Kindness and Goodness: Fruits of the Spirit
Gal 5:16-26 November 21, 2004
Intro:
Putting something to music is a great way to learn, and so it probably comes as no surprise that the list of fruits of the Spirit, which we read about in Gal 5, have been put to music so that people can learn them. Now, don’t worry, I promise not to sing… However, I did hear from a parent last Sunday whose daughter had been singing the “fruit of the Spirit” song at home. She sang, “love, joy, peace, patience, kind of goodness”…
Review:
Let’s read Gal 5:16-26.
Of course, it should be “kindness, goodness.” Those are the two we are going to look at this morning – kind of a fruit salad, maybe a fruit combo.
But before diving into those two, let’s review. Over the past month, we have looked at the character quality of self-control, which the Holy Spirit produces in us by revealing the true nature and cost of sin. We looked at gentleness, which is the idea of great power under control (like a horse), and which the Holy Spirit produces in us by enabling us to see one another the way God sees us, with compassion and tenderness and forgiveness. Last week we talked about faithfulness, which the Holy Spirit produces within us in, 1. our relationships (by growing our love for one another), and 2. in our tasks (by keeping us focused on the vision and purpose to which we committed).
I hope you noticed through that review the emphasis again is that these character qualities are God’s work in us – they are what the Holy Spirit produces as we live by the Spirit and walk with the Spirit. They are not about our effort, but about what God is doing in us. I believe these are the measures of spiritual maturity, and when we are evaluating ourselves and thinking about our spiritual lives, these should be the things we are considering. These are the character qualities which God is trying to build into us in deeper measure.
Kindness
Let’s talk about kindness first, and as in previous weeks, let me ask you this: is kindness something that our culture values? We know it is something that God produces in us as we grow spiritually, but is it something our society values? In some ways, no:
Today is Grey Cup Sunday, the championship game of our beloved Canadian Football League. I highly doubt that either coach Wally Bouno or coach Mike Clemons, both of whom are Christians, are giving their teams instructions about being kind to their opposition…
Yet even in sport, there is an award called the Pierre de Coubertin International Fair Play Trophy, which has a very huge profile in Europe even though most North Americans have never heard of it. Many people consider it the highest honor in all of sport. In 1990, it was awarded to two British men in the marathon tandem kayak racing event at the world championships in Copenhagen. Danish paddlers were leading when their rudder was damaged in a portage. British paddlers, who were in second place, stopped to help the Danes fix it. The Danes went on to defeat the British by one second in an event that lasted nearly three hours, yet the Brits were later awarded this honor. In the past, the trophy has gone to a Hungarian tennis player who pleaded with officials to give his opponent more time to recover from a cramp, and to an American high school basketball coach who forfeited the Georgia state championship after he found out that one of his players was scholastically ineligible. The first trophy went to an Italian bobsledder named Eugenio Monti. In the two-man bobsled event at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics, Monti was the leader after his final run. The only one with a chance to beat him was Tony Nash of Great Britain. As Nash and his teammate got ready for their final run, they discovered that a critical bolt on their sled had snapped at the last moment. Monti was informed of the problem and immediately took the corresponding bolt from his own sled and sent it up to Nash. Nash fixed his sled, came hurtling down the course to set a record and won the gold medal.
Acts of kindness, each of them, recognized and rewarded. When I think about kindness on a more personal level, I am convinced that our society still values kindness on a day by day basis. We expect people to be polite at the check out, we are horrified when people don’t stop to help someone who is hurt. When we hear about someone who has been taken advantage of, we feel angry. Likewise, when we hear stories of deeds of kindness they warm our hearts and encourage us, and when someone treats us kindly (especially when it is undeserved), we are deeply appreciative.
How Does The Spirit Create Kindness in Us?
So, how does the Holy Spirit create kindness in us? Julian of Norwich once said, “Every act of kindness and compassion done by any man for his fellow Christian is done by Christ working within him.” How does God create kindness in us?
If we will let Him, the Spirit of God heals our broken hearts, mends our wounds, breathes life into the dark and painful places of our souls. Then, instead of reacting to one another out of our pain and hurts, we begin to react to one another out of a mended heart. God within us gives us the greatest gifts of all, gifts of wholeness and of inner peace, and then we live differently. We treat others differently, with kindness.
I want to elaborate on that a little more, but I need to first speak to the issue of pain. I am more and more convinced that most of what is wrong with us and our world is a direct result of deep hurts that we have not dealt with and allowed God to heal. My friends, please let God into those, so that they can be healed. Stop torturing yourself and others by bottling them up, hiding them away, thinking you can cope and muddle through just fine on your own. God can and will and wants to heal. Give Him control, seek out others that can walk you through the muck to a place of healing and strength. Please, for your sake, for the sake of others who love you, and for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
Then, as you are healed, the Spirit will form kindness in you. You will see opportunities to be kind, and will be glad of the chance. You will see how rich your life is, how deep the joy and forgiveness, and how much you have to offer to others through a simple act of kindness. And one more thing: God will slow you down so that you can have a more full life. You will see that you truly lack nothing important, and so will stop franticly chasing after things you think will fill the empty space in your soul.
John Darley and Daniel Batson are two Princeton University psychologists. In 1973, they conducted a study at Princeton Theological Seminary. They met with a group of seminarians and asked each one to prepare a short talk on a given theme. Half of the seminarians were to give their talk on ministry opportunities available for students after graduation. The other half was asked to prepare a short devotional on the story of the Good Samaritan. Then they would walk individually to a nearby building to present it. Along the way to the presentation each student would run into a man who was planted in an alley. He would be lying there, moaning & groaning in pain. The question was who would stop to help the man.
The researchers also wanted to find out if being in a hurry made any difference to the students. So they told one third of the group that they had plenty of time to get to the building to give their talk so they could take their time. Another third was told that they would just make it in time if they left right now. And the last third was told that they were already late-they’d better get moving immediately! In other words, the experimenters put a third of their subjects in a "low hurry" situation; a third in a "intermediate hurry" situation; and a third in a "high hurry" situation.
So, which ones offered to help the man in pain? It turned out that it made no significant difference whether the student was giving a talk on job opportunities or the Good Samaritan. What did make a difference was how much of a hurry he was in. Of the "low hurry" subjects, 63% offered help; of the "intermediate hurry" subjects, 45% offered help; and of the "high hurry" students, only 10% offered help. (By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2004, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN THESSALONIANS).
So if God could slow us down, we are more likely to exhibit kindness. I believe that happens as the Holy Spirit has more and more control of us, and we discover an inner fullness and contentment and stop looking outside of us in frantic busyness.
Frederick Faber hit the nail on the head when he said “Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.”
Mother Teresa put it this way: “Spread love everywhere you go: First of all in your own house. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.”
Goodness:
Let’s move on to goodness. Melvin Newland, a preacher whose sermons are online, says, “Sometimes, when someone bids me "goodbye," they’ll add, "Now be good," & I respond, "Hey, in my profession it’s hard to be anything else." Think about that. You expect me to be good because I’m your preacher, don’t you? After all, everybody knows that preachers are paid to be good. You all are good for nothing, but I’m paid to be good.”
W.H. Auden said, “Goodness is easier to recognize than to define.” I would have to agree.
What is the heart of “goodness”? It is difficult, because it is not the same as “good works”. That is the how we see it, but we all know that “good works” can be faked, can be put on the exterior like a mask or a shell. Goodness is a characteristic of the heart where the Spirit of God is alive and active and molding us into Jesus’ likeness. Goodness is when the Holy Spirit is taking the “old” and making it “new”. The actions follow, as a reflection of the heart.
Goodness in our hearts begins with our conviction that God is good. Now that sounds pretty basic, yet I think many of us struggle with really believing, deep down in our souls, that God is actually good. We’ve bought the question, “if God is good, then why _____? (fill in your own blank: “why did my child die?” “why is my life so hard?” “why do I feel so depressed?” “why do so many bad things happen?” We’ve bought into the lie behind the question: God must not be good, or else those things wouldn’t have happened. Instead of blaming satan for the bad things, he subtly shifts the blame to God. Satan even convinces us to shift the blame for our own bad actions on to God – “God could have stopped you if He was really good…”
The right response is to affirm the truth – God is good – and then accept that many times there are no answers to the “why” question this side of heaven. We accept that somehow, God will work everything for good as promised in Romans 8:28, even the hard, painful, bad things which we do not understand. We accept that by faith, as hard as it is, and then we see what God will do. Bring peace. Bring healing for the hurt. Bring a community to care through the pain, people who understand and listen. Even bring a change to the situation.
Affirming that God is good is the first step; accepting the challenges is the second; and then here is the third: the Holy Spirit creates within us a goodness of heart that fights against the evil that causes pain. The Spirit creates goodness within us to battle the places where we see badness and pain, to choose the right things even when it is hard because of a deep inner conviction that the “bad” things will do even more damage in the long run. It comes from the inner transformation, which the Holy Spirit brings about in us as we live and walk in Him.
Once we experience that inner transformation, our hearts will resonate with John Wesley, who told Christians 250 years ago “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” When our hearts have been transformed, doing all the good we can will be a source of great contentment and purpose and joy.
Conclusion:
Throughout this series of sermons on the fruit of the Spirit, we have talked a lot about God’s part – how it is God that works and forms each of these things within us. What is our part? Do we just sit back and wait for God to make us kind and good? Or is there something we need to do to cooperate and allow God to form these things in us? I think you know the answer, but what is it? What are we to do?
Most importantly, we give God permission. We choose to allow God to work. We cannot create these things, but we can stop them. We make a choice in our will to allow the Holy Spirit to work, to change us, to heal us, to form us, and then we do a second very important thing: we create space for God to work. That is one of the big reasons we pray. That is why we need to spend time in worship, focused on God. That is why we read Scripture and other Christian literature. So that we create space for God to work on our hearts, and mold them into His likeness.
I want to ask you if you need to take that step of giving God permission. Have you been holding on – to control, to pride, even to the pain that is familiar – instead of inviting God into it, and letting God deal with it? Have you been trying to do life your way, on your terms, under your control? I want to challenge you this morning to let go. To give God permission to enter your soul, the deep places of your heart, and to continue the good work He has begun in you. Let me warn you – it might be hard. It might mean opening the door to the painful places so that God can heal them. It might mean confessing your sins so that you can be forgiven and freed. It might be a fight, but it is a good fight with a promise of victory. Or maybe you need to decide to give God some time and space to work on your heart – perhaps you have been wondering where God is but not spending time seeking Him. Maybe you need to commit to creating the space for God to move.
I want to close with silent prayer. Spend time here, in quiet, inviting God to be in control of all your life, and invite God to come and create within you the beautiful heart of kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that you were made for.
