Let's Get Active - Kindness

2 Samuel 9:1–5 NKJV

1 Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” He said, “At your service!” 3 Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.” 4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar.

1) A Covenant Relationship With the Father Causes You to Be Kind to the Children

David’s covenant relationship with Jonathan caused him to desire to bless any of his household that might remain.

Mephiosheth was lame because he was dropped as a baby when leaving the palace in haste after the death of Saul.

2 Samuel 4:4 CSB

4 Saul’s son Jonathan had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nanny picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

2) Active Kindness Resides In Every Believer

Romans 8:9–11 NKJV

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

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

3) Active Kindness Springs From These Spirit-given Characteristics: Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness

Kindness

Kindness χρηστότης (chréstotés) conveys the meaning of moral goodness, integrity, usefulness, and benignity. In the King James Version this word is translated “gentleness,” which links it to the meaning of a gentleman or a gentlewoman, someone who behaved properly, with moral integrity and kindness.

Romans 2:4 ESV

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?

That verse reminds us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance not judgement. The Holy Spirit enables us to have moral integrity with kindness and not get trapped in self-righteousness judgement.

Goodness

Goodness ἀγαθωσύνη (agathosune) means uprightness of heart and life, goodness, and kindness. Goodness is seen in our actions. This word relates to not only being good, but also doing good things.

It means ACTIVE Benevolence

2 Thessalonians 1:11 CSB

11 In view of this, we always pray for you that our God will make you worthy of his calling, and by his power fulfill your every desire to do good and your work produced by faith,

The Contemporary English Version of highlights this meaning, “We pray for God's power to help you do all the good things you hope to do and your faith makes you want to do.” Through the Holy Spirit's work in Christians' lives, they are upright in heart, and they do good things.

Gentleness

Gentleness πρᾳΰτης (prautes) was translated “meekness” in the King James Version, but because being meek seemed weak, modern translations of the Bible use gentleness to mean mildness of disposition.

Baker’s Evangelical Bible Dictionary explains, “Meekness does not identify the weak but more precisely the strong who have been placed in a position of weakness where they persevere without giving up. The use of the Greek word when applied to animals makes this clear, for it means ‘tame’ when applied to wild animals. In other words, such animals have not lost their strength but have learned to control the destructive instincts that prevent them from living in harmony with others.”

Jesus describe himself as gentle in

Matthew 11:29 NKJV

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.

2 Samuel 9:5–13 NKJV

5 Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar. 6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?” And he answered, “Here is your servant!” 7 So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.” 8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?” 9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. 10 You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” “As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.” 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.

4) Active Kindness Brings the Broken into the Family

Romans 2:4 CSB

4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

I love the post on Stuff Christian’s Like blog, “Want to change the world in 3.2 seconds?” Jon Acuff pointed out Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who is basically faster than a speeding bullet. The summer when he was getting ready to run a race at the Olympics, Bolt did something unexpected:

Before one of his races, he walked to the start line. He was on the verge of something he’d been preparing for his entire life. In a matter of seconds, a gun would sound that launched him and every one of his competitors around the track in a mad dash toward gold. What did he do? He turned around and fist bumped the lane official. A guy most racers thought was invisible. A guy most television cameras completely skipped over. A guy that is so far into the background of the moment that he’s not even an “extra” in the scene. Usain turned and did something unnecessary and unexpected. He didn’t need to do that. No one would have criticized him for ignoring the race official. That sort of gesture was not necessary or expected, but he made it anyway.

Acuff then went on to point out the sheer joy on the face of the lane official.

Bolt made that guy’s day, just by acknowledging him. Acuff’s point was that we all have the opportunity to do this each and every day with small gestures. When people are changed, the world changes, he said.

The power of basic kindness

Andrew Ponder Williams wrote in ChurchLeadership.com

I did not realize the power of basic kindness until the students I shepherded in a campus ministry at the University of California, Irvine, came up with a distinct outreach plan. Instead of having a table lined up next to all the other church groups at the student involvement fair, we decided to offer random acts of kindness to students roaming the campus between classes.

Thanks to my spouse’s occupation at a grocery store, I was able to buy a whole bunch of chocolate chip cookies for a fair price. We wrapped each cookie in a napkin and included a small card inviting students to our weekly dinner. If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, stand in the middle of a busy college campus corridor with a whole bunch of cookies!

What we learned about kindness

We experienced three types of reactions from the students. One was instant glee that there were cookies and that they were free. The second was to politely decline the cookie initially but return within approximately 30 seconds to inquire if they really were free. The third was to completely refuse the cookie out of disbelief that we were giving away cookies without a gimmick.

These responses taught us something about kindness.

a) Kindness is simple but challenging. b) Kindness is global. c) Kindness is Christian. d) Kindness is contagious.

But some people will never believe that something desirable is free.

The varied reactions to our random acts of kindness created many opportunities for our student leaders to begin conversations with those who received cookies. Our kindness to everyone in our midst frequently made people ask us who we were before we could volunteer the information. We discovered that kindness not only attracted positive attention to our ministry, it also helped us stand out from the crowd within the Christian community on our campus.

Kindness plays out in 3 out of 5 of our core values at Oasis Bethany Church:

Oasis Bethany Core Values: W-worship O-outreach R-RELATIONSHIP L-LOVE D-DISCIPLESHIP

Kindness builds relationships that give us the right to speak healing truth into the lives of the broken.

Kindness is Love in Action. Love is a verb.

Kindness is practical discipleship: being like Christ

Acts 10:38 NKJV

38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Acts 10:38 TPT

38 “Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with great power. He did wonderful things for others and divinely healed all who were under the tyranny of the devil, for God had anointed him.

5) Kindness Produces Loyalty

David had to go into exile when Absalom took over as King. Ziba went to meet him and lied about Mephibosheth, saying he has cozied up to the new King and betrayed David's kindness So David told Ziba he could have everything tha he had given back to Mephibosheth.

2 Samuel 19:24 NKJV

24 Now Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. And he had not cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he returned in peace.

2 Samuel 19:25–30 NKJV

25 So it was, when he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?” 26 And he answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go to the king,’ because your servant is lame. 27 And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is like the angel of God. Therefore do what is good in your eyes. 28 For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your own table. Therefore what right have I still to cry out anymore to the king?” 29 So the king said to him, “Why do you speak anymore of your matters? I have said, ‘You and Ziba divide the land.’ ” 30 Then Mephibosheth said to the king, “Rather, let him take it all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come back in peace to his own house.”

The King has made a covenant:

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 TPT

16 For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 NKJV

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9–10 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”