The Word This Week
Hebrews 13:7...
Kindness is a character trait that should mark the life of every follower of Christ. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of kindness, and kindness is a fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5.
Kindness is an outward manifestation of all the types of love listed in God’s Word. All forms of love, whether it is - (from the Greek) - storge, fratero, phileo, eros, or agape – they all are expressed through kindness. Kindness is not the end all of the expressions of love, but it is certainly vital.
The remaining exhortations in Hebrews 13 are expressions of kindness, freely flowing from the heart of Jesus Christ in the heart of the follower of Jesus Christ.
It is inherent in the life of the believer to be kind toward those who are called to leadership in the Body of Christ. When believers abide in Christ, they abide in the kindness of Christ toward those leaders He has raised up and is kindly shepherding to shepherd you.
Jesus knows the level of attack the enemy will constantly level against the leaders of His Church, and those who follow those leaders are called to be a shelter from attack, affirming Christ’s calling in those Christ has raised up to teach His Word. Being simply kind to those who are enduring the onslaught of the enemy is a wonderful thing.
This is so important because kindness in your heart prepares you the receive the doctrine of God’s Word as that which never changes – because Christ never changes. When your heart is ambivalent, you open yourself up to listening to and possibly being taken in by the winds of foreign doctrine which blow through the Church. This happens when we allow ourselves to accept Christ changes with the times as culture dictates rather than simply accepting the fact Christ NEVER changes, and therefore neither does His doctrine.
It is kindness to Christ and to His servants to be unpopular in the world - rather than to be taken in by it – while operating in the kindness of Christ toward that very world which is seeking to manipulate us into its image rather than the image of Christ.
And it is kindness toward God to be sacrificially, thankfully kind in praise and worship in return for His great unchanging kindness toward us in freely giving us the greatest gift of all - salvation
Pastor Bill
Kindness is a character trait that should mark the life of every follower of Christ. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of kindness, and kindness is a fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5.
Kindness is an outward manifestation of all the types of love listed in God’s Word. All forms of love, whether it is - (from the Greek) - storge, fratero, phileo, eros, or agape – they all are expressed through kindness. Kindness is not the end all of the expressions of love, but it is certainly vital.
The remaining exhortations in Hebrews 13 are expressions of kindness, freely flowing from the heart of Jesus Christ in the heart of the follower of Jesus Christ.
It is inherent in the life of the believer to be kind toward those who are called to leadership in the Body of Christ. When believers abide in Christ, they abide in the kindness of Christ toward those leaders He has raised up and is kindly shepherding to shepherd you.
Jesus knows the level of attack the enemy will constantly level against the leaders of His Church, and those who follow those leaders are called to be a shelter from attack, affirming Christ’s calling in those Christ has raised up to teach His Word. Being simply kind to those who are enduring the onslaught of the enemy is a wonderful thing.
This is so important because kindness in your heart prepares you the receive the doctrine of God’s Word as that which never changes – because Christ never changes. When your heart is ambivalent, you open yourself up to listening to and possibly being taken in by the winds of foreign doctrine which blow through the Church. This happens when we allow ourselves to accept Christ changes with the times as culture dictates rather than simply accepting the fact Christ NEVER changes, and therefore neither does His doctrine.
It is kindness to Christ and to His servants to be unpopular in the world - rather than to be taken in by it – while operating in the kindness of Christ toward that very world which is seeking to manipulate us into its image rather than the image of Christ.
And it is kindness toward God to be sacrificially, thankfully kind in praise and worship in return for His great unchanging kindness toward us in freely giving us the greatest gift of all - salvation
Pastor Bill