Be Kind To One Another

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now, enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Good morning, church. How we doing this morning? That's good. We got a little prettier up on stage this morning. We're gonna do something very special because we have a big week coming up for a lot of you, and that's school. First day of school for most of you is Wednesday. That's where all the parents cheer. That's where all the teachers take a deep breath. But we wanted to take a time, this moment before we start in the message, to just pray over all of our teachers, all of our administration, all of our school staff, and then also take a moment to pray for our students. So I've invited some special guests over here. This is my beautiful wife, Amanda. And yes, I know what you're saying, and I did out punt my coverage. Yes, Amanda is a principal at Prairie View elementary in Northwest isd. We got one hawk over there, no other hawks in the room. Okay. And she's going to pray over all of those this morning that lead our schools and lead our students. And then we have Molly Tierney over here. And if you don't know Molly, Molly is one of our youth pastors in Met Youth and does an incredible job. And interesting fact, when I started at the Met, Molly was a freshman in high school in Met Youth. Now she's married with a kid, which makes me feel really old. But she's going to pray over our students this morning. So here's how we're going to do it. I'm going to ask that if you are a teacher, public school, private school, home school, whatever it looks like, if you are a teacher or you're an administrator in a school or you're on staff at a school, if you would please stand up. Let's give these guys a round of applause. Now, you guys remain standing. And now I'm going to ask if you are a student, elementary, middle school, high school, in college, would you please stand? Let's give these guys a round of applause. And I'm going to ask if you are close and you are related to, let's not make it weird. If, if you're. There's a teacher administrator close to you and it's your spouse say, I'm going to ask that you just grab their hand or that you put your hand on them. If you're a parent and your student is standing, I'm gonna ask you to do the same thing. Grab their hand, put your hand on their back, let them know that you're there. For everybody else, I'm gonna ask you to do something. And it's a little out of the ordinary for us, but I think it could be very powerful. I'm gonna ask when you look around and you see somebody standing close to you, I'm gonna ask that you just put your hand up towards their direction. If you're comfortable with that, just put your hand out towards their direction. Because I want you to also pray over them as we pray up here on stage. Awesome. Let's pray. [00:03:47] Speaker A: Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for these teachers and educators that have been called to serve and teach our students and community. God, what an honor it is to be able to minister to our students and their families and live out sharing the gospel with our actions. May every person we encounter this year see you through us. I ask God that we never walk alone this year, that each day we are given exactly what we need to be patient, wise, and impactful for our students. I pray we have peace on the tough days and joy and purpose that keep us going strong. Thank you, Lord, for giving us another year to do your work. We as teachers and educators, we hand over our classrooms, our halls, and our offices, and we ask that you lead them. May we work each day as though it's for you, God, Guide us, Lord, protect us and be with us as we walk faithfully into another year with our students, their families, our communities, our campuses. And I thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be another, to play a part in another year of these lives. And bless us with a great year full of miracles. God, we love you, Lord, and we pray these things in your powerful name. [00:05:03] Speaker C: Dear Lord, Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for a new generation of learners. Lord, I pray over our smallest learners who are starting school. And I also pray for our oldest learners who are about to go out into the world. Lord, I pray for protection over physical and earthly harm and also spiritual harm. Lord, I pray that you will just remind these students that they are chosen, they are loved, and there is a place for them in our schools, in our communities, in met youth. God, I pray that you will just give them an excitement to learn. I pray that you will give them encouragement from teachers. I pray over our ability to continue to be energetic throughout the school year. Lord, I feel like there's a lot of excitement at the very beginning of the year and sometimes it's hard for students to continue. So I pray that you will just give them encouragement and stamina to finish out the year. I pray over our our students that you will just use them as leaders in the classroom. Leaders to help minister to educators, help minister to parents, help minister to other students. Lord, I pray that you will remind students that there is a place for them and they have an opportunity to do something incredible. Lord, thank you for giving us this generation. Thank you for giving them such a fire for your spirit. God, I pray over just the year of 20, 26 and 20 and that it will be a school year that no one has ever seen and experienced in our state and in our country. God, I pray over the freedom for them to take you into their school environments. God, I pray that you will help us as adults, remind them that we are able to access you whenever we need to. God. And so I pray that students will just be able to remember that whenever they're in moments where they need a little bit of encouragement, they can turn to you and they can trust you and they can walk with you. God, we love you. In Jesus name, Amen. [00:06:55] Speaker B: Amen. Thank you ladies. You guys can have a seat. James 5:16 tells us to pray for one another and that's what we just did as a church. And can I tell you that there's something powerful when we do things for one another in the Bible. We see that there are over there are 59 one another verses that tells us how to instruct believers and the church on how to relate to, love and serve one another. These verses and what we just did offer a beautiful picture of what it looks like to live life together under Christ. I read this quote this week that said for rightly grasped the one anothers are nothing less than the life of Christ at work in the people of Christ to the glory of Christ. We are together a community. We have unity because we have common beliefs in Jesus. And this morning I want to look at one verse. It's a short verse, but it's very powerful and can change who we are not only as a person, not only as a church, but as a nation. It's in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32. Ephesians chapter 4, verse32. I don't know if you know when we say amen what that means. Amen means you agree that what you just heard, that's Right. Okay. So I'm telling you that because I want to hear some amens this morning. If you agree with what's being said. Ephesians 4. 32, it says, be kind, amen, and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. Just as in Christ, God forgave you. It's a short verse. If you just read through it, you may not think fully of what it actually means. But in this verse, one verse, we are given three commands. And when I say we, I'm talking about the church. This was written, this was Ephesians. This was to the church of Ephesus. Paul was writing the church because he saw some things going on that he needed to talk about. So as we talk through this verse this morning, I want you to have that on your mind. This is for us. This is for the church. This is how we are supposed to treat each other. One verse, three commands, one reason. So the first. First thing I want to talk about this morning is the very beginning. It's the thing that I think most of us would say amen to. And that is be kind. Be kind. Amanda and I were talking a while back, and she was telling me a story about a conversation she was having with someone about the most important thing to look for in a spouse. Now, this is with a given that they love Jesus, that they're passionate about their faith, that they're connected to church. And she said the one thing she thought was the biggest thing was this kindness. Someone who is kind. So I just want to throw this out here, and this is for free. If you're here this morning and you're single and ready to mingle and you're looking for that one God's person for you, can I just tell you the most important thing is that they love the Lord. Not just that they say that they're a Christian. Cause I think there's a difference, that they love the Lord with all that they are, that they're passionate about, growing in their faith, connecting and serving in their church. All that is a given. But at the top of your list, after that, can we add that someone who's kind kindness goes further than anything else can. And I feel the same way when I think about my life. And I tell Amanda this all the time. I have a lot of friends, like people that I talk to here and there and that I see and that I enjoy spending time with. But there's a small group that I reach out to on my own to spend time with. Like, hey, let's do lunch, because I need it. There's a few guys that I do that with. And I thought about, why do I enjoy spending time with these guys? Why do I like having them in my life? And I thought about their traits and who they were. And the one thing that they all have in common is their kind. They're kind people. It matters. The specific word kindness is used in the Bible around 48 times, while root words of kindness and concepts of kindness appear in the Bible hundreds of times. Paul writes here, be kind, two words in English, but the original Greek carries more weight than the English translation. In the Greek, it doesn't just mean nice, it means useful. It means beneficial. It means goodness that shows up in action. See, kindness is not a personality trait. It's a decision to do something good for someone else, whether you feel like it or not. Paul doesn't say, feel kind. He says, be kind. And there's a difference. Kindness is not a mood. It's not something that washes over you when conditions are right, when the sun is out, when the coffee tastes good, when someone hasn't crossed you. Today, kindness is something that you choose to do with your hands, with your feet, with your wallet, and with your time. That's what Paul's talking about. Kindness doesn't require a seminary degree. It doesn't require a platform. It requires a willingness. A willingness to look up and to see the person standing alone, to see the person who's struggling, the person everyone else is walking past, and to act. We see in the Book of Titus, we see that kindness is one of the attributes of God. We see in Galatians 5. It's one of the fruits of the Spirit. We see in 2nd Corinthians 6 that kindness is one of the proofs, get this, of a faithful minister of the Gospel. Being kind to one another as a church is how we show love. Think about one of the most famous verses that so many people use in their weddings, First Corinthians 13, that talks about love. It says what? It says, love is patient. Love is kind. Being kind to one another is not an option for those of us who call Jesus King. Paul reiterates it in Colossians 3. He says, Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Catch what he said that we need to do with these things. We need to clothe ourselves. What do you do with clothes? They're in the closet. You go get them. You put them on the bed. You say, I don't like how that looks, or it doesn't fit, right? Right? Am I the only one? Okay, you go back, you put it back, you bring it. What do you have to do? Eventually, if you're gonna wear it, you have to put it on. Kindness is something that you have to choose to put on every day. Not only do you have to choose to put it on, when you have kindness and you clothe yourselves in it, guess what? Other people see it. There's a quote by Henry James that I thought was pretty good. He said three things in human life are important. The first thing is to be kind. The second thing is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. Kindness is not an option. According to scripture. It is a command and a calling on our lives as believers that we have to decide to clothe ourselves with daily. I know I've probably talked about basketball games before because it's a lot of our life with my son playing basketball. And one thing that we have talked to him about ever since he was little is when you do something, especially sports, when you're out there, but in life in general, the two things that we want you to focus on are attitude and effort. Attitude and effort. Those are two things that you can control that can make a huge impact in a game. Attitude. Have the best attitude, no matter what happens. Effort. Give the best effort possible at every part of the game. Every second you're out there, give your best. But lately I've been telling him, more than being a good athlete, here's what I want you to be. I want you to be somebody that's easy to cheerful, that people will root for you not because you're a good athlete, but because you're kind. But because you're not just kind to your friends, you're kind to everyone. Being kind is something that can take my son further than basketball ever will. Be kind. The second thing that we are commanded to. To do is to be compassionate. Be compassionate. And the original word literally refers to the inward parts, the guts, the bowels. And I know that seems a little odd and maybe even a little disgusting, but back then, in the ancient world, the seat of emotion wasn't the heart. The seat of emotion was the deepest part of you. Compassion was a gut level response. It meant feeling something so deeply in your core that you couldn't ignore it. I think we've all experienced that before. I think you, you've been driving down the road and you've, you've seen somebody on the side of the road and you just had this, this gut, like you hurt, like your stomach Hurt or you've been in, in a friendship and you've seen something horrible happen to a friend, it was something, it just made your stomach turn. Cause it was so deep and so concerning that it made you feel different. That's compassion. Compassion is the fuel to get you to kindness. Kindness is the act. And compassion is what. But here's the thing. You can be kind without being compassionate. You can go through the motions, doing the right things with a cold heart. But Paul doesn't let us off that easy. He says, don't just do things. He says, feel things. Feel what others are going through. Feel into their pain, move to their hurt instead of running away from it. And let's be honest, that's a little more difficult. See, kindness costs time and effort. But compassion cost you something deeper. It cost you your distance, it cost you your comfort zone. Compassion says, I'm not just gonna help you, I'm gonna sit with you. We see this perfectly in the life of Jesus. And I want to give you three quick references of scripture and they're not going to be on the screen, so if you want to write them down, I'll give you just a second. First one is this. Matthew 9:36. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 14:14 says, When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Mark 1, verse 41 says, When a man with leprosy comes to him, Jesus was indignant. He reached his hand and touched the man. I am willing, he said, be clean. In every case that we see with Jesus, the pattern is the same. Jesus sees, Jesus feels, and Jesus acts. And that feeling that you have is compassion. And that's what Paul is calling us to. And there's a thing about compassion. It's what separates kindness from obligation. See, anyone can write a check, anyone can bring a casserole. But when compassion drives it, the check comes with prayer. The casserole comes with presence, the kindness comes with tears. Let me give you an example of this. In 2024, in June, we took a group to Uganda. It was our mission trip to Uganda. And the team is made up of adults, seniors that just graduated high school and some college age students. And while we're there, we got to meet a new group of students that was just brought in to the school. And I believe we have a picture, so they're adorable. Just say it. Just say it. So what's interesting about this group of students is the school had been Building a relationship with this village and with this tribe. And it was not close to the school, it was way far away. And so because of their relationship, they were able to bring a group of their kids into the primary school. And you may say, gosh, they're just taking them away from their family, but here's what you need to know. When the village and the tribal leaders knew if their kids were with God Cares, they would be protected. They would have three meals a day, they would be clothed, they would be educated. And they knew that that would transform their lives. And so they allowed God Cares to take this group of students into the school. But when they came, they came with almost nothing. Not only that, but the language that they spoke. There was only one teacher in the whole school that spoke their language. Now, let me just tell you, that did not stop us from cuddling and loving on those kids. I don't know what they thought, but we were loving them. But nobody else. They didn't speak English, they didn't speak Lugandan. One teacher spoke their language. And after a while, our team, having conversations and going through the school and seeing some things, they saw that these kids, they didn't have a lot. And one thing they didn't have was a mattress to go on their bed. So what does a group that is compassionate about people and loving and showing God's love do? We found a truck and we went loaded up with mattresses. Everybody chipped in. These are kids. Some of these kids gave almost all that was in their bank account to go towards buying these mattresses for these kids. That's compassion that draws and drives you to kindness. And what do you do with a stack of mattresses around? A bunch of African babies that probably haven't seen a stack of mattresses. Let's show that picture. You throw them on top, you tell them about the princess and the pea. That's compassion. That is compassion of hearing something that goes so deep in your gut that you can't do anything but think about, how can I make an impact? How can I help? How can I reach out? How can I do something that shows them kindness of God? We all experience this on a daily basis. And then the third thing in this verse that commands us is forgive each other. And this is where the room goes quiet. This is difficult. But Paul doesn't stop with kindness and compassion. He goes to a place that most of us would rather avoid forgiving each other, not to tolerate each other, not to avoid conflict, not to pretend it didn't happen, but to forgive the Root of the Greek word is charis. Charis means grace. To forgive is to extend grace. Get this. To forgive is to release, to let go of a debt someone owes you because of something they've done to you. Remember who Paul is writing to. He's writing to a church. These are people who knew each other, who served together, who have eaten together, who have. Who have prayed together, and who have hurt each other. What's interesting, have you ever heard somebody, and maybe it's you, where you say, I was hurt by the church? I want you to think about that statement for a minute. The church is massive. There are billions that are in the church. So when you say that the church has hurt you, and I believe a lot of you have been hurt in a church, I want you to think about what that really means. Did the whole church of God hurt you, or did a few people within the church hurt you? Cause that's a difference. And let me just tell you, it's easy to forgive a few people rather than a lot of people, but church hurt is real. And a lot of times it's just some people that are in a church that do it. But what he's talking about here is, is to the church, he knows that there were conflicts. He knows that there were misunderstandings. He knows that there were offenses that lingered. And Paul simply says, forgive. Now, let me be clear about what forgiveness is and what forgiveness is not. Forgiveness is not saying what happened was okay. It's not minimizing the hurt. It's not pretending the offense didn't matter. It's not even necessarily reconciliation. Forgiveness can happen without the other person ever apologizing or changing. This past week, I was listening to a podcast with Pastor Josh Howerton. I don't know if you're familiar with him. He's Lake Point Church in Rockwall, and he was on the Sean Ryan podcast. And it's super long and super awesome. And I was listening to it, and I found something very interesting. That Sean Ryan, who. It was his podcast, he asked the questions. One thing that he kept on bringing up is forgiveness. And he told a story about something going on in his life. And he was like, how do you forgive? And I want you to hear what Pastor Josh Howerton said. He said, well, I want you to know there's a difference between forgiveness and. And reconciliation. Forgiveness takes one person and is always possible. I don't have the right not to forgive someone who sins against me because Jesus paid the penalty for that sin, and he has commanded me to forgive everyone. Reconciliation takes two people and is not always possible. He talked about in Proverbs. It tells you that there's three types of people. There's the wise, there's the foolish, and there's evil. When you're trying to reconcile with a person, ask yourself, which kind of person am I dealing with? If it's a wise person, probably someone you want to reconcile with, a foolish person. He said question mark. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If it's an evil person, you definitely want to stay away from them. But even as he said all this, I thought about what we're talking about today. And yes, you're going to deal with a lot of people that have hurt you and done you wrong. And I want you to hear what God calls us to do in this verse, because no matter what has happened, we are still commanded to forgive them. Forgiveness. Is this releasing your right to make them pay? Remember this. Heaven is a place of forgiveness. Hell is a place of unforgiveness. Every time that we forgive someone in our lives, we pull down heaven. Every time we decide not to forgive them, we pull up hell. And the thing about sin is this. Somebody has to pay for it. In your life, someone has to pay for your sin. In my life, someone has to pay for my sin. And there's two options. Because of what God did through Jesus on the cross, my faith is in that and my sins have been forgiven. The penalty of what I owe has been paid for. I no longer have a debt because of what Jesus did for me. But if I chose not to have faith in that, guess who pays for the penalty of my sin? Me. And it happens in a place where, where I am separated from God for eternity. The choice is ours on who pays the price for our sin. And my prayer is for everyone this morning is that you choose Jesus. Forgiveness is not just spiritual, it's also physical, mental. I read an article in Psychology Today and it said this research shows that forgiveness is deeply connected to well being. When we hold onto grudges, our bodies respond by staying in a state of heightened stress. High cortisol levels triggered by constant resentment or anger take a toll on the body. The unresolved pain can lead to high blood pressure, weakened immunity and even heart disease. Researchers have also found that when people actively forgive, their cortisol levels drop significantly after forgiving. Individuals experience better health, improved sleep and reduced risk of chronic illness. Another study conducted at Luther College revealed that people who practice forgiveness tended to live longer than healthier lives because forgiveness reduced strain on the body and the mind. Research is showing something that I've always heard my whole life. And philosophers have always said it, holding on a grudge doesn't hurt the other person, it hurts me. In fact, clinging to your anger might even reduce your lifespan. So clearly, forgiveness doesn't have to be a selfless act of kindness that you do for someone else. God also allows it to be, meaning, a meaningful gift to you. So what's the reason? The end of the verse says, just as in Christ, God forgave you. Romans 5:8 says this. God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Can I get an amen? Nothing anyone has ever done to you, and I know some of you have experienced some horrible things, but nothing that anyone has ever done to you is worse than what we've done to God. Nothing. And God, through Jesus, decided to wipe our debts free. So we don't do it out of obligation. We're not kind and compassionate and forgiving out of obligation. We do it out of overflow. Because you've been on the receiving end of the greatest kindness, the deepest compassion, and the most complete forgiveness the universe has ever known. And the kind of grace doesn't just change you, it flows through you. So what does it look like? Well, because he is kind, we should be. Say it with me. Kind. Because he is mercy, we should be merciful. Because he is grace, we should offer that same grace to others. And yes, this is written to us. This is written to the church, the church of Ephesus, the church today of what we should do for one another, how we should treat other church members. But the impact goes beyond the church. The impact goes to show people who don't know Jesus. Let me show you what I mean. In Romans 2:4, it tells us this, that God's kindness leads to repentance. It's the kindness through Jesus and is what it allows us to reconcile with God for what he did on the cross when he went and he said, I'm taking the sins of the world and I am going to pay to penalty. I'm going to pay the price I'm going to pay to make sure that debt is wiped out. And you put your faith in Jesus now, that is for you. And so because of that kindness, because we can reconcile with God, because it intended to lead us to God, what the kindness of God did is it opened a door for us to walk to God. So what can we do to open that door for others? Well, I believe it starts with not yelling at them or being rude to them. I Believe it starts with not arguing with them about who is right. I believe it starts with not going off on a rant on social media or responding to a post just because we don't agree. I believe it's by showing kindness, showing compassion, and offering forgiveness. Because what happens is when we show the kindness of God, that same door that we saw through God's kindness through Jesus, that opened up the door so we can be reconciled with God and now have a right relationship with God, when we show that same kindness to people we see every day, guess what? It does? It opens that same door. God's kindness in you also leads others to repentance. The way you treat other people matters because it's an opportunity for people to see Jesus in you. Not because you need the attention or the glory, but because you want God to receive the glory of everything you do. So when you show kindness, when you show compassion, when you forgive others, what happens is that door is open. People see something that leads to repentance, and that person is Jesus. You have an opportunity to lead people to eternity with God, all by being kind. Can I ask you this morning, is that too much to ask? And I'm speaking to myself. Is it too much to ask to change somebody's life for eternity where they can be with us in heaven, with God Almighty, and all we have to do is be kind because your kindness is the kindness of God that also leads people to repentance. Be kind, be compassionate, be forgiving, and watch what God can do through your life. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your commands. We thank you for your truth. I pray this morning that we realize the impact that you can have, that you can have through us and on other people, just by us being kind, being compassionate, and forgiving others. I pray that that is something that we decide every morning we wake up that we're going to clothe ourselves with God, allow us to see things that hit us in the gut, that make us have a feeling that the only way we can get that feeling to go away is if we do something. God, I pray that that kindness leads other people to you, to the way, to the truth, to the life, to Jesus. Thank you for teaching us. Thank you for showing us God. I pray that we take everything that you have said to us this morning and we apply it in our lives. We love you. It's in your name that we pray. Amen. [00:39:21] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. [00:39:30] Speaker C: Week. [00:39:30] Speaker A: We look forward to seeing you next week.