Introduction
Last week we saw in Exodus 34 how the Lord revealed his name to Moses as an expression of His glory. The “name” revealed Him to be a “God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” This is why the phrase “slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness” is found throughout the OT as favorite way of describing God’s character (Num. 14:18; Neh. 9:31; Ps. 86:5; Joel 2:13). This morning we are going to look at the second part of that phrase: “abounding in loving kindness.”
In our world, patience and kindness can be seen as signs of weakness, but not so in the Bible. Patience and kindness are both powerful, active qualities because they are rooted in God’s love. Given the revelation of God’s name as “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” it should not surprise us that the first two qualities Paul uses to define God’s love are patience and kindness: “Love is patient, love is kind…” (1 Cor. 13:4). What does it mean to be kind like our God is kind? Let’s look at how God reveals His kindness in the pages of Scripture and then turn to consider what it means for us to be a people who have kind and loving hearts like Him.
Kindness and the Character of God
In the Bible, kindness is the capacity to notice and care about the needs of others instead of myself. When we say, “that was kind” we often refer to actions that are not necessary, but demonstrate attention and care that is generous and often merciful. In the OT, the Hebrew word for kindness is hesed. It is a beautiful and complex word that is translated in a number of different ways. It often refers to love, but with an added emphasis on faithfulness that is sometimes translated “faithful” or “steadfast love.” Sometimes it is translated as “loyalty” to emphasize the commitment between people. It can also mean “mercy” and is very closely related to “compassion.” Older English translations like the KJV attempt to capture these dimensions by translating hesed with the compound word “loving kindness.” I love this summary from Christopher Wright: “When God acts in “kindness,” it means God is being faithful to his covenant promises, paying careful attention to our needs, acting in generous and merciful love, generously providing everything for our blessing and benefit.”
This is borne out in our reading from Isaiah 63. In vs. 7, all that the Lord had granted Israel and the “great goodness” He had given them is sandwiched between references to the Lord’s “steadfast love.” This language is deeply rooted in God’s covenant promises to Abraham (Genesis 15). The covenant was God’s pledge to be kind and merciful to Israel even though she was sinful and often faithless. This is why Psalm 136 in reciting God’s acts from creation, to the exodus, to the giving of the promised land, echoes the continuous refrain “for His steadfast love endures forever.” Or David finishes his meditation on the Good Shepherd: “Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life” (Ps. 23:6).
Notice the same pattern in our NT reading from Titus 3. Paul begins by exhorting Timothy to urge the Cretan church “to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” In short, to be kind to their neighbors. Why? The reason comes in vs. 3: “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.” And when we were like that what did God do? He revealed his goodness and loving kindness and saved us according to His mercy and not by our righteous deeds (vs. 5). It’s easy to miss how remarkable this is and how important it is to the shape of our lives as those called to imitate Him. When we were foolish, disobedient, led astray, hateful, and slaves to our own passions, God revealed his goodness and His loving kindness so that we would repent of our sinful ways and turn to Him. Romans 2:4 makes this clear: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Rather than being weak and indulgent, God’s goodness and loving kindness in face of our sin becomes the model for bringing people to repentance.
Jesus said the same thing in our gospel reading from Luke 6: “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. Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”
Living a Life of Kindness
What does it look like to live a life characterized by loving kindness? One of the most powerful examples of hesed is found in the lives of Boaz and Ruth. Remember that the central question of the book of Ruth is how a Moabitess came to be the great, great grandmother of King David. The answer is found by following hesed through the book. Ruth demonstrates that she is a true Israelite by the way she shows loving kindness to Naomi, even when Naomi can’t see the loving kindness of the Lord. Ruth, gleans and provides food (2:2), makes herself vulnerable to Boaz to secure a “redeemer” for Naomi (3:9), and bears son on Naomi’s knees (4:16). Likewise, Boaz sees to it that Ruth is protected and abundantly provided for (2:8-9), praises her selfless seeking of a husband (3:10), and marries Ruth to raise up offspring for Naomi though he was under no obligation to do so (4:13-14). The book is literally bursting with freely given, undeserved loving kindness. Ruth and Boaz are living pictures of their God.
I noted at the beginning that patience and kindness are often seen to be “weak” virtues. Nothing could be further from the truth. The real reason why we are not interested in pursuing patience and kindness is for the simple reason that we are more interested in our own good. “Apart from God’s grace, most of us naturally tend to be concerned about our responsibilities, our problems, our plans. But the who has grown in the grace of kindness has expanded his thinking outside of himself and his interests and has developed a genuine interest in the happiness and well-being of those around him.” – Jerry Bridges
Men, this is particularly true of you. Men, in their flesh, have an extraordinary capacity for selfishness and hostility. We are also very good at justifying it by saying that this is what being a leader requires. But the real reason is because we are too proud to admit that we need the Lord’s kindness and mercy. A kind heart is a soft heart; one that has been softened by the Lord’s love and compassion. If your heart is hard toward God, it will also be hard toward others and especially toward those close to you.
True kindness is seen in the way we treat “the least of these” (Matt. 25:31-46). Being men like Boaz and Ruth will make us attentive to those who cannot repay our kindness. Which is why parenting is a great act of kindness. True strength, the kind that Jesus demonstrated, is patient and long suffering; willing to bear with the weaknesses of others without anger or frustration. Likewise, real strength is truly kind, meaning that it is aware of others’ needs and gladly makes provision to meet them even though it means sacrifice and laying down your privileges (Phil. 2:3-8).