3rd Sunday in Advent Service December 15, 2002
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Be Prepared for Christ’s Coming with Kindness
I. The Savior’s coming reveals God’s kindness to us
II. The Savior’s coming motivates our kindness toward others
Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ;
A few years ago during this time of year the most popular movie at theaters was “Home Alone.” Most of the people who saw it seemed to rave about how good it was. When I finally got around to seeing It, I was somewhat disappointed. Since I do like slapstick comedy, parts of it were pretty funny. But the opening scenes of the movie I found disturbing. The family that the movie features was far from loving and kind to each other. Especially picked on and mistreated was the star of the movie, Kevin. His big brother appeared to take sadistic delight in tormenting and threatening him. His uncle called him names. His mother and father ignored him to a large degree or punished him unfairly when they finally did notice him. And Kevin was far from being completely innocent. He was a rather disrespectful brat. To a large degree, the movie showed a dysfunctional family that appeared not to like each other very much.
Some might say that Hollywood was supplying an accurate picture of reality. What went on with the family in “Home Alone” goes on with all too many American families. Fighting between spouses, between brothers and sisters, and between parents and children is commonplace with our next-door neighbors, and all too often it goes on within some of our own homes, as well. In all too many homes, words of kindness can rarely be heard; instead, the yelling and screaming of insults and arguments drowns them out.
If our homes are like that now, or if they have been, or if they will be, then we need to pay special attention to today’s fruit of the Spirit - "kindness." But even if our homes are peaceful and the atmosphere is loving, we still need to think about “kindness.” After all, we face many temptations not to be kind to others, and we forget too often about God’s kindness to us. The birth of our Savior can serve as a good reminder of God’s kindness to us and as a good motivator for our kindness to others. This Advent season let’s remember to BE PREPARED FOR CHRIST’S COMING WITH KINDNESS.
1. The Savior’s coming reveals God’s kindness to us.
Christmas gives us a good picture of God’s kindness. But before we examine his kindness, we must also be aware of his justice. Too many people want to think of God only as kind. His kindness for us should be emphasized, but not to the exclusion of his Justice.
If we thought of God only as kind, then we might be tempted to think that we can get away with anything, and he won’t do anything about it. This is wrong. God will do something about the sins we commit. God’s justice demands that every sin be punished. Our lack of faith, our swearing, our indifference to his Word, our disrespect of parents, our hatred, our covetousness, our gossip and lies—all our sins will be punished. In fact, they already have: they have been punished at the cross of Christ. All who believe in Jesus receive the benefit—forgiveness instead of punishment for our sins. Unbelievers, on the other hand, reject that forgiveness Christ won for them. So they will face the punishment of damnation on their own. Don’t be fooled. God is kind, but he is also just and will punish sin as he promised.
That demand for justice is why Jesus came to earth. Death and damnation hang over the head of all human beings from the time of Adam and Eve’s first sin until the last sin is committed before the world’s destruction on Judgment Day. Christmas took place to remove this punishment. God couldn’t and wouldn’t go back on his Word. He had stated that death—earthly and eternal—would be the result of sin. Christmas was his way of keeping his Word and, at the same time, showing kindness. The plan was for the Child born in the manger at Bethlehem to be punished for the sin of the world. He would face the punishment of hell so that people could escape this fate.
Again, let me emphasize: God’s kindness doesn’t mean that he simply overlooked the sin of the world. Just the opposite is the case. In perfect justice and in perfect kindness God dealt with our sins as only he could—at the cross of his Son. Out of kindness now God forgives all who trust that the Child in the manger is their Savior who gave his life for their sin. Unbelievers, on the other hand, God will justly send to hell. This danger makes it necessary for us to remember both God’s kindness and his justice. As Paul said when writing to the Romans, “Consider . . . the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off" (Romans 11:22). God’s kindness extends to the ungrateful and wicked as he gives them time to change, but his kindness, as we view it, has limits—limits which are crossed through continuing unbelief. Then we see his Justice take over.
Even though we can’t overlook God’s justice, as believers we can be grateful for his kindness. As Scripture says on more than one occasion, God’s kindness is unfailing. It is unfailing because of what Christmas started. The plan was to make it possible for all sin to be forgiven. Thirty-three years after Christmas, Good Friday and Easter Sunday successfully brought this plan to conclusion. God’s kindness was displayed by God the Father’s willingness to give his one and only Son to die for the sinful world. God’s kindness was displayed by God the Son’s willingness to come down from his throne in heaven to become a man who would face undeserved suffering and death in the place of the sinful world.
2. The Savior’s coming motivates our kindness toward others.
God’s kindness centered in the gift of his Son is clear to us. What isn’t always clear is our response to this kindness with gratitude and with our own kindness. Christmas follows shortly after the holiday of Thanksgiving, and, in a certain way, it builds upon the theme of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day emphasizes thanking God especially for material blessings. The season of Christmas emphasizes thanking God for the spiritual blessings that came through the birth of his Son.
We can all remember special acts of kindness that others performed for us through the years. We are grateful to them and probably remember them with gifts or cards or both at this time of the year. What Christmas is to remind us of before everything else is the supreme act of kindness that God showed through the gift of his Son and his Word which tells us about this gift. During this holiday season remember to show God your gratitude. Worship him and, if possible, give him an extra gift of your time, talents, and treasure. His kindness deserves a special response from us undeserving sinners.
Besides showing gratitude to God, his kindness will lead us to be kind to other people. In thinking of that first Christmas, a lack of kindness comes to mind. The people at Bethlehem weren’t very kind to Mary and Joseph. A woman who was going to give birth at any time couldn’t find a decent place to spend the night.
Martin Luther made the following comment about those who might think poorly of the people of Bethlehem. He said, “There are some of us . . . who think to ourselves, ‘If I had only been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby. I would have washed His diapers. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in the manger!’ We say that because we know how great Christ is, but if we had been there at the time, we would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem.” Luther then followed this by saying, “Why don’t we do it now? We have Christ in our neighbor.”
We need to make sure that we aren’t being just as unkind as the people in Bethlehem were. They, for the most part, were ignorant of the needs of Mary and Joseph. There were probably very few that personally knew that a pregnant woman was in town in need of a place to have her baby. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and not condemn the whole town for being unkind. And let’s turn our attention from Bethlehem on that first Christmas to our own town this Christmas. Are there people on our streets or elsewhere in our area that could benefit from acts of kindness on our part? We don’t need to snoop into other people’s business, but we also shouldn’t close our eyes and ears to needs that are obvious.
Is there an elderly person that could use help with shopping or snow shoveling? Is there a lonely neighbor who would appreciate a friendly hello? Is there a fellow worker who could use a helping hand? Are there classmates who could use someone to speak up for them instead of make fun of them? Opportunities to display kindness are there if we just look and listen.
And let’s not look only outside our homes for opportunities to display kindness. We pass up many opportunities to be kind to others right in our own homes and in our church home. When is the last time that you said or did something kind for your spouse or parent or child or brother or sister? It isn’t really kind to do only your fair share of the work. Kindness means that you will on occasion do more than is required so that others will have less of a burden. Kindness means that family members speak words that build each other up and follow the words with actions that make each other’s lives easier. Christmas is a good time to strengthen bonds of kindness In Christian homes.
Also look inside your church home to display kindness. Kindness comes in the form of a friendly hello. It comes in the form of volunteering some of your time and talents, if you are physically able, so that others don’t have to do more than their fair share of the work. Kindness comes in the form of including the needs of your fellow Christians in your prayers. Kindness comes in the form of showing concern for those who sit next to you in the pew and being willing to help with any problems they might have.
If people were to describe you, would they say that you are kind? The ability to display kindness is one of the most important characteristics that any Christian can have. Our desire is to share the news of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Savior with others. They aren’t going to be eager to hear what we have to say about God’s kindness if his kindness hasn’t rubbed off on us.
May this Christmas season bring out this fruit of faith to its fullest, and may we then remain kind until the day the Savior comes to call us to our heavenly home. All of our obituaries should be able to truthfully say: He (or she) was one of the kindest people that anyone could ever know. May God grant that we be clothed with kindness. Amen.
