Daily Verses
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"Joy is Jesus"
John 15:1-17
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (v.11)
The words of our Lord in the text before us today point to the fact that His joy and our joy are not different joys -- but one and the same. He says: "My joy may be in you and ... your joy may be complete." His joy and our joy are not alien, but allied. And you cannot take His joy within you without your own joy being made complete. We are made in the inner structure of our beings for the joy of Christ; His joy completes ours."All things were created by him and for him" (Col. 1:16). This exciting verse tells us that the stamp of Christ is upon all creation -- we were made by Him and for Him. I sometimes imagine that if we could design an instrument that could look into the human spirit, we would see stamped there the words: "Made by Christ and for Christ."Christian joy certainly awaits us in heaven but we can also experience it as we make our way toward heaven.
Christian joy is a joy that flows out of a sense of well-being, of harmony with the sum total of reality, of direct and immediate contact with His joy. Rendell Harris says; "Joy is the strength of the people of God; it is their characteristic mark." And when that mark is absent, then the characteristic of a Christian is absent. The best definition of joy I have ever heard, one that comes close to the text before us today, was given to me by a thirteen-year-old boy: "Joy is Jesus." What better definition can one want? Jesus!
For Further Study
Acts 8:1-8; John 17:13; 1 Pet. 1:8
1. What brought joy to Samaria?
2. How does Peter describe this joy? -
In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.....so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive.
[Titus 2:7-10]
Abba Father, we have sinned gravely. We have tarnished your sacred Name with our way of sexuality, our pride and falsehood, our love for the flesh and money, our greed for the possessions of this earth, our thirst is not after your living waters but after the stale and tasteless water this world only can offers. Fill our lives once again with those that are holy and pure, the things that are noble, worthy of all praise. Readjust our lifestyles and priorities that so often we have made a mess out of it. Teach our hearts to discern what is right and wrong, what is pleasing in your eyes and those which are abominable. In all our ways, guide us to your path of righteousness without which we are on our way to eternal damnation.
For the sake of your only Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you and with the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever without end. Amen. -
"Limp in -- leap out"
Nehemiah 8:1-12
"... the joy of the Lord is your strength." (v.10)
Joy is part of a Christian's armor. Jealousy, for example, can quickly find a lodging place in a heart which is unsatisfied. The joy of Jesus banishes all that. This particular fruit of the Spirit secures us from the sins which can so easily beset us. Brimming joy, for example, helps to cancel out any envy that may arise within us. Instead, our souls long to share the treasures that we ourselves have found.
Joy keeps us alert and alive spiritually. Disease germs, we are told, penetrate most easily into a body debilitated by despondency. So do the termites of the spirit. They enter without ceremony and eat away the health of the soul. Joy gives them no room. It immunizes the spirit against attack. Joy is not just the bloom of health; it is its protection also. Remember, you are made for joy and if there is not joy in your life, then there is something wrong: joy is being blocked. Clear away the blocks and joy comes automatically.
If you are conscious that you lack this deep abiding joy, then look within. Ask yourself: how close am I to God? What steps do I need to take to deepen my relationship with Him? Give yourself to Him fully. If He is to transfer to you His total joy, then He must have the total you. A garage has a sign: "Limp in -- leap out." That's what will happen to you when you surrender yourself fully to Him. You will limp in and leap out. God is not withholding Himself and you must not withhold yourself. Where the two meet, joy is inevitable.
For Further Study
Acts 3:1-10; Isa. 12:3, 35:10; John 16:24
1. What was the testimony of the lame man?
2. What are we to do so that our joy may be complete? -
A word with a great history
Philippians 4:1-9
"... the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds ..." (v.7)
We pass now from considering love and joy to the third fruit of the Spirit -- peace. The order is an inspired one: first, love -- love is preeminent; then joy -- joy comes as a result of love; and then peace -- peace is joy grown quiet and assured. A preacher once drew a comparison between joy and peace: "Joy is peace with its hat thrown high in the air and peace is joy with its arms folded in serene assurance." How beautiful!William Barclay says that the word "peace" (Greek: eiriene) came into the New Testament with a great history. It is a translation of the Hebrew word shalom, meaning peace. In classical Greek, "peace" was mainly negative, implying freedom from war or hostilities, but in the New Testament, the word gathers up positive elements such as are seen in shalom. The central meaning is serenity and harmony. "Peace" occurs eighty-eight times in the New Testament, and it appears in every book. This makes the New Testament a book of peace.
The peace of which we are speaking here is not something that can be manufactured. We cannot make it -- any more than we can make the other fruit of the Spirit. It is divinely and supernaturally given -- a glorious consequence of God's presence in the soul. Jesus knew this kind of peace and He offers the same serenity to every one of His disciples: "My peace I give to you ... Let not your hearts be disquieted or timid" (John 14:27, Moffatt). Remember this -- when you remain in Him, you have access to a peace that not only passes understanding -- but all misunderstanding also.
For Further Study
Psa. 55:1-23; 29:11; 119:165
1. What was the heart-cry of the psalmist?
2. What was God's promise to him? -
What peace is not
2 Thessalonians 3:1-16
"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way ..." (v.16)
It will be easier to bring out the true character of peace if we seek to show how it differs from other states of mind with which it has a superficial resemblance.
Firstly, peace is not passivity. Some people are abnormally unreactive by temperament. Their natures are bovine -- slow like an ox. They just seem to let the world wash by and take no resolute attitude to life at all. It is possible to look at someone with a temperament like this and conclude that they are manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. But passivity is as far removed from peace as chalk is from cheese. One is natural, the other supernatural.
Again, peace is not mental gymnastics. Today's world is full of "mind-healers" who promise that if you attend their seminars or enroll in their courses, they will give you the poise and integration you always wanted. An advertisement says: "Let us show you how to achieve peace of mind." The phrase "peace of mind" in itself reveals the shallowness of the approach. You cannot have peace of mind until you have something deeper than peace of mind. When you have peace at the depths of your spirit, then peace of mind is the result of that deeper peace. You cannot have peace of mind if there is conflict in the spirit. Peace, which is the fruit of the Spirit, includes peace of mind, but it goes deeper than the mind and reaches to the center of the spirit. When peace flows there, then and only then can a person experience peace of mind. To tinker with the mind and let the depths be untouched is just to tinker.
For Further Study
Isa. 26:1-3; Psa. 4:8; Phil. 4:7
1. How are we kept in perfect peace?
2. Where does the Lord cause us to dwell? -
The best possible peace ...
Mark 4:35-41
"... the waves broke over the boat ... Jesus was in the stern, sleeping ..." (vv.37-3
We continue examining the essential differences between supernatural peace and certain other states of mind. Peace is not withdrawal. At recurring intervals in the life of the Christian Church, various forms of withdrawal have been practiced with a view to discovering inner peace. Early Methodism was almost wrecked by a form of it known as "stillness." The idea was to withdraw from all activity and remain "still" before the Lord. This kind of "stillness" is not to be confused with the supernatural peace which the Spirit brings to the hearts of God's people. "Stillness" is something achieved; peace is something given. Someone has said: "He only is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain quicker, whose spirit is entering into living peace." Note the words: "whose spirit is entering into living peace." Peace, to be peace, must be a living peace -- not a dead peace of retreat out of responsibility, or an encasement into insensibility.
Supernatural peace is, like joy -- entirely independent of circumstances. This truth is brought out most clearly in today's passage. As the wind whips up the waves, the Son of God remains asleep in the stern of the boat. Why the emphasis on the "stern"? I am told that this is the worst place to be when a boat is being tossed about by a storm. Yet in the worst possible place, Jesus enjoyed the best possible peace -- sleep. The peace of God does not require a mold of easy circumstances in which to operate. Nothing can push it under and nothing can push it over.
For Further Study
Eph. 2:1-14; John 14:27; 16:33
1. What did Jesus say about His peace?
2. Where must our peace be established? -
How peace continues ...
Isaiah 26:1-12
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you ..." (v.3, NKJV)
We ended yesterday by saying that our Lord enjoyed the best possible peace -- sleep -- in the worst possible place -- the stern of the boat. We see another demonstration of this deep serenity our Lord enjoyed when, as the ugly arms of the Cross stretched out to take Him, He said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you" (John 14:27, NKJV). Galilee in storm and Calvary in darkness both set it off. The issue we must now face is this -- although peace is something given rather than something achieved, its continuance is guaranteed only as we fulfill certain conditions. If, for example, we decide to go on an immoral spree, we will soon find that peace will elude us. Scripture says: "There is no peace ... for the wicked" (Isa. 57:21, NKJV). Why? Because peace is conditional on obedience to morality -- biblical morality.
Our text for today gives us another condition on which continuing peace depends: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you." Note the words -- "stayed on you." This shows that in order to enjoy continuous peace, there must be a conscious centering on God. He must not be the place of occasional reference but of continuous reference. Furthermore, He must be the center of our trust: "because he trusts in you." W. B. Yeats tells in these gripping lines the results of a lack of trust in God:Things fall apart, the center cannot hold,Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world ...
Things really do fall apart when the center does not hold -- and no center will hold if the center is not fixed on God.
For Further Study
Heb. 4; Psa. 116:7; Matt. 11:29
1. What will we receive as we accept Christ's yoke?
2. What prevented the children of Israel from fully entering into their rest? -
Wholehearted belief
Mark 11:12-26
" 'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered" (v.22)
Today we look at another condition on which continuing peace depends -- complete and utter faith in God. A Christian who truly believes in God -- not pretends to believe, or half-believes -- will inevitably enjoy and experience God's perfect peace. But what does it mean to believe in God? What are the basic requirements? A Christian believes -- and believes wholeheartedly -- that Jesus is God and that He is the Savior of the world (Rom. 10:9). He believes also that the universe is in the keeping of Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Love, and that God is directing the course of his individual life (Psa. 139:16). He believes, too, that nothing can happen in the universe except as God permits. If it were possible to conceive of anything out of which God could not bring good, then God would not permit it (Rom. 8:28 ). In the deepest possible sense, the Christian therefore says:"Whate'er events betide Thy will they all perform."A Christian believes, further, that God holds the universe together. Man may be free but his freedom is limited. He cannot extinguish the stars, pluck the sun from the sky, blow the earth to smithereens with atomic explosions, quench love in a mother's heart, prevent the return of spring or defeat the purpose of God which was revealed at Calvary. God would not allow any of the things I have listed, for they would be contrary to His design for the universe. The peace of a Christian is therefore set deep in the rock of reality. It is based on his complete and utter faith in God.
For Further Study
Heb. 11; Psa. 37:5; 1 John 5:4
1. In what areas of your Christian life are you exercising faith?
2. Where does our victory stem from? -
Three attitudes to God's will
Acts 22:1-16
"... The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will ..." (v.14)
Another condition of continuing peace in the heart of a Christian is this -- joyful abandonment to the Father's will. There are three main attitudes to the will of God found among believers. Some resign themselves to God's will, some rebel against God's will and some rejoice in God's will.
Those who resign themselves to it are the people who, having been caught up in some trouble or difficulty, fail to see that divine love and wisdom are at work, redeeming every situation and turning it to good -- hence their hearts are filled with irritation and resentment. Eventually they get over it and by grace resign themselves to the will of God. They are not happy at what God has allowed, but they resign themselves to "putting up with the inevitable." One hears them say in half-hearted and grudging tones: "Well, I'm resigned to it now." But resignation is not a full Christian grace; beneath it lies an unconquered and unsubmissive spirit.
Others, as we said, rebel against the will of God. These are the people who don't just "put up with the inevitable" but take up arms against God and let Him know that they do not believe He is working in their best interests. Over the years I have met many Christians like this. They do not bring out the rebellion they feel toward God in their conversations with other Christians or even in their public prayers, but it is quietly suppressed and can break out at any time. Such people never enjoy the peace of God because, quite simply, they have never truly believed that divine love and wisdom can turn all things to good.
For Further Study
Eph. 6:1-8; Heb. 13:20-21; Prov. 16:7
1. How should we carry out the will of God?
2. How are you carrying out the will of God? -
Haggai 2:6-9
6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8 ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
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No Long-Term Value
This past spring the best basketball player ever to hit the hardwood hung up his hightops. Michael Jordan finished his fifteenth professional season, calling it a career after amassing more than 32,000 points and 5,000 assists at the expense of would-be defenders.
The man who won six NBA Championships and received five Most Valuable Player awards struggled at times during his final year in pro hoops. After one game, in which he played despite back spasms, Michael said, “I had a lot of people telling me not to [play tonight], because they felt like it would damage long-term value. I said, ‘I don’t have long-term value!’”
Even the very best athletes get to the stage when they recognize their time on the world stage is drawing to a close.
Recognizing the brevity of our lives is important for JesusÂ’ followers. It helps us to focus on what is truly valuable. How often do you and I live as if the stuff of this world will last forever? How often do we make the temporal more important than the eternal?
There is no long-term value to be found in this world. God reminded Haggai of this fact. As the prophet eagerly implored his fellow Jews to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (1:2), God made sure he knew what was on the horizon: “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth . . . . and I will fill this house with glory . . . . The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine . . . . And in this place I will grant peace” (2:6-9).
God reminded Haggai that one day His glory would return to His house. In the future, Jesus will come to judge the nations (Hebrews 12:26-27), and all will know that He alone is worthy of glory.
Let’s be ready. Let’s live to reflect long-term value. —Tom Felten
Our value transcends life.
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Utter abandonment
Luke 1:26-38
"... Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word ..." (v.38, NKJV)
Those who know peace are those who know how to rejoice in the divine will. It is the attitude of Mary who, in our text today, says: "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word."One great writer, Francis de Sales, puts it this way: "To rejoice in God's will suggests mobility -- the mobility of a voyager who moves with the motion of the vessel on which he has embarked. It suggests also the abandonment of a servant in attendance on his lord, going only where his master goes. It is the attitude of a child leaving to his mother the care of willing, choosing and acting for him, content to be in her safe and tender keeping."
The biographer of Sadhu Sundar Singh, the great Indian Christian, says: "Realize that, to the Sadhu as to Paul, partnership with Christ was a passion and a privilege that transformed hardship, labor and loss from something which was to be accepted negatively as an unfortunate necessity into something positively welcomed for His sake -- and you will understand a little of the secret of the Sadhu's peace."Our Lord, of course, is once again the supreme example of this. As Robert Nicoll puts it: "He did not merely accept the will of God when it was brought to Him and laid upon Him. Rather, He went out to meet that loving will and fell upon its neck and kissed it." Saints down the ages have illustrated through their lives the quality of this ripened peace. Oh, that we, His present-day saints, might show it too.
For Further Study
Psa. 40:1-8; 143:10; Rom. 12:1
1. What was the psalmist's prayer?
2. What was the psalmist's response? -
Good temper
Ecclesiastes 7:1-12
"... and patience is better than pride." (v.
The fourth fruit of the Spirit is patience. The central meaning of this word (Greek: makrothumia) is "good temper." It denotes a person who does not easily "fly off the handle." He maintains good temper amid the flux and flow of human events.
One commentator says of this word: "This fourth fruit of the Spirit expresses the attitude to people which never loses patience with them, however unreasonable they may be, and never loses hope for them, however unlovely and unteachable they may be." Archbishop Trench defined the word as "a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or to passion, the self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong." And Moffatt describes it as "the tenacity with which faith holds out."Good temper must not, however, be confused with apathy. In the days of the early Church, the group called the Stoics made indifference a virtue. They said: "Nothing is worth suffering for, so build a wall around your heart and keep out all sense of feeling." The early Christians did not share that view, however, for Christians care -- and because they cared, they suffered. Through the ministry of the Spirit in their lives, they found poise and good temper amidst their sufferings. The more we care, the more sensitive we will be to things that tend to block our goal of caring -- that is why the quality of patience is so essential. An evangelist addressing a meeting was subjected to persistent heckling. Unfortunately, he lost his temper -- and also his audience. They saw he had little to offer except words.
For Further Study
Num. 20:1-13; Luke 21:19; Rom. 12:12
1. What was the result of Moses' impatience?
2. What will be the result of our patience? -
Looking around with anger
Mark 3:1-6
"He looked round at them in anger ..." (v.5)
Did Jesus ever lose His temper? Some, looking at the passage before us today, might think so. In fact, I once heard a Christian defending his temper by saying: "If Jesus could not control His temper when faced with the scorn of the Pharisees in Mark 3, why should I be condemned for my inability to control mine?"Did the behavior of Jesus on this occasion result from a loss of temper? Of course not. One luminous phrase lights up the story and puts the matter in its proper perspective: "being grieved by the hardness of their hearts" (v.5, NKJV). The reason why Jesus "looked around at them with anger" was because He was "grieved by the hardness of their hearts." The cause of His anger was grief, not loss of temper -- grief at their insensibility to human need. It was grief at what was happening to someone else, not personal pique at what was happening to Him.
Whenever we get angry, it is usually because our ego has been wounded and hits back, not in redemption but in retaliation. There is a temper that is redemptive and there is a temper that is retaliatory. The redemptive temper burns with the steady fire of redemptive intention; the retaliatory temper simply burns you up. It was intended to burn the other person up, but all it serves to do is to burn you. Patience, the fruit of the Spirit, works in us -- if we let it -- to temper our purposes to the Kingdom, and to Kingdom purposes alone.
For Further Study
Eph. 4:1-27; Prov. 19:11; Eccl. 7:9
1. How can we be angry without committing sin?
2. Why is it important "not to let the sun go down on our wrath" -
How Jesus handled tension
Luke 12:35-53
"But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!" (v.50)
Jesus' behavior when He looked around at the Pharisees "with anger" was not the result of a bad temper but the fulfilling of a redemptive purpose. The cutting was not to hurt, but to heal. When we display anger, it is usually for purposes of destruction rather than construction.
Although Jesus was free from bad temper, however, He was not free from tension, that is: "a state of moderate stress." Moffatt, in fact, translates our text for today in this way: "What tension I suffer, till it is all over!" A certain amount of tension is a necessary part of life. Jesus experienced it, and so will we. And it is not necessarily a bad thing. The violin string that is free from tension is incapable of music, but when tightened gives forth a sound that delights the ear. The tension that Jesus felt was a tension that was harnessed to the interest of others. He was on His way to a cross and the tension was not to be loosed until He pronounced the words: "It is finished."The tension, however, did not leave Him frustrated and bad-tempered; it left Him calm and composed, with a prayer for the forgiveness of His enemies upon His lips. It drove Him, not to pieces, but to peace - - the peace of achievement and victory. This was so because the tension was harnessed to God's perfect will -- hence it was a constructive urge. Unfortunately, many of our tensions drive us, not toward God's will but toward our own will. We are more concerned for ourselves than for the divine interests. This kind of driving will succeed only in driving us "nuts."
For Further Study
1 Cor. 9:1-16; John 9:4; 2 Cor. 5:14
1. What tension did Paul feel?
2. What does the word "compel" convey? -
"Two ways to honk a horn"
James 1:19-27
"... man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." (v.20)
We continue meditating on the fourth fruit of the Spirit -- patience or good temper. "Temper," someone has said, "turns to bad or good according to what is behind it." Remember that the word "temper" simply means "a disposition of mind" and really requires the words "good" or "bad" to be prefixed to it if it is to be clearly identified. Dr. Stanley Jones says that there are two ways to honk a horn -- the Christian way and the non-Christian way. The Christian way calls attention to a situation; the non- Christian way not only calls attention to the situation but it also calls attention to what the honker feels about it. In the USA I once saw a sign on a car that said: "Honk away -- it's your ulcer." Ulcers are usually visible signs of an ulcerated spirit -- ulcerated by irritation and bad temper.
Whenever we lose our temper and take it out on people around us, we do the utmost harm, not to them, but to ourselves. The one who is out of sorts with someone else is usually out of sorts with himself. He projects his inner problems on to others and fails to see that the cause and remedy are in himself. I once witnessed a Sunday School superintendent lose his temper in a committee meeting, and when reprimanded by another for his bad spirit said: "I have to lose my temper in order to get anything done around here." Our text for today contradicts that view. Listen to it again, this time in the Phillips translation: "For man's temper is never the means of achieving God's true goodness." Wrong means lead to wrong ends -- inevitably.
For Further Study
Matt. 5:1-26; Psa. 37:8; Prov. 14:17
1. What did Jesus teach about anger?
2. Are you angry with anyone? -
Crossmas
“Gotta make a new sign,” the grocery clerk grumbled. “A woman accused me of taking Christ out of Christmas ’cause I wrote Xmas. I was just trying to make it fit,” he explained defensively.
I appreciated his frustration. Certainly, there are atheists who say God doesn’t exist—and then react as though His Son is a huge threat to them. But fear not! Jesus isn’t being censored out of His own birthday. X is the symbol for Christ. (Go ahead, look it up in a good dictionary.) No marauding band of atheists is marking Xs through Christ’s name in malls and stores.
Still, I understand the sensitivity of Christians who worry about the perception Xmas may give. I know a naval lieutenant who writes C-mas for her shorthand. Another friend uses the thoughtfully innovative +-mas to represent a cross.
Crossmas. I like that.
Paul summed up “Crossmas” when he wrote of Jesus, “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing” (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus “became obedient to death—even death on a cross” (v..
Why did Jesus do that? In the Old Testament, a high priest performed elaborate sacrificial rituals for the sins of the people. But the author of Hebrews wrote: “The gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order” (Hebrews 9:9-10).
Because of Christmas, the new order is here. The next chapter of Hebrews tells us that what the Law couldn’t do, Jesus did. By His sacrifice, “He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (10:14).
The next time you see Xmas on a sign, don’t get angry. Think of the neglected Christmas ornament. Think of the cross. —Tim Gustafson
bottom line: It isnÂ’t Christmas without the cross. -
"I got saved last night"
Ephesians 5:8-21
"... be filled with the Spirit ... always giving thanks to God the Father for everything ..." (vv.18 & 20)
The greatest single influence in turning a bad temper to a good temper is to be indwelt by the Spirit of God. Our text makes that abundantly plain. When the Spirit is allowed to dwell in us, He influences our reactions so that we respond to life's situations with praise rather than with pique.
A miner was notorious for his bad temper. His job was to look after the pit ponies, and whenever they did anything wrong, he would swear and hit out at them with a stick. When he got like this, strong men would keep out of his way, for they knew that he could as easily turn on them as he did on the horses.
One night he went to a Welsh revival meeting, got gloriously converted and experienced a mighty encounter with the Holy Spirit. Next day, at work, one of the horses stepped on his foot. The men with him waited for the explosion -- but nothing happened. One man asked: "Are you sick?" "No," replied the miner, "why do you ask?" "Well," said the man, "I know how quickly you get upset about things, and when the horse stepped on your foot and you didn't lose your temper, I thought you must be unwell." "I'm not unwell," said the miner, "I got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit last night."There is an interesting moment recorded in the life of Saul in 1 Samuel 10:27: "But some rebels said, 'How can this man save us?' So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace" (NKJV). Had Saul maintained that same spirit, he would have been a great man!
For Further Study
John 14:1-17; Ezek. 36:27; 1 Cor. 3:16
1. What did Jesus say concerning the Holy Spirit?
2. What have we become? -
"I would have been -- B.C."
1 Thessalonians 5:12-24
"... encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone." (v.14)
Mary writes of the change that the Holy Spirit wrought in her after conversion: "I went out to shut the chickens up for the night and found that the boys had closed the door and turned out the light, and all the chickens were outside. Chickens can't see in the dark, and if you shine a light on them, it blinds them. Three years ago I would have given the boys a good spanking, and made them get the chickens in. Tonight, I didn't even stop singing! I went to turn the light on and found that the bulb was burned out. Instead of being disgusted, as I would have been B. C. (before Christ), I just got a new one and then I got those chickens in with such tenderness that I even surprised myself. When the last chicken was in, I thanked my Father for helping me get them all in so easily by controlling, not the chickens, but me." What the Spirit did for Mary, He can do for you.
Another woman, after finding Christ, went through a time of great persecution from her family. She said: "I used to have a violent temper and my family used to be careful how they talked to me. It was a goal of mine always to have the last word. Following my conversion, my family used to test me by saying all the things they knew used to annoy me. If it had not been for the presence of the Spirit in my life, I know I would not have had the patience to handle their remarks. I still have the last word -- but the last word is silence."
For Further Study
Heb. 6:1-15; James 1:2-4; 2 Pet. 1:6
1. How did Abraham obtain the promise?
2. What will perserverance bring about? -
"No reason to smile"
Proverbs 17:17-28
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." (v.22)
A surprising thing takes place in those whose temper is tempered by the Holy Spirit -- bad temper is replaced by a growing sense of humor. God has given us the power of humor, not only to laugh at things, but to laugh off things. I am not suggesting that we ought to use laughter to deny realities, but humor often reduces things to their proper size.
I once heard a preacher say: "There is no good in a movement or a person where there is no good humor, for goodness has laughter as a corollary." There is something basically wrong with a person who, at appropriate times, cannot break out into hearty laughter. I heard recently of a member of the Irish Republican Army who was wonderfully converted. He spent the first month after his conversion in the home of a minister who said of him: "It was two weeks before I saw him smile, and when I spoke to him about this, he said: 'I have been in a grim business, plotting against people -- and the way I was living, there was just no reason to smile.' " How tragic -- "just no reason to smile." Depend on it, where you cannot smile, you cannot live -- you just exist.
Over the years, I have watched many groups come to the CWR Institutes in Christian Counselling. Many are tied up with fears, guilts and apprehension. We invite them to share their fears and get them up and out. They do. Then the laughter begins. They grow progressively happier as the week goes on. By the end of the week, they are ready to laugh at anything -- themselves included.
For Further Study
Prov. 15:1-15; James 5:13; Psa. 126:2
1. What does a happy heart enjoy?
2. How is this expressed? -
Warm goodwill to others
Colossians 3:1-15
"... clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." (v.12)
The fifth virtue listed in the fruit of the Spirit is kindness. The King James Version uses the word "gentleness" but there is little doubt that "kindness" is a more faithful translation of the original Greek word -- chrestotes. "Kindness" is a very beautiful word; it means "a kindly disposition, or warm goodwill toward others."One commentator says that if you wanted to express Christianity in one English word, you would use the word "kindness." To speak, for example, of an "unkind Christian" is almost a contradiction in terms. There is some evidence that in the early centuries of the Church, non-Christians used the words "kindly" and "Christian" as synonyms. Tertullian, one of the Church Fathers, said, "The words were so allied in meaning that no harm was done by the confusion."
I once asked a church youth group, if I had the power to give them just eight of the fruit instead of nine, which one would they be willing to do without. Almost everyone in the group said "kindness." When I asked why, they explained that for them, the word conjured up a picture of weakness and sentimentality. I told the group that they were obviously unaware of the true meaning of the word "kindness," and that a kindly disposition does not necessarily mean maudlin sentimentality. So let's be quite clear what we are talking about when we use this word: kindness is a supernatural virtue endowed upon us by the Holy Spirit, engendering within us a warm goodwill to others. How much of it, I wonder, will flow out to others today from you and me?
For Further Study
Rom. 12:1-10; 1 Cor. 13:4; Eph. 4:32
1. What was Paul's exhortation to the Romans?
2. What does "compassionate" mean? -
What kindness is not
Ephesians 4:17-32
"Be kind and compassionate to one another ..." (v.32)
We saw yesterday how a group of young people had a wrong concept of kindness, viewing it as just maudlin sentimentality. It is surprising how debased the word "kindness" has become, in both Christian and non-Christian thought.
Some Christians accept the word because it is used in Scripture, but have no real desire to acquire the virtue because, to them, it smacks of sentimentality and weakness. The world uses the word but, separated as it is from any thought of God, "kindness" comes out as a mild compensation for a lack of firmness and clear thinking. People say, rather patronizingly in some cases: "Oh, he's a kind fellow" -- and they leave it there. The word has come to wear thin in the currency of the world (and in some parts of the Church), so there is a great need to see it minted afresh and gleaming bright in the commerce of modern-day Christian life.
Think with me still further about what kindness, the fruit of the Spirit, is not. Kindness is not being a "do-gooder." In fact, the word in the original Greek does not imply active goodness but a disposition of goodwill, although active goodness may be one expression of it. Many think of kindness as giving money to people who have a financial need, but just giving money to people who appear to need it, without being guided by the Spirit, can result in great harm. Giving to people at the wrong time can take away from them something more precious than is being given. There are few things in which we have more need of the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit than in our giving.
For Further Study
2 Pet. 1:1-7; 1 Thess. 3:12; 1 Pet. 1:22
1. What are we to add to godliness?
2. In what ways are you currently showing kindness to others? -
A debased word
Romans 2:1-11
"... not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" (v.4)
We continue looking at counterfeit forms of kindness. Kindness is not indulgence. Supernatural kindness can be severe -- severe because it loves so deeply that it can come up with a hard refusal. It is based on God's kindness, which can cut when, just like a surgeon, He insists on cutting out of us moral tumors that threaten our spiritual health. But always God's severity is our security. It is redemptive; He loves us too much to let us go. Kindness, which is the fruit of the Spirit, is like that.
Again, kindness is not a substitute for clear thinking. In being "kind" to one person, people can often be unkind to another. The wrong kindness -- that is, kindness which does not operate on clear guidelines and right thinking -- can deride justice. For example, a businessman remarked to his wife that he was dismissing the chauffeur on the grounds that he was an unsafe driver. "He nearly killed me today," he said. "That is the third time." His "kind" wife answered: "Oh, don't dismiss him, dear -- give him one more chance."Another example of misguided kindness comes out of the law courts. A woman on trial for murdering her husband was acquitted chiefly because of the efforts of one "kind" lady on the jury. Explaining her attitude to someone after the trial, she said: "I felt so sorry for her. After all, she had become a widow." By such examples as these, "kindness" has become a debased word -- a fact that can hardly be denied. People have found it easier to be "kind" than truthful. Howdesperately the word cries out to be redeemed.
For Further Study
Isa. 63:1-9; Psa. 17:7; 26:3; 63:3
1. What was the psalmist's testimony?
2. Out of what does God's loving kindness flow? -
The kindly rain
Matthew 5:38-48
"... your Father in heaven ... sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (v.45)
The word "kindness" in Scripture is used more of God than of anyone else. William Barclay says: "It is something of a joyous revelation to discover that when the King James Version calls God good, again and again the meaning is not just moral goodness but kindness." The goodness of God is not something we need shrink away from in fear, but something that draws us to Him with cords of love. This does not mean, of course, that God is indifferent concerning our sins and moral violations; it means that He is so warmly disposed toward us that He has provided through the Cross a way whereby our sin can be forgiven and forgotten. In the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, the expression "loving kindness" is often used. A little boy explained the difference between kindness and loving kindness like this: "Kindness is when your mother gives you a piece of bread and butter; loving kindness is when she puts jam on it as well."
In the New Testament, however, a content has gone into kindness which has made the adding of the word "loving" unnecessary. The Moffatt translation brings out this thought most beautifully when it says: "Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). Not merely the same actions, but the same spirit in the actions as was in Jesus. This shows kindness to be more than just actions -- but attitudes. I can think of no better definition for kindness than this -- kindness is treating others the way God has treated us.
For Further Study
Rom. 2:1-4; Psa. 25:6; 33:5
1. What are we not to despise?
2. What leads us to repentance? -
"What this sad world needs"
Proverbs 19:20-29
"What is desired in a man is kindness ..." (v.22, NKJV)
Now that we have put into the word "kindness" the content of Jesus -- "treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus" -- we must now consider how to develop and grow in kindness.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox has said:
So many gods, so many creeds
So many paths that wind and wind
When all that this sad world needs
Is just the art of being kind.
Human kindness may be important, but supernatural kindness is even more important. It is what "this sad world needs." The importance of kindness is seen by the fact that an act of kindness lingers on in the memory. Once, when about to step on to the platform of the Colston Hall, Bristol, to speak to a large audience and feeling a little weighed down by personal circumstances at the time, a few ladies who represented an organization called "Women Aglow" handed me a little box in which was a beautiful flower. Along with it was a message: "We love you and are praying for you." That kindness and the spirit that prompted it stood out like a star on a dark night. I have never forgotten it and will never forget it. It will live on within me until the day I die. If kindness can minister such comfort and encouragement, then how imperative it is that we ask God to ripen this fruit within us. Of the many things surrounding Paul's shipwreck on Malta, Luke recalls in particular that the "islanders showed us unusual kindness" (Acts 28:2).
For Further Study
Luke 10:30-37; Matt. 23:37; Mark 1:41
1. List at least five kindnesses in this parable.
2. What moved the Samaritan to act in this way? -
The great peril of the saints
Matthew 25:31-46
"... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (v.40)
How does kindness grow in us? It depends on how deeply we live in God. Some Christians set out to be kind but kindness which is the fruit of the Spirit is not the result of self-effort but comes from abiding in Christ. The Christian abides in Christ and the fruit grows and ripens of its own accord.
The kindest Christians are those who have no ambition to be kind and hold no such thought. This is not to say that they do not desire to be kind, but they do not try to manufacture their kindness. Consumed with a longing to be more like Jesus every day, their thought is not on their personal sanctity but on how they can reflect their Lord. They come across as people who were so self-forgetful that it could be said of them what was said of Samuel Barnett of Toynbee Hall: "He forgot himself even to the extent of forgetting that he had forgotten."The great peril of the Christian life is that we may become selfish in our consuming longing to be unselfish. Only as our roots go down daily into God through prayer and meditation in His Word can we be kept secure from the temptation to focus on growth for its own sake -- rather than for His sake. The person whose kindness is an appetite for praise gives up when the praise does not come. And they give up more quickly still if people say: "What are you getting out of this yourself?" The Christian whose kindness flows out of his relationship with God never gives up. He just can't help being kind.
For Further Study
2 Cor. 9:1-6; Deut. 15:7-8; Psa. 41:1; Acts 20:35
1. How are we to sow?
2. Of what did Paul remind the Ephesian elders?