This study was taught at our Sunday evening service by Sasha Trokhymenko on the 11th October 2020. You can listen to the audio on this web page or save it for later listening.

This is the sixth study in our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, something that should be evident in the life of every Christian, and found in the Bible in Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

As taught in our introduction to this series, we should keep in mind the following foundational items;

• Grace, not works (We don’t show the fruit of the Spirit in order to be saved, but rather we grow fruit because we have been saved – see Ephesians 2:8-9)
• Fruit, not fruits (Unlike the gifts of the Spirit where different ones are given to different people, we should each demonstrate all the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit – see 2 Peter 1:5-9).
• Abiding, not striving (We are to abide in Christ. If the branches are not connected, they will not bear fruit. Likewise we must spend time in the Word, and in prayer, or we will not bear fruit – John 15:4).

In this study we specifically looked at kindness, starting with a look some passages in the Bible that speak of kindness – specifically 2 Corinthians 6:6, Ephesians 2:7, Colossians 3:12 and Titus 3:4.

As with all aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit, kindness should be evident in the believer’s life – as evident in our lives as the works of darkness are in this world around us. But more than just something we internalise, kindness should be an active outpouring of fruit toward others.

Indeed, kindness and the love of God are connected; we should consider God’s generous nature toward us – He is gentle, forgiving and has given generously to us. Defined by one commentator as “sweet reasonableness”, we should mirror Christ’s nature toward us in our nature toward others.

During this study we also considered the example of David in his kindness to Mephibosheth.

Throughout this 10-week series we will continue to study one quality of the Fruit of the Spirit each week, with studies available on our website (usually) the same day they are taught. Separately, it is worth listening to our previous study on this chapter here.