We're talking tonight also, just we're working through the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5
Paul lists these wonderful qualities that should emerge in our life
If we are tending the garden of our soul and if the Holy Spirit is doing its work in our hearts
Then these things should emerge these qualities these virtues should come up
I'm sure most of us know them by heart by now, but why don't we just try going through them in order?
Together and see how we do so the fruit of the Spirit is
love
joy peace
patience kindness
goodness
dayfulness
gentleness
Do we forget one wait, what's that?
Wait, we forgot yes, we got gentleness we had nine there was nine. Yeah, right the nine
There used to be this campaign that helped people eat more fruit and it was called the five a day campaign
It's supposed to have five kinds of fruit every day. So we're doing the nine a day campaign here
We want to have nine kinds of fruit
Tonight we're gonna talk a little bit about this fruit of the Spirit gentleness and
And I want to kind of confess to you that gentleness has not been
always in my life
The the easiest thing especially when I was a kid some of you have heard this story before and if you have
Forgive me. Okay, but there is a fairly infamous story in my household
Whereas as a boy, I don't know. I was like
eight or ten years old
I don't know my sister was getting on my nerves really badly and
and I was in the rec room and she was bugging me and she said something horrible to me
So I said something even more horrible back to her and then she said something and I said something and and there used to be
this brick by our fireplace that was loose and
And eventually I got so angry at what she had said to me and the thing she was doing to me that
I just reached for this loose brick
I pulled it out of the fireplace and I held it up as to hit her with it
I was I was fuming I was angry she saw in my eyes that I was serious
And so she started running and I was totally like out of control. I was an out of control kid
I ran down the hall after her
I ran through the kitchen and I so remember it
She ran out the back door and as she swang the back door which was glass of course as she swang
It shut behind her. I actually launched the brick at her
and
The brick smashed through the glass door
Shattering glass everywhere. Thankfully it did not end up hitting her
But I tell you our relationship got shattered that day too along with that that glass door
Thankfully we've we've cleared things up since in the years that have that have passed since then
But I just share that with you to talk about
Kind of the exact opposite of
gentleness if we want to what is
Gentleness when the Bible talks about gentleness. What is it talking about? By the way?
I'm not gonna talk real long tonight at all
but the one of the best ways to understand gentleness is this is if patience if patience is the ability to
endure criticism and
opposition without getting angry
Then gentleness is the ability to endure criticism and anger without lashing out in aggression
It's with it's when all this stuff is coming at you and yet you don't throw the brick
Right you you you don't have the harsh and aggressive attitude, you know people get on their nerves and
Sometimes it's really easy just to lash out with a horrible word or even lash out physically at them
But but gentleness is something different gentleness responds with a softness and
I don't think we're born naturally gentle people. I think we have to learn
How to be gentle I can't even remember when our kids were young
And we would like let's say we actually had some kittens once and I remember when we would give the kittens to the kids
And even they were just like three four five years old their first inclination was just to grab the kitten and to like
You know hold on to it and we would have to put our hand over their hand and say no no no
Gentle we always used to say this
Gentle
Gentle to kind of show them this is how you handle something like a kitten, right?
we all need to learn gentleness we're not born gentle and
And it's also true that when we give our lives to Jesus
There's a new learning that needs to play take place a new level of gentleness that we are called to and we need
To learn it if we don't learn how to be gentle with each other everything goes
Everything goes off the rails really fast because you see we don't actually know
What the person that we're lashing out at is going to do in response in retaliation?
And so if we are aggressive well then they may respond in aggression as well
And of course that only makes things worse and things quickly spiral out of control. So we need to learn we need to learn
gentleness and
Actually, it was one of the first things that the apostle Paul taught this little church in Ephesus
Was how to be gentle with each other?
I've given you a little sheet that has just a few scriptures. I'll be referencing tonight. I think
Everybody got one. There's a stack of them somewhere around here. Maybe if you didn't get one. Yeah
But
When Paul's writing to these Ephesians that very first scripture I put on there. He says hey you guys be completely
humble and gentle be patient
Bearing with one another in love, right?
That's his teaching. That's one of his first teachings. Hey your followers of Jesus now
Let me tell you what that means you need to be gentle with each other
That doesn't sound really radical to us
But you have to understand in the first century
gentleness was not a virtue no way in the world that Paul grew up in in the in the Greco-Roman world
gentleness and humility were not regarded as you know great qualities to have right
Gentleman was actually despised
In the ancient world because real men what were they like they were the heroes the real men were like the warriors the victors the real men
were those who who exercise power and demonstrated
Athleticism and and had dominance with their skill and their abilities right
gentleness was like not a thing that was ever held up as a
quality or a virtue
That sentiment has trickled down even to today
I mean think about some of the Hollywood movies that we see out there, right? It's it's superhero
It's like the comic book character men in capes people who are powerful people who know what to do people who can take care of business
right the biblical virtue of
gentleness is
diametrically opposed to definitely Paul's world and to a large degree to our world as well and yet the Bible says
This is a strength
This is a strength that the Holy Spirit will grow in us
so just
This way of getting at this time. Let's just look at four things. I've got them laid out there on your sheet there
We're gonna look at the gentleness of God as we see it in the Old Testament
We'll look at Jesus gentleness of Paul's gentleness in there and then our gentleness. So let's just start with this first
Think about the gentleness of God in the Old Testament
Most of us actually would say you know my recollection of the Old Testament is whatever the picture of God is it's not a
Gentle God we don't associate the Old Testament God
with
Gentleness even though it's the same God of course. It's there's only one God, right?
Yeah, when you read the Bible you come across these passages. They're just like so obviously we see God's gentleness
Take for example my favorite Psalm and maybe your favorite Psalm the 23rd Psalm
How does it begin? It says the Lord is my
Shepherd now what a gentle image
To describe God the Lord is my shepherd a shepherd who loves and cares for
and provides for his sheep I
Also love the story of Elijah when it's found in first Kings
In first Kings chapter 19
There's the scene where Elijah is running away in fear. He's running for his life from Queen
Jezebel he's in this kind of suicidal depression. He is so ready to end it all
He goes out into the wilderness. He sits under a tree. He wishes he could die
And then you know what God does God comes along and basically he mothers him
God says just sleep have some sleep Elijah and then when when he wakes up
He he gives him some breakfast and Elijah has another nap and and then there's more bread and angels deliver this food to him
It's like it's like God is gently caring for Elijah in his time of need and then and then
When God took him back to Mount Sinai God gives Elijah this amazing kind of
Audiovisual presentation of who he is now I've written this piece of scripture here
It's it's the one from one Kings 19 11 to 13 so so again Elijah is feeling very frustrated
He's feeling down and he needs encouragement
He needs to hear from God and this is what we read the Lord said
Elijah go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by oh
Then a great and powerful wind to tore the mountain apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord
But the Lord was not in the wind
And after the wind there was an earthquake
But the Lord was not in the earthquake
And after the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire
And after the fire came a gentle whisper
And when Elijah heard that oh he pulled his cloak over his face and he went out and he stood at the mouth of the cave
Because he had heard from God not in the wind not in the earthquake not in the fire
But in the gentle whisper if it were me and I were wanting to hear from God
I would assume God where are you and the wind I would assume God is in the wind and God is in the fire and God is in the earthquake
We make the wrong assumption about God sometimes God is a gentle God
He does not always come to us in fire in fury. He comes to us in gentleness
And as God gently deals with Elijah
He sends him back out on his way and restores him to the work that he has to do
So that's the first thing actually the God of the Old Testament is a God of gentleness
Okay, so let's move on to the second one. Let's talk a bit about Jesus gentleness the the gentle picture of Jesus that we see
In the gospels there is a there's an old hymn
Or I think it's a Sunday school song. It's a gentle Jesus
Meek and mild
I can't remember what the next line is
But I just know that's the first line right gentle Jesus meek and mild
Um, and
When we sing songs like that about Jesus, we are certainly not saying Jesus was a wimp
Or that he was always nice to everybody because you know that Jesus could speak some pretty strong words sometimes
He could be tough
He could deal with wrongdoing and he could speak truthfully and honestly to people in ways that really
Cut through them, right?
But he also did it in a way that was gentle
In fact, there's this famous verse. Let's read this one together. This is the second piece of scripture from Matthew 11
Where Jesus says this he says come to me
All you who are weary and burdened
And I will give you rest
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart
And you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light
Jesus is a gentle Messiah
Another great picture of Jesus gentle
Gentleman gentleness is in that moment in Matthew's gospel
Where all the children want to come to Jesus and the disciples are like no children keep away
This is Jesus. You're you're not worthy to come and hang around him and Jesus says no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, let the children come to me and I think children know who's a safe person to go to
I think children know who is a gentle presence that and they are drawn to gentle presences
And so when Jesus invites the children when the children want to come to him, I think it speaks to us that
Yeah, Jesus was a gentle Messiah a gentle lord
So we've got the picture of the gentle God in the Old Testament. We've got this gentle Jesus in the gospels
The Apostle Paul who wrote most of the New Testament also
Speaks gently and is obviously working on this fruit of the spirit himself in his own his own life
So for example in his letter to the church in Corinth, this is a different church
He had to write to them about some real difficult things
They were really messing around down there and they needed to be put right
The church in Corinth had been questioning Paul's authority had been questioning his apostleship even
The church in Corinth had been all swept up in all sorts of sinful behaviors. I just wrote a list here
They were quarreling. There was jealousy. There was outbursts of anger factions slander gossip arrogance
Disorder all these things going on down there. So Paul needed to say something to them
And you know, he might have been ready to pick up the brick and say okay guys, that's it
We're done here and he you know lobs that at them, but no no listen to what he says
Second Corinthians 10 verse 1 he he appeals to them, but listen to what he says is by the
humility and gentleness of Christ
I appeal to you
Paul is
You know, he is working against the grain here. This is not what his culture would consider a virtue
Or a strong character trait, but he's saying I'm coming to you gently. I'm coming to you gently. It's kind of revolutionary
That leads us to the to the fourth one. Let's talk about your gentleness and my gentleness
We also live in a culture that often values
aggression
indominance
And so choosing to be people of gentleness is actually a very powerful testimony
It's one of the most powerful things we can do to show that
The Holy Spirit is doing its transformative work in our lives. Okay
Paul writes this he says this he says let your gentleness
Be evident to all the Lord is near
I just imagine that early church
You know in that culture this group of gentle minded gentlehearted Christians
Just revolutionizing the way that people treated each other
We too I think are called to a similar kind of revolution in our own families
In our own church
In our communities
In our world and so just to end here. Let's just think about where we go. What do we do?
In the week ahead
Why don't you and me we actively look for opportunities where we can demonstrate
Gentleness this might just be because we we take time to offer a listening ear to someone
Or we speak a word of encouragement to someone who really needs to hear it
Or or we respond with just a calmness and a peace
In a really tense situation. We bring a gentle presence
into
uh into the tension
And as we do this just always remember
Always remember
I'm just as flawed and we're just as tempted as anyone else therefore when we see
Someone make a mistake and it gets on our nerves when we see our kids drop something and shatter the bowl over the floor
When when our spouse loses the car keys again or or someone that
Said they would do something forgets to keep their promise. Just remember could just as easily have been you
Just could have easily just have been me
And so knowing that with that humility
I'm I don't respond with anger and irritation
But out of humility and self-awareness of my own shortcomings
I can respond with gentleness the gentleness of God the gentleness of Jesus
The gentleness of Paul
The fruit of the Holy Spirit
Amen
Amen amen