Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
People are often confused about the fruits of kindness and goodness in a believer’s life. Maybe it’s because different words are used in different translations. Maybe it’s because they stop paying attention to this list as soon as they read “patience”. Maybe it’s because they think they know what it means already. But I want you to see that kindness and goodness are necessary in a believer’s life! Not only does every Christian need these two characteristics, they need each other to work properly!
You see, the fruit of kindness and the fruit of goodness balance each other out.
Kindness is probably the fruit the world expects from Christians. If you were to describe it in today’s terms, this fruit makes you “nice”. This is beyond a smile and cheerful words - this is an action word!
Like all the fruit of the Spirit, kindness is an attribute of God Himself! Ephesians 2:7 says, “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” The riches of God’s grace are given to us in kindness! According to Titus 3:4-5, it was God’s kindness that saved us!
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
Here we see that kindness is attached to mercy!
In Luke 6:35 Jesus tells us that we are supposed to possess the same kind of kindness that God has. “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”
A believer is required to be kind, even to his enemies!
Ephesians 4:32 tells us to be kind to our brothers and sisters - even if they’ve wronged us! “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” If you’re ignoring, avoiding, and being hostile to a brother or sister because of what they did to you - you’re lacking God’s kind of kindness in your life!
Godly kindness is not optional or disposable! It is absolutely necessary to keep the love of God alive in our hearts. Still, kindness cannot be unbalanced in a believer’s life.
Kindness is not tolerance of sin! It was never intended to be an excuse for compromise. It is never right to be kind to the oppressor at the expense of the oppressed. When injustice is allowed - when the wicked go free in society - it’s not God’s kind of kindness.
You see, sometimes speaking the truth isn’t always the world’s idea of being kind. But is it really a kind thing to let a sinner continue in their sin and not confront them? Jesus was always kind, but He was always good also!
Goodness is an internal conviction of right and wrong. It is a strong uprightness of heart. Today we call it “character.” Kindness is about how we treat others, goodness is about right and wrong! Goodness is sometimes direct, and many worldly people view it as mean-spirited. But goodness is not cruel or mean. In fact, a good person will confront a cruel person about their cruelty!
Goodness refuses to back down to evil. Romans 12:21 says “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Luke 23 calls Joseph of Arimathea a “good man” because he openly disagreed with the pharisee’s condemnation of Jesus. Romans 15:14 tells us that a believer’s goodness will admonish, or warn others about sin! So can you see that goodness isn’t always perceived as kind?
Kindness and goodness need each other!
Kindness without goodness to strengthen it is simply tolerance. It brings no change to the sinner. It brings no conviction. It simply leaves people to the consequences of their own sin for fear of confrontation.
Goodness without kindness to soften it is damaging. We are required to speak the truth in love. When a believer to be brash and arrogant when confronting sin, it usually hurts the hearer. We are never called to condemn the sinner with his sin! There’s a baby somewhere in that dirty bath water!
The cross is the best example of God’s kindness and goodness. At the cross, God’s goodness toward sin was poured out on Jesus. He didn’t ignore the penalty of our sin, but He poured it out on Jesus. He did this to show us His kindness!
Showing posts with label the cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the cross. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Where Did Jesus Go?
It’s
been taught for years. It was in the apostles creed of the catholic
church. Many well-known preachers still believe it. When Jesus died, He
went to Hell for us, fought with the Devil, and took his keys away from
him. Sure, this makes for a dramatic message - but it’s not in the
Bible! Scripture shows us exactly what Jesus did between the cross and
the resurrection, and Hell was never part of that! This has always been a
man-made teaching that played on our emotions!
Let’s look at a little background first.
Whenever anyone died in the Old Testament, they went to a place called Sheol, located deep in the belly of the earth.
Psalm 18:5 - “The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.”
Psalm 116:3 - “The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.”
At first glance, it seems like Sheol is actually Hell. This gives support to the belief that Jesus went to Hell, since Psalm 16:10 prophesied about Jesus, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” So we can clearly see that Jesus was in Sheol...so doesn’t that mean that He did go to Hell?
Well...no. When we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), we find out that there are two parts of Sheol. There is “Abraham’s Lap” - also known as “Paradise.” It was where the righteous dead went. It was a place of comfort. It was a place where the righteous went to wait for the resurrection. The other part of Sheol was “Hades” - also known as “Hell.” It was where the wicked went after death. It was a place of torment, a place of fire, where a single drop of water was considered comfort.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4:9 declares that Jesus descended to the lower parts of the earth after His death. So which one of these compartments did He go to? The answer is so simple, everyone knows it. In fact, Jesus tells us in His own words! When He spoke to the repentant thief on the cross, do you remember what He said? “This day, you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Jesus went straight from the cross to Paradise! He never went to Hell!
While Jesus was in Paradise, the Bible says in 1 Peter 4:6, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” and again 1 Peter 3:19-20, “He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient...”
While Jesus was in Paradise, He preached the Gospel, the Good News of what He just did, to the Old Testament saints. He let them know that the promise that they were waiting for had come to pass at last! But remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man? There was a chasm between Paradise and Hell that no one could cross - but there was communication going on back and forth! So while Jesus preached to the righteous dead, the “spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient” were also able to listen. For them, though, it was anything but good news! The promise that they had rejected had come to pass...and they were still on the wrong side.
After three days of preaching the Gospel to the righteous men and women in Paradise, Jesus broke the power of death by rising up from the grave! He “led captivity captive” according to Ephesians 4:8. When He resurrected, He brought all the righteous men and women with Him! For a little while, until He went back to Heaven, the saints of the Old Testament were walking around on earth! Don’t believe me? Look it up for yourself - it’s in Matthew 27:52-53!
Now, the only part of Sheol being used is Hell. 2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us what happens to the righteous dead now, “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” Now we go straight to Heaven!
This may not seem like a crucial issue. And as I said before, many good preachers still believe that Jesus went to Hell. But it strikes at the heart of Jesus’ sacrifice - was the cross enough? Did Jesus do everything He needed to do on the cross, or did He still have to go to Hell and beat the devil?
Colossians 2:14-15 is clear about where Jesus’ victory over Satan and his army took place, “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” It was at the cross! When He bore our sin, when He bore our sickness, when He died in our place - that was the victory He came for!
As He breathed His last breath on the cross, He told us that was enough! Remember what He said! “It is finished!” Everything He was going to do for us was done at that moment!
Let’s look at a little background first.
Whenever anyone died in the Old Testament, they went to a place called Sheol, located deep in the belly of the earth.
Psalm 18:5 - “The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.”
Psalm 116:3 - “The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.”
At first glance, it seems like Sheol is actually Hell. This gives support to the belief that Jesus went to Hell, since Psalm 16:10 prophesied about Jesus, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” So we can clearly see that Jesus was in Sheol...so doesn’t that mean that He did go to Hell?
Well...no. When we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), we find out that there are two parts of Sheol. There is “Abraham’s Lap” - also known as “Paradise.” It was where the righteous dead went. It was a place of comfort. It was a place where the righteous went to wait for the resurrection. The other part of Sheol was “Hades” - also known as “Hell.” It was where the wicked went after death. It was a place of torment, a place of fire, where a single drop of water was considered comfort.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4:9 declares that Jesus descended to the lower parts of the earth after His death. So which one of these compartments did He go to? The answer is so simple, everyone knows it. In fact, Jesus tells us in His own words! When He spoke to the repentant thief on the cross, do you remember what He said? “This day, you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Jesus went straight from the cross to Paradise! He never went to Hell!
While Jesus was in Paradise, the Bible says in 1 Peter 4:6, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” and again 1 Peter 3:19-20, “He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient...”
While Jesus was in Paradise, He preached the Gospel, the Good News of what He just did, to the Old Testament saints. He let them know that the promise that they were waiting for had come to pass at last! But remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man? There was a chasm between Paradise and Hell that no one could cross - but there was communication going on back and forth! So while Jesus preached to the righteous dead, the “spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient” were also able to listen. For them, though, it was anything but good news! The promise that they had rejected had come to pass...and they were still on the wrong side.
After three days of preaching the Gospel to the righteous men and women in Paradise, Jesus broke the power of death by rising up from the grave! He “led captivity captive” according to Ephesians 4:8. When He resurrected, He brought all the righteous men and women with Him! For a little while, until He went back to Heaven, the saints of the Old Testament were walking around on earth! Don’t believe me? Look it up for yourself - it’s in Matthew 27:52-53!
Now, the only part of Sheol being used is Hell. 2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us what happens to the righteous dead now, “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” Now we go straight to Heaven!
This may not seem like a crucial issue. And as I said before, many good preachers still believe that Jesus went to Hell. But it strikes at the heart of Jesus’ sacrifice - was the cross enough? Did Jesus do everything He needed to do on the cross, or did He still have to go to Hell and beat the devil?
Colossians 2:14-15 is clear about where Jesus’ victory over Satan and his army took place, “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” It was at the cross! When He bore our sin, when He bore our sickness, when He died in our place - that was the victory He came for!
As He breathed His last breath on the cross, He told us that was enough! Remember what He said! “It is finished!” Everything He was going to do for us was done at that moment!
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