1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,400 Hello everyone and welcome today to Trinity Sermons. 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:13,400 It is such a pleasure to have you joining us here today where we at Trinity Church, 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:18,160 Streetsville are learning together to love Jesus, live like Jesus and lead others to 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:19,160 Jesus. 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:24,760 Now today we are continuing along our sermon series, The Fruit of the Spirit and today 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:31,240 Rob will be unpacking what kindness is, specifically Christian kindness. 7 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,040 It's going to be a great message and we are so glad that you are with us today. 8 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:40,600 We hope you enjoy and God bless. 9 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:48,200 A reading from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, verses 25 to 37. 10 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,920 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 11 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:59,360 Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 12 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:00,880 What is written in the law? 13 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:02,260 He replied. 14 00:01:02,260 --> 00:01:04,520 How do you read it? 15 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:10,920 He answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with 16 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:18,400 all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. 17 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,600 You have answered correctly, Jesus replied. 18 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,720 Do this and you will live. 19 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:31,360 But he wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? 20 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:38,920 In reply, Jesus said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked 21 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:40,700 by robbers. 22 00:01:40,700 --> 00:01:47,760 They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 23 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:53,880 A priest happened to be going down the same road and when he saw the man, he passed by 24 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,160 on the other side. 25 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:04,040 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 26 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:11,620 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was and when he saw him, he took pity 27 00:02:11,620 --> 00:02:13,180 on him. 28 00:02:13,180 --> 00:02:19,360 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. 29 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:25,400 Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 30 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:31,400 The next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 31 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:37,720 Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense 32 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,520 you may have. 33 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:47,800 Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? 34 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:53,400 The expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him. 35 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,240 Jesus told him, go and do likewise. 36 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,440 The word of the Lord. 37 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:01,440 Good morning, everyone. 38 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,000 It's great to see you this morning. 39 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,860 I want to begin by showing you a little bit of an update. 40 00:03:06,860 --> 00:03:09,680 These are the beans that are currently growing in our garden. 41 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,200 In fact, I uprooted one and brought it in here this morning. 42 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,680 One of the very interesting things about these bean plants is if I were to go out in the 43 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:24,960 morning and take a look at them in the morning, they are facing kind of eastward, the leaves. 44 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,600 And then if I come back again at the end of the day, the leaves have changed their position 45 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:32,280 and now they're facing more westward. 46 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:37,960 And if I were to stay home all day and watch these leaves throughout the whole day, what 47 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:45,160 I would see is what appears to be the leaves kind of following the sun all the way through 48 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,560 the sky throughout the day. 49 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:54,160 It's like an amazing thing when you think about how God created this organism to do 50 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:55,160 that. 51 00:03:55,160 --> 00:04:02,520 It's almost magical, which is probably why they say beans, beans, the magical fruit. 52 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,640 They follow the sun all through its root. 53 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:06,840 Right. 54 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:13,000 But actually, this process that I'm talking about is a process called phototropism. 55 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,240 And from the outside, what it appears to us is it appears that the bean plant is actually 56 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:23,240 bending and facing and following the sun as it goes through the sky. 57 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:24,240 That's what we see. 58 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:25,960 That's what the appearance is. 59 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:27,280 That's what our eyes pick up. 60 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:31,600 But actually, there is something really cool going on inside the plant that makes this 61 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:32,600 happen. 62 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:37,440 And what it is is essentially there are these chemicals called auxins. 63 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:44,240 And auxins, for whatever reason, accumulate on the shaded side of the stem of the plant. 64 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,760 So if the sun's over here, the auxins accumulate on the shaded side. 65 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:53,760 And when auxins accumulate, they create kind of an acidic environment in the plant cells. 66 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,240 And that causes the plant cells to swell. 67 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:05,760 And as those plant cells swell, it actually bends the stem and moves it toward the light. 68 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:06,760 It's fantastic. 69 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:11,560 And so what I'm trying to say is, on the one hand, there is this external thing that we 70 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:12,560 see. 71 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,720 There is this movement, this bending toward the sun. 72 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:21,800 But actually, that only happens because of an internal change that's occurring that we 73 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,920 can't see with our eyes. 74 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,120 So today, we're continuing our teaching series, which we're calling organic. 75 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:34,960 And what we're learning is that, like with plants, as we try to change our life, to make 76 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:39,600 outer changes to our behavior, to our attitudes, to the way we live our lives, we want to make 77 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,040 those changes. 78 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:47,240 In order for that to happen, in order for us to bend our lives more toward God, there 79 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:53,720 also has to be this inner change that is happening inside of us, this inner transformation. 80 00:05:53,720 --> 00:06:01,760 Now, most religions, I have to say, they focus primarily on the outer, on the externals. 81 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,080 Most religions say, bend your life in this way. 82 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:06,160 Live your life in this way. 83 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:12,480 Try to live as a follower of God or a follower of whatever the teacher of that religion is. 84 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,280 That's how most religions operate. 85 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:20,000 But McChristianity says, well, actually, the true way to be blessed and the true way to 86 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:28,800 experience the fullness of life is not simply to try to follow, follow the God. 87 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,160 And Jesus did say, follow me. 88 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,720 He does say that we are to follow him and to follow. 89 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:35,720 But it's more than that. 90 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:37,760 It's not just following. 91 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:39,120 It's not just bending our life. 92 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:45,300 But there actually also has to be a filling, a filling of ourselves with Jesus. 93 00:06:45,300 --> 00:06:47,160 So we don't just follow Jesus. 94 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:48,480 We are filled with Jesus. 95 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:54,360 It's really, really hard to follow Jesus on our own strength, to bend our lives in God's 96 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:55,700 direction on our own strength. 97 00:06:55,700 --> 00:07:00,040 We need to be filled and transformed from the inside. 98 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:05,240 And so when you see changes happening in your life, those changes cannot simply be happening 99 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:07,720 by your own strength. 100 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:09,720 There's going to be an interchange. 101 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,440 God is doing something on the inside. 102 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,140 In fact, that's why Jesus said, it is way better for everyone. 103 00:07:16,140 --> 00:07:22,200 If I go away, if I return to my father in heaven, because that way I can send the spirit 104 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:29,800 and the spirit can actually affect the inner transformation that we can't just get by trying 105 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:31,560 to follow Jesus. 106 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:36,160 Although trying to follow Jesus is still very, very important. 107 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,600 And how are you going to know if that transformation is happening in your life? 108 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:44,000 Well, it is going to show up because your own life is going to start bending in the 109 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:50,040 direction of love and peace and patience and, and, and joy. 110 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,820 And today we come to one, we're going to look at kindness. 111 00:07:53,820 --> 00:07:59,480 One of the ways you know that the fruit of the spirit is growing in your life is that 112 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:04,680 your life is bending more in the direction of kindness. 113 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,480 I want to say that it is very hard to be kind. 114 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:14,800 I look back at when I was a child, especially, and I was not what you would call a kind kid. 115 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,560 I lost my temper a lot. 116 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,000 I fought with my siblings a lot. 117 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,120 I talked back to my parents a whole lot. 118 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,880 And it's not like I didn't know I was supposed to be kind. 119 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,280 I mean, my parents were like, Rob, be a good boy. 120 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:28,360 Rob, be kind. 121 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,880 My teachers, my Sunday school teachers were saying, it's important to be kind. 122 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,560 I knew I was supposed to be kind. 123 00:08:35,560 --> 00:08:39,480 I just couldn't be kind in that way. 124 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:44,200 Instead I, I threw a brick at my sister and shattered a window and I stabbed my brother 125 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:48,960 with a pen and I said all sorts of horrible things that, that I regret today. 126 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:50,440 I have changed. 127 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:52,540 Thanks be to God. 128 00:08:52,540 --> 00:08:56,380 But those were not good moments of why was I like that? 129 00:08:56,380 --> 00:09:00,420 And although, although I'm, you know, I'm not doing that kind of stuff anymore. 130 00:09:00,420 --> 00:09:02,560 Why am I still like that? 131 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:06,160 Why is it still so hard for me to be kind? 132 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,520 You know, I mean, Jesus was right. 133 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,580 Jesus once said, he said, no one's good except God alone. 134 00:09:12,580 --> 00:09:13,580 Look at our world. 135 00:09:13,580 --> 00:09:19,280 There's an appalling lack of kindness everywhere you look in our schools, in our homes, online 136 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:24,560 for sure, in the financial system, the justice system, even in, in politics, we're in the 137 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:27,200 midst of a campaign right now. 138 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,960 Campaigns are not when the kindness of people comes out for all to see. 139 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,040 Even look at the inequality we see in our world between the rich and the poor. 140 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:40,400 And you could say that that is a result of unkindness at its very heart. 141 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,160 Why is it so hard to be kind? 142 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:50,860 Well, whether you've been, you consider yourself kind or not, or whether you've been the recipient 143 00:09:50,860 --> 00:09:55,120 of kindness or when maybe you've been the recipient of great unkindness today, I think 144 00:09:55,120 --> 00:10:00,480 we all need to look at this topic and we have to figure out how can we bend our lives more 145 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:07,240 in the direction of God, more in the direction of the son of God and more in the direction 146 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:08,240 of kindness. 147 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:09,920 And today I want to just talk about three things. 148 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:11,880 I'm going to talk about contagious kindness. 149 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,600 We're going to talk about counterfeit kindness, and then we're going to talk about Christian 150 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:16,600 kindness. 151 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:17,600 Okay. 152 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:21,800 So let's talk about a kind of kindness that is absolutely contagious. 153 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:28,000 And this is really important to understand because the very first Christians were kind, 154 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:29,000 kind people. 155 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:30,840 This is how the world remembers them. 156 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,520 And that kindness was radically contagious. 157 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:37,640 The Greek word for kindness is this word here. 158 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:39,840 It's Christates, right? 159 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,360 But this word does not just mean, Hey, you know, be a good little boy, Rob, or, or mind 160 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:45,360 your P's and Q's. 161 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:46,360 No, no. 162 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,380 Christates has a unique idea attached to it. 163 00:10:49,380 --> 00:10:52,880 And that is Christates isn't just that you love someone. 164 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,300 It's that you put that love into action. 165 00:10:57,300 --> 00:11:02,200 So when I walk by my neighbor and I say, hello neighbor, you might say, Oh, that's kindness. 166 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:03,540 That was a really kind thing to say. 167 00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:08,440 But according to the biblical kind of definition of kindness, that's not true kindness. 168 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,280 True kindness would be if I walking by my neighbor and they're mowing their lawn and 169 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:15,120 I say, hello neighbor, I see you're having trouble with that. 170 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:19,800 And I hop over the fence and I get over there and I, and I help them mowing the lawn. 171 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,440 That is true biblical kindness. 172 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:30,760 It's putting your love into action, which means that kindness always costs you something. 173 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,360 There is an expression out there that says kindness costs nothing. 174 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:34,360 Have you heard that? 175 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:35,480 Oh, kindness costs nothing. 176 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:36,780 That is not true. 177 00:11:36,780 --> 00:11:40,000 Kindness always costs you, costs you your time, costs you your energy. 178 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,720 Kindness costs you money lots of times. 179 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:49,200 And in short, what we mean when we talk about kindness in the scriptures is it's meeting 180 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,520 people's needs through deeds. 181 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:57,000 And believe me, this is what the early Christians were known for. 182 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,840 I'm going to just kind of take a little bit of a sidetrack here, but this is actually 183 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:02,100 really, really interesting. 184 00:12:02,100 --> 00:12:07,400 So in the oldest copies of the Bible, some of the oldest manuscripts, you come across 185 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,600 this word, Christianity. 186 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:18,560 So if a person, if kindness is Christa days, then a Christianity is a person of kindness. 187 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:21,880 And so in some of the earliest manuscripts of the Bible that we have, Christians are 188 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:24,340 described as Christy, anoy. 189 00:12:24,340 --> 00:12:28,400 They're described as people of kindness. 190 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:33,240 The funny part is, is that the word Christy, anoy looks a lot like, linguistically speaking, 191 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:40,140 looks a lot like this other word, Christianity and Christianity means people of Christ. 192 00:12:40,140 --> 00:12:46,800 And as biblical copyists and authors were putting these manuscripts together, very interesting. 193 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:51,080 Because they just got these words mixed up and they were using these words almost as 194 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:53,040 if they were interchangeable. 195 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:54,040 Right? 196 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,640 So the Christy anoy or the Christianity, oh, it doesn't really matter. 197 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,680 People of kindness, the people of Christ, it doesn't really matter. 198 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:01,880 They're all the same thing. 199 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:03,600 Just use this one or use that one. 200 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:05,560 They all are the same thing. 201 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:09,360 I want you to understand how powerful that idea is. 202 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:13,800 How could it be that it didn't matter whether you put the people of Christ or the people 203 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:21,880 of kindness is because the people of Christ were the people of kindness, especially in 204 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,360 the Roman world at that time. 205 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,080 In that time, if you were a woman, if you were a child, if you were a slave, if you 206 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:35,060 were sick, if you were aged, it was a very dangerous time for you. 207 00:13:35,060 --> 00:13:42,320 But the Christian, the people of Christ became known as the Christy anoy, the people of kindness 208 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:47,200 because they elevated the role of women in that culture. 209 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:49,560 They cared for those who were sick. 210 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:54,480 They rescued children that were being neglected and thrown away. 211 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:55,760 That was their thing, right? 212 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:57,360 That was their M.O. 213 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,880 They were the people of kindness. 214 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:01,480 They put love into action. 215 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:03,280 They met needs through deeds. 216 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,080 And that was really the only leverage that they had in that world. 217 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:07,120 They didn't have power. 218 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:08,680 They didn't have influence. 219 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:10,680 They didn't have people in high places. 220 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:15,840 All they had, all they had going for them was kindness. 221 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:23,720 And that kindness was so contagious that within a few generations, the Roman Empire had essentially 222 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,280 become a Christian empire. 223 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,280 And it was all because of kindness. 224 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:34,880 Christ's people were the kindness people. 225 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:43,280 Now, the question that we have to ask, are we still known as the kindness people? 226 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:49,240 Are the Christy anoy still confused with the Christy anoy? 227 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:55,720 Is Christianity still synonymous with kindness or is it synonymous with judgment or arrogance 228 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,720 or hypocrisy or something else like that? 229 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:01,680 That's a really important question for us to ask. 230 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:07,960 As William Barclay wrote, he said, more people have been brought into the church by the kindness 231 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:14,480 of real Christians than by all the theological arguments in the world. 232 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:20,240 That is contagious kindness, love and action, meeting needs through deeds. 233 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:27,040 It's how Christianity started and it's how Christianity still needs to be today. 234 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,640 But there's also this kind of counterfeit kindness out there. 235 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,760 And it looks a lot like kindness, but actually it really isn't. 236 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,560 You might even be sitting here today and you're saying, I think I'm a kind person. 237 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,160 I do good things and I'm generous and whatever. 238 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:46,400 But we just need to be aware that there are some pretty convincing counterfeits out there. 239 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:52,680 One of them is a kindness that is actually motivated by guilt. 240 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:53,680 I'll give you an example. 241 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:58,880 Let's say you're watching TV and that commercial comes on and it's the commercial that maybe 242 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,080 is talking about how there are children in certain parts of the world that are severely 243 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:09,240 malnourished or there has been a crisis, a disaster, and they need some disaster relief. 244 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:13,500 And certainly not all organizations do this, but there are some organizations that really 245 00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:16,160 do prey on your guilt. 246 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:17,280 They prey on your guilt. 247 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:19,040 They say, shame on you. 248 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:20,400 You're living in this nice house. 249 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:21,400 You have all this money. 250 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:23,820 You have all this going for you. 251 00:16:23,820 --> 00:16:25,560 Look at what you have. 252 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,720 Shouldn't you be helping the hungry children of the world? 253 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:29,720 Shame on you. 254 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,880 Shouldn't you be out there giving your money to this disaster relief? 255 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:35,760 And actually it works. 256 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:41,120 We get up off the couch and we go to our phones or go to our computers and we make a donation. 257 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,240 And hey, that donation matters. 258 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:44,840 It makes a difference in kids' lives. 259 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,760 It makes a difference in relief for people who need it most. 260 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:53,840 But what just happened in that moment was not love in action. 261 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,300 It was guilt in action. 262 00:16:56,300 --> 00:16:57,300 And we just need to know. 263 00:16:57,300 --> 00:17:00,920 It's a slight counterfeit to kindness. 264 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:05,360 Another counterfeit to kindness would be a kindness that is actually motivated by the 265 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:07,720 opinions of others. 266 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:12,720 So sometimes we do great acts of kindness, if you will, but it's really just a show, 267 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:13,720 right? 268 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:18,180 We want people to see our kindness so that they'll be impressed with us. 269 00:17:18,180 --> 00:17:22,840 So that when you feed the hungry, you're really just feeding yourself. 270 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:24,580 You're feeding your own reputation. 271 00:17:24,580 --> 00:17:28,280 And when you clothe the naked, you're really just clothing yourself. 272 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,360 You're making yourself look better. 273 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:37,080 Doing things in order to be seen by others isn't really a kindness, even if they're great 274 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:38,080 things. 275 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:39,080 It's a counterfeit to kindness. 276 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:43,280 Here's a couple other counterfeits we have to watch out for. 277 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:48,720 One is when kindness is motivated by fear or duty. 278 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,080 So fear says this. 279 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:54,560 Fear says, I better be kind or God will punish me. 280 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:58,840 Duty says, I better be kind because it's just what we're supposed to do, right? 281 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:03,480 And actually a lot of religions, this is their primary motivation for getting people to be 282 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:05,360 kind, fear or duty. 283 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:07,720 If you aren't kind, God's not going to be kind to you. 284 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,520 If you aren't merciful, God's not going to be merciful to you. 285 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:11,600 God's going to punish you. 286 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:16,400 And so fear can motivate us into acts of so-called kindness. 287 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,840 But again, as you can probably see, it's not a real kindness. 288 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:21,960 It's a counterfeit. 289 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,880 It's more like fire insurance to make sure you've got yourself all covered with God. 290 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:32,440 So when you look at that list, when I look at that list, I certainly see myself up there. 291 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:37,160 I say, yeah, there's lots of times when that has been the reason why I have done an act 292 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:38,160 of kindness. 293 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,200 And maybe you see that up there as well, right? 294 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:44,860 It's not coming from a changed heart. 295 00:18:44,860 --> 00:18:47,660 It's not coming from an overflow of our heart. 296 00:18:47,660 --> 00:18:51,260 It's coming from guilt and the opinions of others and fear and duty. 297 00:18:51,260 --> 00:18:54,400 It's not quite the real thing. 298 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:58,800 So as we end, let's talk about what is the real thing, right? 299 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:00,400 What does Christian kindness look like? 300 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:06,200 Or more importantly, how do we begin to be kind people, truly kind people? 301 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,380 Well, I'm going to give a few different answers to this, but just let's go back to my bean 302 00:19:11,380 --> 00:19:12,720 plant here. 303 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:19,200 Just as my bean plant follows the sun, it points itself toward the sun and actually 304 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:24,600 tries to track where the sun is going and keep its eyes on the sun. 305 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:31,600 One of the ways we develop kindness in our life is simply that we keep our eyes on Jesus. 306 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:32,720 We focus on Jesus. 307 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,120 Jesus is our teacher, right? 308 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:38,440 He is the one who is showing us a way of life. 309 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,400 And our job is to do what he does. 310 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:47,400 I don't know if you guys remember there was this big craze, at least back when I was in 311 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,200 high school, but I think it's making a comeback where people wore these bracelets. 312 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:51,840 Remember these bracelets? 313 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:53,840 They said WWJD. 314 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:55,880 And what does WWJD stand for? 315 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:57,840 What would Jesus do? 316 00:19:57,840 --> 00:19:58,840 Right, right. 317 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:02,560 And everybody walked around and they were wearing these bracelets. 318 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:07,900 And I think the idea was that when you put this bracelet on, as you went around your 319 00:20:07,900 --> 00:20:12,540 day at home or at work, or maybe it was at school, right? 320 00:20:12,540 --> 00:20:17,040 Or even at church, and you found yourself in a sticky situation, in a tricky situation, 321 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:18,640 and you just, what do I do here? 322 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:20,280 You would say, oh, wait a second. 323 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:25,280 You would look down on that bracelet and you would say, what would, what would Jesus do 324 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:26,860 right now? 325 00:20:26,860 --> 00:20:31,240 And so in that way, Jesus became kind of like the sun that you were pointed towards. 326 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:32,240 You were looking towards it. 327 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:34,980 What's my next move right here? 328 00:20:34,980 --> 00:20:40,040 If I were to follow you, Jesus, what would my next action be? 329 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,720 And so like a plant following a sun, you're trying to be like Jesus. 330 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,280 I follow Jesus' teaching. 331 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:47,900 I want to reflect Jesus in my own life. 332 00:20:47,900 --> 00:20:49,880 So what would Jesus do in this situation? 333 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:51,760 What would Jesus do in my marriage? 334 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:55,700 What would Jesus do in my parenting or in my workplace? 335 00:20:55,700 --> 00:21:01,880 Now that kind of motivation to be kind, it's, that's not motivated by fear or guilt or 336 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:03,000 the opinions of others. 337 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:08,480 It's actually just motivated by you are an organism that is following the son of God, 338 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:09,480 right? 339 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:13,140 You are doing what Jesus has called you to do. 340 00:21:13,140 --> 00:21:20,440 But here's the thing, WWJD as a pathway to kindness is actually really quite difficult. 341 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:26,960 It's really, really hard to follow the example of Jesus. 342 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,520 You might think of, you know, think of the, the parable of the good Samaritan. 343 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:34,060 That's, that's, that's still pretty hard to do, right? 344 00:21:34,060 --> 00:21:37,680 How do we exemplify that kind of kindness in our own lives? 345 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:43,800 So that's why I think that as much as Jesus told us, Hey, follow me, go and do what I 346 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:45,000 do, go and do likewise. 347 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,680 There's actually maybe a better bracelet that we should be wearing. 348 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:50,920 And that is, Oh, I didn't change it. 349 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:57,480 I should say W J I D W J I D. Okay. 350 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:05,680 And that's not so much what would Jesus do, but what is Jesus doing? 351 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,660 What Jesus is doing in my life? 352 00:22:08,660 --> 00:22:10,280 What is Jesus doing in my heart? 353 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,720 What is Jesus, the spirit of Jesus doing in my life right now? 354 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:15,720 Right. 355 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,280 I need WWJD. 356 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:22,080 I need to follow Jesus, but I also need to be filled with Jesus so that I can actually 357 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:26,100 have the internal change to bend me in the direction of kindness. 358 00:22:26,100 --> 00:22:29,640 So I can do things that I could never just do on my own strength by trying to follow 359 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,300 Jesus, right? 360 00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:34,360 Kindness isn't just about following, it's about filling. 361 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:40,560 So in this case, it's not just what is Jesus, what would Jesus do, but it's, it's what 362 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:46,400 is the spirit doing in me and Jesus then becomes my strength. 363 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,520 He becomes not just an example to follow. 364 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:52,640 He becomes the very strength that enables me to make the changes that I could never 365 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,140 make on my own. 366 00:22:54,140 --> 00:22:58,260 So when I look at this parable of the good Samaritan, I'm like, I could never do that. 367 00:22:58,260 --> 00:23:02,640 The good news is, is that we're not left to our own devices to figure out how to do that. 368 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:07,720 The spirit comes into us, it's like the oxens and the acids that are at work in us that 369 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:14,100 enable our life to bend in a direction of kindness that we could never do on our own. 370 00:23:14,100 --> 00:23:16,640 So it's not just WWJD. 371 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:20,000 It's got to be W J I D. What is the spirit doing? 372 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,920 What is the, what is Jesus doing in my life right now? 373 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,360 But here's finally, I want, I want to end with this one. 374 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:32,300 Those are both great motivations to figure out how to be kind people, but really the 375 00:23:32,300 --> 00:23:36,800 greatest way, and I think if we made bracelets like this Trinity, we could make a whole packet 376 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:46,960 of money, but, and that's the W H J D bracelet and W H J D would stand for what has Jesus 377 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:48,180 done. 378 00:23:48,180 --> 00:23:54,760 Not what would Jesus do or what Jesus is currently doing in my life, but what has Jesus done? 379 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:59,080 You see those early Christians who were known for that kindness, they had WWJD. 380 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:03,560 They knew what Jesus would do and they tried to follow their teacher as we should, and 381 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,240 they had the spirit living in them. 382 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,640 So they had what Jesus was doing, what the spirit was doing in them. 383 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:15,340 But I have to believe that what fueled the most of all was that they knew what Jesus 384 00:24:15,340 --> 00:24:19,460 had done for them, right? 385 00:24:19,460 --> 00:24:26,600 They had no problem being kind because they had tasted the kindness of God and what God 386 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:27,600 had done for them. 387 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:29,800 Jesus had laid down his life for them. 388 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:35,120 So they had no problem showing mercy because they had experienced the mercy of God in their 389 00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:36,120 life. 390 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:37,120 They knew what that felt like. 391 00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:38,120 God had forgiven them. 392 00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:39,120 They could forgive others. 393 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:40,120 God was good to them. 394 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:45,620 They could be good to others because of what Jesus had done. 395 00:24:45,620 --> 00:24:48,180 So that's why for them, Jesus wasn't just an example to follow. 396 00:24:48,180 --> 00:24:51,720 He wasn't even just the strength to do the following. 397 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,360 He was their savior. 398 00:24:54,360 --> 00:25:00,080 They had been saved by God's kindness and that changed everything. 399 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,240 And so I think that probably when they read the parable of the good Samaritan, you know 400 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:05,240 what they said? 401 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:06,240 They said, you know what? 402 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,360 I was the one in the ditch. 403 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:12,640 I was the one who had been beat up and left to die on the side of the road. 404 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:18,280 And Jesus came along and he came over to my side and he lifted me up and he cared for 405 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:23,200 me and he bandaged my wounds and he forgave me and he washed me and he anointed me with 406 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:30,480 oil and at great expense to himself, he took care of me and he saved me. 407 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:35,700 And that's why early Christians went out into the world as the Christates, as the people 408 00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:43,480 of kindness, because they had tasted and experienced and felt what it was like to know the kindness 409 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:44,600 of God. 410 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:50,760 So my question is, have you, do you know WHJD? 411 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:56,400 Do you know what Jesus has done for you? 412 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:03,800 Amy Carmichael says, if you can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind 413 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:10,640 thought without grief and shame, then you know nothing of God's love. 414 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:17,500 We may try to bend ourselves in the direction of kindness, but God in Jesus Christ comes 415 00:26:17,500 --> 00:26:22,280 along and loves us into the direction of kindness. 416 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,120 So kindness costs nothing. 417 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:26,120 No way. 418 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:30,360 Kindness costs God everything, costs Jesus everything. 419 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:33,540 And if you can see the kindness of God and you can look at the cross and you can see 420 00:26:33,540 --> 00:26:39,320 how he loved you and forgave you, you will not just be given an example of kindness. 421 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:44,400 You'll not just be given the strength to be kind, but you will actually experience his 422 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:53,600 kindness toward you, and that is the real way we change and grow the fruit of the Spirit. 423 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,600 Thanks be to God. 424 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:00,720 Thank you so much for joining us today here at Trinity Church, Streetsville, and we hope 425 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:05,120 that you found this message something that you can take with you all week long. 426 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:08,920 Please join us again next week for yet another sermon. 427 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:13,960 Today's sermon was taken from the June 9th, 2024 service at Trinity Church, Streetsville, 428 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:15,240 Mississauga, Ontario.