For Monday’s Hagerman Bible Study 21 May, 2012

Reflections on kindness:

Slowly, I have realized that being kind and being nice are not the same. We may be nice and still be disingenuous. But being kind is an act of the heart taking little or no notice of the mind’s wiles.
Last fall, as our son Lonny entered middle school, he would frequently say, “That’s just mean, Mom.”
It always tickled me to have such perfect correction from an eleven year old. Usually Lonny was asking that I curb my savage bent for sarcasm, but more he would ask that I change my tune to one of grateful rejoicing. He likes me better as pleasant, if somewhat goofy, old-fashioned mom. Apparently, sarcasm isn’t a good look for me. Not necessarily nice-ness, but kindness should rule the day.

God’s kindness

This week God has shown great mercy to me, not so much answering a prayer for discernment, as revealing how the prayer was built without faith. It was a prayer to conquer a perceived enemy that was really no enemy, but simply another beggar.
I have been in this situation before, yelling at top volume, “I am someone of great importance. You don’t want to tangle with me.” Then, after making such a bold claim, I have set about to manipulate the situation to my advantage.
Many would call this simply playing the game. It’s how you get ahead, but it’s not. It’s how you drift from God.

Scriptures

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind.
Love does not envy,
is not boastful, is not conceited,
5 does not act improperly,
is not selfish, is not provoked,
and does not keep a record of wrongs.
6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness
but rejoices in the truth.
7 It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-19
12 Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we exhort you, brothers: warn those who are irresponsible, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.
16 Rejoice always!
17 Pray constantly.
18 Give thanks in everything,
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Don’t stifle the Spirit.

Mark 10:42-45
42 Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. 43 But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

For this week's Study Read Ruth 2, Luke 9, and Psalm 103

More specifics follow

Ruth 2:8-13
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. 9 See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”
10 She bowed with her face to the ground and said to him, “Why are you so kind to notice me, although I am a foreigner?”
11 Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know. 12 May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
13 “My lord,” she said, “you have been so kind to me, for you have comforted and encouraged your slave, although I am not like one of your female servants.”

Reformation Study Bible
2:8–12 Events unfold quickly as Boaz accedes to the request and offers his protection and provision (vv. 8–9). Ruth acknowledges his favor to her, an undeserving “foreigner” (v. 10). Only then (vv. 11–12) does the narrative give some inkling of God’s providential working. Boaz has known already that Ruth is no ordinary foreigner. She has taken “refuge” under the “wings” of the Lord, and she will receive “a full reward” from Him (v. 12). Though a foreigner, Ruth’s loyalty to God will become a key element in God’s great plan of redemption. The plan will be worked out through David, the covenant king, and through Christ, David’s greater Son. The reward of Ruth’s faith far transcends local time and circumstances.

Matthew Henry's Commentary
Chapter 2

There is scarcely any chapter in all the sacred history that stoops so low as this to take cognizance of so mean a person as Ruth, a poor Moabitish widow, so mean an action as her gleaning corn in a neighbour’s field, and the minute circumstances thereof. But all this was in order to her being grafted into the line of Christ and taken in among his ancestors, that she might be a figure of the espousals of the Gentile church to Christ, Isa. 54:1. This makes the story remarkable; and many of the passages of it are instructive and very improvable. Here we have, I. Ruth’s humility and industry in gleaming corn, Providence directing her to Boaz’s field, Ruth 2:1-3. II. The great favour which Boaz showed to her in many instances, Ruth 2:4-16. III. The return of Ruth to her mother-in-law, Ruth 2:18-23.

Luke 9:1-6
Summoning the Twelve, He gave them power and authority over all the demons, and power to heal diseases. 2 Then He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
3 “Take nothing for the road,” He told them, “no walking stick, no traveling bag, no bread, no money; and don’t take an extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. 5 If they do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they went out and traveled from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.
                           
9:5 shake off the dust from your feet. Strict Jews removed defiling dust from their feet when they returned from Gentile lands. The disciples’ action symbolically said that those who rejected the preachers did not belong to God’s people.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

1. What Christ directed them to do, in prosecution of this commission at this time, when they were not to go far or be out long. (1.) They must not be solicitous to recommend themselves to people’s esteem by their outward appearance. Now that they begin to set up for themselves, they must have no dress, nor study to make any other figure than what they made while they followed him: they must go as they were, and not change their clothes, or so much as put on a pair of new shoes. (2.) They must depend upon Providence, and the kindness of their friends, to furnish them with what was convenient for them. They must not take with them either bread or money, and yet believe they should not want. Christ would not have his disciples shy of receiving the kindnesses of their friends, but rather to expect them. Yet St. Paul saw cause not to go by this rule, when he laboured with his hands rather than be burdensome. (3.) They must not change their lodgings, as suspecting that those who entertained them were weary of them; they have no reason to be so, for the ark is a guest that always pays well for its entertainment: “Whatsoever house ye enter into there abide (Luke 9:4), that people may know where to find you, that your friends may know you are not backward to serve them, and your enemies may know you are not ashamed nor afraid to face them; there abide till you depart out of that city; stay with those you are used to.” (4.) They must put on authority, and speak warning to those who refused them as well as comfort to those that received them, Luke 9:5. “If there be any place that will not entertain you, if the magistrates deny you admission and threaten to treat you as vagrants, leave them, do not force yourselves upon them, nor run yourselves into danger among them, but at the same time bind them over to the judgment of God for it; shake off the dust of your feet for a testimony against them.” This will, as it were, be produced in evidence against them, that the messengers of the gospel had been among them, to make them a fair offer of grace and peace, for this dust they left behind there; so that when they perish at last in their infidelity this will lay and leave their blood upon their own heads. Shake off the dust of your feet, as much as to say you abandon their city, and will have no more to do with them.

See more of Matthew Henry’s Commentary under resources at BibleGateway.com

And finally
Psalm 103, here verses 11-14
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His faithful love
toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed
our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He knows what we are made of,
remembering that we are dust.

Questions to think about

    How are kindness and nice-ness alike?
    How are they different?
    Why would Jesus ask his disciples to depend on or expect kindness?
    How tempted are we to re-pay kindness so the score will be even?
    Can we re-pay God?