The Excellence Of Love - [1 Corinthians 13:1-8]

1 Corinthians chapter 13 where Paul wrote

this church, I'm reading from the King James, and said, though I speak with the tongues of men and of

angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a

tinkling cymbal.

In your translation, it might be a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith

so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing.

Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it

profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffers long and is kind.

Charity envieth not.

Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself

unseemly or rudely or indecently, seeks not her own, it's not

selfish, it's not easily provoked, it thinks no evil, it rejoices not in

iniquity but rejoices in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things,

hopeth all things, endureth all things, for charity never fails.

I'd just like to remind us of something this evening I'm sure we're well aware

of and many times as the Apostle Paul would teach and as Peter as I was sharing with someone after Sunday

school this morning, Peter also brought the saints in remembrance of things that they already knew of but they

needed to be reminded of because we're forgetful and we just need to have

a little bit of a help once in a while to jog our memory so that we know how it is that we ought to

behave ourselves as Christians.

Now you know that this church had a difficult time.

They were not lacking salvation for Paul addressed them as brethren.

They were not lacking spiritual gifts because they had them.

Between chapters 12 and 14, in chapter 12 we have the giving of the

gifts, the explanation there of how the Spirit of God gave the spiritual gifts to those

in the church at Corinth and then at chapter 14 we have Paul dealing with the

exercise of the practical outworking of those spiritual gifts in the church and in the middle here

in chapter 13 he talks about the proper motive.

At the end of chapter 12 he says I'm going to show you a more excellent way, I'm going to show you what's really

important, I'm going to show you what you really ought to focus on and out of the gate in chapter 13 he says you can have

all these gifts.

He's speaking of the gifts here at the beginning, you could speak with tongues of men and of

angels and if you did not have charity you are just noise, you are no

substance whatsoever, you are not the real thing, you are just a bunch of noise.

He says if you have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries so you have these gifts as

these prophetical gifts to be able to have these words of wisdom and be able to tell what's coming, he

says you can have all knowledge, the gift of knowledge and though you even have all faith so that you could remove

mountains but if you do not have charity or you do not have love that person is nothing.

In verse 3 you could then have the outward giving gifts, the gifts of mercy and of kindness

and helps and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be

burned and have not charity it profits me nothing, it's of no earthly use

and good.

And Paul is saying to this church that they had salvation in Christ and they had

spiritual gifts and yet they were lacking this one thing and you know that the church was in

difficult and dire straits, they had these cliques, there was

dissension in the church, there was factionism, there was

brothers and sisters bringing brothers and sisters into court before the lost

over disputes that they were having, there was sin that was rampant and on and on and on and I believe that the apostle

Paul takes this chapter and really just hits the nail on the head, shines the light upon their

need and their greatest need is that truly within the church they did not have love, they did not have

the love that they ought to have had and he then as he describes the need for love in the church,

he as it were, I think John MacArthur put it this way, if you were to take light and shine it through a prism and the

colors that come out on the other end, he is shining, Paul as he's writing is shining

love through a prism and showing you what ought to come out on the other end or showing us what ought to come out in the

life of a believer and as he goes and he says and somebody mentioned this evening chapter,

in this chapter in verse 4, charity is long suffering or suffers long, it is not short

fused and it is kind and that is the verse, that is the word that I would like

to focus in on this evening, that love demonstrates itself

in a person's life in the child of God's life by that person

being a kind person and I know that maybe this is not something that and I

see that in our church that there is kindness and I know that it is

demonstrated over and over again but I want us to be reminded of it because when days

get more and more difficult in the world in which we live and don't we live in an

unkind world, we live in a ruthless world, we live in a dog

eat dog world, I mean I was just speaking to a contractor on our job who was just newly hired

at the company where I'm employed and he said it was getting so bad Dave on my job

that what was happening was as a contractor we were pitted against each other and your desire,

your focus, your goal was to make yourself look better than all the other

contractors on staff and that was the focus, it wasn't the job, it wasn't to get the, to

take and please or do right by the customers but it was to take care of themselves and

to only look at themselves and not be kind to other people.

Well I think it's important for us this evening to focus on kindness.

Kindness is the fulfillment of our Lord Jesus' words in Matthew 544 where he

said, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them

that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which

despitefully use you and persecute you.

Now if you listen to that description of our Lord and you think about the way of the world, it is

totally the opposite, is it not?

And life in the church of God, life in the family of God, life in a New Testament church is

to be opposite from the world.

If we are going to demonstrate true love and there are plenty of opportunities with the words that are

chosen here in the descriptions that are given about being instead of short fused to be long

tempered, instead of boiling with envy we ought to care for

other people, instead of vaunting ourselves as it says here or bragging upon

ourselves.

The Greek word there is, the root of that is being a windbag, bragging about yourself.

We see and that happens quite often and go right down the list.

They are being puffed up instead of being conceited and proud.

Instead of being this way, we'll take the path of love.

It will take the path of charity where we truly will sacrifice ourselves and it will take a

sacrifice if we are going to really love the objects that we say that we love and one way that we are

going to do that is by showing kindness.

In the Greek the root word for kindness means to be useful.

It carries the meaning of being courteous and of being gentle.

When Paul writes that love is kind, he means that love says I

will do anything I possibly can to be useful to other people.

Now I know it's in the context of the church that we are to be kind one to another but also we look at

the words of our Lord Jesus and it's to be kind to those that are outside of the church and it ought to be

life in and life outside of the church that we find ourselves and we desire to be a people

that are kind.

I can remember reading we were singing the battle hymn of the republic and you know it's very interesting and most people don't realize it

because history, American history has been scrubbed and all the good stuff is rubbed out but during the

civil war there was a great outpouring of God the Holy Spirit upon the troops.

In the north and in the south, particularly in the south though and we had a book in the library here on the book table.

I remember buying it once and reading it and it was absolutely incredible.

Tens upon tens of thousands of southern soldiers were saved.

There was revival sweeping through many of the camps.

They have built them an altar in the evening dew and damps.

They set up tents, they set up tabernacles for worshipping God while they were in the midst of battle

and times when they were away from battle they weren't in, they had opportunities to.

They worshipped God and there were men of God who came out of their churches to go into

service to preach the gospel and to give out tracts and booklets and hundreds and hundreds of

thousands of New Testaments and tracts were given out.

But you know I just think about all that and I think of the mercy of God where thousands and thousands of men were swept

into eternity and God and his mercy saved before they died, tens and tens of thousands

of men.

Well, during the civil war kindness was shown and it's true and it's evident and it's recorded because during

that war it was not uncommon for men on one side to send provisions to the enemy on the

other side.

It reminds me of Proverbs 25 verses 21 and 22 where the scripture says, if your enemy is

hungry give him bread to eat and if he is thirsty give him water to drink

for you will heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward you.

I used to think that that heaping of coals upon someone's head was like a bad thing.

It had a bad connotation to it but really is if you give that, it's basically talking about that which the person needs.

You will give them what they need and that is the right thing even if they are your enemy and isn't that walking as

Jesus walked and the idea of what Paul is trying to say to us is he wants the church at Corinth to

live their lives for the benefit of other people.

To live their lives in a way where they demonstrate true love,

true charity, true kindness and as Christians who are

to show love in our dark world we must look for opportunities to be useful for others.

It's not just the idea and this word has this meaning to it.

The whole idea is not just wait for kindness to come our way or wait for opportunities to just

come right in front of us and then do something about it.

The idea is that we are pursuing these opportunities.

As a believer who truly as we say that we love other people we are looking for and looking

around and watching for opportunities to be kind.

You know one of the greatest times to do that is right after a church service.

I think when I put my hand on the battery or something it makes that noise.

I think I'll move that away from my arm.

One of the greatest opportunities to show kindness is after a church service because there you

have people mulling around.

It would be very easy just to kind of go to the book table, check things out and say hi to all your

friends and then check out and get in the car and go home.

But there are people who have come and visited us who are in great need.

There are people who are outside of Jesus Christ.

There are brothers and sisters in Christ who have come to the service and maybe their day or their week

has not gone well and there's an opportunity to be useful to them, to do

something for them, to maybe encourage them, maybe to help them out, maybe to provide a need when you

ask them the question how you're doing and you don't get the typical okay answer.

Everything is just fine, hunky dory and no problem.

It's an opportunity there.

Tomorrow morning if you were to come to this building at 10 .30 there will be an opportunity to

show kindness.

When you leave and go home to your neighborhood there will be opportunities to show kindness on the

job at school.

Wherever we find ourselves, wherever God puts us, we have opportunities to be

useful to other people in a world where really the whole idea, the whole

focus is me, myself and I with a selfishness and a self -love

and a selfishness so much so that you want or expect or you feel you have the

right to get these things or to get everything that you want to come your way to gratify you and the

opposite Paul here is speaking of is that this kindness is to flow out of us.

This love is to flow out of us and it is to demonstrate itself and by us

doing whatever we can to be helpful to other people, to be useful to other people.

And mark it down, you will have an opportunity to be useful.

This week all you have to do is open your eyes and you'll see the opportunity

come to you and what we need to do is not let them slip through our fingers but we ought to take those opportunities

into hand and by the glory of God, for the glory of God, by the grace of God, act accordingly and show

that we truly do love people.

Well, if we don't do this, we will become like the people described in verses 1 through 3

where we are just going to be a big noise, we are a clanging cymbal, we're just a noisy gong,

we are nothing at the end of verse 2 and it profits us nothing.

MacArthur in one of his study guides concerning this text here, he said that, here's his

mathematical equation when it comes to life and love.

He says life minus love equals, what do you think?

A big zero, a big goose egg.

Life minus love equals zero and we certainly don't want to

be in this and have a life that is like that.

Our desire ought to be to love others as the Lord Jesus Christ loved us enough

and he gave himself for us and he sacrificed himself for the objects of his love and we ought to do his

same.

The Apostle Paul is not writing here and dealing with abstracts, he's not dealing with ideological

ideas, it's not concept, it's not theories.

Love is to be seen in our behavior towards other people.

When we think of love being kind, it shows itself in deeds of kindness.

You remember the woman I believe spoken of in Proverbs 31, it says there that the law of kindness

is upon her tongue.

Even the language that she speaks is kind words.

Deeds of generosity, actions to meet the needs of other people and here's the key

to it also, even if they've been rude to us, even if they've been

unkind to us, even if they don't like us, even if they'll never be a thank you that comes from it,

even if there's no recognition whatsoever before God, we'll be a people who'll be kind to those even

that are unkind to us and persecute us and trouble us and label us and look at us as crazy people.

Those Christians, those wild people over there at Bethlehem Bible Church and we live in

a sinful world, a selfish world, in an evil world that will treat us poorly and

the reaction of loving Christians is to do and be just the opposite.

Instead of sinful, we're to be holy.

Instead of selfish, we're to be selfless.

Instead of evil and doing evil towards others, we are to be kind.

You'll remember these words.

Here's some other examples of scriptures where love is the opposite.

In Proverbs 15, 1, the scripture says that a soft answer turns away

wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.

Now when someone comes with the frontal attack of words toward us, of course, our usual

inclination is that we're going to answer kind with kind.

We're going to answer type with type.

They're going to give it to us, we're going to give it right back to them.

But the scripture says that a soft answer turns away wrath.

Do you know why I think that is true?

It's because when a person is bombarding us with their hatred and they're spewing out the venom at you and they're

very angry and the words are coming and you're just being gracious

and you're being different and you're being the opposite, it's almost like you're putting a mirror up right in front of them and

they're seeing the opposite of what they ought to be and hopefully it will bring them to shame.

But if anything, it doesn't throw fuel on the fire.

Peter wrote of our Lord Jesus that when he was reviled, he reviled not again.

In Romans chapter 12, when it speaks of the duties of the believers in the church, in verse 14, it says, bless

them which persecute you.

Sounds like the Lord's words, doesn't it?

Bless them and curse not.

Verse 17, recompense to no man evil for evil.

And in verse 19, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather

give place unto wrath for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says

the Lord.

We ought to resist getting angry as it says there.

Give place unto wrath.

Smother and suppress the anger and the desire to strike back with hateful words or with evil

actions, which is the normal inclination of the normal tendency in the dark world in which we

live.

Yes, of course, if we're walking in the flesh, this is our first reaction.

The flesh says, pay back time.

Time to get them, let it loose.

And the answer is wrath and anger with wrath and anger.

But if we are walking in the spirit, spirit filled, spirit controlled, spirit influenced, influenced

by the word of God, the word of Christ dwelling in us richly, we will have a long fuse

and we will be kind.

I mean, that is one of the probably one of the most difficult things when it comes to when we're angry.

You just know that it's all beginning to stir and boil on the inside.

And if everybody would be honest with me and if we had a little survey here in the last 12 months, we

would all probably be able to admit to the fact that we have been angry and we have said things that we ought not to

have said and done things which we ought not to have done and struck back when we ought not to have done that.

And what what we ought to say to ourselves is I refuse to answer

evil with evil.

I refuse to avenge myself.

I will leave vengeance in God's hands.

John MacArthur wrote an evil world in an evil world that brings negative influences to

bear on love.

That's the atmosphere in which the true character of love will really shine.

Kindness heals the hurt in a friendship.

Kindness heals the hurt in a marriage or in a church or in a family.

Let me ask you married couples.

Are you kind to each other?

And I mean, are you really kind?

If to be kind means to be useful, is your first thought, what can I do

that would be useful to my husband or to my wife?

Maybe you have been hurt and maybe it is a legitimate gripe that you

have or a legitimate position.

But if we are to demonstrate love

in that disagreement, in that fight, and I always like, I learned this not too long after

getting some tapes from Pastor Tommy Nelson in Texas.

He says, you know, couples, it is okay to fight just as long as you

fight clean.

Remember that one, Lewis?

Have you ever heard him say that?

It is okay to fight just as long as you fight clean.

And what he means by that is that if you are going to have disagreements in your marriage, do it in a righteous way,

do it in a godly way, do it in a controlled way, and do it in a way that you love each other.

You truly do.

Doing it, even when you are irritated, even when you are upset, do you first say,

is the first thing that we say, I am going to be hurtful.

And I am going to give it right back at them.

Or in love, are we going to say, I want to be useful.

You see, this is not the way of this world in which we live.

But this is the way of the world above.

This is the way of the God who called us to be different, to be a peculiar people, to be a zealous people,

peculiar of good works.

In Titus chapter 3, one of the verses I spoke about in

Sunday school class this morning with one of these statements that is a core doctrine or a statement that was

well known in the church, Paul writes here and he says, this is a faithful saying, and these things I will that

thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good

works.

These things are good and profitable unto man.

Something that we ought to have in our lives, our lives ought to be characterized.

We ought to be careful or we ought to exercise, and what that is in our lives is to

maintain good works.

And part of that good works, part of that righteous living is to live a life where

we love other people and that love is going to show itself in kindness.

This is God's way because our God is love.

And since we are his children, love is to be a very vital part of our behavior and conduct.

It is to be the motivation behind our ministry.

It is to be the power behind our thoughts and words and activities.

For just a moment here, I'd like to speak to the young children.

It's a blessing to have children in the service, and they pick the hymns.

They pick good hymns sometimes and they pick different hymns sometimes, and that's okay.

I hope they go away with memories.

I hope they go away thinking that I went to church and they told us about Jesus and they told us the truth and

we saw people who were preaching the truth of the word of God.

Well, children, what do you do when your feelings are hurt by a friend or your brother or sister?

What do you do?

Do you give that person or your brother and sister a taste of their own medicine?

Do you man the battle stations and try to blow them out of the water?

Or wouldn't it be better to do it God's way by being different from everyone else and reacting in love with a

patience and with a long suffering and then show some kindness by being

useful to those people, maybe somebody in school who has been hurtful

to you.

Maybe your brother or sister has not been kind to you, but you don't answer it by being unkind.

You be kind to them.

And I'm going to try to give you some examples of that later.

I think of a great example of this where someone who had some brothers that really

were unkind to him, that hated him, despised him, was Joseph.

You remember his brother sold him off to a caravan and took him away from his father and took him away from

his country.

Because of what his hateful brothers did, I don't know if you've ever read it in the scriptures, it

says that Joseph was pleading in that pit and his brothers turned a deaf ear away from

him.

He was crying out for his brothers to spare him and they turned away from him.

And he spent a long time in prison and his life was very, very difficult.

But later on when he meets his brothers, in Genesis chapter 45, instead of retaliating,

instead of seeking revenge, and could Joseph have done it?

Of course he could have.

What was his position?

He's the prime minister of Egypt, basically.

He's the second in command.

He could have let him have it.

In Genesis 45, 15, it says Joseph kissed all his brothers and

wept on them.

He did them good.

You remember.

He heaped coals of fire upon them.

He gave them grain.

He gave them food.

And he took care of them.

He didn't repay the evil with evil.

I think of other examples of people in the scriptures who were kind to others.

Remember Rahab taking care of the spies.

What an act of kindness.

She had her own life's peril.

She took care of those men.

I think of even for children.

I think kindness is being useful.

Here's a little boy, a big crowd, a big multitude, and Jesus has been ministering

and there's no food to feed everybody.

And he offers up his little lunch sack and he wants to be helpful and he wants to be useful.

And God takes that and multiplies it.

He was kind.

He gave it away.

You probably could think of other examples in the scriptures where people were kind.

This is the more excellent way.

What about us at school or at home or at work or in the town in which we live, in our neighborhood, in the church?

Let me ask us all this question.

When we've just gotten our feelings hurt, when someone has made fun of us, when someone strikes

out at us in anger, when they get right in our face and blast us, here's the question.

Is my first thought to get angry and get back at them, or is my first thought, how can

I repay their anger with kindness?

I don't know if you've read the story.

I just found it yesterday.

I have a unique filing system at home.

It's like the stuff goes everywhere and it's by the Lord's grace

when I need something.

For the most part, I can find it.

My wife's back there smiling.

She's trying to hold the smile back.

But I found this.

A story of kindness.

I don't know if you've ever read it.

It's about a man who has a neighbor who is just belligerent and he's just awful.

He just treats him and everything about him and his family and his dog, everything, just

kicking everything and just ornery and ugly.

This neighbor who is a Christian, his desire is to win him to God, to win him to Christ.

And the whole phrase that he uses is that he's going to kill him with kindness.

Kill him with kindness.

And I think that we have a challenge before us because we have a lot of people who are trying to kill us with

evil in the world in which we live.

They're trying to stomp on us at times.

They're trying to do us wrong and they're persecuting.

And if they haven't yet, they will.

If you name the name of Christ, the Bible tells us that all that will live godly in Christ

Jesus shall suffer persecution, 2nd Timothy 3 .12.

It's going to come our way sooner or later.

And with that onslaught towards us, our desire ought to be

that we kill them with kindness.

That we live in such a way that we give them no excuse when they look at us.

I mean, just think about this.

How would this go?

You go into the restaurant and the whole time you're in the restaurant, you're

complaining.

I mean, the water isn't even clear enough.

Nothing is good.

The waitress can't or the waiter cannot do anything right.

And you let them know it.

You're too slow.

I don't like this.

Why isn't this on the menu?

And then when you get up from the table, you leave a track on the table and you say, I hope you come to Christ.

I mean, foolishness, isn't it?

I mean, think about that way.

It's hypocrisy.

It's not a great testimony.

And what we ought to be is a people who are always kind, even if the food's bad, even if the

service is bad.

I mean, we don't have to eject or jettison our Christian principles and live

in a way that is unloving and not being useful, but do

what we can to be useful and find the opportunities to be able to help other people.

I wonder how we measure up.

Am I crazy?

I mean, you know, I mean, I don't believe so because this is in God's word.

First Corinthians 13, chapter four, charity suffers longer.

Charity is patient and charity is kind.

It's generous.

It's courteous.

I mean, it's as a Christian, I think we ought to be the most courteous people on the face of the earth.

I think that men and I mean, I may be old school, but I think that men ought to open the doors for women.

I think that the boys ought to open the doors for girls and the women go first.

And we say, please, and we say, thank you.

And no, sir, and no, ma 'am.

And we're just kind and courteous to our to each other and to other people and treat

each other in a fashion to where we are.

We are just very useful and edifying and helpful to those that are around us.

The opposite of that.

What is the opposite of love?

Hate.

And how does hatred demonstrate itself?

Hatred is not kind.

When a person hates another person, they show it by seeking revenge.

By anger at other people and violent words and violent actions towards others and

striking out at other people and hate and hatred is awfully severe when I

mean it cuts no slack.

It's just it's just brazen and it's in your face and it just comes after you and it's just a horrible

onslaught.

And it's also harsh when someone hates someone.

They are very harsh towards their feelings.

They are they are not caring for them.

They are not trying to help and lift that person up, but they just run over them like a steamroller.

And I've seen that over and over again in the workplace.

And you probably have, too, for many of you have been in the in the workplace.

It is just king of the hill.

I want to get up to the top and I want to be number one.

And it doesn't matter how I get there and who I step on.

But the believer is one who humbles themselves under the mighty hand of God.

And as we humble ourselves, we desire by the grace of God to be a people who truly

love other people.

And we may have a way to go, but thank God and praise God for how far we may have already come by

his grace.

In the light of what the Bible, this Bible verse means, we need to apply God's word now, today

and every opportunity that we have here in this place at home, in the neighborhood, the towns in which we

live on the job.

Parents, again, are you kind to your children?

Are you truly kind and you want to be useful to your children and raise them in the nurture and

admonition of the Lord, even when it's difficult, even when it doesn't seem like

there's going to be any payback, even when it seems like it's not sinking in?

Are you kind and looking for opportunities to be useful?

And husbands and wives, are you kind to each other?

I think of Ephesians chapter four in verse thirty two, thirty one or thirty two, where it speaks

of believers.

And of course, hopefully it's great when a husband and wife are in Christ together.

The Bible says, be kind one to another.

Isn't that what it says?

Be you be you kind, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God,

for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.

Let me ask the question.

Was it kindness from the Lord to save us from the horrible

condition we were in outside of Jesus Christ?

Yes, it is a demonstration, as Steve Lawson was speaking of in the Psalms, God's

loving kindness.

Such kindness to us who did not deserve it, and God acted in that way toward us, and

God gives us a new heart that beats for him and has a desire to walk in the way of the Lord and to

be holy as the Lord is holy, be distinct and be unique and and be separate in the world in which we

live.

And as parents and as husbands and wives, are we kind to each other?

Children, I'm gonna come back to you because I promised you I'd come back and give you some examples.

Are you kind to your brothers and sisters in the house?

Are you kind to them?

I mean really kind.

Or do you strike out at them when they've done something to make you upset?

It's a daily effort that you'll have to undergo to try to be different.

How about this?

Here, let me give you a couple examples to do what you could do.

You could actually go into their room when they're not there, and you could pick up everything and put

all the toys away and fold up all the clothes and stick them in the drawers or throw it in the in the laundry room.

I mean, when it's their turn to do the dishes or to throw out the trash or to let the dog

out or feed the dog or whatever, you do it instead.

That would be kind.

You're making yourself useful.

That's an actual real hands -on example.

And I have it for the adults also.

What about loving our neighbor as ourself?

You want to do something to really blow your neighbor's mind, as a good friend of mine used to say.

When they go on vacation, mow their lawn or rake their lawn or go

wash their windows or something.

Go wash their car.

Sweep the driveway when they're not there.

And when they come home, they'll see that you were desirous to be kind.

And you know who you do it to.

You do it to the most ornery neighbor.

You do it to the one who does not want you to be around and has nothing for Christianity and does not

accept the things of God, does not want to hear the gospel.

Be kind to them.

Don't look for anything in return, but show love and true love.

How about in the church?

How about when it comes to BBC?

What about our life as members in the church?

How are we doing there when it comes to being kind?

Are we only kind to the people we like?

Are we only kind to the ones that we get along with?

Love is kind and love gives and love acts.

And love isn't just plain being kind.

It looks for opportunities over and over and over again.

Love is on a mission.

That's what the whole idea is.

When you look at what Paul is teaching here, he's saying it's not just a principle.

It's not just something in your head.

It's not just some type of thoughts that we have.

It's not concepts.

It's not theory.

It's action.

It's doing what we say we profess.

We profess to be a people of love, of people who want to desire and live as

Christ did.

And Paul is making it very clear how we do that in our lives.

And one of the ways is to be kind and to be useful to other people.

Romans 1210, when it comes to brotherly kindness, the word of God says there that we are to have an

affectionate love in the church, to have an affectionate love, a family sort of love.

In the King James, it's a be kindly affectioned one toward another.

How about folks at work?

Are you kind to your boss?

Are you kind to your boss or do you talk about him behind his back?

You disrespect him because you will let other people disrespect him in front of your ears and you don't walk away from it.

Be kind to your boss.

When everybody else is talking about the boss behind his back, why don't you go buy him or her

something and stick it on their desk and make their day and be kind.

Go over and above.

I really did like, I mean, there's some things that just stick in your mind.

Do you remember Steve Lawson's admonition, practical admonition when it comes to the workplace

for young people?

He was, I think he was recounting what John MacArthur was telling young people coming out of college, going into the workforce.

He told them what to do.

He said, first, show up on time, right?

Show up and show up on time.

And then secondly, do what you're told to do and do it with a good attitude.

And I'd go beyond that.

Do what you do and do it with a good attitude and be kind at work.

Don't look just for the promotion.

Do you realize that promotion doesn't come from man?

The scripture says promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge.

He puts down one and he sets up another.

Promotion comes from the Lord.

And if we honor the Lord at our workplace, I believe that God will honor us.

And in due time, he will bring us to the place where he wants us to be.

And I just love, I just love doing things for other people as God gives me grace to do

so.

And I trust that you would be the same.

You would desire to go over and above the world and live above it and be useful

to other people.

I mean, I remember examples.

Have you ever been in an airport?

And you know, the mechanical, there's a mechanical delay or weather or something.

And I've seen people treat the poor airline staff behind the counter as if, you know, with the anger and the

verbal abuse.

And it's not even their fault.

And they just go after them.

And I mean, they're not even thinking, what if it was you behind the counter?

You know, how would you want to be treated?

And when it's all said and done, and they've yelled, they've yelled at them, and they've been angry and

abusive to them, then when they want something, who do they go to right up to the counter again, and they just expect that they're going to get treated?

Well, I mean, it's foolishness.

And I think that if we maintain, and here's what it is, in our Christian lives, if we maintain a balance, and if we

maintain a consistency, that as we are in the church and outside of the church, at home,

by ourselves in private, on the job, at school, in our neighborhoods, when we meet with our biological

families, that we maintain a consistency.

And we desire that with all of our hearts, we want to please the Lord.

And in this one way, as we're looking at this evening, we want to be a people who are kind.

Jesus said in Matthew 712, therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do

you even so to them.

One of the illustrations of kindness that I found years ago, and I remember actually seeing this,

it was of a little brother and a sister.

And in this film clip, they had like a wall, and along the wall, there was this like shelf.

And they're walking up high, so they can't step down off of it.

And there's a shelf, and then there's an opening, and there's another shelf on the other side.

And they're walking down this shelf, and the gulf is too big, they can't get across.

So how do they get across?

The brother, the little boy, lays down across it, and his sister walks across

his back to the other side, and then she helps pull him over to the other side.

And I believe that if we would be willing, and it's going to take this, it's going to take a humbling of

ourselves and a lowering of ourselves and a being stepped on sometimes, a

selflessness, a sacrificial attitude, returning of

kindness instead of revenge.

And this is something we ought to do as we put on our clothes every day, we ought to put on kindness, because the scriptures tell us

to do that.

And Colossians 312, put on, therefore, as the elect of God, and one of the things

that we're to put on is, you guessed it, kindness.

Kindness, just like putting on our regular clothes.

Well, what is this?

What is the whole thrust here this evening in this short message, in this short admonition for us?

Look, we're not going to be anything, and we're just going to be empty.

And we're just going to be a clanging cymbal or a noisy gong.

And that could equate to, in the pagan times, when there were these symbols that were banged

to the gods, to the false gods that Paul could have been referring to here that he had seen, that our

life will be like that.

It will be offered up for nothing.

It just will be empty and meaningless and fruitless.

And we will be nothing, and we will profit ourselves nothing, nor those around us.

You remember that admonition in Titus 3, that we're to be careful to maintain good works.

These things are good and profitable unto men.

It will be profitable for those around us if we put on kindness, if we

look for opportunities.

And I think that if you go on the hunt for it, you're going to find the opportunities.

And then when the opportunity presents itself, take the opportunity.

Don't miss the opportunity because you all know what it's like when you had an opportunity to maybe speak to

somebody or do something, and you missed that, and just the guilt and the shame that you feel because you missed it.

But seize that opportunity, and by the glory of God, by the grace

of God, have yourself to be profitable to other people by being kind to them.

And I think more than anything, what it will do is it brings honor to Christ.

It brings honor to the Lord who we say has saved us.

And because we're in Christ, and old things are passed away, the old way that we used to act towards people

is gone, and it ought to be gone.

And the new life, the new heart, the Spirit of God controlling us and

influencing us, our life ought to take on

this whole attitude of showing love by kindness.

Let me ask this question as I close.

When others look at your life, when others look at my life, when they look at the life of

a family life within BBC, would they say that you and

I are a kind person?

Ladies, like I said in Proverbs 31, is the law of kindness upon your tongue?

Are you like the widow in 1 Timothy chapter 5 who is hospitable,

helpful to other people, raising her children?

And as a mother, are you raising your children in kindness?

And as a father, are you kindly affection to your children?

Are you, men, kind to people that the Lord puts in your path?

Are you kind at work?

Are you kind when you go to school if you claim to be a Christian?

Are you kind in your community more than anything?

And just don't put it as a word of just kind and smiling and all happy, but it's action, and love is action,

and it is making ourselves useful for others.

Maybe, Lord willing, by God's grace, He will put it in our hearts

to strive to be like this, to desire to be a different people, and

maybe we'll have an opportunity this week to carry out this message.

And if you come tomorrow at 10 30, I'm sure there'll be an opportunity at the funeral service for Donna.