Please read the previous article first, titled,
THE KINGDOM.
In that article, we briefly touched on the subject of
the kingdom. The verses in the King James Version of the
bible, with which we began, were Luke 17: 20, 21. For your convenience,
here they are again.
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the
kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The
kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they
say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS
WITHIN YOU [Luke 17:20, 21]. KJV
I have been asked questions, such as, "If the
fleshly things of biblical Judaism ceased to exist by AD 70, what do I
teach, or what do I preach, or what do I live?"
My response was (and is), "Preach, teach and live the kingdom!"
Do you desire to do today, what YHVH (God) requires of
you? Then look at the unseen things. We cannot see inside of
us (where God lives and reigns), neither can we see in each other the
inside things. There are both good and bad things inside of the heart
(not the physical blood pump).
In the previous article, we looked briefly about being
tenderhearted. We must let the feelings of others through the hard
layers of our hearts, so that we can be touched and feel for them. That is
the only way that we can be happy because he is happy, or sad because he
is sad; the only way to be merry with the merry person, and cry with the
one who cries.
Since the same passage that deals with being
tenderhearted also deals with being kind, let us look at
kindness.
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you [Eph.
4:32]. KJV
Please observe my further comments very closely. During
the last 12 years, I have conversed with many preachers and pastors. After
some conversation, I asked them a question, with a preface. It went
something like this:
I know that you, being a pastor, have read passages
that use the word kind (probably both privately and publicly). What
I would like for you to honestly tell me is this: "Have you ever preached
an entire sermon on kindness?" Usually, they will scratch
their heads, and then respond, "No." Some of these persons have been
preaching (?) for over 50 years. Then I follow up with another
question. "Have you ever heard of a pastor who preached an entire sermon
on it?" And again, the response was, "No!" Well, I have been preaching
since I was 17 years old. I am now 70 years old. No, I have never preached
an entire lesson on "be ye kind one toward another." Yes, I did hear one
sermon from another preacher. He had been preaching longer than I had when
I asked him the questions, and his answers were "No." But, he said, "I
will!" I said, "Well, give me the time and place and I will come hear
you." Brother Jimmy Henry gave me the time and place and I went. And he
preached an entire sermon on "be ye kind" and did a magnificent job of it.
Thanks Jimmy.
Being kind is producing the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of
the Spirit is unseen.
The definition of the Greek word, chrestos,
is: "… good, gracious, kind (of persons)" [W.E. Vine in Vine’s
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol. 2, Page 204].
The English definition of kind, is:
1.Gentle and considerate in behavior;
goodhearted, benign. 2.Proceeding from or manifesting goodheartedness:
a kind act [The Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary,
Page 744].
Kindness is an unseen characteristic of one who is directed
by the unseen YHVH and His unseen reign in our hearts.
In the world in which we live, it is not easy to be kind. We must always
be conscious that we should exercise kindness. We must work on it
continually.
When we receive a telemarketing call during dinner, are we kind?
Whoooops! When someone cuts us off in traffic, are we kind? Whoooops! Do
we allow a person to get in front of us when the traffic is moving slowly?
No? Well, he can get right behind us. I remember my father telling me
about standing in the bread lines during the great depression of
the early 1930’s. Someone would plead, "Would you let me get in line in
front of you? I have a wife and 5 children to feed." To which my
father replied, "No, but you can get right behind me." Guess what
the next person behind him said... and the next person behind him, etc?
Yep, the guy wound up at the end of the line. By the way, my father had a
wife and 5 children to feed too. Well, where does duty to take care of
one’s family and thinking about kindness stop or interact?
The kingdom (reign) of YHVH is within us. It is unseen.
Kindness is also within us, and it too is unseen. But we can
perceive whether a person exercises his/her kindness by observing what the
person does in the situations that call for kindness. Do we stop to think
that a particular situation might call for compassion, gentleness or just
plain old goodness?
The kingdom of God is an unseen, spiritual kingdom. Its
characteristics are unseen and spiritual. The spiritual things are always
the unseen things. But they are manifested, and in those
acts or works that we perform, can be seen whether or not we are spiritual
– whether or not we abide by the essence of the unseen things of
our unseen YHVH.
The next time that you are faced with any situation, before you act …
think. Think about being kind and considerate before you act. If you
continue to think this way, you are manifesting the fruit of the Spirit of
God.
What about us today – 2,000 years after the destruction of biblical
Judaism in AD 70? Manifest by your actions the unseen things of the
unseen reign of YHVH. They are within you, let them out!
By the way, after having read this, even if you disagree, are you
thinking kind things toward me? Hey, if I am wrong, I need help. So
don’t do what most do by judging me and/or running me down in your mind or
to others. And, if you are sharing good news with others, why not
spend a complete hour on this subject? Yes, I know that it will take a
great deal of research, but it will help you and those who hear you.
May YHVH bless you in practicing the good things, rather than being
unkind.
…be ye kind one to another!