Key points
- 1
1Biblical kindness (chesed) encompasses all of God's positive attributes — love, covenant faithfulness, mercy, grace, and loyalty — and goes far beyond the culture's low-bar standard of being cordial.
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2Kindness pursues mercy (withholding deserved punishment) and provides grace (giving unearned blessing) — both are active choices, not passive feelings.
“kindness pursues Mercy and provides Grace”
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3David showed chesed to Mephibosheth — someone who was a potential threat, could offer nothing in return, and had no claim on David's generosity — mirroring how God loves us.
“Kingdom people show kindness to those who can't return it. Matter of fact, that's what makes it kindness, is you're doing it when someone is not giving you anything back”
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4David's humility before God reveals that he understood he received God's kindness not because he earned it, but purely because of who God is.
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5God's kindness — not fear, threats, or guilt — is what turns us from sin and changes us from the inside out.
“God's kindness changes us. And our kindness, God will use in other people's lives to change them as well”
“don't you see how wonderfully kind, same thing, 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”
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6Communion is meant to be a regular seat at the King's table where we remember God's mercy and grace, are changed by it, and are then empowered to extend it to others.
“Billy, I told you to trust me. I said, no, Candy, because you were so good. And I love you so much, I was planning to bring you to get an ice cream anyways. All you had to do was trust me and wait”
A story from life
Preacher's childhood memory of stealing candy at a pharmacy and his mother responding with mercy and a Dairy Queen sundae
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7When we experience God's kindness regularly — sitting with Him in His Word and in community — we are equipped to show that same kindness in our hardest relationships, including marriage.
“if you have a hard time expressing it in your relationships, it's probably because you're not sitting at the king's table regularly”
Application
Pastor Bill's challenge is straightforward: stop waiting for the other person to deserve it. Kindness — real, biblical chesed — is something you pursue and choose, especially toward people who cannot pay you back and may have earned something worse. Start with whoever is hardest to love: your spouse, your kids, a difficult coworker. But you won't be able to sustain it on willpower alone. The key is sitting regularly at the King's table — in His Word, in prayer, in communion — letting the reality of God's mercy and grace sink in until it changes you. When you truly grasp that God has already shown you the ultimate kindness in Jesus, extending that kindness to others stops being a burden and starts being the most natural thing in the world.
