“31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way. 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient. Love is kind.”
“I told you that I loved you when we got married; if anything changes, I will let you know.” That is the sentiment of love that lacks kindness. Whatever that sort of love is, it isn’t the love of 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13 love displays itself in all sorts of resourceful and meaningful ways which we call ‘kindness.’ It does so because it is the love of God.
God’s love displays itself in acts of kindness. If you love by the Spirit of God, your love will be displayed in acts of kindness.
The love of God does kindnesses. That is the claim of this sermon: the love of God does kindnesses.
We will see this in three points. First: kindness at home. Second: kindness among the church. Third: kindness in the world.
First: kindness at home. The word Paul used for ‘kindness’ is a busy word. It is active. Wayne Mack is right to say that the word ‘kindness’ can be rather bland, which is why, “Paul deliberately uses a rare verb here to suggest dynamic action.” Kindness is ready to help. Kindness is resourceful. Kindness is imaginative. If you were putting a work group together, you would want kindness on the team.
This kindness is most naturally displayed within the home. The words, “love is kind,” are read at weddings for good reason. When a man and woman become husband and wife, they want to do kindnesses for one another. Also, parents find it quite natural to do kindesses for their children. When a father holds his newborn baby, he wants to do kindnesses, both small and extravagant, for this child.
We want to do kindnesses for those we love. This is proper because we are made in the image of the God who shows kindnesses to those He loves. You see His kindness in creation. “There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice,” as Calvin put it. The beauty of this world is an act of kindness.
Your kindnesses imitate His. You make a beautiful birthday cake for your child because you want her to enjoy her day. God made this beautiful world in which you live because He wants you to enjoy this life. You take your boyfriend to a place that is particularly meaningful to you because you want him to enjoy it too. God created such places with such enjoyment in mind. Love is kind.
These kindnesses are to fill our homes. Doug Wilson explains it well asking, “how would you describe the spiritual aroma of your home? When visitors arrive, before virtually anything is said or done, what is one of the first things they notice about your family? In many cases, it is the [spiritual] aroma. Do they feel as though a bad attitude crawled under your refrigerator and died? Or do they think someone has been baking spiritual bread in the kitchen all afternoon?”
Does your home have the aroma of kindness about it? Each of you have a role to play. Children, God calls you to act kindly toward your brothers and sisters. Your brother might take something of yours without asking, but that is no reason to hurt him. God is kind to you, and He says that you are to be kind to others, and that certainly includes your brother.
Parents, do acts of kindness for your children. Maybe your kid’s love language is quality time. Do the kindness of carving out that time. Maybe your kid’s love language is words of affirmation. Show that kindness.
Show such kindnesses in your friendships. For many of us home does not consist of a spouse or children in the house. Your friendships take on increased importance. This is the most natural context for you to show kindness. Take the time to do acts of kindness for your friends. You love your friends and love does kindnesses.
Now if you find yourself the regular recipient of kindness, you will find it much more natural to show your own creative acts of kindness, but perhaps you are not receiving much kindness. Perhaps you find yourself in a marriage typified by the words, “I told you that I loved you when we got married; if anything changes, I will let you know.” Perhaps you find yourself in a home where the spiritual aroma is anything but kind. You are still called to show kindnesses. You do so by remembering that God has been kind to you, is kind to you, and will be kind to you. Don’t focus on returning kindnesses. Focus on passing on God’s kindness.
Now kindness towards our loved ones is fitting, but we have seen that the miraculous nature of this 1 Corinthians 13 love is that it is extended beyond loved ones. You are to extend this love to people with whom you might share nothing in common other than your commitment to Christ. For that you will need the Holy Spirit. That is our second point: kindness among the church.
The church is to be a place of mutual acts of kindness. You are not simply to have kind thoughts towards one another. You are put to put this into action. “The most proper evidence of wishing good to another is doing good to another,” as Jonathan Edwards put it.
Now you are already showing kindness in many ways.
You Sunday School teachers are showing acts of kindness to the children you teach. You are showing it by your gentleness. You are showing it by your interest in these children. You are showing it by doing good to their souls by teaching them truth. Teach Sunday School as an act of kindness. With that love, your work will have an impact. Without that love, your teaching will just be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If you have ever had an unkind teacher, you know that is true.
You are already showing kindness in the form of meals. When a baby is born, you bring a meal because you know that things will be hectic in that home. When a fellow member is sick, you bring a meal because that is what you would do for your daughter if she were sick. You show kindnesses.
What about showing such kindnesses after a divorce? Jill English recently wrote an article called The Casserole Rules. She wrote about how she received many casseroles when she was diagnosed with cancer and only one after her husband walked out on her. She wrote, “During [the] six months of diagnosis, surgery, and radiation treatments, I never once prayed for God to take me during the night, I never cried myself to sleep over breast cancer, never imagined what I did wrong to be so unworthy. There was no shame… I got free yard work for weeks. And, I got lots and lots of casseroles.” She didn’t receive all those kindnesses when her husband left her. She didn’t receive them when she got divorced. She did, however, have nights of crying herself to sleep and wondering what she had done to deserve this. You don’t need to know the whole story to show acts of kindness.
You don’t have to agree with what someone has done to show acts of kindness. You have an opportunity to show kindness towards people who have done something quite wrong. You have an opportunity to show kindness towards people who have done something wrong enough to land them in prison. In the bulletin, there is information about worshipping with the Cornerstone Prison Church, which is in the South Dakota State Penitentiary. These brothers in Christ experience your presence as an act of kindness. They see that you are treating them as another church in our classis. They see that you are treating them as fellow human beings. Christ sees it too. On the final day, we will say ask Jesus, “When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” and he will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Some acts of kindness will be outside of your comfort zone. Remember that Jesus showed you acts of kindness that were far outside of his comfort zone. You motivate yourself to be kind by recognizing that you have, and you will receive divine kindnesses.
You have the Holy Spirit so that you can be kind as God is kind. You need Him to open your eyes to opportunities for kindness that you would never have seen. I imagine that there are opportunities for kindness that we as a church have missed not because we are actively unkind, but because we haven’t recognized opportunities for kindness when they stood in front of us. I saw that in myself when I read The Casserole Rules. I need the Spirit’s help to show me where kindness is needed -- so do you.
One way we can grow in kindness is by enfolding visitors. Meeting new people might be outside of your comfort zone. Remember that any visitor has already stepped outside of his comfort zone by coming here. You know people here. They don’t. Be kind and include them. Step outside of your comfort zone.
Show kindnesses towards those already in our church. Appreciation is an act of kindness. Show your appreciation to the praise teams. Show your appreciation to Jane on the organ. Give specific appreciations. ‘I love how you played that hymn so triumphantly; it helped me adore God.’ Too often our attitude within church is ‘no news is good news.’ That is not a kind way of living together as a family nor is it a kind way of living together as a church. Show your appreciation. Love is kind. It will have an impact.
You are showing appreciation for myself and my family today and I want you to know that you excel at this and that this love has an impact. This kindness makes me want to do a better job ministering to you. Every thank you card or text of appreciation for a sermon or anything else makes me double down on giving this my all. Your kindness has an impact. Love has an impact.
The same is true regarding kindnesses to elders, deacons, committee heads, your child’s Sunday School teacher or GEMS counselor, the president of our council, our secretary, our janitor. These aren’t merely volunteers or employees. These are brothers in sisters in Christ. These people are your context for the words, “love is kind.”
Consider how you, in your ministry, can show kindness. If you are an EDGE leader, how can you do a kindness to a young person? If you are on the evangelism committee, how can you do a kindness to one of our missionaries? If you are elder, how can you do a kindness to your household of faith? This is obedience to the words of Paul, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those of the household of faith.”
Show kindness in conversation with fellow church members, especially when disagreeing. Truth must be spoken in love and love is kind. You can’t persuade anyone without kindness. “The wise in heart are called discerning, and gracious words make a person persuasive,” as Solomon put it. This kindness is part of what keeps a disagreement within a church from becoming a conflict within a church.
Kindness is serious business. Unkindness is serious business. It is a sin for which Christ died. You are called to be kind to one another. You can only do this by the Spirit of God.
When I candidated here, you said that you wanted unity within this church. This sermon series is part of the answer. Each of us needs to show the virtues of 1 Corinthians 13 to one another regardless of how we are treated by one another. In other words, this church needs Holy Spirit spirituality. That is the only unity possible for any church no matter what the issues.
You are called to contribute to the unity of this church by showing this 1 Corinthians 13 love within the church. We have seen and will continue to see that you can only do this if you are born by the Spirit. Until you have laid down your right to your life and given yourself over to God by faith in Jesus, you cannot love this way. If you are a disciple of Christ, you can and must love this way.
You are to do good, to do kindnesses, to speak kindly, to your loved ones, meaning the family of God. You are also to be kind to everyone. That is our final point: kindness to the world.
You are a child of God, meaning that you are to act like God—you are to act godly. Now your Father, “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” If the Father, who has every right to judge the world, shows such kindnesses to all, what right do you and I, who are sinners, have to withhold kindness?
This world is not a kind place. Thomas Hobbes was on to something when he said, “life is nasty, brutish, and short.”
You have received the kindness of God so that you can show kindness in this cruel world. Jonathan Edwards took Paul’s words on generosity and applied them to kindness. He said that we Christians are to do acts of kindness freely. We are to do acts of kindness cheerfully, and we are to do acts of kindness generously. Let’s study those to see how we can be kind in this cruel world.
You are to do acts of kindness freely. Don’t show kindness expecting your kindness to be return. It might. It probably won’t. Be kind without expectation. You can do that because you’ve already received divine kindness. As Paul put it, “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Freely give this kindness as you’ve freely received it.
You are also to show kindness cheerfully. You can do this if you remember that your kindness will be rewarded by God. “Let us not become weary in doing good,” wrote Paul, “for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
To continue to be kind in a cruel world and to do so cheerfully, you will need to look to this reward. There is nothing selfish in showing kindness to others in anticipation of receiving kindness from God. Imagine that your daughter is bullied at school and you encourage her to remain kind. Now imagine that she does so, and the bullying continues. You are going to motivate her to keep showing kindness cheerfully by promising kindness at home. You will tell your daughter to be kind tomorrow and to do so cheerfully because she can expect kindness when she walks through the doors of your home. God tells you to show kindness in an unkind world and to do so cheerfully because you can expect kindness when you walk through the doors of His home. To show kindness cheerfully in an unkind world, you need to remember that your kindness will be rewarded.
Show kindness generously. Remember the Father in the parable of the prodigal son. “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
You have received that generous kindness so you can show generous kindness. You know the effect that such generous kindness has had upon. You know the sort of effect that it can have upon others. Show generous kindness.
Offer this kindness in hopes of making an impact. Love makes an impact. Jesus offered kindness in hopes of making an impact. To people who wanted nothing to do with him, he said, “come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus made this offer hoping to attract people by kindness. You and I are given the Spirit to do the same.
This week ahead is an opportunity to do kindnesses to others in your family, in this church, and to this world. This is what you were saved to do. This is what you were given the Holy Spirit to do. This is the will of God for you.
Consider what God must be like if His will for you is to be kind. Consider what eternity with Him will be like. It will certainly be kind. You know God is kind. You see what He is like in His Son who was kind even as he was hung on the cross. As he hung there dying, he made arrangements to care for his mother. He was certainly making arrangements to care for you. You enjoy his kindnesses today, show his kindnesses today. Amen.