Kindness

Kindness
Sermon Notes – Ps. Jim White
Sunday 25th July 2011
• I heard a story about a woman who was standing at a bus stop. She had just cashed her tax refund cheque, so she was carrying more money than usual & was a little bit nervous about that. She glanced around & noticed a shabbily dressed man standing nearby. And as she watched, she saw a man walk up to him, hand him some money, & whisper something in his ear.

She was so touched by that act of kindness that she decided to do the same. In a burst of generosity, she reached into her purse, took out $10, handed it to the man, & whispered to him, "Never despair, never despair."

The next day when she came to the bus stop, there he was again. But this time he walked up to her & handed her $110. Dumbfounded, she asked, "What’s this?" He said, "You won, lady. Never Despair paid 10 to 1."

• It’s amazing how rewarding an act of kindness can be!

• Last week I shared with you how the NSW State Conference in Port Macquarie carried a sense of expectancy about the future of the church – it was bigger than ever before and it was full of faith – but the thing that touched me the most was that it was real. The speakers were real – the messages were real – it was relevant to all of us who have not only ministries, but marriages, families, financial pressures, hopes, dreams, visions for our own lives, and the life of the church.

• And this morning, I want to launch off from a message Shane Cook shared at conference about kindness. Shane is the Senior Pastor of Shell Harbour COC – on the NSW south coast.

• He told us about the way his church was actively caring for their community through acts of kindness. They have street teams that go out door-knocking, offering help with mowing and gardening and cleaning up people’s yards. They do after school tutoring, run a playtime for preschoolers, have money management classes, and do all kinds of random acts of kindness.

• Shane said that as a church, they are discovering the power in kindness. And not only that – but God’s grace is manifest in the midst of kindness – and His favour is found in kindness. He said these things that they are doing are not jobs. They are the way we have been called to live.

• His message set me off on a bit of an exploration in the bible about what kindness really is – and I was actually blown away by how much a part of the spirit led life it is meant to be. Kindness is a quality of the nature of God.

• Kindness is a vital part of the make-up of love. It is meant to be a vital part of the nature and character of man.

• Prov 19:22 – “What is desired in a man is kindness.”

• Kindness is one of the most impacting and influential qualities that will change our world for good. But the thing I like most about kindness is that it is not a feeling or an attitude or something that we just admire and talk about. Kindness is an action. Kindness is the demonstration of love.

• I found this quote this week: “Love talked about is easily ignored. But love demonstrated is irresistible.”

• Kindness is love demonstrated. 1Cor 13:4 says that “love is kind.”

• And the kindness I am talking about this morning is not just someone being nice. Kindness is spiritual. Gal 5:22 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

• The kindness I am talking about comes from the Holy Spirit. Listen to these scriptures as they describe the nature of God:
Ps. 36:7 – “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God.”
Ps. 63:3 – “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.”
Titus 3:4 – speaks of “when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared...”
Eph 2:7 – “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
• The crucifixion of God’s Son as the sacrifice for our sin and the atonement for our death, is the greatest expression of kindness this world has ever known. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made the way for us to come to God the Father in repentance and to receive the gift of eternal life.

• But not only did He provide the sacrifice, Rom 2:4 (NIV) tells us that “...God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.”

• The NLT says this: “Can’t you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

• God said through his prophet, Jeremiah, (31:3), “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

• How is that for the grace of God toward this broken, violent, rebellious, ungodly world? That God would not only provide the way of salvation through Jesus Christ, but His own kindness would also be the thing that draws us to turn our hearts toward Him.

• Can you look back over your life and see where the kindness of God has led you and drawn you to salvation? Some people have called it – Prevenient Grace. It’s the grace of God – His love and kindness – that touches our lives and draws us toward God – even before we understand anything about what’s going on.

• God’s prevenient grace was at work in my life as my parents sent me off to wait at the corner for the bus to take me to Sunday School every Sunday morning. These days, you would never let your kid wait by themselves on the corner at the same time every week. I just couldn’t understand it at the time – why it was so important for me to go to church – and yet my parents stayed at home. But God’s prevenient grace was calling me – teaching me – drawing me through God through His kindness.

• God’s prevenient grace was there when I married Venese – and married into a family that loved God and lived their lives actively being part of the body of Christ. One of Venese’s aunties – Nancy – stirred my heart about the things of the Spirit – and about Jesus’ return - when I was about 17 or 18. God was wooing me more and more to Himself – through His kindness toward me.

• Finding myself on a Walk to Emmaus weekend in Sydney in 1986 – and discovering how much Jesus loved me – making room for me to respond and give my life to Him – was all part of His plan – His kindness.

• His kindness led me to repentance. And led me to salvation.

• If you don’t know the reality of Jesus Christ as your Saviour – and the One who loves you more than you could ever know – this morning His kindness is reaching out to you too.

• I love reading about the way Jesus related to people. He noticed people – He understood where they were at – He looked beyond the outer façade and saw their heart. He saw the potential in people – their true identity.

• Think about the brief encounter Jesus had with Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector – and had obviously become rich through the ill gained profits of his little tax collecting business. He was short in stature, but he desperately wanted to see Jesus as He passed through his town. So Zacchaeus climbed up a sycamore tree.

• If you are desperate enough to see Jesus, He will find you. Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus in the tree – and said to him – Zacchaeus – today I’m coming to your house for lunch.

• Do you think Jesus was worried about where he was going to get a meal from that day? No. This was Jesus showing loving kindness towards a man who desperately needed him in His life. And I think all of us know the outcome of that kindness. Zacchaeus’s life was turned around. He came to a place of repentance for the wrong he had done people – and made a decision to give half of all he had to the poor, and to pay back four-fold anyone whom he had swindled money from.

• That’s how powerful kindness is – how life-changing it is.

• It wasn’t the rebuke or the chastisement of Jesus that changed this corrupt man. It was His kindness.

• I know I often bring up about the woman in Luke 8, who had been bleeding for 12 years – but I just feel this is one of the most powerful and touching encounters that anyone ever had with Jesus.

• Luke 8:44 says that she “came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, Who touched Me? But Jesus said, Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.
Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. And He said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
• When this story is told and preached about, it is often from the basis of the woman’s great faith – how she pushed through the crowd – overcame her fears – crossed the barriers of her lowly status and perceived uncleanness – and reached out to Jesus. And all that is so true and relevant.

• But what about Jesus? He was actually on the way to performing another miracle at that time. He had already been distracted from His own agenda and His own plans by Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue who had a very sick daughter – and while He’s on His way to heal her, there’s yet another interruption on top of that.

• But Jesus knew someone had reached out to Him in a special way as he was walking through the crowd. And His kindness is demonstrated toward this woman as He listens to her story – pays attention to her need – accepts her and affirms her – all in the context of being distracted and interrupted from His own plans.

• But you see, this is the true agenda of Jesus – to express true love through kindness.

• How do you think you would rate in a situation like that? You’ve got your own plans – you’re focussed on where you are going and what you are doing, and all of a sudden the needs of others intrudes on your agenda? And you graciously respond to one interruption – but then on the way to that interruption you get another one.

• What a test of how kind you really are? But not only did Jesus respond – He did it lovingly – He really cared – He really listened and met these people right where they were at.

• But Jesus knew something. He knew that it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance. He knew that really caring and actually doing something about it was one of the most powerful and impacting things He could ever do – especially in drawing people to the love and salvation of the Father.

• I want to honour and commend every one of you as you serve God through kindness. And you might think that what you do has little significance – but let me tell you – we are a body that needs every part to function. Whether it’s cleaning the floor, caring for the children, serving in the kitchen, packing groceries at Pantry – when every part does its share – the overall impact is incredible.

• Or maybe your part is out in the community – in your workplace – in your family – in your school. Kindness in whatever environment or context will change our world one person, one situation – at a time.

• Every now and then I come across this little story that highlights this point, and I can’t remember if I’ve shared it before. It’s the story about the boy and the starfish.

• Following a terrific night storm, the sea had so churned itself that hundreds of starfish had washed up onto the shore. The next morning a man saw a boy picking up starfish, one at a time, and throwing them back into the sea. The man approached the boy and said to him, “There are thousands of starfish on this beach. Do you think that you can really make a difference in saving them?”
The boy looked at him, and then simply picked up another starfish and threw it back in the water. “It made a difference to that one!”
• Kindness will make a difference to the one it is given to.

• As I was preparing this message, I ducked out to get a coffee – as you do – and as I drove back into the garage, I saw one of my neighbours – an older lady – sitting in the sun by herself, so I thought I’ll just say a quick hello before I have my coffee and sit myself back I front of the computer.

• And as we started talking, she began to share some of her past life from Yugoslavia, which is quite tragic – and contained a lot of unresolved hurt and pain for her, and I thought to myself, I am genuinely interested in what she is saying, but my coffee is getting cold... I went out special to get this coffee and it was already 12 o’clock – way past my usual coffee time.

• But I thought – come one Jim – you’re preaching on kindness tomorrow... what are you going to do about it? So I chose to stop and listen. I thought – I need to take a leaf out of Jesus’ book and help her to feel accepted and cared about and affirmed. She said her own family aren’t interested in her past. They never want to talk about it. She said that sometimes she wishes she would just not wake up in the morning. I sensed the Spirit of God stirring in my own heart towards her. Kindness is of the Spirit.

• It doesn’t really compare to a cold coffee does it?

• But when I eventually went back to the front of my computer, I thought – I think I just picked up another starfish and threw it in the ocean.

• I was challenged by Shane Cook’s desire to turn his church towards kindness. I can see kindness everywhere in our own church – but I know God is extending the borders of our tent and enlarging the place of our dwelling...

• No matter how good our worship is, how smart our building looks, how powerfully we flow in the gifts of the Spirit, if we are not demonstrating the love of God through kindness to one another and to our community – then we are like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. What good is all that to the lady who lives alone next door to me?

• Loving kindness is what will touch her life the most. Kindness is what will lead her to repentance. Kindness is what will make my faith real and credible to her and to others. It’s what will make your faith real and credible to those in your life as well.

• Take this one thought away with you this morning. Today, I’m going to pick up another starfish, and threw it into the ocean.