Introduction

In a world that often mistakes kindness for weakness, Revd. Mark Fletcher challenges us to see kindness and strength as inseparable. Drawing from Jesus’ radical teaching in Luke 6:27-36, this sermon reveals how true kindness requires tremendous character and courage—and how it reflects the very heart of God.

There was an Oscar winning 1987 movie called Wall Street. You might remember it. It was a critique of the excesses of that decade and it centred around a ruthless businessman whose name was Gordon Gecko and he had a famous saying. Can anybody remember what it was? Greed is good. And I’m not sure that we have heeded the warning of that film because in the modern world, self-interest really does seem to have been enshrined as a virtue.

Now you might argue that is the most efficient way to run an economy. Although the rapid growth of inequality in our world should give you pause. But as a means to run a society, it is downright cruel. Kindness is in short supply in our world. And so that’s our theme for this evening. We are reflecting on the next of these fruits of the spirit, and they are serious things because a world without them is a bleak place.

A world without kindness is a cruel place. And left to its own devices, our world does seem to slide towards selfishness and exploitation. So kindness. What do we mean by it? Well, that remarkable, if slightly uncomfortable reading from the gospels was Jesus teaching and he said in verse 33, if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?

You see, kindness is not niceness. It is not that sort of social convention of being good to someone and expecting them to be good to you. Most people have got that sort of veneer of niceness, but there is a danger that it is only skin deep, and if you cross them, it can turn quite nasty.

No kindness is something far greater than that. I wonder if you can think of a time in your life when you experienced kindness. My suspicion is that if you do, if it’s one that stands out, it was somebody unexpected. Perhaps someone you didn’t know very well, or even a stranger who did something that they didn’t need to do, that made a profound difference to your life. That’s the kind of kindness that really stands out. Someone who owes you nothing and yet chooses to do it anyway. And I think that’s what kindness is. It is a commitment or a concern for the good of another without any expectation of something in return.

And it’s a remarkable thing. It’s a beautiful thing and I think the reason it is that is because kindness is something of God. Verse 35 said, if you are kind, then you will be children of the most high, for he is kind to the ungrateful and to the wicked. God blesses people no matter who they are. Just as the sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous and the spring rains fall on the good and the bad.

So God gives food and happiness and the appreciation of beauty to all people. God is simply kind whether people are good or bad. And so if you are kind, then that means to be that you are children of God. Because in the ancient world, children do what their father does. But of course no one expresses that kindness better than Jesus and kindness is the way of Jesus.

Verse 27, he said, but to you who are listening, I say. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Now, undoubtedly Jesus’ teaching is -well, it’s some of the purest, most elevated ethical teaching in all of history. Nobody has ever said anything like that before.

Is that easy to do? Very far from it. But what we can say with confidence is that is exactly what Jesus Himself does. He literally turns the other cheek. He blesses and prays for those who hate him and he gives his life for sinners. And the greatest act of kindness of all is the cross of Christ. The apostle Paul puts it like this in his epistle to the Romans.

Just at the right time when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will someone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might perhaps dare to die. But God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So you see, real kindness is first and foremost a commitment to the good of another without any expectation of something in return.

God is not nice. He is radically and redemptively kind and kindness in humans is an attitude of the heart that echoes God’s own heart. There are a couple of important things, however, to say that kindness is not. So first kindness is not weakness. I think our modern world often perceives it as such and attempts to exploit it.

But on the contrary, kindness is great strength. Jesus says in verse 35, love your enemies. Do good and lend expecting nothing in return. Loving people who don’t love you back requires a great strength of character. The strength to forgive, to persevere, to love, and to not react in frustration or anger. To turn the other cheek metaphorically or literally. To be kind in those circumstances is to resist our own will and manage our own self-interest, and to act in a way, which is not the obvious way.

No. To be angry is the easy way, is the weak way. To be kind is the way of strength. So first kindness is not weakness, and secondly, kindness is not naivety. I think there’s a danger, if you were raised in a nice family surrounded by kindness then we can be a little bit naive about the world.

And it’s a terrible shock when you discover what the world is really like and what people can really be like. Jesus was kind, but he was never naive about people. He saw them for what they were. And we need to be wise about people too. Because kindness is a gift. It is a choice, but it can never be coerced or manipulative.

And if people try and exploit your kindness that needs to be a major red flag. Jesus had a tendency to literally walk away from people and you should do the same. No, kindness is a choice that you make and your actions cease to be kindness if it’s coerced or motivated by someone making you feel guilty.

We need to be wise about manipulative people. So kindness is not weakness. It is strength. Kindness is not naive. It is wise. But true kindness can change the world. I mean, literally in the case of Jesus, the greatest act in history is an act of the greatest kindness, by which I mean the cross of Christ.

But kindness changes things often little by little, just as the slow drip, drip, drip of water can erode the hardest rock. So the drip, drip drip of kindness can soften the hardest heart, but perhaps it takes a lifetime. Esop famous for his fables once said, no act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted.

God uses our kindness to change the world. I also think that kindness is an act of resistance. If the world is a frustrating place to you, if you get angry about the way things are, you have two choices, and anger is not the answer. Kindness is an act of resistance. It is heart in a heartless world. It is kindling a light in the darkness.

It is a resistance against the injustices of a self-interested society and it keeps the rumour of God alive. So be kind intentionally, deliberately, surprisingly.

If you’re going to live like that though I think it’s very important that we don’t try and do that all by ourselves. It’s important to be embedded in the story of God’s kindness. Our kindness doesn’t come from ourself. It comes from being part of what God is doing. It’s a fruit of the spirit and it needs to be rooted in the kindness of God.

You need to know the kindness of God in your life day by day, to be rooted in his love and generosity to you and then that overflows. You are simply paying forward that which has been given to you. You can’t do this by yourself without becoming weary or cynical and so you need to be rooted in God’s kindness day by day.

But then of course, Jesus is our model of kindness. His life, which is serving others, which is giving himself for others, which is sacrificial and costly. He reaches across barriers and convention to be kind to unexpected people. Be kind to people whether they deserve it or not. I always loved the story of Zacchaeus.

Do you remember the tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus? And he was an outcast and unloved. And yet Jesus looks at him and says, Zacchaeus, I’m coming for dinner at your house. And in doing so, grants him a kind of a dignity, treats him with compassion and that kindness is utterly transformative of Zacchaeus.

William Wordsworth once said the little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person’s life. So be kind. The Greek word for kindness is very similar to the word for Christian. It is chrēstotēs. And so those early Christians were often misunderstood as the kind ones when people said, Christian people thought that they were saying the kind ones.

And I thought that’s not a bad name to have, is it? May we be known as the kind ones. May our kindness not be rooted in self-interest, but rooted in what God has done for us while we were still sinners. May our kindness kindle a light in this dark world, and if life is hard for you, you do need to root yourself in the kindness of God.

Remember that wonderful line in the greatest of the Psalms, Psalm 23, which says, surely kindness and loving mercy shall follow me All the days of my life. We root ourselves in the kindness of God. We allow that to nourish and shape our lives and then it overflows and we pay it forward and we go and do likewise.

And when we do that, then we are children of God. Amen.