Beloved
in Christ, if you count Ash Wednesday and the Holy Week services, there are
only eight Lenten midweek services, but there is a nine-fold fruit of the
Spirit. Thus we have to double up today on two facets of the fruit of the
Spirit: kindness and goodness. This is appropriate, since the two are used
sometimes as synonyms for one another in the Scriptures, and they belong together.
Let
me spend some time just introducing the concepts. “Kindness” and “goodness” are
related to the word “patience” that preceded it in the list. The fruit of the
Spirit is described by nine words, and you can group the words into three groups
of three. Thus, the first three words—love, joy, peace—are primarily internal
attitudes, while the next three—patience, kindness, goodness—relate to how we
deal with external problems. Patience, which is often translated quite
accurately as “longsuffering,” emphasizes more the passive aspect of how
Christians handle problems. We put up with them and endure them rather than go
flying off the handle. But the words “kindness” and “goodness” emphasize a more
active approach to handling problems. We don’t just grin and bear it, but we
actively seek to change the situation.
You
see, sometimes we are called to handle problems simply by suffering through
them. We have little or no ability to change things the situation. Instead we
just have to endure those particular problems. That is where patience kicks in.
We are longsuffering, that is willing to suffer for a long time without being
bitter or complaining. But often we do have the opportunity to do something
more than just passively suffer. Sometimes we have the chance to turn the
hearts of those who are ill disposed toward us. And that is where kindness and
goodness enter into the picture.
Kindness
and goodness involve treating other people well who have no such intention
toward us. We help those who hurt us. We speak kindly when we people speak ill
of us. We render good to others who render evil to us. But make no mistake: we
are no doormats in the process. We are not just rolling with the punches. No,
we are actively trying to bring about a real change through our kindness and
goodness. You see, the last thing that we want is for other people to stay as
they are. If we wanted that, we would just avoid them when they do something
evil toward us. But by exuding kindness and goodness, we show that we want to
change them into something better. We refuse to let them remain our enemy, but
seek to be their friend.
That
is what God does with us, after all. We had vowed to be His enemies, but He
pledged to be our friend. In our first reading, the one from Isaiah, we see how
this works out in practice.
First
of all, we see that kindness and goodness do not rule out a reckoning with sin.
God hid His face from the Israelites. He abandoned them for a while. To go back
further in history, He sent the flood in the days of Noah. We should never
think that God’s kindness means that there never is a reckoning with sin or
that He has no real rules or that He doesn’t take them seriously. Indeed, the
unkindest thing God could ever have done would be to ignore exactly how serious
a problem sin is. But God is kindly enough disposed toward us that He is
willing to say exactly how sin affects us: it permeates every action of ours,
separates us from Him, and brings eternal damnation. It is no small problem and
God is too kind to pretend that is. A physician who does not dare tell a
patient about the cancer that rages in his body is no kind physician. He is
cruel, for he prefers to see his patient die a horrible death rather than
undergo a painful treatment that would hold the cancer at bay. A God who would
never deal with our sin would be a very cruel God indeed. Thank God that He is
willing to speak about such things with us!
But
God is about more than the diagnosis. He is also about the cure. That is why He
said, “For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I
will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid My face from you, but
with everlasting love I will have compassion on you.” The anger is
temporary. The love and compassion are eternal. That is why after the flood of
forty days He promised that He would never send such a flood again, not even
once in all the centuries that have followed since. He promised that His love
for us would last longer than the mountains.
We
do well to consider the flood as an example of God’s kindness and goodness. He
delayed sending it. He had Noah proclaim a warning for a hundred and twenty
years. He did not ignore sin, but neither did He want to wipe out sinners without
fair warning. But finally He had to do something. The world was not getting any
better, but people were getting worse. But ever since that time God has shown
His great love. Even though Noah and his family would soon show their sinful
ways again, the Lord had pity on them and promised never to send a flood like
that again. There might be local floods, but never a flood that would cover the
whole world.
Jeremiah
sings a similar tune. God had scattered the Israelites in order to get them to
revere Him. But He promised that He would pity them. He would gather them, much
like a shepherd who gathers a scattered flock. It wasn’t that Israel had
finally gotten its act together and started behaving responsibly. No, as
Jeremiah said, “The Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from
hands too strong for him.” And that can be equally said of us. It isn’t
that we finally got our act together and so God relented from His just anger.
No, He was the one who ransomed us and redeemed us. It was Christ who went to
the cross for us and saved us. We didn’t do anything, other than to enjoy it.
But we are meant to enjoy the kindness and goodness of the Lord.
Look
at the rest of the passage in Jeremiah. Notice how He describes what happens
when God shows His kindness. The people of Zion sing and delight in God’s
goodness. They enjoy the rich bountiful goods that He provides, such as grain,
wine, and oil. For them life is like a well-watered garden. They aren’t all
shriveled up and dried out anymore. They flourish. They dance because life is a
dance. They feast because life is a feast. In short, they are satisfied with
all of God’s goodness.
I’d
like you to have that outlook on life. God has done so many amazing things out
of His kind and good heart. He has made you and given you countless things to
keep yourself alive and to enjoy life. He has redeemed you from your sin and
from the death and hell that should certainly have followed your sin. He has
poured out His Holy Spirit in you and made you a new creation. He has born with
you patiently, but more than that, He has actively treated you with kindness
and goodness—all so that you could be someone different from the person who you
had been.
You
are now called to live a similar life, showing the Holy Spirit’s power and work
in you. You are called to be kind and good, even as God is. May the Holy Spirit
enable you to do so! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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