"Safe?" spurted Mr Beaver, "Aslan, safe? No, he's not 'safe', but he is 'good'!" Lucy could have asked a supplementary question: "Is he kind?" To which Mr Beaver could have responded without hesitation- "Yes. Aslan is the kindest person in the world." Can you be 'kind' without being 'safe' or 'nice'? Absolutely! In fact, sometimes you have to not be nice in order to be kind! Arguably one of the stand-out hallmarks of the Christian is that they are kind. It is an essential fruit of the Spirit, one of the main attributes of the God we worship and one of the distinctives of Christianity under pressure compared to other religious systems. But kindness can be provocative.1. KINDNESS PROVOKES WONDER
Before our souls were regenerated and transformed, we snapped back at those who irritated us. If someone cut us off in traffic we would have yelled abuse at them. But then the Spirit of Christ came into our soul and we became kind. Rather than snap, we bless. Rather than lash, we love. Jesus has gripped out hearts with kindness. When someone doesn't give us the kind of customer service we want, we don't get ugly, we kindly ask- "Are you having a bad day?"When we respond in kindness we catch most people off guard- they don't know how to react to unfair kindness. Put some coins randomly in somoene's expired parking meter. Go through through the McDonald's Drive-Through and pay for the next car's order. Get involved in a volunteer organisation. It causes them to wonder why you are kind. Show someone kindness and they'll wonder why.
¶ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
1Cor. 13:4And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
2Tim. 2:24
2. KINDNESS BUILDS BRIDGES
It's called the Law of Roses. Do something kind for someone and you build a bridge to their heart. When a young man buys and gives a young lady a bunch of roses, he builds a bridge to her heart (the Law is also known as The Law of Roses & Chocolates). Successful businesses know that if they give away a generous sample of their product they will likely build a bridge to a potential customer. Growing churches have also found that when they encourage their people to do acts of kindness for their neighbours, they often see these people come to Christ.Mow your neighbour's lawn. Bake a cake and take it over to your neighbour. Write a Christmas card to your member of Parliament and letting them know that you are praying for them. Offer to take the next door neighbour's children to Kids' Club or Sunday Kids Church. Kindness provokes curiousity about the God who inspired such kindness.
"...Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words. They will be won over by watching your pure, godly behavior."
1Pet. 3:1b-2Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Eph. 4:32
3. KINDNESS INSPIRES
One of the main functions of the Church community is to inspire each other to acts of kindness. In Hebrews 10:24, the New Living Translation uses the expression, "outbursts of love and good deeds"-Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.
Hebrews 10:24
A few years ago we had a young single Mum join our church. Her husband had left her with a couple of young children to look after. She drove a bomb for a car. A few of the men in our church at the time got together and bought her a better car. It's moments like these that I'm proud to be the pastor of our church!
Meeting together each Sunday gives us each an opportunity to show kindness to one another, and to provoke kindness in each other ("Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds." Heb. 10:24). Some people who come to our church have little to no contact with anyone else through the week. Meeting people at church on Sunday is nearly the only contact with others they have. So when we have our handshake/hug time in our worship service this is the only time for some people in which they are touched by someone else! Looking someone in the eye, asking them how are they in their soul, demonstrating to them that you have heard them, and giving them a hug, could be an inspirational act of kindness that ends up touching many lives.
In the classic story, Les Miserables, the main character (Jean Valjean) experiences overwhelming kindness from a pastor. His life is entirely redirected from crime to civil service. Having experienced unearned kindness, he dedicated his life to also showing kindness to undeserving others. This story is a powerful illustration of how kindness can change a life.If you're struggling to act kindly to your husband, wife, children, friends, family or customers, ask God to help you to be kinder. If you get angry easily, then ask God for forgiveness and the grace to be kind. By acting kindly toward people who have done nothing to deserve it, we positively provoke them to wonder. By showing kindness to others in your church family you are fulfilling Hebrews 10:24 and provoking positively.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Gal. 6:10Father, please help us to reflect You. When we feel like snapping at someone or saying something that cuts unnecessarily, please restrain us. When we feel self-pity because although we reach out in Christian love to our brothers and sisters it won't always be repaid. Forgive us for getting angry at others far too easily. Give us a frsh appreciation of Your great kindness towards us so that we can be kinder. May You love both the world and the Church through us. Cause us to be kind, inviting, welcoming and redeeming. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.
Eph. 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ps. Andrew
Ever walked into a home and sensed a heavy atmosphere? How about a shop and as soon as you walk in the staff go immediately quiet and compose themselves trying vainly to disguise their interrupted heated argument? Maybe you've walked into a home where everybody is smiling and have obviously just been laughing? Perhaps you've walked into a shop and the smiling staff immediately treat you like their most valued customer? Whether it be a home, a school, a business, or a church, tone (atmosphere) is tangible. What tone are you setting?
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he wanted to change the tone of their church. They had become unkind, inconsiderate, carnal (unspiritual) and proud. He wrote to them and appealed for them to create a new tone in their church. Don't tolerate sin, but do show kindness to one another.
In our church we can create a tone where people are loved, accepted, and forgiven. The tone of our church can be inviting and disarming for pre-Christians. By going out of our way to welcome and take an interest in our church visitors, we create a healthy tone in our church. By inviting people back for meal we are creating a healthy tone in our church. By encouraging someone who has a go, we create a positive tone in our church. By praying for your pastor who is praying for you, we create a tone in our church. We want the tone of our church to be warm, sincere, caring, considerate, kind, compassionate, spiritual, balancing fun with fervour, and faith with hope. We don't want to be the best church in our community but the best church for our community. We want the tone of our church to be highly sensitive to what God is doing in people's lives and to be used by God to help change lives for eternity.
C.S. Lewis famously said that there were two equal and opposite errors regarding the Devil. The first is to think too little of him and the second is to think too much of him. For some Christians who regard the Devil as very active today, fascination with his activity is an obsession. But there are some Christians who consider that the devil was removed from the spiritual landscape in the first century and is therefore not a player in today's spiritual battle.
Although Martin Luther's reputation rests largely on his opposition to religious cant and superstition, he was no slouch when it came to these himself. In 1521, he claimed, he had a confrontation with Satan in which he threw an inkstand at the devil while he was staying in Wartburg Castle, where the ink stain is still to be seen on the wall. Or, so it is said
Others have noted in this vein that every time the Church has organised itself to surge forward in evangelism and mission there has come unprecedented distractions. For example, around the turn of the twentieth century there were several strategic missions conferences where plans were formulated to take the Gospel into territories previously unreached by the Gospel. Not long after this, World War 1 broke out and these missions plans were postponed. A similar thing happened through the 1930s. In particular, in Germany (a country I have a deep burden for) God was raising up a young man of God to shake the nation with the outrageous claims of Christ. Deitrich Bonhoeffer was regularly speaking to the people of Germany through Deutsche Welle Radio. People were coming to Christ. Then something dramatic happened that set Bonhoeffer's beloved Germany back spiritually: Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. History seems to confirm this redemptive pattern where God stirs and the Enemy opposes. By the way, history also reveals that God always triumphs and that this pattern is also revealed in the following manner: wherever there is demonic activity there is always a divine demonstration of godly power. (Therefore, wherever there is a lot of divine miracles happening there is probably simultaneously a lot of demonic activity occurring as well.)
I am proposing that Satan is bound. Since I've jumped ahead to one ahead of the conclusions I will make, I'll make another one:Satan is utterly defeated. To be "bound" is often thought of asbeing rendered completely inactive. But to be bound actually means to be restricted not necessarily to be rendered inactive. For example, you can be bound by illness (Luke 13:16), or you can bebound by an oath (Acts 23:12), or you can be bound by marriage (1Cor. 7:39). Each of these usages of the word "bound" conveys a sense of restriction not complete inactivity. Claiming that Satan is now bound is a claim the New Testament makes on the basis of Christ's atonement and the ending of the Old Covenant (with its elements being removed in 70AD with the destruction of Jerusalem). When Jesus died on the Cross and rose again from the dead, He defeated the Devil once and for all - "but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven" (Rev. 12:8).
After the end of the Old Covenant Satan's access to heaven was removed. He used to stand before God and accuse God's people. He used to be able to deceive people and nations virtually unimpeded. But now he is bound. Since Christ died and rose again and then ended the Old Covenant the devil has been unable to freely function in the way he did under the Old Covenant. Added to this, since the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh the devil's power to work deceit and destruction has been phenomenally (literally) curbed.
Most of the temptation we have to deal with is because of our own sin nature. But it is surely a little more than merely coincidence that whenever we make a concerted effort to reach out or go deeper in dedication to God that we are often confronted with temptations (distractions) we had not been, up until then, having to deal with. To a lesser extent it appears that Devil can inflict sickness, sadness, or tragedy. Jesus rebuked the attitude of His critics after He healed a woman whom He described as having been bound by Satan for all these years and Paul the apostle wrote of beingbuffeted by Satan. But there is a good case to be made that much of this Satanic ability ceased after the close of the Old Covenant in 70AD. This would help to explain Paul's statement to the Romans-
Jesus Christ is utterly worthy of your full devotion right now. How does He want to use you to make Him known to the world today? The writer to the Hebrew Christians lays a teaching foundation dealing with the superiority of Christ. In chapter 1, Christ is superior to angels. In Hebrews 2, Christ is superior to any man. In chapter 3, Jesus is superior to Moses. In chapter 4 He is superior to the sabbath. In chapter 5, He is superior to the High Priest. In chapter 6, Jesus is superior to Melchisadek. In Hebrews 7, Christ is superior to the sacrifices - He is the Ultimate Sacrifice. In Hebrews 8, Jesus provided a covenant superior to the Old Covenant. In Hebrews chapter 9, Jesus is superior to the Tabernacle. Therefore-
Many of the Jewish Christians were just about ready to give up. They had grown weary. Some had even turned their backs on Jesus. Hebrews was written to remind them that Christ was indeed Saviour, Lord, but most especially - 
Why do some people believe? Every Christian has a story of conversion. For some Christians their story is a journey from atheism to belief in the God of the Bible because of the evidence. For others, like 
It takes chemistry to make a relationship work. Apart from a family, there is no where that strong relationships are more necessary than a church. And for a church to grow and thrive it needs leaders who know how to build strong relationships. This ability to get along with others is what we mean by 'chemistry'.
In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul calls for believers to get along in the attitude of Christ's humility. And it takes humility to get along with others. There are times when people may just be irritating. Our most natural response to people who irritate us is an automatic reflex of pride. But this is bad relationship chemistry. Producing good relational chemistry at a time like this - by responding in humility- does not come naturally. It requires practicing the grace of God.
For a church to be successful (Church-Success=winning souls to Christ, growing fully-devoted passionate followers of Christ, equipping believers to ~ fulfil their God-given ministries ~ pray ~ read and heed their Bibles, building a legacy of faith for generations to come, and to develop a vigorous community of faith) it requires organisation. Under the Old Covenant when God organised the Community of Law, He ordered that the clans of the Levites be assigned very specific responsibilities which included who was to carry the tent, who was to carry the fence, who was to carry the furniture, when they moved their camp. Under the New Covenant, God has organised the Community of Faith according to His giftings. Competence matters when it comes to church leaders. But competence alone can only take a church so far.
If a competent leader has an undisciplined character, no matter how gifted they may be, it will all come to nothing once their character is exposed. In Australia we have just witnessed a media circus regarding the Civil Law case of a young woman who was sexually harassed by the CEO of the corporation she worked for. What made this $32M Law Suit all the more intriguing was that the CEO had done a stellar job at turning the fortunes of this company around. Under his management, the share price of his company had almost doubled. Sales were up. Profits were soaring. But this extremely talented, high-performing, CEO had a character deficiency. Another recent case of character not matching competency is occurring now in America. A charismatic pastor of an Atlanta church had seen his small church of a couple of hundred people grow to over 30,000. He had built one of the largest churches in the USA. But he is now facing four charges of sexual molestation. Competency comes to less than nothing when character can not sustain the charisma of the leader. But on a much more frequently occurring scale, in churches all around the world, there are people who all too readily uproot themselves from churches where a pastor or leader attempts to disciple their character deficiency. Instead of responding in humility (Phil. 2:3), they react in pride.
Great churches are churches of great leaders. Great leaders within a church are people who have accepted and developed their God-given gifts (competency) as well as having their character discipled through learning to respond to correction with humility and to shun private temptation. This is why family health (where relationships within the family are good) and church health (where relationships within a church are good) are intrinsically linked. It's why Paul wrote to Timothy that a leader within a church must-
The thing that separates good church from great churches - and, good leaders from great leaders - is chemistry. Chemistry is the ability to adjust to different people so that you can get along with them. People who have learned to do relational chemistry know that you have to make allowances for certain people. They've learned how to start a conversation with the shy. They've learned how to read the non-verbal cues that people send out. They've learned the importance of turning up for birthdays. weddings, funerals, parent-teacher interviews, staff get-togethers, club AGMs, their children's school sports carnivals, Neighborhood Watch meetings, Rotary meetings, and public forums. They've learned that chemistry is built by firstly showing hospitality before receiving it.
The charge by Christ to His Church to be "salt" - a preservative of God's standards in society - is why we want to have a conversation with our society and especially with those in our society who determine Public Policy. It's why I wrote to each Tasmanian politician who was victorious at the last Federal Election to both congratulate them and let them know that we are praying for them. This gesture is a sincere attempt on my part to let our re-elected (or newly elected) politicians know that we care- about them, and our society at large.