The Fruit of the Spirit is Kindness

Lk. 10:25-37

Most of you remember Archie and Edith from “All in the family”. In one of the episodes this scene was played out.

Archie as usual is complaining to Edith. “ That’s you all right. Edith the Good. You’ll stoop to anything to be good. You never make nobody mad. You think it’s easy living with a saint? Even when you cheat you don’t cheat to win. You cheat to lose. Edith you ain’t human.”

Edith replies, “That’s a terrible thing to say, Archie Bunker. I am just as human as you are.”

Archie retorts. “Okay prove it. Do something rotten”

What is so sad about this, is the fact that Archie is probably right. Man has a proclivity to do the wrong thing. To sin. To treat others in a rotten way. Let’s face it. When was the last time you got ready for bed and thought to yourself. “You know, people sure were kind to me today!” or even, “I enjoyed going out of my way to be kind to others today.” We don’t say either one of those phrases nearly as often as we would like.

This morning, I would like to look at an example of kindness in the Bible and then see how we can put it into action in our own daily lives.

PRAYER

I. Greatly Needed

A. The good Samaritan READ Lk 10:25-37

1. Kindness was greatly needed by the man lying on the side of the road.

2. We don’t know much about this man.

3. He was simply “a man”

4. It isn’t really important, because we are supposed to be kind, regardless of who the person is or is not.

5. We are to be kind to Christians and non-Christians.

a) We are to be kind to whites, blacks, Asians, whoever.

b) What Christ is illustrating here is that every man or woman is our neighbor.

B. He was going from Jerusalem to Jericho

1. From what I have read and heard about this 17 miles of road is that it is very tough terrain and was a prime hunting ground of thieves because they could vanish into the country side easily.

2. It’s nickname was the pass of blood because so many had lost their lives on that road.

C. While traveling on this road the man was attacked.

1. His clothes were stolen and he was beat within an inch of his life.

2. Here he is lying on the side of road barely alive and naked.

3. A pretty good candidate for someone needing some kindness.

D. I think that is what Jesus wanted this teacher and everyone else to see.

1. Those in desperate need of kindness.

2. The sick, poor, hungry and fallen

3. They need kindness, but usually get what this man gets, nothing.

4. Instead of going to the main post office downtown, Mamie Adams always went to a branch post office because the postal employees there were friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year, and the lines were particularly long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to wait in line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby. "I know," said Mamie, "but the machine won't ask me bout my arthritis." [Bits & Pieces, Vol. M, No. 1D. Pages 20-21.]

5. There are plenty of people who need kindness out there. Why not make a special effort to share some with them?

II. Shamefully Neglected

A. Neglected by a priest.

1. He probably just got done working at the temple and was on his way home.

2. Today, he would be the preacher heading home after church services.

3. So why didn’t he stop and help this man? Of course it’s a story and we can only speculate.

a) Maybe he was worried that the robbers were still around.

b) Maybe he didn’t want to get ceremonially unclean by touching a dead man.

c) I remember a couple of winters ago seeing an elderly lady stuck in a snow bank. She was trying to get out of the car with her walker with cars passing her and not a single person slowed down. Part of me didn’t want to help push her out either because I had a suit on and would get my suit dirty. Gladly, I can say I did the kind thing and got her out of the snow bank and my suit cleaned up just fine.

d) I could understand how the Priest felt about helping that man.

e) Whatever reason, he didn’t even get close enough to find out if he was dead or alive, but crossed over to the other side of the road and headed on.

B. Neglected by a Levite

1. another religious leader.

2. Our elder or deacon.

3. He had as much kindness as the priest and walked on ignoring the man.

C. How could these men do that?

1. They were leaders in the church.

2. The respected in society.

3. Let’s make this even tougher. Let’s ask ourselves this same question.

a) What excuse do we use when we walk by the sick, the bleeding, the naked...the sinner?

b) Aren’t we royal priests? Aren’t we laborers in the church?

D. They could justify themselves because they didn’t know if this man was their neighbor.

1. They knew they had to love their neighbor.

2. But they cut that list pretty short by excluding the gentiles, Samaritans, tax collectors and sinners.

3. Their only neighbors were the good people just like them.

E. Who do we cut from our list of neighbors?

1. A man was talking to me recently very discouraged about his church and the way they evangelized. They believed a person had to live perfectly before they could be baptized. They wanted only clean cut people like them to be part of their church.

2. Do certain colors of people get excluded.

3. People of certain lifestyles?

4. Social classes?

5. Religious backgrounds?

F. Our text shows us how people can be religious without being Christ-like.

1. We don’t want to be that way.

2. We want to do things right.

3. That is why we are trying to learn something from this parable.

III. Compassionately Shown

A. Jesus picked an interesting person for the 3rd man to come across the beaten man. He was a Samaritan

1. Samaritans were half breed Jews.

2. They were despised and hated.

3. Good Jews would walk around their country rather than set one foot in Samaria.

4. Here, a man who the Jews considered less than a dog, was the one to show kindness to the beaten man.

B. We see that he took pity on the man.

1. He showed compassion to this wounded person.

2. He didn’t just show pity for him but acted on that pity and helped the man in need.

3. Real kindness is manifested in action.

4. I have a T-shirt that says, “you got to walk the walk if your going to talk the talk.”

5. It was a tragic mistake. On July 3, 1988, the navy cruiser USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner with 290 aboard. All were lost. The ship's captain mistakenly thought they were under attack by an F-14 Iranian fighter. Public opinion polls showed that most Americans opposed paying compensation to the victims' families. The cruel treatment of American hostages in Iran was still fresh in many minds. But President Reagan approved compensation. Asked by reporters if such payment would send the wrong signal, he replied, "I don't ever find compassion a bad precedent." To many people, the principle of revenge is so much simpler to practice. Yet compassion is Christ's way--a deep caring for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the whole person.

6. That is what kindness is.

C. The Samaritan got personal

1. We like to organize our benevolence through good organizations.

a) I am a kind person because I gave money to the United Ministries or the Red Cross or the United Way.

b) That way we don’t have to get our hands dirty dealing with these people on a personal level and still have a good conscience.

2. I’m not saying these groups are bad or that you are bad by supporting them

a) I am saying, don’t let that be the only way you show your kindness to others.

b) In Matt. 25 the people who were counted as Righteous by God were the ones that dealt with the strangers, the poor, the sick and those in prison.

3. It was after the Samaritan couldn’t help anymore that he turned the man over to the innkeeper.

4. Have you ever noticed how many times Jesus stopped doing his “important” work to help the blind, sick, children, and poor of his time?

IV. Plainly Taught

A. Let’s look again at the Lawyer who was testing Jesus.

1. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

2. Good question, wrong motives. He was trying to trap Jesus.

B. So Jesus sends him to the Law - READ vs. 26-28

1. Good answer, but what are you going to DO about it?

2. We must realize that knowing the Bible isn’t enough we have to act on it. Do what it says.

C. In the beginning the Lawyer wanted to know who is his neighbor.

1. In the end, Jesus asks the question back to him.

2. The reply? “The one who had mercy on him.”

V. Concl.

A. Jesus ended his lesson by saying “Go and do likewise.”

1. That is what we need to learn from this.

2. Understand the message behind the Good Samaritan and then go and do likewise.

3. Mr. and Mrs. Meekheart (fictitious name) illustrate the point. Their next-door neighbor, who said openly that he hated "church people," purposely propelled his grass cuttings onto their lawn and sidewalk. The Meekhearts quietly raked up the grass and remained friendly to him. Still, the neighbor continued to be ornery. They, however, kept on showing kindness. When the neighbor left on a vacation without making arrangements for getting his lawn mowed, Mr. Meekheart did it for him. Interestingly, the neighbor's attitude seems to be changing. He thanked them for cutting his grass, and he now longer tries to annoy them.

4. Go and do likewise