Fruit of the Spirit – Kindness

Intro
We are studying the Fruits of the Spirit and today we will be looking deeper into Kindness. We find all the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians.
• Galatians 5:21-23 show us the Gifts of the Spirit.
• 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

We have pointed out that the fruits come in the order they were presented. For example, you cannot have true joy until you have real love and the gifts flow from there. We encourage you to listen to our episodes on love, joy, peace and patience if you have not already heard them. You can hear these messages and more on our website, themessengersradio.com or the Father’s House radio at 1am or 1pm CST. We would love to have your feedback on any of our messages.
Now, we want to discover more about Kindness. We think we are all familiar with kindness, and for the most part we are. Unlike the fruits we have already studied, love, joy, peace and patience, kindness is not a way of being like the others. Kindness is something you do and acts that we show. Granted, we should show kindness without thinking about it first, but the others were part of our being, whereas kindness is an act of worship we show to others to bless the Lord.
Kindness is what we need to show others as a representation of Christ. The Bible reminds us of how God expresses His wonderful kindness to us.

• Ephesians 2:6-8New International Version (NIV)
• 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

God showed us His good and perfect kindness by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ.

• Ephesians 1:7
• He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

• 1 Peter 5:10
• In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
• Ephesians 2:7
• So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

We are to be representatives of the kindness God has shown to us. We need to take those examples and run with them. We are to not only love one another, but also to show others how much God loves them by His great kindness.

• Colossians 3:12
• Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

We are not told to do this as in works, but rather as something we freely give. Paul spoke to the Romans expressing this very truth.
• Romans 11:6
• And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.

It’s important to remember that you cannot get to Heaven by the works you do. You can only be ushered into a relationship with God when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you do not have a relationship with Jesus, stay with us and we will give you that chance at the end of this episode, as we do every episode.

Acts of kindness must come from our hearts. If we do something nice for someone to get something in return, we are not truly acting out a heart of kindness. It is true that when we give kindness, God rewards that. Paul explains this very idea to the Philippians.

• Philippians 4:17
• I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.

We may not receive a physical reward for acts of kindness, but we will definitely receive an eternal one. God does bless us in this world also for our kindness to one another. Sowing and reaping is spread throughout the Bible. God promises to bless us when we give to others. Eternal or in this present age, our acts of kindness will be recognized.

God loves a cheerful giver. Like we mentioned, our act of kindness is a means of worship. We have all heard the admonishment to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. When we act in true kindness from the heart, we bless God by showing acts of kindness to others. We take His kindness to us and freely give it to others.

We each have special gifts and we see in Romans 12:8 that we are to use our gifts freely.

• Romans 12:8
• If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
The King James Version of the Bible is not always easy for us to understand today in our culture, but we see clearly that God has planted all of these things in our hearts.

• 2 Peter 1:3-8King James Version (KJV)
• 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
• 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
• 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
• 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
• 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
• 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, kindness is something we do for others unto God. People who are not believers can certainly show acts of kindness, but true kindness comes out of a repentant heart living for God. And, we found that we are rewarded for our kindness. That should not be the reason we show kindness, and if it is, we will not even receive the reward.

Kindness is our way of giving to others the thing that God has given to us. It comes easily when we are acting in the other Fruits of the Spirit before it: love, joy, peace and patience. Without those, kindness would not come as easily.

We love you and hope to have you join us next time when we find out more about goodness.

Prayer of salvation.