Um, now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, who is this guy and why is he up there talking on Sunday morning? Uh, who, what gives him the right? Uh, what does he know, which it was exactly my thought when John came to me and said, Hey, how'd you like to preach on the twenty-eighth? Uh, uh, uh, uh, why? Because I don't wanna. Well, OK, so what do you want me to preach on? And then he said, kindness, and I thought, 00, fine, give me the loser, and I, I thought I know absolutely nothing about kindness, uh, but I, you know, I, what could I say? I'd already kind of said yes, and then I went home and I, and I, uh, I told my wife, and by the way, uh, we just had our forty-fifth anniversary, uh-huh, yes, and, uh. Uh, last week, the, uh, the theme was the fruit of the spirit of patience, and, uh, and my wife 45 years, she must be so I told my wife that John had asked me to speak and that, uh, and she thought, uh, she said, yeah, that, that's good, yeah, you should be uh it'd be fine. And then I told her and I'm supposed to talk about kindness and she laughed. The church, like, what do you know? And Ah We're still married, but we're in counseling now. Um. No. So kindness, I'm thinking about this and I go, what do I know about kindness and are you even a kind person, Dave? And I'm thinking about myself and I'm going, am I a kind person? What is, are you a kind? How would you let me see the hands of those of you who are kind people in the room. You're a really kind. Let me see the hands of those of you who are seated next to a really kind person. Uh, OK, we've got a lot, a lot of liars in this room, um. Uh, what does it even mean to be kind? I'm thinking, well, yeah, I suppose I, maybe I can work on it in the next couple weeks before I have to speak on it. I mean, I, I guess I'm nice. I don't, uh, swear at people who don't deserve it. I don't gossip unless it's true. I don't hit my wife. I don't kick my dog, and I don't, uh, I don't steal kids' desserts if it's on camera, um. But those things, those don't, now here's what I want you to catch. That doesn't make me or you a kind person. That makes you maybe a nice person. It makes me a brick. This is my pet brick. Say hi. You are all nice. My pet brick, my pet brick does not gossip. My pet brick does not hit people. My pet brick has never stolen anything. My pet brick, uh, is, it is a very nice brick that doesn't do anything wrong. That doesn't make my brick. Kind at best it makes it nice, mostly it just makes it. And me A brick That's it. And a lot of us settle when it comes to the issue of kindness, we settle for simply being a brick. Let me give you a definition. Unfortunately, it's not gonna come up on the screen, but I want you to memorize this. Here we go. What does it mean to be kind? Kindness is doing something beautiful, doing something beautiful for somebody else. Doing something beautiful for somebody else. The way the apostle Paul put it in Colossians chapter 3 verse 12, he says, therefore, As God's chosen people, holy and dearly beloved members of Mission Grove, clothe yourselves, clothe yourselves, put on, decide to wear, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, kindness, clothe yourselves with kindness. I'm taking a look around the room and I'm seeing a lot of really good looking people here. Yep, uh, you got up this morning, the alarm clock went off, and before you came, you brushed your teeth. I won't ask for a show of hands. I'm gonna just assume that almost all of you brushed your teeth and, uh, you took a shower and you put on your best outfit, which doesn't say a lot for your wardrobe, but you're, you're dressed to look as good. You're dressed this morning to look. As good as you can. The apostle Paul says, I want you to, I want you to clothe yourself to look good. I want you to clothe yourself with compassion and kindness is the one that we're focusing on this morning. The way Jesus put it, uh, Matthew 5:16, verse that, uh, if you've been around church for a while, you've probably heard this verse, all right? He says in the same way, he gathers his group together. His followers together, people like us, and he says in the same way. I want you to let your light shine before others. So that they can see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Now, something that doesn't come through in your English translations when it says good deeds is um. Uh, our New Testaments are written originally in Greek, and there's a number of different words that can be translated good. And the word that is being used here is, is the Greek word kaya, and it doesn't refer to a moral goodness. What it refers to is something that is winsome. Attractive, noble, and beautiful. Put the word beautiful back in the words of Jesus in the same way, guys. Let your light shine before others. So that they can see your beautiful deeds. And glorify your Father in heaven so that they end up going, oh my, look at what he's doing. That is so cool. Beautiful dates. What does it mean to uh display kindness? It means doing something beautiful for somebody else that makes other people go, oh, that's good. Oh, that's good because of what you did. Um, a lot of us are, are confused about this, and we, we, we settle instead of good deeds, we settle for good don'ts. A lot of Christians. I grew up, OK, the family that I grew up in, you know, you weren't supposed to, uh, Oh my, the family I grew up in, you weren't supposed to go to dances, you weren't supposed to play with cards, you weren't supposed to smoke, you weren't supposed to drink, you weren't supposed to chew, you weren't supposed to go out with women that do. You weren't supposed to do anything that was fun, um, but what I, what I really learned is you weren't supposed to lie, cheat, steal, uh, or, uh. Mess around with other women, just sleeping around that, and if you did that, You were a good person. Don't lie, cheat, steal, or sleep around. Except those are not good deeds. Those are good don'ts. And there's nobody at work, there's nobody at school, there's nobody in your neighborhood who's gonna watch you, not stealing, not cheating, and not sleeping around and go, oh my, isn't that beautiful? It's not. I mean, it's important, I suppose, but Jesus says, no, no, no, I want you to do stuff that's gonna make others go, oh my. And look up Jesus, everywhere he went, he was doing something beautiful, doing something kind. And I want you to make it your goal to dress like and look like Jesus. In Luke 19, Luke tells us the story of one encounter Jesus had with uh the guy Zacchaeus. How many of you know that name, Zacchaeus? OK, we've got some church people here. What is, what's the big thing that you know about Zacchaeus? He was a short guy. You got a problem with that? Yeah, it's really tough to go to a church where the lead pastor is like 11'7. And anyway, so Jesus had this encounter with Zacchaeus. Uh, let me read it. Jesus entered Jericho. Um, Jesus knew. That this was the last week or two of his life and he was going through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. And he wasn't long for the planet. Nobody else knew that. Jesus entered Jericho and he was passing through and that was heavy on his mind. He knew all about that. Nobody else did, and a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus, and he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. Uh, do you catch that this guy had 3 things against him? Number 1, he was wealthy and Everybody hated him for that. Number 2, he was a chief tax collector on behalf of the Romans, and everybody really hated him for that. And then of course he was short. You got a problem with that? Anyway, and he wanted to see, he wanted to see who Jesus was. Something was stirring. The spirit of God was stirring inside of this guy, but because he was short, he couldn't see over the crowd the story of my life, and he ran ahead and fascinating picture. He, this, this short guy just climbed the sycamore fig tree to see him, Jesus, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot underneath the. The sycamore tree, he looked up. Jesus is surrounded by a throng of people, so many people that Zacchaeus couldn't get near him, and all of them are, are, are listening to them, listening to him and, and, and jockeying for his attention, and Jesus looks up and he sees Zacchaeus. And, uh, and he says to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus. I want you to come down right now. I'm coming to your house for dinner. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once, uh, Zacchaeus did and welcomed him gladly, but all the people saw this, and they began to mutter. They weren't happy about Zacchaeus because, uh, Jesus was gone to be the guest of a sinner, but Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, And this was the first time ever in his life. And oh by the way, Jesus is demonstrating kindness. But so is Zacchaeus when Zacchaeus says, Jesus, I made a decision. Like today, here and now, I've decided to give half of my possessions, half of everything I own, half of my net worth, my IRA, my pension, my 401k, and my real estate. To the poor Talk about kindness. And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay him back 4 times that amount. If you've cheated, yes, you have, and he's gonna pay him back 4 times over. Jesus said to him today. Today, salvation has come to this house because, hey y'all, look at that guy. Today, this man too is a son of Abraham, an expression that says he's a good Jew and he's one of us. And all of the people who rejected him, who hated him, Jesus brought him in. Do you see what Jesus did? How he expressed kindness to Zacchaeus. He expressed it through quality time. Jesus was a busy guy. Everybody wanted his time, but he wasn't too busy to say, Zach. Let's you and me get together. Zach, let's you and me get together. How about tonight? Let's try that. Zach, let's you and me get together. Come on, here we go, here we go. 123. Zach, let's you and me get together. You got a friend, you got a neighbor, you got a coworker that you don't know very well. Let me tell you how you can love them, how you can be kind to them. Zack How about you and me get together? And then suggest a time. And a place Jesus says, Zach, how about you and me get together? How about your place? How about tonight? And Zach's going. Oh my, and there are people in your life who if you would find a way in your busy schedule and get beyond your insecurity and just say to them. How about if we get together? What does Tuesday look like? Uh, Starbucks? Uh, a restaurant, my place. It's one of the most profound ways that you can show a kindness to somebody is caring enough to get together with them, but did you also catch, secondly, there were words of affection. Words of affection. When Jesus told Zach that he too was the son of Abraham. Do you think he remembered those words? That was the first time that anybody who mattered at all had ever said to him, You're one of us. You too are a son of Abraham. Do you remember? Anything that was ever said to you that profoundly positively affected who you became. I was the youngest of 5, the youngest of 5 in my, uh, And my older oldest brothers and sisters were all, uh, really smart people, and they all graduated from college when they were like 19 and 20 and 21. My, uh, oldest brother Martin was a genius. I mean seriously genius type. Uh, I think he got his math. He got his doctor's degree when he was like 22, and I grew up in that house, and, um, I vividly remember the day. See, I was little Davy. I was 18 years younger than my my older brother Martin. And I remember my dad, the day that my dad looked at me and said, and this was a positive statement. He said, Dave, actually, he said, Davy. You can be as smart as Martin. It was a compliment that he was paying to me. Point is, you may hear that and go, that doesn't sound all that profound. Point is, that was a whole bunch of years ago and I'm still living in that. The positive shadow of Dave, you can be like your older brother Martin. What words could you, what words of affirmation? There is so much power in your words to build somebody up. Look for a sincere opportunity to compliment somebody. And then also noticed that Jesus um used his name. Uh, this is very uncommon. You read the Gospels, Jesus almost lit the stories that we hear about Jesus. Uh, Jesus is almost never using anybody's name. But Zacchaeus And Jackie has heard it. Do you, do you know the words that we love to hear, the word that we love to hear the most? The word that all of us love to hear the most. Is our own name. You hear it That you have, that person has your attention. Learn people's names. That's hard. Takes effort. Learn people's names. Remembers people's names. Use people's names. It is one of the most powerful compliments that you can give to somebody is just use their name. Jesus, everywhere he went, he was doing something beautiful in John chapter 13. John T 13, uh, Jesus was experiencing what you and I consider to be the Last supper. Uh, for us, we think of it as the Last Supper. For His disciples, it was the annual Passover. They didn't know it was the Last Supper. They did for Jesus. What Jesus knew was that he had 24 hours left to live. And with 24 hours left to live, the gang gathered together for uh what turned out to be the last supper, and nobody wanted to wash. Anybody else's feet. Now you see, in that society with dirt roads and animals walking up and down the streets, you needed some, if you're gonna gather together for Thanksgiving dinner. You don't do it without somebody washing feet. Usually it was a servant and nobody there was willing to be a servant. And so there was, as they, they proceeded through the Passover dinner, the Last Supper, there was this big question in the room. Nobody would say it. Who's going to wash? The feat Nobody would say it because nobody was willing to do it and finally, Finally, he, Jesus, got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, ah. And wrapped a towel around his waist. We're looking to dress like Jesus. Remember that verse at the beginning, uh, Colossians 3:12, clothe yourselves like him, and Jesus wrapped himself with a towel. You want to look like Jesus. Wrap yourself with a servant's towel, towel, and then he did something beautiful, filled with compassion. Um, after that, he poured water into a basin and he began to wash his disciples' feet. drying them with a towel that was wrapped around them. You know who was there? 12 guys including Judas Jesus was washing the feet of 12 guys. Including one that was going to sell them out that night for 30 pieces of silver. 12 guys, including the guy who would be the catalyst for him going to the cross. And he did something beautiful even for Judas. And if you ever, um, any of you, any of you live ever lived in, in cold country, you know, like where they have snow, snow, snow. OK, we're all going back now, um. So my wife and I, I must have done something horribly wrong. We've been married for 45 years, 40 of it was in, uh, in Minnesota, and, uh, and, uh, newlyweds. We were living in, in, in, uh, Minnesota, and we had two good friends, newlyweds, uh, Bert and Jan, and, uh, Joy and I were going to, we're going to Arizona for Christmas time. Smart, huh? And, um, and. And uh we were driving home and coming home in the middle of a snowstorm, and what I knew is that we were going to come home in the middle of the night at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and that the driveway was going to be absolutely covered with snow, and I, I didn't, we didn't have, you know, like a snowplow or anything like that, a snowblower, you know, this was shovel time and, uh, and we're, we, we had one kid and we were coming home at 2 or 3 in the morning and I was not looking forward to that. Until I turned the corner and I saw the most beautiful sight that I'd ever seen, the driveway totally shoveled clean by Bert and Jan who had got there an hour earlier and shoveled the driveway of their good friends. You see, Jesus was doing something powerful, something beautiful. It was an act of service. What could you do? What could you do for those who are working uh in the same place you are living in the same house that you are? By the way, what's the worst job in your house? Worst job in your house? Uh, I want you to think about what the worst job is the house, OK. Um, hopefully it belongs to somebody else, uh, yeah, except this week it's yours. Um We've got some people who are staying with us. And uh Uh, I live on a dirt road. My wife and I, we live on a dirt road, and so it's, it's absolutely, it's, it's futile to ever wash our car because within two days it's, it's totally covered with dirt again. So I come home, uh, I come home the other day and I pull into the driveway, open the garage door, uh, go and, and go in the, uh, uh, in the garage, and I look and behold the, the vehicle, the other vehicle is just absolutely sparkling. And it's like, what, what, what's happening? And I called out, Joy, joy, somebody broke in and stole our dirt. Because somebody had done what I didn't want to do, something beautiful on behalf of somebody else. Jesus, one of the things that we can do to look like him is just to, uh, do acts of service. Another one of my favorites, Mark chapter one. And Jesus has a run-in with a guy who is a victim of leprosy. Now, pretty uncommon in our century. Leprosy, a horrible thing in Jesus' day, skin lesions, nerve damage, eventual, uh, eventual numbness, which meant that people could get, uh, could get hit, could people could get cut, especially on their fingers and toes, sometimes on their, on their nose, and And not even know that it's happened and so there would be secondary injuries where the nose would be gone and where fingers would be gone and it was just skin lesions all over one's body. It was a horrible thing in the first century, but to make matters worse, there was this huge social stigma. In Jesus' day, in Jesus' day, if you had leprosy, you weren't allowed to be around any normal people. You weren't allowed to live with any normal people. You weren't allowed to touch or ever be touched by any people, which meant that you couldn't have a job, that you couldn't live in a. even with your own family, and whenever you were anyplace near other people as you approach those other people, you had to approach them going, unclean, unclean. How would you like to go through life? How to declare that that's who you are. It was In their day, not ours, in their day, leprosy was a death sentence. Uh, eventually in life, but socially along the way. And look what Jesus does. A man with leprosy comes to him. And begs him on his knees, and now maybe you know why he begged. If you were willing, Jesus, you could make me clean. And filled with compassion. Jesus reached out his hand. And touched the man And touched the man. Jewish law said You were not allowed to touch anybody with leprosy. Nobody had touched this man for decades. And Jesus, filled with compassion, could have just said, be healed. But instead, he knew this man had a bigger need. Somebody to touch him. And so he reached out. Touched him and then he healed him. One of the kindest things that we can do for people is loving touch. Got any huggers here? Any, any huggers? OK, yeah, uh, we got any, yeah, no, I don't like that. OK. A few people willing to say that. All right. Yeah. Um, for most of us, we long to be touched. Now, it's gotta be, you know, it's gotta be the right person, the right way, the right time for some, for some of you, you're doing really well if it's a fist bump, but, uh, and then there's Wendy, you know, Wendy? Wendy, Wendy, the greeter, Wendy. How many of you got hugged by Wendy today? Yeah, the first service, it was like half the room, uh, um, Wendy has personally grown this church by hugging people because one of the most basic needs we have and one of the most beautiful things that you can do for somebody is appropriate to the relationship you have and appropriate to where they are. It's a, it's a dicey thing, but it's to touch them. To touch them And then there's John chapter 2. John chapter 2, a social catastrophe in the making. And would Jesus be present for a social catastrophe? You bet he was. What was the social catastrophe? Jesus showed up at a wedding, and, but somebody forgot the wine. Actually, they forgot to bring enough wine, and this, those days, a wedding was an extended multi-day affair. And so it took over a couple of days. It took a lot of wine and somebody forgot to get enough. OK, you know the story. And Jesus' mom comes. Hey, can you help us out? And Jesus, OK, and Jesus turns. Jesus turns 120 gallons of water into the best wine around. So good that the steward drank some, didn't know where it come from, and went, wow, where did this come from? This is the best, this is the good stuff. It was OK. Jesus demonstrating, here's what to learn from it, extravagant giving. Extravagant giving. Now you can't turn water into wine, uh, probably, I mean, maybe, uh. But we can all Be givers. In this case, it was an extravagant gift that met a very real need. Friend of mine, Lance. Um, Uh, Lance and I and our, our spouses were out to dinner here not too long ago and, uh, uh, And I watched as Lance got to know in a good way, got to know the server, uh, young woman, young woman, said something about me, uh, you know, she's probably 35, something like that, and, uh, and you know, most of us have learned unfortunately to. Turn servers into a peripheral vision people who are just there to help us out. But Lance has learned. To treat servers like they actually matter, like they're actually persons, and so as I watched and listened, Lance asked one question after another after another after another about her life and we heard because he asked, because he asked because she could tell he cared we learned about about. At the marriage that she had had and the kids that she did have and the financial difficulties that she was in in the middle of all of that and the money that she didn't have and the difficulty she was having paying the rent and finally um I mean this she wasn't giving us a sob story it was just Lance caring enough to ask, do you? And then Lance said, hey, can we pray for you? And because she knew that we'd asked and cared, she went, yeah, that would be great. Do you realize that that's what most people will do if they can tell that you care and you ask if you can pray for them? They're 95% of the time they'll go, yeah, that would be great, or something like that. And so we prayed. So Lance prayed for, uh, uh, this young lady. And, and you could see her tear up and she was totally broken up and uh but she had to finish serving us, which she did, and she came back with the food and what I didn't know. was when dinner was done. Lance reached into his pocket as we were in the process of leaving. He reached into his pocket, got out of his billfold, and folded up a $100 bill and gave it to the young lady. And I initially, I, I didn't know what had just happened. I asked him about it and what I learned was that Lance. Always carries a $100 bill in his wallet just in case there's a moment like this. Do you think that that woman's life was touched, may be changed by that encounter? What does it mean to be kind? It means to do something beautiful. Sometimes costly. For somebody else. Some, some, sometimes it's an extravagant gift, sometimes it's a loving touch, sometimes it's an act of service. Sometimes it's just, hey, what are you doing Tuesday? Why don't we get together? Sometimes it's words of affirmation and a compliment, but you have the power through kindness to change your world. When Jesus left the planet, there were only 120 believers gathered together in his absence, waiting to see what was going to happen next. 120 believers. Less than 3 centuries later, this little group of 120 people had transformed the world. And Christianity became the Faith of the entire Roman world in less than 3 centuries, and do you know how they did it? You might wanna think it was through the miraculous. Oh, there was a little of that, but that wasn't the how you might think it was about the preaching or about them sharing their faith, all of which was important, but that wasn't the biggest how. Do you know how? This little group of 120 people in three centuries became the dominant religious force in their world. Kindness. They cared for widows and orphans and the poor, and they often sold their property to do it. They cared for the sick and the dying when there was a plague in the 2nd century and another one in the 3rd century, and everybody went for the hills. Anybody who had money, who had means, knew that you didn't want to be in town because that's where the plague was happening. And do you know what the Christians did? They stayed in town and nursed the sick and sometimes nursed the dying and buried the dying and sometimes because of their kindness, they were the dying. They stayed behind They buried the poor. They engaged in radical hospitality. They rescued abandoned children in the Roman world at that time. If a dad, not a mom, if a dad didn't want a newborn child, you just let him out. You just left him by a garbage heap and let them die. And that was considered legal and ethical and normative of the day. And you know what Christians did? They went and they collected those abandoned children and took them into their homes and to their churches and raised those children. 3 centuries. To win the world because 120 people. And those that followed and those that followed exercised kindness. Imagine if 40 to 500 people here today decided, let's be beautiful. Start small Meet Zacchaeus, strangers, don't ignore them. Meet them, talk to them, ask them about themselves, get together with them. hey, what are you doing Tuesday? Learn their names, smile. It's a powerful thing. Ask questions about their life that say that you care and then, by the way, and then remember and before you leave, say, hey, can I pray for you? No, this is not a formula. You don't do this every time, but hey. It's a way to do something beautiful for other people. Imagine if we decided today to do that. How our world might be different. Let us Christians not be known for what we don't know, don't do, for who we're against. Let us be known for the beautiful deeds that we do do for others. Following the service, there's gonna be some people who are gonna be down front who, uh, if you need somebody to pray for you, they would love to pray for you. Maybe there's something going on in your life in your heart right now, and you need some words of affirmation, somebody who cares, somebody maybe who'll touch, but in any case, we'll pray for you. They'll be here for you. Would you stand with me as we close the service? I wanna pray, and the worship team is gonna lead us in a song. Lord Jesus, we thank you that when you saw us in need, you did something. That you reached out, that you touched us, you heard us, you cared about us, and Lord, I pray that we would be able to clothe ourselves and look like you and imitate you and that the world around us would see what we do and go, oh my. And they'd be drawn to you. In Jesus' name. Amen.