Gentleness | November 5th, 2023
Call To Worship: From Psalm 36. 5-7 & 9-10
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O Lord… How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you; give justice to those with honest hearts.
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Holy Harvest: Fruits of the Spirit
Gentleness
Philippians 4.5 & Matthew 11.28-30
CPCC 11.5.2023
Big Idea: Be gentile as Jesus is gentle.
INTRO: Gentleness is not something we promote in our culture.
In action movies the gentle guy is the one who usually gets beat up.
Few people would sit through a movie where Chuck Norris walks up to the bad guys and says “Gentlemen, let’s talk about our differences and see if we can come to a mutual agreement.” No! We want to see Chuck jump in the air and send the bad guy flying with a roundhouse kick to face, or Clint Eastwood pull out his .44 Magnum and say, “Go ahead punk, make my day.”
Maybe I’ve seen too many action movies.
Even in 30 A.D. the people of Jerusalem were crying out for an aggressive, strong leader who could raise up an army to victory over the Roman Army. So, as Jesus enters Jerusalem before Passover, many were hoping He would be a military Messiah who could walk up to their Roman oppressors and call down power from heaven and do some Old Testament smiting.
But that’s not why Jesus came…and it certainly was not Jesus’ character. Jesus entry into Jerusalem was fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 9.9 about the coming Messiah.
Matthew 21.1-6 NIV
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
“Say to the Daughter of Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”
Jesus rides to the Temple not on a War Horse, but on a symbol of peace, a Donkey.
Even in the chaos of His arrest, we see an incredible display Jesus’ gentleness and compassion.
When the Priests and Temple Guards come to arrest Jesus after Judas’ betrayal, the Disciples ask, “Lord, should we fight? We brought our swords!” Peter doesn’t wait for the answer. He draws his sword and slices off the ear of Malchus the High Priest’s servant. Jesus orders Peter to put away his sword and admonishes His disciples “No more of this!” Jesus then touches Malchus’ ear and heals him.
This would be the last miracle Jesus performs until His Resurrection three-days later.
I wonder if Jesus’ gentleness and compassion towards Malchus had an impact on the servant’s life?
Like the other qualities we have considered so far of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, today’s Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness, is a character trait of Jesus that we are meant to emulate as we become more like Jesus.
READ: Philippians 4.5
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (NIV)
Matthew 11.28-30
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Gentleness may be the character trait of Jesus Christ that most Christians struggle to emulate.
I think one of the reason’s we don’t talk about gentleness as a spiritual temperament is because our society equates gentleness with weakness.
But when you look how Jesus used His gentleness, we see that it can be a powerful force for change.
While we see Gentleness throughout Scripture, in the New Testament, two different words with nuanced differences are both translated as Gentleness. I gave you an example of both in the passages I just read
In Philippians 4 Paul uses the word Epieikes (Epi-A-Kiss) which means to be thoughtful or considerate.
In Matthew 11, Jesus uses the word Praus which takes on the understanding of training to be gentle like taming a wild animal.
In Galatians 5 the word Paul uses in his list of the Fruits of the Spirit is Praus.
ILLUS: When I was 11, I convinced my Mom to let me to ride an elephant. It was at a now shuttered drive through animal preserve called Lion Country Safari. I had to climb up a tall platform just to be able to hop onto the huge, magnificent elephant. Once I was on him, a small man lead us around a path using a leash tied around the elephants neck.
Here’s what astonishes me: An Asian Elephant is about nine feet tall and weighs 6,000 pounds. The man leading the elephant around was probably 5’6” and maybe 150 pounds. I’m not a math genius, but that’s about a 5,850 pound difference. Three tons of elephant vs.150 pounds of man: who really has the power?
But that’s the point of gentleness. No one would argue that the elephant could squash his handler like a bug. What’s to keep the elephant from thinking, “This is stupid. Step aside twig boy, I’m outta here?” Who could have stopped him? Yet, we rarely hear of elephants, or horses, or the large dogs we keep as pets turning on people. By their training, they are showing us Praus: Gentleness.
The gentleness of these animals is not a gauge of their power or strength, rather, it is a reflection of their nature. They have been trained to be gentle. A horse or an elephant allows the rider to control his power and strength. That doesn’t make the animal weak, it makes him gentle.
Now, when you consider Jesus saying to His followers Matthew 11, “Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart,” you can understand why Jesus intentionally uses this word Praus to paint a word picture of us submitting our rage, our frustration, our anger, and what little power we actually have, to Him, so that Jesus can take our negative traits and replace them with His Gentleness, patience, and emotional control.
Ironically, we are most powerful when we display Jesus’ Gentleness.
To allow the Holy Spirit to train you in gentleness is allowing God’s spirit to transform you into Jesus’ image. It’s one of the perks of being a disciple of Jesus. Jesus teaches us to let go of all the negative and live the way God meant for us to live.
Here’s how the Apostle Paul says it in Galatians 5. You know this passage from Paul’s list of the Fruits of the Spirit, but the larger conversation that gave us that list comes from Paul pleading for followers to be lead by the Holy Spirit instead of our sinful nature, which Paul lists. I get the feeling Paul really liked lists. Listen for the change Paul describes that comes from following Jesus and being transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5.16-25
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
How will Jesus’ Gentleness change the way you live?
Think about your upcoming week.
Who are the people you will interact with this week?
What do you enjoy about them?
What annoys you about them?
What causes you to be less than gentle with others?
Now consider Jesus’ offer to you: Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
If Jesus is modeling how to be humble and gentle, how will you change the way you interact with other people?
Here are two training exercises to help you grow in Jesus’ gentleness:
1. Be Considerate
I think one of the reasons we fail to show gentleness is because our natural tendency is to win, control, or dominate a situation.
Gentleness starts from a different position: What is best for this situation, this relationship? How does the other person see this?
ILLUS: My wife Anne is better at this than I am. A few years ago in Monrovia, So Cal Edison shut our street’s power off without warning. They decided to replace a power pole in front of our house. Anne went outside to talk to a worker. She began the conversation from a gentle position. She asked the Edison employee standing in our driveway if any notice had been given for the work they were doing. She wasn’t rude, she wasn’t demanding the electricity return immediately. She simply wanted to know why we were not informed so we could prepare. The worker looked at Anne and said; referring to So Cal Edison, “Maybe they sent something, maybe they didn’t. We have to do our job regardless.” And I am cleaning up the language and paraphrasing a bit here, but he went on to talk about how rude and threatening people get towards their crew for doing a job that will benefit them in the long run. He told Anne that it would be a 12-hour job. Anne thanked him. Later, when Anne needed to back her car out the garage, the workers were very nice and came over, stopped traffic, and moved all the downed wires out of her way.
Being considerate doesn’t mean we give up our rights or do something we know to be wrong. Being considerate means listening to others and responding with the kindness and gentleness of Christ. The result is that our witness for Christ becomes more powerful when we respond genteelly rather than in an adversarial way.
Ephesians 4.1-3
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
The Second exercise is to
2. Act Gently
When a person harms, threatens, dishonors, or mistreats us, our natural tendency is to lash out and strike back, like Peter did at Jesus’ arrest.
Even the nicest among us has this basic response.
ILLUS: My Grandmother Virginia on my mom’s side was about 5’2” and 90 pounds most of her adult life. She was kind and very active in her church until the day she died. She was a wonderful Grandmother…but she had a flaw: Grandma was an extremely impatient driver. Her favorite thing to say when someone cut her off on the road or didn’t use their signal light, or drove to slow was to say, “If I still had my truck I would push them out of the way!” Maybe that’s why my Grandpa sold the truck.
For most of us, acting gently does not come intuitively. We must learn it.
Listen to Paul’s teaching on this from Romans 12.14-21
Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,”says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Gentleness is a choice. We are given the opportunity to learn and train in Jesus' gentleness and show’ that gentleness to others. Gentleness is a powerful alternative to the harshness that most of us consider a normal part of life. It is not.
Paul says, Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Jesus Says, Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
My prayer for you is that the people you encounter this week will see Jesus’ Gentleness in the way you treat them.May your friends, family, and people you don’t know know something is different about you. My the Gentleness of Jesus be your strength this week.
TRANSITION TO TABLE
PRAYER OF CONFESSION/PARDON
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
BREAD FIRST Take Individually
THEN CUP TOGETHER
COMMUNION MUSIC
BENEDICTION: Philippians 4.4-5 NIV
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Opening Hymns:
#66 To God Be The Glory v.1-3
#480 Open My Eyes That I May See v.1-3
Closing Hymns:
#74 Eternal Father, Strong to Save v.1,2,4
#740 The Lords Prayer