5th Fruit of the Holy Spirit
Jeremiah 9:24 “but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”
Now what is kindness according to God, versus kindness from man?
Psalm 109:16,17 For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the broken-hearted. He loved to pronounce a curse—may it come on him. He found no pleasure in blessing—may it be far from him.
Kindness is the expression of action of one who finds pleasure in blessing and does not love to pronounce a curse—that does not mean that a kind person will not curse—he just does not love doing it. And he gives thought to giving relief to the poor, the needy and the broken-hearted. The action of Jesus, which exemplifies His kindness the most for me, is the raising of the widow’s son in Luke 7:11- where in V13-15, it is said-- When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, “Don’t cry.” Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
The son represented all of the widow’s hopes, dreams and provision—and the raising of the son meant that the widow would have a future and provision through his work as well as the raising of a future family. Now note that it says, Jesus gave him back to his mother –that means, the son in death already belonged to God and in being raised back to life, belonged to Jesus—but instead of asking him to follow Jesus and become a disciple there and then, the Lord gave him back first. We do not know who that young man is, but we do know there was a young man present when Jesus was arrested—or perhaps it was the Apostle Mark. It is sufficient to see that God does not take to depriving the weak, the needy and the broken-hearted. That is, those who know how to love and therefore are able to be broken hearted. There are plenty of poor and needy people in the world—but not all the poor and needy are capable of love, and therefore, not necessarily broken hearted. That is why Jesus said concerning the poor when Judas was concerned about the extravagance of Mary Magdalene’s act of love and worship. “Leave her alone, Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me. John 12:7,8
Jesus’ concern there was more for the one whose heart was silently breaking even as she was pouring out the perfume, which was a physical symbol of her love being poured out—poured out of a breaking heart, for she was anointing her dying love.
There are those who are poor and needy, but not broken hearted. Hearts that are hard cannot be broken. Those that know not love nor how to love, cannot be broken—that is why Paul said in 1 cor 13:1 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….v3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing. Indeed, God will not ask of you a sacrifice that does not cause your heart to break—that is, God will not ask of you something to sacrifice, unless you so love the one thing He asks you to sacrifice that it breaks your heart. –As He asked Abraham in Genesis 22:2 “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah.”
King David understood this of God, which is why he said in 2 Samuel 24:24 “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
The sacrifice of God broke the heart of God, because God loves Jesus. To truly understand the kindness of God is to see God’s broken heart over His Son Jesus; His only Son—His Son whom He loves –dead—for a bunch of rebellious sinners like us, who couldn’t even keep one simple rule—do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Or for the Church – “Listen to Him.”
The reason as Paul wrote in Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; is because, when you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you are doing all you can to help relieve God of His broken-heartedness and so you are showing God kindness. You are doing to God exactly what Jesus did for the widow – returning her dead son to her. Since you cannot raise the dead—only God can give life to the dead—then believing in your heart is really all you can do. But you have done what you can to relieve God of His broken heart—you wished for God that His broken heart may be relieved. You wished and believed for God the best thing that could ever happen to a parent grieving over a dead child. Jesus did for the widow and the father in Luke 8:40; the Ruler, the father whose little girl had just died. Jesus did for these parents what He would have wanted to happen for His own mother—that is Mary, and above all else, His Father. Even though Jesus knew He would be raised, He did unto others as He would have done to Himself—and indeed—Mary the Mother’s broken heartedness and Mary Magdalene’s broken heartedness was healed forever with His resurrection. The Kingdom of God is that He will not break your heart if He can bind it up better than before. Indeed, Mary never lost her Son again and Mary never lost her love again.
That is why it says in Isaiah 61:1 “He has sent Me to bind up the broken hearted…” for those whose hearts are broken or can be broken, can love or have loved—and God who is Love, is looking to pour out His love and to receive love in return. Little wonder, we are commanded to love God, neighbours, each other and enemies. But love can come only from those whose hearts can be broken.
It is thus, those who think of doing God an act of kindness, that are brought close to the Lord—the kinder you are to God, the closer you are brought to Him. For as you show God kindness, God shows you His kindness—which according to Paul in Romans 2:1-4 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgement? Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
To believe God raised Jesus is to wish for God that His broken heart – His tragedy – is relieved; so God shows you kindness, leading you to repentance. Now God’s kindness to you is manifested not only as a soft, lolly sweet kindness of giving you everything you desire or want, but it always leads to repentance—and to us, who are His children—His kindness is associated with sternness. Romans 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Why does God want you to sacrifice something that can break your heart? Jeremiah 9:24 “but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.” God wanted Abraham to know Him, to know Him as the Father who is also about to sacrifice His only Son – the Son He loves, so that Abraham could truly be His friend—a shared experience, because God was about to have his heart broken over Jesus. And also about to rejoice over Jesus with His resurrection—that is why those who would relieve His broken heartedness, God would give the joy of Resurrection in Christ—salvation unto Resurrection, and those who showed Him the most kindness, those who did not deny Him even unto death, giving up their very lives for Him—He gives them the First Resurrection.
Concerning the hardness of heart—remember there are those who invited Jesus into their lives—but many are like Simon the Pharisee of Luke 7:36 who invited Jesus to dinner, but did not give Jesus water to wash, oil for His hair or even greet Him with a kiss.—nothing that cost him anything. But compare that with the one who anointed His feet—v44-46 “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give Me any water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give Me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing My feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on My feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Simon was doing well and he was not gong to risk anything. Jesus was going to make him look good—not him going to make Jesus look good. Whereas the woman risked what remained of her reputation; but she was going to make Jesus look good by washing His feet and kissing His feet and wiping away the dirt with her own lips.
So it is only to those with breakable or broken hearts God will yield His fruit of kindness—the love that is poured out of a broken heart and the joy that is experienced by one whose broken heart is completely restored—to those God gives the Resurrection now and forever.
A further understanding of kindness according to God is found in Psalm 73:1-22 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. – Remember Jesus said in Matthew 5:45,46 – “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” and Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”
Be warned—Jesus aligns ungratefulness with wickedness.
The woman who anointed Him was grateful—grateful for what was given to her. Now Psalm 73 is how God shows kindness to the wicked—from verse 3-20, what the Psalmist called ….the prosperity of the wicked…v4,5 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. …v12….always carefree, they increase in wealth.
The Psalmist couldn’t understand it—for our thinking is that God would punish them and punish them early—but when the Psalmist in v17 entered the Sanctuary of God, then I understood their final destiny.
God’s kindness to the wicked is that He knows they will never turn back to Him, no matter what He does for them in this life; so He gives them the best of what He has.—He lets them enjoy the short days of their life, and then sweeps them away suddenly to destruction with one strike. V 18-20 Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.
God knows the punishment He has prepared for the wicked, so in His kindness, He allows them to experience the best of this earth, before they are thrown into the fiery furnace of hell—there to be salted by hell fire.
If you will not salt yourself with the salt that comes from sweat and tears—because of hard labour and a broken heart, whilst you are on earth, then God will salt you with hell fire. Indeed it is almost—I say almost—God grants the wicked the desires of their hearts.
Now, the kindness of God to you and I; if you have your heart’s desire set on fixing up His broken heart, which is still grieved everyday--the Holy Spirit is grieved everyday--the Lord remains disobeyed everyday; as Paul says in Philippians 2:21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.-- God will show His full kindness return to you that which is dear to you—your hopes and dreams—in a resurrection like He did to the widow in returning to her, her son.
If you understand God’s kindness, then you will pray as the Psalmist prayed, “Let a righteous man strike me [let the Righteous One strike me]—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me-it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.” Psalm 141:5 For the strike of God brings pain, heartbreak, grief, even sickness—for God strikes with disaster, plagues and famines—it gives rise to wants and needs and struggles—all the things that the wicked are spared—the very thing which would cause the wicked to perhaps turn and repent. Thus the kindness of God has a sternness for the wicked; but for those whose hearts are broken and soft; His kindness is to bind them and heal them.—And to those who are kind to Him, then His kindness truly knows no bound--.
Psalm 91:1-16 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare, and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord, who is my refuge—then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My Name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
….V7 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked –are those who are ungrateful and break the heart of God.
Here you have been taught by the Lord to consider the welfare of the Lord above the welfare of others…and taught to be like Mary Magdalene, who showed God kindness because Jesus showed her kindness….
AMEN HOLY SPIRIT – THE FRUIT OF KINDNESS!
