“…so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7)

I feel bad for Ephesians 2:7.

Most people have heard of Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”

But who’s ever heard of Ephesians 2:7?

I’ve read Ephesians 2:7 dozens of times but never memorized it like I have Ephesians 2:8-9. But because of these studies in the Fruit of the Spirit I had the opportunity to pause and study Ephesians 2:7 and I am extremely thankful.

Ephesians 2:7 begins with, “so that.” Obviously, whatever preceded the so that is essential to understanding the rest of Ephesians 2:7. The sentence begins in Ephesians 2:4. It reads:

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

Wow! What a sentence! In it contains the entirety of the gospel!

Even when we were dead through our trespasses…

• No, we aren’t good people who have a few flaws. We were dead in our trespasses.
• Spiritually concerned, we were good as dead.
• What can the dead do? Nothing!!!
• That’s the point of the gospel of grace. There is nothing we can do to earn it or deserve it. It is all grace. It is all God.

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us…made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that…he might show his immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

• Salvation is all God’s doing. It is all mercy. It is all because of his great love toward us.
• Because of his love for us, he did for us what we could not ever do for ourselves. Jesus paid the debt of sin and bore the punishment in his body, on the cross.
• And Christ rose again from the dead, so that we too might rise with him.
• God did all this for us in Christ Jesus.
• All this is the sign of God’s kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

Remember, kindness in the Greek means meeting the real needs of someone in God’s way in God’s timing. That’s Jesus Christ! That’s the gospel! That’s good news!

Salvations is not about works. It’s not about what we can do. It’s all about what God has already done!

That is meeting a need in a practical way. That’s God’s kindness.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23)

The fifth fruit of the Spirit we will be focusing on this week is kindness.

The Greek word for kindness is xrestotes (chrestotes). The way this word is translated in the English is “kindness, goodness, excellence, gentleness.”

There are times when there are no English words that properly translate the Greek. This is one of them.

Chrestotes is derived from the Greek root word chrestos. Chrestos means: useful, profitable, well-fit for use for what is really needed, a kindness that is timely and needed.

The best way to think of this word is that chrestotes is the Spirit-produced goodness and kindness that meets a specific need. This is a useful kindness, a practical kindness that meets real needs in God’s way and in God’s timing.

It is not just feeling nice things or thinking nice things about someone. This is meeting a real need in a timely way. This kindness shows up in real person and in real presence to meet the need of another. This kindness honors God and blesses another. This kindness is how God uses Christians to be agents of blessings to another.

Not just kind thoughts or feelings. Real, tangible, needed, and useful kindness that shows up just at the right time.

Just what the doctor ordered. Except, for us, this is just what God ordered.

Looking forward to learning more about the fifth fruit of the Spirit: kindness.

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12).

Uniforms.

Some sports team’s uniforms are classy. Some are…well…not so much.

Did you know Christian’s have a uniform? Yup. The Apostle Paul tells us what the Christian uniform looks like:

• compassion
• kindness
• humility
• meekness
• patience

Think about our world. Our world desperately needs Christians who are uniformed with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

The reason why these are to be the marks of the Christian’s uniform is because Christians are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved by God. Because of all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ, we are to resemble our God and our Savior.

Here’s the thing about these marks of the Christian’s uniform: you have to put it on. You have to clothe yourselves with these marks. These characteristics don’t just happen. We have to actively put them on. We have to put them on because these are foreign to our natural selves. The marks of our natural selves are the opposite of the marks of the Christian. The marks of the world’s uniform are:

• indifference vs compassion
• coldheartedness vs kindness
• proud vs humility
• superiority vs meekness
• impatience vs patience

The marks of the world’s uniform, we are born with. We don’t have to work at them. We just have them.

Just as we are intentional about dressing ourselves in the morning, we need to be intentional about putting on the Christian uniform. We have to put the marks of the Christian uniform on every day.

So, let’s get dressed! It’s game time!