Pearls Of Paul Original Sermon Art
Delivered On: May 7, 2000
Scripture: Galatians 5:22-25
Book of the Bible: Galatians
Sermon Summary:

Dr. Jim Dixon highlights kindness as a reflection of the Holy Spirit’s fruit. Dr. Dixon underscores kindness as essential for impactful ministry, sharing a personal story of his daughter’s compassionate act. He illustrates the importance of showing kindness to reveal God’s love and urges listeners to embody kindness as a way to reflect Christ’s presence.

From the Sermon Series: Pearls of Paul

PEARLS OF PAUL
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – KINDNESS
COMMUNION SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
GALATIANS 5:22-25
MAY7, 2000

In the year 1977, in Lake Arthur, New Mexico, a woman named Maria Rubio was in her kitchen and she was cooking a tortilla in her skillet. Suddenly, the face of Jesus Christ began to form in the tortilla. Maria Rubio called for her husband Eduardo. He came, and he looked at the tortilla. He saw the face of Christ, and together they agreed this was a miracle. They took the tortilla out of the skillet. They framed it, and they created a little shrine in their house. Somehow, the word got out, and it was picked up by the media. Newspapers began to report on this from coast-to-coast, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Even here in Denver, The Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, in 1977, reported on the face of Christ in the tortilla in the home of the Rubios. The story was also picked up on television, and the major news networks told all about this miraculous image of Christ in this tortilla in New Mexico.

Well, as a result of all the publicity, people began to pilgrimage to New Mexico to see the Shrine of the Holy Tortilla. That was 23 years ago, and today it is said that 12,000 people have been healed while visiting the Shrine of the Holy Tortilla. Now, I must say, when I read stories like that and when I hear stories like that, I’m incredulous and I have a lot of questions. I mean did our Lord Jesus Christ really choose to manifest Himself in a tortilla? Did our Lord Jesus Christ really choose to reveal Himself in a skillet? Did our Lord Jesus Christ really heal more than 12,000 people through this alleged manifestation? I have other questions that aren’t so serious. Was it a flour or a corn tortilla? There are a lot of questions that I cannot answer.

I cannot answer those questions, but I know this: I know that our Lord Jesus Christ normally does not choose to reveal Himself through tortillas. He normally does not choose to reveal Himself through cloud formations. He normally does not choose to reveal Himself through holy relics like the Shroud of Turin. Our Lord Jesus Christ normally chooses to reveal Himself through people. He normally chooses to manifest Himself through His people—His people who live in New Mexico, His people who live in Colorado, His people who live in every state across this nation, His people who live in every nation around the earth. He chooses to manifest Himself through you and through me. He chooses to manifest Himself through us. If Jesus Christ is to be revealed through us, then we must have this fifth fruit of the Holy Spirit because it’s impossible for people to see Christ in us apart from kindness, this fruit of the Holy Spirit called kindness.

The Greek word for kindness in the Bible is the word “chrestotes.” This word chrestotes is used 17 times in the New Testament, and 16 of those times it refers to what we would call kindness. On one occasion, the word means “useful” or “serviceable,” and that’s because etymologically this word “chrestotes” has to do with use or service. When a person did something for another person that was useful, when a person did something or another person that constituted an act of service, it was considered to be a kindness.

Many of you have heard of Tertullian. Tertullian was an early church father. He was the early church father who so influenced St. Augustine. Tertullian was born in the 2nd century AD. He was born in the year 160. He was born in the famous city of Carthage on the northernmost tip of the African continent. Tertullian was educated in the law, and he was competent and fluent in both Greek and Latin. He wrote many works in Greek and in Latin. Thirty-one of his Latin writings survive and can be read today. From Tertullian, we’ve learned so much about the early church. There are many expressions that we use today that first appeared in writing in the writing of Tertullian.

The expression, “If God will…” that’s first seen in the writing of Tertullian. The expression, “God bless…” or “God grant…” is first seen in his writings. Many sayings concerning the early church are first found in the writings of Tertullian. The saying that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” is first found in his writings. The statement concerning the early church, “See how they loved one another.” That’s first seen in the writings of Tertullian.” Even the word “trinitaste,” the Latin word for Trinity, is first associated with the Godhead in the writings of Tertullian. So this man has had tremendous influence.

As we look at his writings, we see something that is kind of shocking to most Christians today. It is very surprising. We see that in the early church Christians were not always called Christians. They were sometimes called Chrestians. It was not the word Christianoi, but it was the word Chrestionoi, from this word chrestotes. Followers of Jesus Christ were called “kind ones,” “chrestions.” The word Christian means “Christ one.” The word chrestian means “kind one.”

Even Jesus Christ, in many parts of the Christian world, instead of being called Christos, He was called Chrestos. Instead of the “anointed one” it means the “kind one” because kindness was so associated with Jesus and kindness was so associated with the followers of Jesus that they were called by the word Christianoi, kind ones. I sometimes wish that, today, Christians were called “kind ones.” Maybe it would remind us daily of the call of Christ that we give ourselves in acts of kindness. I wish throughout Christian history that Christians had been called “kind ones” because then, maybe, we never would have participated in the Crusades. Maybe if we had been called “kind ones,” the Inquisition never would have taken place. Christ wants to remind each of us who believe in Him as Lord and Savior that we are called to acts of kindness.

Fifteen years ago, Barbara and I lived in Littleton, about a half-mile from the intersection of University and Arapahoe Road. Across the street from us, there was an elderly couple. They were constantly arguing, and you could hear their voices coming out of the windows of their house. Their voices just kind of echoed all over the neighborhood. People talked about it. I mean, they were known for their arguing and their yelling. You could particularly hear the voice of this elderly woman. Some people said that she was an alcoholic. I don’t know whether that was true. I DO know that there was a lot of anger in her, and you could oftentimes hear her yelling in the house.

Well, one day our daughter Heather, who was then 10 years old, was playing in the park behind the home of our neighbors, this elderly couple. She was playing in the park there, and this elderly lady came out, and she became very angry with Heather. She just started yelling at Heather. Heather did not know what she had done. She was just startled and just kind of stunned. This elderly woman was just yelling at her! Heather came running home, crying. She came into the house crying and she said, “That MEAN woman is yelling at me.” I said to Heather that that woman has a lot of pain inside of her, that there’s a lot of hurt inside of her. I said, “I don’t know what all that hurt is, but she’s really hurting inside.” I told Heather that she might be a very, very lonely person.

I could see Heather’s face change. Instead of being kind of angry, you could see compassion on her face. Well, about a half-hour later, as I was coming into the kitchen, and I saw that Heather was baking cookies. She normally didn’t do that. I said, “Heather, what are you doing?” She said, “I’m making cookies for that woman across the street.” She made those cookies, put them on a paper plate and put cellophane over them. She wrote out a little note and just said, “Jesus loves you.” Then, with our son Drew, who was 7 years old at the time, Heather took the cookies across to this elderly woman and they gave them to her.

Heather said that when she saw the cookies and she read the note, she began to cry. She just cried and she cried, and then she began to say, “God bless you.” She said it through her tears again and again and again. “God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.” That was the beginning of a whole new relationship between Heather and that elderly woman because she never treated Heather the same. She always treated Heather well after that—all because of a single act of kindness, a single act of kindness.

I wish that the body of Christ was known for its many acts of kindness. I wish that all of our lives were characterized by many acts of kindness because apart from kindness there is little ministry in this world. Apart from kindness, the gospel of Jesus Christ does not go forth in power. Apart from kindness, Jesus Christ is not manifested in us. Apart from kindness, Jesus Christ is not revealed in us. The Holy Spirit uses kindness, and this is the fifth fruit of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that we are to be kind to everybody.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You’ve heard it said of old, love your neighbor and hate your enemies.” I say to you, “Love your enemies. Pray for those that abuse you. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who speak evil of you. Be kind to everybody as your heavenly Father is kind to everybody.” This is the call of Christ upon the Christian. Through kindness, He enables ministry.

Some of you have heard of the Talmud. The Talmud is the second most sacred writing in Judaism. The most sacred writing in Judaism is the Torah, which we could call the Old Testament, but the second most sacred writing in Judaism is the Talmud. The Talmud consists of the oral traditions of the Jews, passed on from generation to generation, from before the time of Moses. The Talmud consists of those oral traditions and commentary on the Torah. The Talmud also consists of anecdotes and stories that were passed on from generation to generation. The Talmud consists of 63 tractates in six sections and two divisions. The first division of the Talmud is called the Mishnah, and the second division of the Talmud is called the Gemara.

The first section of the Talmud, the Mishnah, was put into writing between the years 70 and 200 AD. The Gemara was put into writing between the years 200 and 500 AD. The Palestinian or the Jerusalem Gemara was completed in the year 430 AD, and the Babylonian Gemara completed in the year 500 AD. But the Talmud reflects traditions and sayings and stories that date back from before the time of Moses. Now, in the Talmud, there are many stories. There is one story I love. I wish it were in the Torah. The story I love is a story about Abraham.

I don’t know whether the story is true because the Talmud is not holy scripture, but it is ancient. The story is ancient, and it was passed down from generation to generation. It’s about Abraham. According to the story in the Talmud, Abraham was in his tent. He was in his tent, and a stranger appeared, a very old man. This very old man was on a journey. He was traveling. Abraham, as was the custom of the Jews and all of the people in the Middle East, showed hospitality to this traveler. He said, “Why don’t you come into my tent. We’ll have dinner, and you can spend the night here. You can rest from your travels.” Before dinner, Abraham said to his guest, this elderly man, “Let’s pray to Jehovah Elohim. Let’s pray to the one true God.” This stranger said, “I’m a polytheist, and I worship many gods. I’m particularly fond of the god of fire because fire keeps me warm at night and fire enables me to cook my food.” Abraham, when he realized that this stranger was a polytheist, thought to himself that he had a heathen in his tent. He began to become angry. He began to think, “I don’t want to share my food with this pagan.” He began to think, “I don’t want this heathen spending the night in my tent.” In his anger, he kicked this traveler out of his tent, and he told him never to come back!

Well, only a few minutes later, according to the Talmud, the Angel of the Lord appeared at Abraham’s tent. The Angel of the Lord said, “Abraham, thus sayeth the Lord: I bore with that man for 70 years that he might come to love Me. Could you not bear with him for one night, that he might see My love through you?”

I love that story. I wish it were in the Torah. If it were in the Old Testament, it would influence Christian and Jew alike. I love that story because it is true that God wants to reveal His love through us. He wants us to show kindness to people that they might see God through us. God wants to reveal His Son through us. He wants us to show kindness to others that they might see Christ through us. This is His plan, and so we have this fifth fruit of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of kindness. As we come to the Lord’s table this morning, and as we partake of the bread and the cup, we need to commit ourselves anew to acts of kindness. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.