The Fruit of the Spirit Pt.5: Kindness
Our world is full of bad news. Daily we're bombarded with one tragedy after another, never-ending wars, brutal acts of terrorism, refugees on the run, the plight of the homeless, corruption in high places, man-made calamities, natural disasters, devastating pollution, despicable crimes. The list goes on and on and our national leaders are left floundering, trying to find answers to crisis after crisis. But they never come up with lasting solutions. For they rely on their own ways and wisdom and completely ignore God and His ways and wisdom.
Therefore, the world is full of bad news and unwise leaders. But God’s Word is full of good news and is all about an infinitely wise Leader. Indeed, the Bible brims over the most wonderful news imaginable about the King of love and His astounding kindness to sinful, rebellious people like us. This is the most brilliant news we could ever hear. It's news that gives true and certain hope to everyone who turns to Christ and trusts in Him alone for salvation.
Sadly, most people today simply tune into the bad news that fills our world and are deaf to the good news of Christ and His amazing grace. What about you? How tuned in are you to the glorious news of God’s astonishing grace?
Let me put 4 questions to you about the good news of God’s astounding kindness to sinful people like us. As you face these questions, give yourself a spiritual health check.
(1) Do you recognise God’s kindness to you?
In the beginning, God made this world full of goodness and beauty. He created human beings as creatures in His own image to know Him personally in a relationship of love with Him. He gave us the world to look after for Him and to enjoy. Daily He displays His grace in how He sustains His creation and in His ongoing provision for us. Day by day He grants us all our everyday needs, food to strengthen us, clothes to keep us warm, homes to shelter us, families, friends and fellow believers to love us, schools and colleges to educate us, and GPs and hospitals to care for us. But supremely we see God’s astounding kindness in His provision of the way of salvation. God is perfectly holy and selfless. By nature, we are all unholy and self-centred. In His perfect justice, God could justly condemn us to eternal punishment in hell. That is what rebellious creatures like us deserve. But in His perfect love, God sent His Son to suffer the horror of hell for us on Calvary’s tree. If we accept His gift of eternal life, repenting of living our own way and relying solely on Christ and His sacrifice for us, He showers abundant spiritual blessings upon us. We are ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven in and through Jesus and adopted into God's very family.
Do you recognise God’s astonishing kindness to you in creation and supremely in Christ? This is the fundamental failing in most of our fellow men. The majority of mankind do not recognise God's kindness to them either in creation or in Christ. In their godlessness, they suppress the truth of their dependence on God and they refuse to give thanks for their everyday blessings. What about you? Do you recognise God's kindness to you? The second question then follows...
(2) Have you responded to God's kindness?
There is only one appropriate way to respond to God's amazing grace in creation and in sending His Son. The only proper response is to confess your sinfulness to God, to cast yourself on Christ as your Saviour and to commit your life to Christ as your Lord! The apostle Paul exhorts us in Romans 12v1, 'in view of God's mercy, offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God!' This is the response God commands from all people everywhere, to bow before Him in repentance and faith, to cast ourselves upon the Saviour, trusting in Him alone to rescue us, and to surrender our lives to King Jesus in devotion and service!
If you come to Christ in repentance and child-like trust, God's arms will open wide to welcome you into His family. No matter how sinful we have been, if we come to God, repentant and resting on Christ alone for salvation, He embraces us in His fatherly love.
What about you? Have you responded to God's amazing kindness in the Gospel in repentance and faith in Christ? If you have, the third question then follows on.
(3) Are you rejoicing in God's kindness?
By recognising and responding to God's kindness, your position before the holy God of heaven is totally transformed. You're no longer living each moment under God's righteous anger. You are now a child of God! You now know God as your heavenly Father and you can live each moment in the light of His love! You are no longer in the grip of the Evil One. You are now in the grip of grace, in the hands of your heavenly Father. You're no longer heading to eternal condemnation in hell. You're now heading to eternal glory in heaven. And nothing will ever separate you from God's love for you in Christ Jesus. You are safe and secure now and eternally.
In your wonderful position of eternal security and salvation in Christ, are you rejoicing in God's amazing grace? Our glorious identity in Christ should cause us to rejoice! This is at the heart of a healthy relationship with God. Rejoicing in the Saviour and in His amazing grace to you.
My friend, are you rejoicing in God's grace today? Is your heart making music and singing because of His amazing kindness to you? If so, a fourth and final question follows...
(4) Are you reflecting God's kindness?
In your day to day activities and relationships, is God's kindness shining through you to others? Do people see something of the kindness of God by how you treat them and talk with them? If you have truly experienced God's grace in your life, an inward transformation will be taking place within you and this will be seen outwardly in how you serve others with kindness.
One of the distinctive marks of God's kindness is that it does not deal with people on the basis of merit. God shows His kindness to those who don't deserve it. In the gospels, we see this demonstrated in the Saviour's kindness. Jesus spent time with outcasts. Jesus was a friend of tax-collectors and sinners who were shunned by the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees who viewed them as spiritually unclean and as traitors, collecting taxes for their Roman oppressors. Yet Jesus not only spent time with them. He actually sat down and had a meal with them. For the Jews, sharing food with someone was the sign of intimate fellowship. What kindness Jesus showed to those who were despised and dismissed as outcasts. If we are true followers of Christ, we too will befriend people irrespective of their social standing. We'll seek to get alongside people who others view as totally unworthy. For we know that we ourselves are totally unworthy.
The Lord isn't only kind to unworthy people. He is kind to His very enemies! For that is what we all were before He saved us. Paul wrote in Romans 5v10 'when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son.' So, in the most extraordinary act of kindness and grace, God turns His enemies into His friends, indeed, into His very children. Yes, God adopts His enemies as His sons and daughters in Christ. He brings us into His very family, to dwell in His house with Him and to feast at His table with Him! In Jesus, we have the most incredible inheritance. What astounding grace!
Being recipients of such kindness from the King of heaven, we are to reflect His grace to others. We are to do so even to our enemies. Like our Lord, we're to show love to our enemies. This is one of His commands to us, 'love your enemies!' (Matthew 5v44).
You might think to yourself, 'I have no enemies!' for there is no one you're fighting with or who persecutes you. But if that is the case, the challenge remains. You just need to widen the meaning of the word 'enemies'. Include people you don't like, for one reason or another, who rub you up the wrong way, who irritate or annoy you. Include those who have let you down or have really hurt you. Include those who are very different from you, personality-wise, and those whose political or religious views you disagree with strongly. When we think of the word 'enemies' in this sense, most of us have enemies of one kind or another.
The Lord commands us, 'Love such people!' How are we to do this? How are we to show love to our 'enemies'? Jesus spells it out! His command 'love your enemies' in Luke 6v27-28 is followed by 3 imperatives which show us exactly how we are to 'Love our enemies' (i) Do good to those who hate you! (ii) Bless those who curse you! (iii) Pray for those who abuse you!
Jesus was being totally realistic here. He knows that He can't command us to feel a certain way about people we dislike. But He can command us to act in a certain way towards them. He can command us to treat our enemies well. We are to do good to them and to try to help them. We are to be kind and generous to them. We are to seek to minister to them, even if they curse us. We are to pray for the Lord to bless them, even if they abuse us. This is how we are to love our enemies.
Of course, what Jesus commands us to do here is exactly what He Himself did as He suffered unimaginable pain at Calvary. As He endured utter anguish on the cross, many who hated and despised Him gathered around. They cursed Him, mocked Him and viciously and callously abused Him. How did Jesus respond to such cruel and vindictive abuse? Jesus prayed for those who hated Him. Jesus asked God His Father to forgive those who were murdering Him? It's astounding, isn't it? In 1Peter 2:23 we're told, 'When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats.' Instead, He cried out in prayer for those who abused Him in the most wicked and vile way.
As we aim to show the fruit of the Spirit kindness each day, Jesus is our supreme example. Jesus is our incredibly gracious Mentor who has commissioned us to reflect His kindness in how we treat and talk to others. Therefore, as His people, we are to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Displaying such kindness in our Christian lives is no small matter. Indeed, it is of the utmost importance! For showing Christ-like kindness is evidence that we have truly experienced God's grace ourselves. Therefore, Christ's followers should be known as the kindest people in the whole world. As those who have tasted the Lord's remarkable kindness, others should be able to taste the Lord's kindness through us. By the Spirit's help, we are to be those who go the extra mile time and again, even when it is costly.
In closing, I want to emphasize a key point. Reflecting God's kindness is often expressed in little ways. To be kind doesn't usually involve doing great heroic acts like jumping into a lake to save a drowning child. No, if you are showing God's kindness, it will be seen in a whole host of little ways, speaking a word of encouragement to someone, smiling to a shop assistant as they serve you, saying thank you to a waitress, lending something to a neighbour, texting or phoning someone who is going through a rough time, visiting someone who is sick, befriending someone who is lonely, spending time with someone who is housebound, emailing a missionary, assuring them of your prayers, stacking chairs and tidying up after a meeting or church lunch, lending a hand when someone is in need. There are 101 ways to be kind to others. And our Lord notices all these 'little things' that are done in His name. In Matthew 10v42 Jesus said that if anyone gives a cup of cold water to one of His little ones because he is His disciple, he would certainly not lose his reward. Therefore, don't think for a moment that all those little things you do behind the scenes to help others are unnoticed by the Lord. Our Saviour sees you quietly using the gifts He has given you to help others. In Christ, you are one of His precious disciples. And He delights in your acts of service born out of devotion to Him. So, take heart, and make it your goal in life, to reflect God's amazing kindness in all your daily responsibilities and relationships.
