Be Kind, Be Good

Text

Galatians 5:22–23 NASB95

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

A reminder that we are under the theme: “Getting Real, About our virtues and vices”

Being honest about where you are and where you need to be sometimes means admitting there is a big gap between those two

But we are grateful to a God of grace, the God of another chance who is still working on us as we aim for excellence.

As we continue to contemplate the call and the challenge of this corrective encouragement, Paul wants his audience to concentrate on a character that is Christlike and that is formed by the Spirit.

Galatians 4:19 “19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—”

He calls these, FRUIT

It is the evidence of the Spirit’s influence

It is the result of His reign

It is the manifestation of His rumination

It is when your walk starts to match your mind

FRUIT!

As our youth, parents and teachers prepare for the beginning of a new school year, we are reminded to be people of impact.

People that can represent the king and His kingdom in their educational spaces. There are colleagues, classmates, and other parents that will be thrust into your circle, that will be in need of the saving messgae of Jesus.

They look to you, not just you, but Christ in you. A you not led by the flesh but one led by the Spirit.

A “you” that is led by the Spirit, will have kindness and goodness!

Right now the devil might be tempting or the flesh might be telling, “this is baby food” - surely this is not going to be a whole ‘Sunday morning sermon’ on Kindness and goodness?

Sometimes we crave the ‘majors’ but are failing miserably in the ‘minors’

This is where our testimony fails. We become experts at theory but ametuers at praxis. We teach this to the children. . .maybe it’s time we embrace the message.

“That’s just me” - Then change - “let Jesus be formed in you”

#1 Kindness

The word kindness (chrestotes) is a word that carries with it the following ideas:

Excellence, serviceable, useful, adapted to its purpose, good of its kind (it’s a word whose meaning is attached to the context in which it is used)

Kindness expresses a relation in which the person or thing designated, stands to others or to its purpose - It is relational - Here are the implications:

Kindness is not passive; I can assess the quality or existence of kindness in hoow its applied to people or things.

Kindness is not just mental, it fullfills a purpose, it has an aim. The end goal of kindness is not just an attitude but activity

Here are five reasons KINDNESS is important:

It confronts the fleshly behaviour of the Galatians (and your own) - it stands in contradiction to what kindness is

C.f. Galatians 5:15 “15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” - The at each other and after each other

Paul (to the Corinthians) says, “love is kind” - it looks away from itself to the needs and burdens of others. It’s not selfish or self-centered. It wants to benefit other people. - if the Galatians could pause for little while and just think about one another -

It was a catalyst for our salvation

Titus 3:4–5 “4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”

What makes this impactful is to see who God showed kindness to - Titus 3:3 “3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”

It was the clear choice of God

Romans 11:22 “22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.”

Is kindness your clear choice? - What about the people you will encounter in school, teachers, students, workers in schools, other parents, “miserable parents” etc.

It confirms our devotion to Jesus

The world van see Jesus through your kindness

Galatians 4:19 “19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—”

John 13:35 “35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”” [love is kind]

It comes at the end in FULLNESS

Ephesians 2:7 “7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

The Exhortation: Be Kind!

Allow the Spirit to cut away any selfish motive, every carnal desire for elevation, any vain glory, any attempts to manipulate and conive your way around anyone for personal unnanounced gain - and be kind!!!

#2 Goodness

This is a fun one because no one wants to be good, since the bible says:

Romans 3:12 “12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”” (Ps 14:1-3)

Goodness, similiarly to kindness, mirrors God - It “conveys the idea of benevolence and generousity toward someone else” (it too, points away from itself)

God is the only perfectly inherent good being - no one is good lke God

But God wants us to mirror that goodness - that’s why it is a fruit, this isn’t just an attitude/behavioural adjustment, it’s a renewing of the mind - because goodness doesn’t come to us naturally

When a Jew wanted to express the goodness of God at its finest they highlighted the salvation of God

Exodus 18:9 “9 Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians.”

Numbers 10:29 “29 Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.””

The Hebrew writer does something similar by attaching the “good” to the work of Jesus c.f. Hebrews 9:11–12 “11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

The good thng he refers to is the Salvation of God - goodness points us to the cross

Now God is saying since you have benefited greatly from my goodness I not only want you to aapreciate it, I want you to act on it.

So there’s nothing wrong in wanting to be good, but I need to understand what that means

On a surface, it is to produce things in your life that are lovely and beneficial to others

On a deeper level it is to act consistently with the will of God that He is working out in your life.

This is why Paul says,

Philippians 1:6 “6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” - You can’t develop a goodness that’s good enough to save you - You need God for that! That’s why salvation becomes so important, that’s why the SPirit becomes so important

It’s why the Hebrew writer says,

Hebrews 13:20–21 “20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Goodness is something God defines, why? God knows what pleases Him. I can’t make stuff up and then say it pleases God

What’s the issue in Galatians? A perverted gospel, that cannot produce in you what pleases God.

In Paul mentioning goodness as a fruit, it’s not just to tell them act nicely toward each other, but an encouragement to get in the will of God

Galatians 6:10 “10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”

We can’t manufacture these things ourselves

The Exhortation: Be Good! Do Good!

Allow the thought of God saving a wretch like me to move me to be in His will. And allow it to move me to help others live in that will by helping them stay in that will too, and treating them in a way that is consistent with God’s will.