Life Together, Part 2

It says that when that wayward
son crested the hill, the Father saw him and had compassion. His inward parts were moved.
Well, this was said of Christ as well. That Jesus, when He
saw the people, He felt compassion. His inward parts were moved on
their behalf because they were distressed and dispirited like
a sheep without a shepherd. And we don’t tend to use the
word that way, but we use it in a similar way. We say it all
the time that I have a gut feeling, right? That was gut-wrenching. I feel it in my heart. We don’t
tend to include the liver in our descriptions of compassion.
But it was used, as I said, to refer to that general region
of the body. Now let me forecast for you. The ultimate design of this passage,
as I said, is basically to urge Christian unity. The maintenance
of Christian unity. We don’t create it. The Spirit
did. He put it here and all we can do is destroy it. Obviously,
Paul has already begun laying the groundwork for that, because
unity is not possible outside of Christ. But if we are chosen,
if we are holy, if we are beloved, it is not only possible, It is
expected. Even then, it is the most fragile
quality. And it must be maintained with
great care by God’s people. One pastor said, but ah, my brethren,
how feeble this love is generally. How easily mastered by separating
influences of conventionality, temperament, divergence of view
on worldly matters or non-essentials in religion. The point that he
was making is it’s so easily broken, this unity. It’s a creation
of God that it’s not, like so many of God’s creations, absolutely
indestructible. This unity is such a delicate
thing. It can be ruined by attitudes. It can be ruined by behaviors.
It can be ruined by sin. If we don’t have compassion,
if it doesn’t start here, there’s no way that we can preserve it.
There’s no way that we can maintain what the Holy Spirit has already
put if we don’t feel it in here for one another. A basic compassion. If we don’t have compassion for
one another based on the difficulties that we face, even the sinful
tendencies that we dip into, rather than judging what happened
to compassion? What happened to feeling pity
that they have stooped into such a condition? Because if we don’t have compassion,
offenses will immediately fall on the heels. We’ll begin to
hurt one another. Step on one another. Sin against
one another. No wonder Paul says, put on a
heart of compassion. It should start from deep within
us. Our love and our care and our
concern and our compassion for one another. One faithful commentator said
it this way, undeserved honor always produces these effects
on the sincere. Did you hear what he said? Undeserved
honor. That’s exactly what Paul said
when he reminds us that we were chosen. God didn’t pick you because
of how good you were, how holy you were. He picked you because
you were a vile sinner and He picked you only because of His
mercy. And what the commentator says here is that when we remember
that, how can we look about and look down our nose and not have
compassion on our fellow slaves? Just like the unmerciful slaves.
How can we not have compassion on our fellow saints? On the
children of God? He goes on to say, to be raised
from the depths of degradation and misery and made the sons
of God and thus exalted to an inconceivable elevation and dignity
does and must produce humility. It must. For we are as dead men. There’s another element. How
should we treat one another? How should we live in the church?
So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put
on a heart of compassion, kindness. Well, that’s simple. That’s easy. I’ll just do somebody a favor
today and that will assuage my conscience, right? Not so fast. Essentially, what this is, is
the expression of compassion. If we felt it in here, That sentiment
is worthless if it never bursts forward onto the surface and
issues forth in some kind of a deed. If we have merely compassion
for another’s troubles or the distress that they’re going through,
ultimately that will and should lead us to do what we can to
relieve that trouble. One pastor referred to this little
quality as goodness in action. What is goodness if it isn’t
in action, right? What is compassion if it is never
shown or exhibited in some kind of a deed? One described it in these terms.
He said it is a grace pervading and penetrating the whole nature. It’s not that we do a kindness.
We are called to kindness. We are called to be kind. And
to do kindness as part and parcel of our Christian walk. Kindness
points to the general goodness that we are called to show in
all that we do. Pleasant deeds to our neighbors
and friends. Helpful things. Profitable things
to others. You might know it’s a fruit of
the Spirit. This quality exhibits the fact that God has come and
God has touched you and God has begun to change you. This isn’t
something that you can whip up on your own. And in that sense,
those outside of Christ can’t truly do an act of kindness. Did you get that? They can’t
be kind. They might be able to do a kind
act occasionally, but they can’t live out kindness by virtue of
the Holy Spirit. It’s used also in Scripture to
speak of God’s kindness. And that ought to be such a great
reminder to us that God was kind to us first. How much more than
should we respond? Ephesians 2.7 where Paul says,
in the ages to come, God might show forth the surpassing riches
of His grace. How? In kindness towards us in
Christ Jesus. Do you know what Paul says there?
Paul says that when God sent the Lord Jesus Christ, He did
sinners a kindness. Now what do you think of that
word? Titus 3.4 says the same exact thing. Titus 3.4 one of
the profound sections of the Gospel as far as a practical
exhortation in how we’re to live in a fallen society, Titus 3,
verse 4 says this, You used to be like them, but, verse 4, when
the kindness of God, our Savior, and His love for mankind appeared. What he’s pointing to is the
sending of Christ. He’s talking about the sending
of the Savior as one of the kindest acts ever By God, we are called
to that kind of treatment of others. We are called to keep
that readily in our memory as we respond to others. We must
always keep in our minds the kindness that was first done
to us. And kindness of a kind that cannot possibly be repeated
by us. But shouldn’t that be our motivation? Shouldn’t that be our goal? Christian kindness, it’s only logical. It only follows
that we should return kindness to those to whom Christ has shown
kindness. If Christ loved them, if Christ
chose them, if Christ set them apart, if Christ has shown them
kindness, shouldn’t we? It should be true of us. This
too is one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. Let me tell you how
I thought it through. As so often I do, especially
when I’m typing, sometimes I’ll use the cap, sometimes I’ll use
all caps, sometimes I’ll use the underline, sometimes I’ll
use bold text. Here we go. Think of kindness, just plain,
straight type. A lot of us would think that
that’s the kind of kindness that Paul’s talking about here. That’s
how it’s printed on the page, right? There’s no kind of capital
letters, there’s no boldface, no italics. Besides that, if
it’s in italics in most of our Bibles, it wasn’t there in the
Greek, right? So what kind of kindness is he talking about
here? Just plain, straight type. I would say that that kind of
kindness is a good deed, perhaps within a family member. You saw
the trash that needed to be taken out. You took it out without
anybody knowing. You didn’t tell anybody. You
replaced the liner. You put it back where it belongs.
Kindness done. You can go on about your day
feeling really good about yourself. Is that the kindness that he’s
talking about? Not even close. It should include that. If we’re
Christians, if we name the name of Christ, those kinds of things
should be easy. We shouldn’t have to tout our
deeds when they’re done. What about kindness with a capital
K? Let’s try that. Kindness with
a capital K. I would describe that as a special
favor or a consideration for a friend or family member. This
is something that, man, you know that they wanted. It’s the favorite
pen. They love the favorite pen. They
lost it. And, man, I’ve looked everywhere for it. And now I’ve
found it. And there is my active kindness. This is a special thing. Is that what Paul is talking
about? It includes it, but it isn’t even close. Not even close. We should be doing those kinds
of acts of kindness for others, and this church does all the
time. What about this one? Kindness.
Underlined. That’s what we’re looking for.
Kindness. And I would describe this kind
of kindness. See, that’s the benefit to this kind of deal,
is I get to describe what I mean by this. This kind of kindness
that’s underlined, what do I mean by that? I would say this is
just a general goodness, a way of living before everybody, just
kind of going about being kind. This is a nice guy. Everywhere
he goes, he’s a nice guy. He holds the door. He’s the last
one in line. You know, he’ll even sometimes
pick up the tab for whoever’s behind him. Total stranger. This
is a kind guy, right? Is that what Paul’s talking about?
Not even close. It includes that. Shouldn’t we
have a testimony? Shouldn’t we be known at Starbucks
as that guy? Sure we should. So there’s really
one left. This is a boldface, all caps,
kindness. What is Paul talking about? This
is what I think he’s talking about. It’s this kind of kindness. It is a positive good done for
someone who may not deserve it. See, that’s the trouble. It is so easy. It is so easy to do things for
people who reciprocate. You know, almost every time we
go to lunch, we bring a little something. You know, gals are
great about this, right? Every time we go to lunch, bring
a little something. I thought of you when I found
this, and I brought it to lunch. If guys do it, it’s a tool, right? This is a positive good done
for someone who may not deserve it. If they were in the church,
you might not even call them a friend. You know, I know the
guy. He kind of bugs me. In fact, truth be told, he just
plain irritates me. But God has called me to kindness.
And I’m going to look for a way to serve him And I’m going to
look for a way to practically love him, and I’m going to do
it. It’s a positive good done for someone who may not deserve
it, or, get this, may not even know it. He may not even discover
that it was you that did it. See, we love credit, don’t we?
We love to kind of build accounts. I’m going to do this for you.
Now the next time we go to lunch, I’ll be looking for a tool. Right? Isn’t that how we function? We
don’t say that, but we certainly do that. We wait for the reciprocation. It’s a positive good done for
someone who may not deserve it, who may not even know about it,
and who likely cannot or will not reciprocate. What if they
don’t have the means? What if they don’t even know
who it was that did it? That’s kindness. And that’s the
kind of kindness that Paul says must be in the church. It must
be a part of how we relate to one another. Micah 6a. It echoes in our mind, doesn’t
it? He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord
require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your God. He’s not saying there to love
kind deeds when they’re done to you. Of course we love those. To love the art of doing a kindness
to someone who doesn’t deserve it, who doesn’t know about it,
and who can’t reciprocate. There’s a third quality that
Paul says must be in the church. It must be here. As those who
have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of
compassion, kindness, humility, You see, you can’t do either
of the first two without that. You’re not going to stoop so
low as to touch someone else’s weakness. If you’re proud, if
you care less about them, this point, this word just refers
to a lowliness of rank. So there’s trouble, isn’t it? In the unbiblical world, the
extra-biblical world, outside of the writers of the Bible,
this word was used of the lowest of low. Poor, destitute, groveling,
powerless people. They were the ones who were humble.
And they wouldn’t think of using this word to describe a virtue. Humility was not a virtue. It had a bad meaning. It essentially,
ultimately pointed to cowardliness. There is a humble man. But Christianity
came along and essentially changed the meaning of this word and
really brought out the true nature of this meaning. It is essentially
an outgrowth, a by-product of the Gospel, this word. Because
the word is founded on a correct estimate of ourselves. What do
we have to boast of? God didn’t look at you and see
anything special. God looked at you and saw a sinner
who was in absolute, desperate need of a Savior. And if the
Savior wasn’t provided, you’re in trouble. We look at ourselves and we see
ourselves as God sees us. because we know the Savior. We
know the Holy God. And we know how desperate a condition
we were in before God moved. But as one said, when grace changes
the heart, submission out of fear changes to submission out
of love, and true humility is born. You see, it isn’t just
a cowering submission. It is a humility that is born
out of an accurate assessment of ourselves As Paul said, it’s
only by grace that I am what I am. It’s only by grace that you are
what you are. Paul had a great testimony. Paul
had a great testimony to the church in Ephesus. And when in
the book of Acts, remember he called the elders to himself
for a meeting. He had an elders meeting. And
he called them and he said, I want to bring you to mind. I want
you to remember how I was when I lived with you. He said, you
yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia.
That’s hard for us to say, isn’t it? I want you to look back on
the totality of my life and I want you to find one day where I wasn’t
like this. That’s what he says. From the first day that I set
foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the
Lord with all humility. How many of us do that? Do you know that I fielded a
request and then followed by a complaint because I didn’t
give somebody recognition for teaching Sunday school for a
year? That’s what we do. That’s what
we tend to do. We tend to serve so that we get
reciprocated. We tend to serve so that we get
recognized. Paul said, I was serving with
all humility, with tears, with trials which came upon me. If we’re not humble, we can’t
even hope to begin to preserve the unity that has been the church.
The minute that pride comes in, we begin to destroy what the
Holy Spirit Himself has built. Robert Johnstone, one excellent
commentator on the Scriptures, said, an unregenerate man is
proud. The essence of sin is arrogance,
self-assertion against God, and it follows most naturally that
the sinful heart will be self-asserting against man also. Do you know
what he says? We want our way. That’s what
will kill the church. A soul which through pride has
broken away from the orbit that God made it to revolve in and
has become a wandering star cannot but, through the impulse of the
same pride, to be itself the center of a system. The world
is supposed to revolve around them. If we’re going to preserve
the unity of the church, we have to start with a low estimate
of ourselves. An accurate assessment of ourselves. Conscious, fully aware of the
guilts and the weaknesses that we have. And a tendency to be
comfortable in a low, unnoticed position. We’re not haughty. We’re not
arrogant. We’re not proud. Humility chases
all of those things away. As one pastor said, he who is
rightly penetrated with the feeling of dependence on God in reference
to his whole existence and conduct with the nothingness of everything
human will not pride himself in his
abilities. We’re not proud of what we can
accomplish. We’re thankful for what God chooses to do in us
by His grace. There’s a fourth quality I would
have you consider that must be in the church if we are to preserve
the unity Paul says, as those who have been chosen of God,
holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness. There’s another lost word, especially
for men, isn’t it? But the surprising thing to me
is how frequently this was used to describe Christ in His example. That Christ was gentle. Paul,
in beginning to exhort in very strong fashion, the detractors
that he faced in Corinth, in 2 Corinthians 10 said, now I,
Paul, myself, urge you by the meekness of Christ. He says I
want you to look back and see how Christ carried Himself. Who
are we? Matthew 21.5 quotes a passage
from Zechariah saying of Christ’s Behold, your King is coming to
you, gentle and mounted on a donkey.” That was our Saviour, wasn’t
it? A dimly burning wick He would
not extinguish. No wonder Jesus on the Sermon
on the Mount said, Blessed are the gentle. Gentleness is a quality
that He urged upon us as well, didn’t He? One described it in excellent
terms when he said, meekness in relation to men, in opposition
to passion and zeal, fear of reverence in relation to God,
which when it prevails, overcomes the fierceness of men’s spirits. Did you hear what he said? It
overcomes the fierceness of men’s spirits. That means we all have
this thing. And I believe that what he’s
saying there is true of women as well. We all have this fierceness
of spirit. We all want to defend. We all
want to respond or retaliate in kind. We all want to take
back our territory. Not Jesus. Not Jesus’ example. It is, as one described it, that
unresisting, uncomplaining, disposition of mind that enables us to bear
without irritation or resentment the faults and injuries of others.
We are at peace. We are gentle. And the Scriptures
use this word in some powerful context. Listen. When we are
led to confront error, you know, when you see somebody, and I’m
not just talking, you think they might have been wrong, or they
were kind of a little bit wrong, This is somebody who is in absolute
sin. And sometimes we’re led to confront
that thing. And when we’re led to confront
error in thought or life, there is exhortation. 2 Timothy 24 The Lord’s bondservant
must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach,
patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.
We are to take with us, by God’s grace, a gentle spirit. Not a
brash, harsh, tell-em kind of mentality. When we interact with unbelieving
authorities, that passage I alluded to a moment ago, Titus 3, Paul says there, remind them,
remind the believers to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to
be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no
one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for
all men. Last time you went to the DMV,
how gentle were you. Right? What about when sharing
your faith? Boy, if there was ever a time
to be brash and bold and just tell them like it is and give
them the Gospel. Peter says, sanctify Christ as
Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone
who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you,
yet with gentleness and reverence. We are called to gentleness not
just in evangelism, not just before the world, not just when
we have to confront a brother in sin. We’re called to gentleness
as a way of life. We’re called to gentleness in
the way that we interact with one another, showing every consideration
for all men, said one. There’s a fifth and final quality
that must be there in the church if we are, by God’s grace, to
preserve the unity of the Spirit that He has worked into the church. So as those who have been chosen
by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience.” Oh, not patience. This means
that we’re going to have to do everything that he just said
for a long time. And keep doing it. And keep doing
it. And keep doing it. We’re going
to have to keep showing compassion, and keep showing kindness, and
keep on being humble, and keep on being gentle towards others. This is a powerful quality given to us by God. It really just keeps pushing
irritation away. It keeps pushing the faults of
others, the failings, the misdeeds that they do. It keeps pushing
it away. It doesn’t let it come and take up residence. Now is
the time to act. It’s long-suffering. That’s how
it’s translated a lot of times. It’s against that irritable spirit
that we talked about a moment ago. James 1.19 says it this
way, This you know, my beloved brethren, everyone must be quick
to hear and slow to speak and slow to anchor. Boy, if we just
operated that way. One verse, right? Paul, in talking about the ministry,
in that great chapter a great section, rather, in 2 Corinthians. He’s been talking about the ministry
for almost three chapters. He starts in 2. 3, 4, and 5 are
absolutely. And then he kind of begins to
wrap it up in chapter 6. All about the ministry. Listen
to what he says. Working together with Him, we
also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Then
he goes on in verse 3. Giving no cause for offense in
anything. Wow! That would really transform society,
wouldn’t it? Giving no cause for offense in
anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but
in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God. It’s almost
as if he says, he puts up a billboard and says, watch me. I want you
to watch the way that I live. Because the way that I live is
my testimony. How radical. How did he live? Listen to this. In much endurance, in afflictions,
in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments,
in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge,
in patience. That was their one great testimony
to a fallen world. That they were patient, one with
another. We are called, dear people, to
patience. And you might say, That’s great. I’m praying for patience and
God is working on me. But Paul wants to spell it out
explicitly what he’s talking about. And he does that in verse
13. What does all this roll in to
mean? What does this patience look
like? What does this humility look like? What does an ongoing
gentleness look like? Look at verse 13. Bearing with
one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint
against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”
This bearing one another has an echo in the Ephesians passage,
doesn’t it? In the Ephesians passage, it
says it this way, showing tolerance for one another in love. And
you know, honestly, sometimes you do have to tolerate others,
don’t you? That’s not a pleasant thing to say. We should say that
with great difficulty, but there are difficulties, idiosyncrasies,
even sometimes, you know, things that just stop short of out-and-out
sinfulness that we are called to just lovingly cover, tolerate,
put up with, bear with. It’s essentially the application
of patience. You know, you might even say
like Peter, so Lord, how many times? Seven times do I show
patience? Jesus would say 17 times seven. How do you know who’s putting
up with you? Right? How many people are putting
up with you? A lot of people put up with me. What Paul is pointing here is
the need to put up with, literally, to tolerate, to bear long with
the quirks, the shortcomings, the idiosyncrasies, the rudeness
even, of others. And then when they offend us.
I mean really, truly offend. Not just the idiosyncrasies,
not just an occasional slip, but when they have really blown
it. Not only are we called to forgive one another, we’re called
to bear with one another, we’re called to forgive one another. And it’s so simple, I’m not going
to embellish it. You know what forgiveness is.
It’s not just addressing it with them, expressing your forgiveness
to them. It’s over and done with. I remember
watching a signing for a death during a service. And they talked
about forgiveness as being not only forgetfulness, but God puts
it behind it. For those of you who signed,
that may not be the exact, but that was the image that I got
in my mind. God puts it away. He’s not going to bring it up
later. He’s not going to keep it just
in case. He’s not going to keep it for
alternate means. This is for those times when
others have absolutely and positively offended us. We go to them and
we appeal to them. And we’re already in a forgiving
state of mind. We’re already prepared to forgive
them. And if you’re not, don’t go.
Don’t confront anybody unless you’re ready to forgive them. So, to whom does this apply? Just the church, but not the
deacons? Just the deacons, but not the elders? The church and
the deacons and not the elders? This is everybody. From the ground
up, to whom does it apply? Everyone. Whoever has a complaint
against anyone. That covers even pastors’ wives,
right? Whoever has a complaint against
anyone. We are to forgive. We are to
have a forgiving spirit And as if He needs any motivation to
this whole section, that if we are going to preserve the unity,
this is an absolute must, that we have a forgiving spirit, that
we stand ready to forgive. Whoever has a complaint against
anyone, what kind of motivation would we need? How about the
Lord? Just as the Lord forgave you,
so also should you. You know, this is the only place
where if he’s talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and the use
of this word, Lord, and that is Paul’s tendency, and that
is exactly what I believe that he’s doing, he’s saying, Jesus
forgave you. Well, that’s a pretty rare thing
for Scripture to say. Usually it attributes forgiveness
to God, right? What he’s saying is, and get
this, Jesus not only went to the cross to secure payment for
the forgiveness of your sins, He also forgave you. In His effort
in going to the cross to pay your penalty, Jesus also forgave
you. I want to take you to one closing
illustration. It’s the parable of the unmerciful
slave. We’ve already talked about it. We preached it years ago.
Remember when I said the title for that message was the ten
million dollar sin? For those of you who aren’t familiar
with it, essentially, the slave goes before a king. He owes him
the equivalent of ten million dollars. He goes before him and
he starts groveling, oh, please, oh king, forgive me. And Jesus
is telling this parable in response to Peter’s question, how often
should I forgive my brother? Okay, I’ll tell you. This unmerciful slave goes before
the king and the king forgives him all of it. Every bit of it. He doesn’t set up a payment plan. He doesn’t say, you know, if
I could only take a down payment. Nothing. He forgives him every
last cent. And what does he do? He goes
out and begins to choke the neck of his fellow slave. Do you know
what he owed him? The equivalent of 16 pennies.
The point is almost absurd, isn’t it? That’s exactly how we function. We’ve been forgiven this incredible
weight of sin This incredible life that we lived, why would
any God even look our direction? But He did. And not only did
He look in our direction, He sent a Savior, and He forgave
us. He provided the means on the
cross, and He forgave us our entire debt. And how do we respond? We fold our arms and we hold
a grudge over our fellow slave for essentially a 16 penny sin. If we’re going to preserve the
unity of the church, we have to be a forgiving people. I remind you that first and foremost,
that unity isn’t something we’re called to create. It isn’t an attitude that we
as believers establish as if it’s apart from God and His work
in the church. Unity is God’s work. It’s His
doing. It’s a work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the divine
author of this peaceable existence among God’s people. Our task
isn’t to create it. It’s merely to preserve it. To
maintain it. All the church can do, the only
thing God’s people can do is disturb it or destroy it if they’re
not careful to maintain it. And once it’s troubled, Once
this God-given unity is disturbed and it wanes in the church, it
is difficult, if not impossible, to recover. And that’s why Paul
urges with the utmost urgency for the saints to do everything
in their power to preserve it. In order to preserve this unity,
we are to be diligent to make every effort to do everything
in our power in order that it might not be ruined in the first
place. Let’s plead for God’s grace. O merciful God, we humble ourselves
and we thank You and praise You for these rich and practical
sections in Your Word that don’t just talk to us about theory
or even some rich doctrine, but they point before us the pure
and simple ways that we are to live not only with our employers,
not only with our spouses, not only before our children, but
in the one another’s of the very Church of Christ. O merciful
God, we pray that You would help us to develop and put on a heart
of compassion and kindness, humility and gentleness, and patience
that forgives, so that we, by Your grace, might preserve the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It’s in Christ’s name
that we pray. Amen. You take your bulletins as we
close the stand and sing, Thy Mercy, My God. Thy mercy, my God, is the
theme of my song. The joy of my heart and the boast
of my tone Thy free grace alone from the first to the last Had
won my affections and bound my soul fast Without Thy sweet mercy, I could
not live here. Sin would raise me to utter despair. But through Thy free goodness,
my spirit will fly. And He that first made me still
keeps me alive. Thy mercy is more than a match
for my heart, Which wonders to fill its unhardened, steep heart. It’s all by the goodness I fall
to the ground, And wave to the praise of the mercy I’ve found. Great father of the mercies,
thy goodness I own In covenant love, O my crucified son, O praise
to the Spirit, whose whisper divine, Seals mercy and pardon
and righteousness mine. O praise to the Spirit, whose
whisper divine, Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine.