Today I'm going to be back in our series of studies that I've titled, Love as God Loves. And it's been a while, but if you remember, the focus of this series is our calling as God's chosen people to emulate God's love. That is to love as God loves, to love one another as God loves each one of us. To express to one another the special, the supernatural, God-given love that originates exclusively and only from God himself. It's the love that we've come to know as agape. And agape is not love that's based on the world's criteria for love, such as attractiveness or common interests, et cetera. It's not rooted in emotion or sentimentality. Agape is love that is entirely concerned for the other person, not yourself. Agape is intentionally, it's by design, by definition, sacrificial. It represents and it demonstrates the Lord's love for us. It's the love that God is, it's the love that God shows, and it's the love that God gives to each and every single one of His children. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses four through eight, the apostle Paul describes or lists out 16 specific attributes of agape love in respect to life application. He says, love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Praise God and Amen. So what we're doing is we're systematically working our way through the Apostles list. We're studying each of these attributes of agape love by looking at what the Bible says about it, by citing a few biblical examples of it, and then considering how we can apply it to and in our own lives. This morning, we'll be looking at and studying the second of these 16 attributes. Love is kind. And please remember, the purpose of these studies, it's not just to gain greater intellectual understanding of love, although we will do that, but this is all about changing our day-to-day life habits and helping us to grow in loving one another as God loves us. Now the word that Paul uses in this verse or this section of this verse, the word we've translated to kind, it literally means to be merciful towards, to show oneself mild in opposition. to be useful or willing to serve, to provide something beneficial to someone else. So within the context of our study of agape love, Paul is describing acts of kindness that are done for the benefit of the other person, not yourself. He's instructing us to be friendly, to be helpful, to be considerate to others, even if and when they are not that way to us. Now, clearly, I'm sure I don't have to explain this, but there's many circumstances of our lives in which kindness is the appropriate response, but to do so is very challenging. Are you ever met with those types of situations where it's challenging to be kind? Things like someone steals a parking spot that you've been patiently waiting for in an overcrowded parking lot. Or how about just an inconsiderate driver on the road? an incessant talker in a movie theater, a rude, obnoxious, or overly assertive, even aggressive solicitor at your front door, a discourteous and unhelpful salesperson in a store. And this is just to name a few. These are a small sampling of the types of situations in which our natural tendency is to respond in unkindness, even if and when the other person is a fellow believer, right? Okay, so let's take a look at what the Bible says about kindness. This is by no means is this an exhaustive survey. I've selected three passages to look at. First one is Ephesians chapter 4, verses 31 and 32. It says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. So here the Apostle Paul begins this verse by giving us a list, but it's a list of expressions we are all too often tempted to hold toward one another. If not outwardly, then certainly inwardly. Things like bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander. This is not an exhaustive list. It's a representative list. And all of these things, these are the very opposite of kindness. can be really helpful to reflect on this verse so that when we are tempted by these feelings, we know that the correct response is kindness. We know that what's coming natural to us is wrong. The response to which God has called us and that which we have, that he has equipped us to express, kindness, an expression of agape love. Then in this verse, Paul gives us an exhortation. Now, we all know so very well from our home church studies that an exhortation is a call to change. It's a call to change something. It's someone imploring us, urging us, appealing to us. to change. The clear implication here is that these unhealthy expressions are all too common in our lives, to one degree or another. Like I said, it might be outwardly, but even if it's not outwardly, it can be inwardly. And the implication is that we need to pay attention to this, and we need to change. And Paul wrote this exhortation using the present imperative Greek verb. The word has been translated in our Bibles to the word be. And this means two important things to which we need to pay really close attention. First, we all know very well the exhortation is God's command to us. It's not a suggestion, but a command. And the second is that this principle is to be applied. He's commanding us to apply it in every situation in our lives. There really are no caveats here. There's no situation in which you might find yourself where unkindness is justified. No situation. And then one final point for us to take to heart is expressed in verse 32 through the word that Paul chose here, the word as. He uses this conjunction to teach us something, to teach us and remind us that being kind to one another is an extension or really an expression of Christ's forgiveness of our sins. What we learn about kindness as an expression of agape love from these verses is that it doesn't come naturally to us. I mean, it certainly doesn't for you. I mean, for me, I'm thinking that it also doesn't for you. It takes paying attention to our natural tendencies in order to change them. And that showing kindness to one another is a way of reflecting God's love for each and every one of us. The next passage is Colossians 3.12. Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Now in this verse, Paul reminds us that we were chosen by God. And remember what that means, that we were chosen before we loved God and had hearts to serve and honor Him. So God chose us, but it wasn't a matter of Him looking out among all of the people in existence and finding the cream of the crop. Well, this is a good one and that's a good one. No, we were chosen before we had hearts to love Him, before we loved Him. When he chose us, we were, and I want to use a word here that I think in our society now, this is grossly over and misused. The overuse and misuse of it has watered down its meaning. When He chose us, we were vile creatures. We really were vile. We served only ourselves. We sinned against God in every deed, in every word, in every thought that we had. Our contempt against God, now think about this, it was, our contempt against God was infinitely worse than any level of contempt any person ever has or even could have against you. Think about that for a while, meditate on that. Yet, He loved us. And He didn't just express His love to us, He didn't just show us His love, but He lavished upon us holy and divine kindness, holy and divine love that we did not deserve. What this tells us is that in turn, what we need to do, what we should do, is to show kindness to others, to one another. Every act of kindness that we show to one another is an expression of gratitude to God for what He has done for us. I mean, if you ever think about that, all that God has done for us, and how can we possibly thank Him? How can we possibly thank God, the Creator of all that exists? Well, here is one very significant way. We can be kind to one another. When we're doing that, we are expressing gratitude to God. In fact, I'm going to double down on this. When we fail to show kindness to one another. When we fail, we are actually expressing ingratitude to God for the kindness that He has shown us. See, it's not just that we're ignoring something. It's not that we're just walking away from an opportunity to show gratitude to God. But what we're doing is we are actually expressing something, and we're expressing ingratitude to God. We're saying, I'm not grateful for what you've done for me. Think about that. So this is one of those verses that really crystallizes the importance the Lord puts on us expressing, really lavishing one another with kindness. It is super important to Him. Okay, my third passage is Psalm 145, verse seven, excuse me, verse 17. says the Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. Now in this verse the psalmist reminds us of the Lord's kindness. The fact that the Lord doesn't have sporadic or intermittent expressions of kindness. And that his kindness, it's not false, it's not forced, it's not any type of facade. You know what I mean by that? Do you know the feeling of Like, I know what I need to do, but I don't really feel like it, but I'll just do it anyway. I'll just put on a good face. I'll just smile and say a nice word, even though I'm not feeling it inside. That's not what God does at all. Not at all. The Lord doesn't just act kindly. He doesn't just behave kindly. The Lord is Kind meaning that it's an element of his very nature of his very essence and He is kind as this verse points out in all of his acts 100% every single thing that the Lord does is kind So by this we are confident at all times and in all ways that when we approach him we are beloved children approaching an ever-loving and ever-kind father. I mean, I remember as a kid, there were times when I was afraid to approach my father. That's just never the case with God. Now, sometimes when I approach God, sometimes His response, it might be discipline, but it's always kind. It's always filled with love. That's always His heart. This is also our prime motivation to return His kindness to Him. How do we do that? How do we return God's kindness to us? How do we return that to Him? By being kind to one another. By loving one another as God loves us. Now, I want to go over a couple of examples, and undoubtedly the Lord is our greatest example to follow in expressing this attribute of agape love to one another, this attribute of kindness. But I want to look at some examples of Just regular people in the Bible. Regular folks who also serve as excellent examples of expressing kindness to one another. And they do so in the midst of sometimes trials, sometimes difficulties, sometimes adversity. There are many such people throughout God's Word. I've chosen three. Again, certainly not an exhaustive list. And might not even be the best examples, but these are the ones that I came up with. The first one is a person by the name of Dorcas. This is from Acts chapter 9, and I want to read verse 36 and then verse 39. It says, Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which translated means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. Then verse 39, so Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. She had died. Dorcas had died. Now, it's interesting to me. I love these types of stories. Dorcas has only mentioned this one time in the Bible. In all of Scripture, she's mentioned only one time right here in these two verses. But it made me think of something that Martin Luther said one time. He said, the Holy Spirit has a way of his own to say much in very few words. And in these few words that were given about Dorcas, we learn so much of her kindness, about her kindness. It says that she was full of good works and acts of charity. The literal meaning of this word that we've translated to full, literally it means filled to overflowing. It's like putting a bucket underneath a spigot and turning it on and just leaving it. What happens? The bucket fills up and then it just begins to overflow. That's the sense, or that's the meaning of this word. It means abounding in, or wholly, completely occupied with. or being completely under the influence or affected by something. So this tells us that her acts of kindness, they weren't sporadic or sparse, but that her heart was so filled with the desire to express kindness to others that she did so on a regular basis, on an ongoing basis, or in an unceasing manner. Then if we look at the phrase here, good works, it's the same phrase that the Apostle Paul used in Ephesians 2.10 to describe the specific works, or what we term as the assignments that the Lord prepared for us before creation. What this tells us, the reason I'm pointing this out, is it tells us that Dorcas' acts of kindness, they were an overflow of the love which God had filled her with. It was God's own love that she was expressing to others, overflowing out of her. It's the very essence of agape love. And then we're told that these were acts of charity. This tells us that her acts of kindness, they weren't self-serving in any way. Those to whom Dorcas acted kindly, they had no means of paying her back in any way. We learn this in verse 39, because it was the widows who were weeping over her death and displaying the fruit of her labor and kindness towards them, the things that she had made and given to them. The significance here is that in these days, widows were women who had no means to provide for themselves and no one to provide for them. So they had nothing. They had nothing. And she was kind to them. She lavished kindness on them. She made and gave to them these beautiful garments. So Dorcas, she was a disciple who knew and loved the Lord with all of her heart, all of her soul, all of her mind, and all of her strength. This is what her life was about, and this is what she was remembered and recorded in God's word about. She understood the true meaning of agape and was fully committed to it. Her kindness was how she was characterized. Wouldn't you love to be characterized that way when you pass on? Dorcas was a woman who loved as God loves. My second example is King David and how he behaved towards or treated Mephibosheth. Now, the kindness that David showed toward Mephibosheth It's recorded, it's interspersed throughout 2 Samuel, beginning in verse 4 and going all the way through chapter, I'm sorry, chapter 4, going all the way through chapter 21. Now, for the sake of time, of course, I'm not going to read that entire passage, but I encourage you to. It would really be worth your while to read through all of those chapters, to learn, to read, to see the full story. Briefly though, just to make my point here, Mephibosheth was King Saul's grandson. That is, he was the son of Jonathan, who was Saul's son. And he was severely injured at age five, and it left him crippled for the rest of his life. after the death of King Saul, David sought to find any remaining descendants of Saul, and this is when he learned of Mephibosheth. So David sent for him, and this is what he said to him. He said, do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan. And I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your father, and you shall eat at my table always. That's from 2 Samuel 9, verse seven. Understand that eating at the king's table meant not only enjoying the best food in the kingdom, it wasn't just that he invited him over for dinner once in a while, but it meant coming under royal protection. Royal protection as a friend of the king, as a member of the king's family. And having his grandfather's land restored to him, It was really an unheard of act of kindness in those days. Remember, I'm leaving out lots of details, right? Read those chapters. It's rich. But if you remember, Saul had attempted to keep David from his rightful place on the throne by seeking to kill him, right? Well, in those days, the way things worked is that the reigning king would normally seek to execute all of the previous king's line, all of his descendants, and that was to prevent any possible future even challenge to the throne. So this act of kindness that David showed to Mephibosheth, it was done with potential risk to David himself. It also came at great expense to David, since all of Saul's land and possessions, rightfully now, belonged to David. And then another important element of David's kindness for us to consider is that there was absolutely no benefit to David whatsoever. Mephibosheth had no empirical value to contribute to David or to the kingdom. He was a cripple. In that sense, he was valueless. And because of his physical handicap, he wasn't even able to care for himself without assistance. Yet David was kind to him. David lavished kindness to him. See, David loved the Lord above all. If you've ever studied his life, you know that he wasn't perfect, but he loved the Lord above all. And we're reminded in Acts chapter 13, verse 22, how the Lord viewed David. It says, And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified, the Lord testified and said, I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. So in his, in David's expressions of kindness to Mephibosheth, he was expressing God's heart and he was doing God's will. So David, like Dorcas, loved as God loves. My last example is, this is an easy target, the Good Samaritan from Luke chapter 10, verses 30 through 35. says a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. So this passage begins with two examples of unkindness, right? Both the priest and the Levite, they were fellow Jews. They each in turn, they crossed over to the other side of the road, and they completely ignored not only a fellow human being, but a fellow Jew who was hurt, who was vulnerable, and who was in need. They just ignored him, crossed the road, and just kept on going. So I mean, we can speculate on reasons why neither of them stopped to help. Nothing is given, but maybe they were in a hurry to get somewhere. Maybe they were afraid of coming under attack themselves. Regardless of the specific reason here, though, they each saw the man in need as a nuisance, not worthy of their time or their effort. Whatever the specific reason was, this is what was going on. It's like, I don't want to bother myself with helping this person in need. They undoubtedly viewed helping this man, who was in need, as a cost to themselves. It would cost them something. And it was a cost that didn't show enough potential return for them to bother helping him. So what did they do? They just kept going. What they failed to see in the circumstance was the opportunities that the Lord was presenting to them. They both had an opportunity, they each had an opportunity to become a better man. What we understand is sanctification. They both had an opportunity to be good stewards of the resources and the finances with which the Lord had provided them to actually use their resources and their finances for their God-designed purposes. Do you ever think about that? We all should. All of the resources that the Lord has given us, the health that we have, the money that we have, all of our resources, why do we have all that? Why has the Lord blessed us with that? Just because He likes us and He wants us to have a nice, cushy life? No, He's given it to us for His purposes, to be used for His purposes. And then He gives us a life filled with opportunity. Both of these guys, they also had an opportunity to be good influences, good examples in the world, in an evil world. But instead, what did they choose to do? They chose to be an evil influence. They chose to demonstrate, not good, not God's love, but they chose to demonstrate evil. Unfortunately, the world had a greater influence on these men than these men had on the world. And what are we called to be? An influence to the world, right? Well, we should always remember, as the Samaritan clearly did, I want to read Matthew 5, verses 13 through 16. It says, you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. So in this example of kindness now, we see the Samaritan showing kindness to someone he didn't know. He didn't even know this person. He had no connection to this person. And in doing so, he risked, literally risked his own life to help him. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho, it was deserted and it was a dangerous road. This guy had been attacked by robbers, and those robbers could have very easily been lying in wait for someone to stop and help this guy. It was a common practice. Okay, because there are good people out there. So they would rob and hurt a person and then hide and wait for somebody to stop and help him. And then they would jump on that person. So this guy was this Samaritan. He's taking his life in his own hands. And he used his own resources and spent his own money to care for someone he didn't even know. had no connection with, and certainly couldn't benefit him in any way. Two denarii was roughly two days wages for a laborer. Today, full-time worker making minimum wage earns approximately, I came up with $128 a day. That's for an eight-hour day. Maybe more if he works a longer day. But let's just use that number, $128. So in today's economy, it would be the equivalent of someone spending Somewhere in the neighborhood of like 250 to 300 dollars to help someone who is in need, but he doesn't know There's no no return benefit and remember that he told the innkeeper if you spend more than that I will I'll reimburse you when I when I come back by This man never received anything in return for his kindness no reward no public honor I mean He was recorded in scripture, right? But he didn't know that. He didn't do it because someone told him, hey, you know, if you do this, you'll be recorded in scripture and they'll be talking about you for thousands of years. No, he had no idea. The kindness that the Good Samaritan shows this Jew in need exemplifies agape love, because his actions show concern that was entirely others-centered. It was sacrificial in nature, and there was no benefit for him, for the Samaritan. All of this, we need to look at it remembering that the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies. So remember the priest and the Levite who ignored him, and I pointed out, they ignored not just a fellow human being, but a fellow Jew. Right? That would be the equivalent of one another. A fellow Christian. Someone in your own church, maybe. Right? So now, we're really seeing the polar opposite here, because this Samaritan, he was not just helping a fellow human being, he was helping an enemy. An enemy. Now, we don't know the relationship this Samaritan had with the Lord. But one of the key manifestations of what we know as agape love is the kindness that he showed toward a stranger. And it was a kindness in the face of danger to himself, at a cost to himself, and for no benefit whatsoever to himself. So, clearly, we can say that the Good Samaritan, like Dorcas and like David, loved as God loves. Okay. Now let's remember, we're not just trying to gain greater intellectual understanding of love. But the whole purpose in this story, in this study, and in this series, is that we want to change our day-to-day life habits. We want to grow in loving one another as God loves us. How can we apply these principles on a daily basis in our lives? Well, I've come up with three things that we can think about to do that. The first is our perspective. As part of your daily prayer and your devotion time with the Lord, remember and appreciate how kind the Lord has been and always is to you. Meditate on Colossians 3.12. Meditate on the fact that He chose you. Think about His kindness toward you in saving you when you lived in utter contempt toward Him. Meditate on that daily. Think about His continued kindness toward you now even in the midst of daily sinning against Him. We're all believers here. We're all born again. But we still sin every day, don't we? And what is His response? How does He treat us? He responds to us in loving kindness. So, when those around you are behaving the way you think they shouldn't behave, when they're behaving in ways that you don't like and you don't want them to, even if they are intentionally being unkind or inconsiderate of you, even when they think of themselves first, or maybe only think of themselves, don't return in consideration or even unkindness with unkindness. Instead, be kind to them, love them, show them, demonstrate to them the Lord's love. Recognize in all your interactions. Recognize them as opportunities to express kindness, to show others what God's love looks like and what it feels like. Remember, what you've done to the Lord is literally infinitely worse than anything anyone else could possibly do to you. So take that opportunity to show them, demonstrate to them God's love. To remind them by your actions of how much God loves them. Recognize all of your interactions as opportunities to demonstrate to God how grateful you are, how grateful you are for the kindness that He has shown you, as an opportunity to thank Him for all of your blessings, all of your worldly blessings, and especially to thank Him for your very salvation. Think about it like this. I know this is an oversimplification, but consider how Jesus would respond in all of your interactions if he were in your shoes. And then act on that. Behave that way. Consider how Jesus responds in all of his interactions with you. Love one another as God loves you. Second thing to consider is to trust God. Kindness is an expression of God's love. We need to always remember that the command that God has given us to love one another as He loves us, it comes with both the God-given ability and the substance of his love. Remember when we studied agape love. He has given us the ability to love. We can do that. But in addition to that is he has filled us with agape love. And remember, that word means in an overflowing way. So He's constantly filling us with His love, and it's overflowing. And the purpose of that overflowing is for it to overflow onto others around us. Trust God that you can be kind to one another, no matter how difficult it might be. Do you ever feel like, I just can't be nice to this person? I just can't do it? Yes, you can. That's a cop-out. You can because it's not dependent upon you. God has made you able to be kind. His Holy Spirit indwells us and is constantly filling us with agape love for that very purpose of loving one another. And remember that the root of unkindness, the root of unkindness toward others is self. Okay? Focusing on our own will rather than God's. Focusing on our own feelings rather than on God's love for you and for the other person. A true element of agape love is desiring for others to know and experience the love of God in their lives and in ours, and being willing to sacrifice our own feelings to that end. I mean, talk about evangelism. What's the greatest form of evangelism? The greatest form of evangelism that the Lord has given us is to be kind to other people, to demonstrate His love. You can, without saying a word, you can demonstrate to someone how God loves, how much He loved you, and how much He loves them. In the example of David's kindness toward Mephibosheth, David expressed the love, the mercy, and kindness that the Lord had expressed to him. Took tremendous trust in God that the Lord would protect the throne and keep the promises that he had made to David. So if a brother or sister has been inconsiderate to you, or even intentionally unkind to you, trust God to do what truly needs to be done, to deal with that person. You don't have to deal with that person. You don't have to set things right. Just be kind and trust the Lord. or maybe to open your eyes to a blind spot or a wrong perspective that you might have, but to do so according to His will and according to His timing. God is in control. So, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with one another. Be kind as God has been kind. Being kind to one another is a critical element of loving one another as God loves you. And then the final thing that I have for us to consider, is to practice it. Look at each circumstance, every circumstance that you find yourself involving interacting with one another. Look at it as an opportunity to express the kindness which the Lord has lavished upon you. And He really has. Kindness is a, it's an attribute of agape love that doesn't come naturally, and it's not always deserved, okay? Don't look at it as, I'm going to be kind when the other person deserves it. No, agape love is being kind even when that person doesn't deserve it. Where would you be, where would I be if God withheld his love until we deserved it? Where would we be? Remember that agape is not a natural love. It's a heavenly, supernatural love. So it shouldn't be a surprise at all that its attributes, all of these individual attributes that we're looking at, these attributes don't come naturally to us. But at the same time, or maybe it's the flip side of that same coin, remember that God has equipped us. So it doesn't come naturally to us, but in another sense it does come naturally to us, because God's equipped us to love that way. Our part in this equation is to be constantly striving toward that goal. Okay, we're never gonna reach sinless perfection, right? So we're never going to be able to express kindness in every single opportunity that the Lord gives us. But don't get comfortable in that. Constantly strive for it. every day, in every situation, and with every person, show kindness to one another as God has shown, and how He continues to show toward you. Remember that showing kindness to one another is expressing your gratitude to God for all that He's done for you. It's a way of saying thank you on an ongoing basis. So, love one another as God loves you. Let's pray. Father, thank You for the many, many examples that You've given us throughout Your Word of people just like us, just regular people. who loved the brethren as we have been called to. Thank you for all of those examples. Father, we know that you have equipped us, you have filled us, and you're teaching us to love as you love. Please help us to absorb and embrace all that you've taught us this morning, all that you are teaching us in this area. And I pray that each one of us will leave this place today at least a little bit more like your Son than we were when we first arrived. Amen.