| |
|
|
|
| |
| Sabbath School Programs and Teaching Plans for your Church |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
Formerly Sabbath School Leadership, LEAD is a quarterly magazine to bring more power and polish to your Sabbath School programs and Sabbath School teaching.
 Listen to the Sabbath School Theme Music for this Quarter
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
02.06.10: The Fruit-Kindness 
Cultural Context
Today kindness is considered a desired grace of etiquette. The educated and elite have an aura of politeness and even kindness in social circles. We also learn about acts of Kindness reported in the media about individuals who manifest kindness to strangers and the impoverished. These warm the conscience of a nation, affirming belief that there are still vestiges of good in humanity. When kindness is unmerited and unexpected it plays chords in the human heart that open an opportunity to convey God’s love.
Necessary Background/Further Resources
• The Desire of Ages, chapter 31
• Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, chapter 2
Preparation
Read the passages listed above and analyze the meaning of kindness depicted in Christ’s sermon on the mount.
Point of Contact
Questions
• Why do people in our culture still consider kindness a virtue?
• Does society expect Christians to be kind? Are the expectations higher for the Christian than the unbeliever?
• How does society respond to unkind Christians?
Points of Conversation
Read Luke 6:17-49. Jesus reveals an embedded code of ethics for the Christian. Within that sermon Jesus gives us a beautiful exposition of portrayal true kindness ultimately.
Verse 27—“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”
Verse 28—“Bless those who curse you.”
Verse 28—“Pray for those who spitefully use you.”
Verse 29—“To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.”
Questions
• Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” What does this tell us about the nature of the kindness that God desires us to possess?
• What motivates your external acts of kindness?
• Are the acts kind when the heart is not in it?
• Although Jesus said, “Bless those who curse you,” have you been tempted to respond the same way that you were treated?
• Do you find it hard to pray for your enemies?
• Have you ever turned the other cheek?
• How can we come to the place where our kindness doesn’t depend upon the other person’s merit or behavior? What would be the impact upon society if all Christians exhibited this type of kindness?
“Under a storm of stinging, faultfinding words, keep the mind stayed upon the word of God. Let mind and heart be stored with God’s promises. If you are ill-treated or wrongfully accused, instead of returning an angry answer, repeat to yourself the precious promises: ‘Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Rom. 12:21)” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 486).
Parting Thought
The kindness that God desires us to have is supernatural. The Sermon on the Mount expounds on a type of kindness that goes much deeper than external actions. Rather that kindness flows from a heart full of the love of Christ so that no matter how undeserving the recipient the kindness still saturates everything we do. What a witness to the world our lives would be!
Kindness is easy when kindness abounds. But it is difficult to be kind when the other person is belligerent, offensive, or hurtful. Yet when people are undeserving of our kindness, we have all the more opportunity to reveal God’s love to them. Such kindness reveals what God does for us every day—kindness given when undeserved. Unmerited and undeserved favor becomes the channel for hearts to be touched and softened, an opening to minister to a hurting person.
Reach Out
1. Partner with your prison ministries leader.
2. Volunteer for your local Boys and Girls Club.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
