Apex. I was turning into Target in Apex and there was a family on the corner with a sign asking for help. I was at our Elder Meeting with Brian on Monday night in Holly Springs Chick-Fil-A and a man came up selling keychains to help his family. What should I do in that situation?!
We were enemies of God, and it was His kindness that led us to repentance. It was the kindness of Jesus that drew sinners to Himself. We did not deserve that! He went to the extreme so that we could have everything we need. We have the ability to treat others in the same way. It could be someone in your life who has wronged you, and showing them the love of Jesus will be a remarkable thing. It could be that you see someone who you don’t even know, but you are driven to action by the Holy Spirit kindness that you have been gifted. Pray for that this week, that God would give you clarity on who needs to be blessed by your kindness.
