
Missional Kindness
Romans 1:18-20; 28-32
But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who
suppress the truth by their wickedness. [a] 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God
made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and
divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God…. 28 Since they
thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
Humanity is broken and sinful.
Romans 2:1-3
2 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad,
and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? It’s easy to judge others sins while excusing our own sins. We need to remember we will also give an account to God for every deed done and word spoken in our lives.
Jonah chapters 1-4
Jonah was hyper focused on Nineveh’s rebellion while completely Ignoring
his own rebellion.
We are not above those we are sent to reach with the gospel.
Romans 2:4
Missional Kindness
4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?
Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended
to turn you from your sin?
We often forget how kind God is toward us.
God is kind, tolerant and patient with us.
Psalms 103:8-12
8 The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west
God’s kindness extends to our past sins, our present shortcomings and our
future mistakes. His kindness is anchored in love and mercy.
God’s kindness is intended to lead us to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
God has an incredible, magnificent ability to store up anger and not allow it
to spill over on those who are living in sin and rebellion to Him. His loving
kindness continues to draw us to repentance even in the midst of our
rebellion.
When we remember God’s kindness toward us then we can walk in His
kindness toward others who are living in sin.
Kindness draws people to you. Missional kindness will draw men and women to Jesus because they see Jesus in us.
Missional Kindness
God lovingly warns us of his impending judgement, but patiently,
compassionately and with loving kindness waits for us to respond in
repentance…what if we responded this way to those we are called to reach
with missional kindness?
Takeaways:
1. Missional kindness calls us to see the brokenness around us and
respond with kindness.
2. Remember everyone is in process…be patient and express loving
kindness to others as they walk out their own salvation.
3. Stop judging and start loving people with kindness.
4. God’s kindness leads both sinner and saint to repentance.
5. As we walk in God’s loving kindness it will draw men to Christ.