Kindness and Goodness

KINDNESS & GOODNESS

• What things will be obvious in your life if you are a…?

• Athlete? - would I be fat?

• Hipster? - would I be wearing skinny jeans?

• Redneck? - would I be… ?

• When I went to Marine Corps basic training 13 years ago, everything that I was except my core personality was torn down and I was built back up in the image of the Marine Corps. Marines act a certain way, they talk a certain way, we even walk a certain way. I came home and I was marching into my kitchen and doing right faces at the fridge and about faces with the milk and so on. It was ridiculous. The Marines wasn’t just a job, it was a way of life. A Marine never complained, they just charged though. A Marine was never late - in fact, if you weren’t 15 minutes early, you were late. And a Marine always does whatever is best for his unit and his country.

• I can be walking through the mall TODAY and spot a Marine in civilian clothes 200 yards away. And most of the time, it’s not the haircut that gives them away, it’s their gait. How they carry themselves. It most of the time borders on arrogance, but it’s a quiet confidence that Marines can accomplish anything they put their mind to.

• Certain things about me are obvious in the fact that I was and still am a United States Marine. So what things would be obvious in your life if you’re a CHRISTIAN?

• Galatians 5.22 - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

You want to know what a Christian looks like? That’s it. Do you want something to aspire to be? These are the characteristics.

Before we get into our lesson here tonight, Paul is writing here to the Galatians and he says, “If you are a Christian, then this is what you should look like!” Look at the previous verses though, let’s read those - Paul tells us what Christians do not look like.

• Galatians 5.19-21 (ESV)

• Another translation: “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.” (MSG)

We look at this list and see the things that don’t look like a Christian and all we see as teenagers are “DON’T” things. DON’T do drugs. DON’T drink alcohol. DON’T have sex. We have made Christianity our to be a DON’T way of life! We define ourselves, maybe not out loud, but we define ourselves by what we DON’T do more than what we ARE.

I stopped at the Columbia Mall (wanna hear a joke?) on the way here and JC Penney had some mannequin displaying their clothes and stuff. If I were to take that mannequin and put it on the front row at church, then that manneqin would be here for EVERY service. And guess what - he doesn’t drink, smoke or have sex either. So he’s a Christian, right?

Not exactly. You see, being a Christian isn’t about what you’re NOT doing. It’s about what you ARE doing.

Three of our college boys connected with our church got arrested last week for drinking under age. One of the arguments from one of them was “It does not say that I can’t drink in the Bible.” And you know what? He was right. But you know what it does say? It says we’re to stay away from every form of evil (1 Thess. 5.22). It says we must all be examples so as to not cause other Christians to stumble (1 Cor. 8.13). So you know, maybe the Bible doesn’t say drinking is wrong directly, but it does say stuff about how we are supposed to ACT. And those things that I am supposed to DO cancel out the things I DON’T do. We must stop looking at our Christian lives by what we DON’T do.

So now we know from Paul what a Christian does and does not look like. Just like a Marine looks and acts like a Marine, or a redneck a redneck, Paul says that you will be able to know a Christian by the traits.

Now we can look at our story and talk about kindness and goodness. We’re going to zero in on kindness and goodness now, and not just talk about the big verses here.

• Luke 10.25-37 “The Good Samaritan”

• We do not know motives of the Priest and Levite.

• Were the men too busy? Not kind because…

• On the way to a goat BBQ? Late for a sacrifice? a worship service?

• Maybe they were late for their child’s barmitzvah?

• Today – we pass up the needy due to our similarly busy schedules.

• Our cars are faster than walking, but we have less time.

• We have phones, but don’t have time to call and check on folks.

• We are late to church, so we don’t stop and help the stranded motorist.

• Get home after church, so we don’t share kind words with others.

• Are you too busy to be kind?

• Were the men afraid for their safety? Not kind because…

• Man looked mean, rough, worldly? Dew Rags and Tatoos?

• Rough neighborhood? This road was a dangerous road.

• Perhaps he wore a shoe on his head… reference to Veggie Tales.

• Today – Afraid to talk to man on street because might get mugged?

• Job safety – I could get fired for talking about Christ.

• Friend Safety - Worried about making a scene or losing a friend?

• Are you too Afraid to be kind?

• Did the Levite and Priest simply have hard hearts? Not kind because…

• Had seen lots of injured people, rough times.

• Lack of Hospitals and hard work made visible injury more common.

• Today - Word is on TV, radio, Bibles everywhere – They need to get it together!

• What do you feel when you see someone on the street with sign?

• Pity? Desire to help? Disgust? Anger? Annoyance? Druggy!

• Are you too Numb to be kind?

• Today the physically and spiritually ailing are ignored. –

• Crippled, injured, starving, poor, depressed

• What are you doing to be kind? Are you passing them by?

A CHALLENGE: I want you to think of 5 people you need to be kind to or kinder to. I want you think of 5 people to who you can show kindness and goodness this very week. This can be an encouraging word, you can be kind to someone that’s NOT being kind to you, whatever. Some of you won’t do this, I know. Some of you won’t care. But some of you will. And I have to tell you - if one man can come and preach kindness and goodness for 3 years and have a huge impact on the entire world, imagine what a room full of teens from Hohenwald, Tennessee can accomplish.

Let’s pray.

Dear Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for all the young souls here tonight. Please help them as they struggle every day to serve you. Please help them when they return to the grind of school in just a few weeks. Help them to be productive citizens in your kingdom. Help them to show kindness and goodness even when it isn’t returned. Help them to always be examples of You and Your Son Jesus. It’s in His Name I pray this prayer, AMEN.