The Spirit's Fruit; Kindness Like Jesus ~ 20170702 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

07/02 The Spirit's Fruit; Kindness like Jesus; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20170702_kindness-like-jesus.mp3

We are looking at the fruitful life that the Spirit of God produces in the believer. Today we come to kindness.

Colossians 3; Put Off / Put On

I want to start by looking at Colossians 3, another passage that talks about the fruit of the Spirit in a different way. Paul takes the first chapter of Colossians to exalt Christ, to point us to the beauty of Christ, the excellencies of Christ, the eternity of Christ, the preeminence of Christ, the glory of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ. He says 'Him we proclaim, warning... and teaching... that we may present everyone mature in Christ (Col.1:28). He says in chapter 2 “as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith... (Col.2:6-7). You received Jesus as a gift, trusting in him completely. Walk in him as a gift, trusting him completely. Be rooted and built up in him, God's free gift, lean completely on him, not on your own efforts. Depend totally on him, and not on your own personality, efforts, or abilities. Grow up out of him. In chapter 2 he warns against getting side tracked by rule keeping and human traditions. He points us back to the cross where our record of offenses was once for all wiped clean. Then in chapter 3, he points us the the resurrection of Jesus and our transformation with him.

Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The old you is dead. You died with Christ. You have been raised with Christ to a new kind of life, a resurrection kind of life. Our desires, what we seek is different, transformed. Our hopes and dreams are different, no longer earthly.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: ... 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away:... 9 ...you have put off the old self with its practices

He lists the characteristics of an ordinary, earthly life, the things that characterize the life and pursuit of fallen self centered humans. Then he paints a picture of the new life of Christ, the life shaped like Christ, the life of Christ in you.

Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here ... Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

The new self is something we clothe ourselves with. You see, we were a filthy dirty mess. We were wallowing in the world, in the muck and mire, dirt and grime in every pore. God reached down and plucked us out of the filth, and stripped us of our reeking garments, and cleaned us off with the blood of Jesus. He clothes us with the robes of his perfect righteousness as a gift. But we still have this old nature, this inclination to go back and wallow in the muck. We have a tendency to pick up our old stinking garments and try to put them back on. He says you're new inside. You're a new creation. Put off, put away, put to death the old ways. Put on the things that are appropriate to the new you. Your new self is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. How do we do this? Knowledge. We are being renewed in knowledge. What knowledge? Knowledge after the image of its creator. Knowledge of Jesus. As we look to Jesus, as we get to know Jesus, we become more and more like Jesus. We put on his characteristics. We are his chosen ones. We are holy and beloved. Performance cannot touch those things. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We are chosen, holy, loved. That is our identity. Because of who we are in Christ, we put on then, compassionate hearts, kindness, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love, peace, thanksgiving.

He goes on:

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We are transformed as the peace with God that Christ obtained for us rules in our hearts, and the word of Christ dwells in us richly. Teaching, admonishing, singing, everything for the sake of Jesus, everything saturated with thanksgiving. This is how the fruit of the Spirit grows in us.

Kindness

Today we look at the aspect of the fruit called kindness. What is Biblical kindness? What does it look like? The Greek word translated 'kindness' is the noun χρηστότης and it comes from the adjective χρηστός . This word shows up in Romans 11:22 contrasting the kindness and severity of God. God's kindness in grafting branches in through faith; God's severity in breaking off the unbelieving branches. God is both kind and severe, but these are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Romans 2:4 warns:

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Both the noun and the adjective show up in this verse. God's kindness is linked with his forbearance and patience. As we saw last week, he is slow to anger. He is longsuffering, eager to extend more grace to bring more people into a relationship with him. We are warned not to presume on his patience, kindness, and forbearance. It does not mean that God is soft or unwilling to punish sin. His kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. God dealt severely with sin in Jesus on the cross. Jesus experienced the severity of God's wrath against our sin, so that we could experience God's kindness toward us!

In a collection of Old Testament passages describing the comprehensive sinfulness of humankind, Paul says:

Romans 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

The word here translated 'good' is our word for kindness. The human race is condemned because 'no one does kindness, not even one.'

There are two passages in the gospels that use the adjective χρηστός in a way that is helpful to understand the flavor of this word. Jesus, talking about the form fitting the content, and the need to put new wine into new wineskins, says

Luke 5:39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

The old wine is kind, or we could translate 'mellow'. It has aged and is no longer harsh and biting, but smooth.

Jesus, in Matthew 11 says:

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The word in verse 30, 'easy,' is our word 'kind.' Jesus invites us to find rest for our souls in him. He is meek or gentle, he is humble or lowly in heart. His yoke is kind. A yoke is a bar of wood that allows oxen to accomplish great amounts of work as their power is connected together and transferred to a plow or some other farming implement. An ox must have a yoke to transfer his power efficiently to become useful. A kind yoke would be a yoke that fits perfectly, that allows for painless transfer of power from the animal into the work to be done. A kind yoke would be a yoke that doesn't bite in or chafe. A yoke that is smooth and allows for natural movement.

So if we put this together, we have in Romans 11 kindness contrasted with severity. In Luke 5 we have aged wine that is mellow, preferable, not harsh or biting. In Matthew 11 we have a yoke that is kind, not biting or chafing. Kindness is palatable, functional, comfortable. It is not severe, biting, harsh, or chafing. We are beginning to see what kindness looks like.

Kindness Illustrated

Let me take you to some Old Testament narratives to help illustrate kindness.

In 1 Chronicles 19, when David's reign is established,

1 Chronicles 19:1 Now after this Nahash the king of the Ammonites died, and his son reigned in his place. 2 And David said, “I will deal kindly with Hanun the son of Nahash, for his father dealt kindly with me.” So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites to Hanun to console him. 3 But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” 4 So Hanun took David's servants and shaved them and cut off their garments in the middle, at their hips, and sent them away; 5 and they departed. When David was told concerning the men, he sent messengers to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown and then return.”

David was returning a kindness for a kindness. But the way David's servants were received was anything but kind. And this did not promote good relations between these kingdoms.

1 Chronicles 19:6 When the Ammonites saw that they had become a stench to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Aram-maacah, and from Zobah. 7 They hired 32,000 chariots and the king of Maacah with his army, who came and encamped before Medeba. And the Ammonites were mustered from their cities and came to battle.

This led to a great battle, and to the defeat of the Ammonites and the Syrians they had hired.

Look with me at a positive example of kindness. 2 Kings 6 is the well known story of Elisha surrounded by the Syrian army in Dothan, and Elisha prays to open his servants eyes to see the spiritual armies of the LORD and know that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2Ki.6:16).

2 Kings 6:18 And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria. 20 As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. 21 As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?”

God handed over the army of Syria to their enemy Israel. How did they respond?

2 Kings 6:22 He answered, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” 23 So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.

To their enemies, they extended kindness. The Syrians had surrounded Dothan in order to seize Elisha. Elisha demonstrates how much greater the God of Israel is, and hands them over to the king of Israel, but instead of executing them, he prepares for them a feast, entertains them and lets them go free. He killed them with kindness. This won the victory more decisively than a battle ever would.

God's Kindness

Throughout the Old Testament, God is praised for his goodness. In the Greek translation of many of these passages, we have this word kindness.

Psalm 31:19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness [kindness],which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good [kind]! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Oh taste and see that the LORD is kind. Peter has

1 Peter 2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good [kind].

Oh. Oh how abundant is your kindness. Oh taste and see that the Lord is kind. This is something that can be experienced. The kindness of the LORD is tangible, visible, tasteable.

Psalm 86:5 For you, O Lord, are good [kind] and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good [kind]; his steadfast love endures forever,and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 106:1 Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good [kind], for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 119:68 You are good [kind] and do good [kindness]; teach me your statutes.

As with all the fruit of the Spirit, we can only be kind because our Lord has shown us what kindness is. Have you tasted the kindness of the LORD?

The Kindness of Jesus

Jesus was severe, biting, harsh, abrasive with the religious hypocrites. But with sinners, he was gentle, kind. He invited the weary, the heavily burdened, to find rest in his kindness. He met people where they were, in their brokenness and need. He touched the unclean, the outcasts, the lepers. He was kind to desperate parents. He was welcoming of little children. He saw the basic needs of the multitudes and he had compassion on them and fed them. He stooped to do the most menial and lowly of tasks. He washed feet.

Look at God's kindness toward us in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

This passage starts with a 'but.' It starts with us in a desperate situation, dead, disobedient, children of wrath. No good in us. But God in mercy and love lifted us up out of the muck. Why? So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God's kindness is gracious, undeserved. It is merciful. It is great love. We didn't deserve to be treated with kindness. We deserved severity. But the immeasurable riches of his grace are put on display because while we were dead, he showed us his kindness. All his kindness comes to us in Christ Jesus. Because all his severity was poured out at the cross on Jesus. Jesus carried a rough harsh beam of wood on his shredded back through the streets of Jerusalem, so that we could take his kind yoke and find rest for our souls.

Do Good Because He is Kind

Jesus teaches us

Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good [ἀγαθοποιέω], 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 [χρηστός] to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Jesus teaches his followers to do good because God is kind. We are to imitate God who loves his enemies, who blesses, prays for, gives generously away. He is kind, he is merciful, even to the ungrateful and evil. Even to his enemies. Even to us! God's kindness is redemptive. It is meant to lead us to repentance.

Galatians 5:15 warns us not to bite and devour one another. We are not to be severe, harsh, biting, chafing. We are to be mellow, palatable, comfortable. We are to put on kindness, just as Jesus is kind.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org