The Fruit of the Spirit – Encountering the One Who Is Kind
Pastor Tan Thai · Apr 10, 2016
This sermon explores the fruit of kindness in the Spirit through Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). The pastor identifies five barriers to kindness and shows how Jesus broke them all through love and humility. The congregation is called to treat one another with kindness, forgiveness, and acceptance as Christ has treated us.
The sermon opens with a question about encountering someone so kind they change your life, leading to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is the perfect embodiment of kindness. The pastor reminds the congregation that the word 'fruit' in Galatians 5:22-23 is singular, meaning kindness cannot be separated from the other qualities of the Spirit's fruit such as love, peace, patience, and gentleness.
The central portion of the sermon analyzes Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4, contrasting it with His meeting with Nicodemus. The pastor identifies five barriers Jesus broke down through kindness: prejudice, gender, ethnicity, social class, and moral standing. Even while tired and facing a woman ostracized by society because of her sin, Jesus humbled Himself, asking her for water as a kind and humble way to begin a conversation that would lead her to living water.
The sermon then unpacks three characteristics of kindness: forgiveness, acceptance, and the gift of a new beginning. Jesus did not condemn the woman for her five husbands, but gently revealed her sin so she could repent and receive living water. The pastor uses the image of living water to contrast with what people seek in this world — pleasure, wealth, fame, good works — none of which ever truly satisfies.
The application section calls the church to become a place that breaks down social barriers through kindness, particularly by not condemning unbelievers but instead proclaiming the Good News of forgiveness and redemption. The pastor revisits the images of salt and light from the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing that believers must be salt that adds flavor and brings healing, not salt that rubs painfully into wounds.
The sermon concludes with three practical models of kindness: following Jesus' example of forgiving and restoring His disciples, following Abraham's example of rescuing Lot despite Lot's earlier selfish choice, and obeying the command in Colossians 3:12-14 to clothe ourselves with kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and to forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven us. This is a practical call for every believer to display God's love through genuinely kind treatment of all people around them.