We are slowly coming to the end of our study on the character traits and/or qualities that are to be found growing in the life of the disciple of Jesus Christ.
These character traits are found in Galatians 5:22-23a: “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control….” (NIV)
These nine fruit will be found growing in the lives of disciples of Jesus, but they only arrive there by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says: “…the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in your life…” (Gal. 5:22a, NLT2)
We are unable, on our own strength, to grow these 9 character traits, we may cultivate them; but we do not grow them.
That job belongs to God’s Holy Spirit, and this will only be possible as we stay connected to the Vine.
Jesus said: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5, NIV)
A little bit further down in the same chapter Jesus reminded us that: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-- fruit that will last.” (John 15:16a, NIV)
It’s only as we stay connected to the vine that the Holy Spirit will fill us, or produce in us, the Fruit of the Spirit.
We cannot pick and choose which fruit we would like to have, while leaving the others out. We cannot have love without joy, peace without patience, kindness without goodness.
All nine fruit will be grown in our lives by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, gradually.
ILLUSTRATION- I would like to think that I am kinder today than I was five years ago. I would like to think I am more patient today than I was this time last year…
For all the work that God has done in me; I know that I still have a long way to go. I should have a sign that says: “I am a work in progress.”
It’s like the song of yesteryear: “He's still working on me to make me what
I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, The sun and
the earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient He must be, He's still working on me.” (Joel Hemphill)
Unless I surrender my life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ on a daily basis, I will not be what God intends for me to be: a fully devoted follower of Christ, who is filled with the Fruit of the Spirit. (And neither will you)
The Bible says: “…the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.” (Is. 30:18, NLT2)
Before God can fill us with the fruit of the Spirit, we must come to Him. We must receive Him.
Once we come to God, He will begin to fill us with the character traits, such as the 8th Fruit of the Spirit called “Gentleness.”
Gentleness is the 8th fruit of the Spirit that will be produced in your life if you profess to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, but; what is it?
What does Gentleness look like? How does Gentleness express itself?
“Based on the original Greek word used in the New Testament, the word Gentleness (prautēs) literally means “strength under control”
IILLUSTRATION - The word was used to describe a wild stallion that had been
tamed or broken.
The tamed stallion still had as much power and energy as when it was wild, but it could now be controlled and more useful for its master” (Warren, 2006.176)
This tells me what Gentleness is: “strength under control”, but what I want to know is: “how does gentleness express itself?”
ILLUSTRATION- Gentleness is the Holy Spirit produced quality that demonstrates itself when the telephone rings for the 4th time and you are trying to have a quiet time and hear from the Lord for the words to a message.
It’s not getting upset, frustrated or mad; it’s taking a deep breath and trusting in the Lord.
According to Aristotle, “gentleness is the middle ground between 2 extremes, getting angry without reason and not getting angry at all….”
“Therefore, gentleness is getting angry at the right time, in the right measure for the right reasons.” (Key word Study Bible, GK #4559)
Gentleness is that Holy Spirit produced quality that says: even though you can get mad at someone and retaliate, you resist because you are filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
The Bible says: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”
(Philippians 4:5, NIV)
Every person that we come in contact with--believer or not, friend or not--is to see this 8th fruit of the Spirit flowing from our lives.
Dr. W. E. Caldwell reminds us that gentleness: “…is an attitude toward God which manifests itself also toward one’s fellows. The meek who accept God’s will… are gentle toward other persons.” (Caldwell, 1976, 67)
Paul reminded us in 2 Timothy that: “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.
25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth.” (2 Tim. 2:24-25, NLT2)
While speaking directly to ministers, broadly he’s talking to all of us. Gentleness is treating all people with love and compassion, all the while remembering that it was this same love and compassion that brought us to God:
“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for
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…” (Psalm 103:8-13, NIV)
Gentleness is showing other people, no matter who they are, the unconditional love and compassion that we have received from Almighty God.
Gentleness is, as Rick Warren says, “controlling your reactions to other people. It’s choosing your own response to people rather than simply reacting to them.
And often, we have only a ¼ of a second to react to people in the way that we should.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "In your anger do not sin"…. and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:26a-27, NIV)
“That ¼ second is the time when the Holy Spirit can take control. That is when you can give the foothold to the Holy Spirit or you can give it to sin.
“That one quarter second in your mind can be an opportunity to say “Spirit, I’ve got this impulse right now, how should I act?” (Ortberg, 2010, 208)
Gentleness is being aware of the ¼ second response time and responding in a way that will diffuse most situations. It will not happen overnight, but it will happen with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
ILLUSTRATION- Richard Dunagin of Denton, Texas, writing in Leadership Journal, said that his children won four free goldfish at the school carnival, necessitating a Saturday morning family outing to find an aquarium.
The first several they found were too expensive, but then he spotted a used one right in the middle of the aisle:
A discarded ten-gallon tank complete with gravel and filter. It was (only) five dollars.
“Of course, it was nasty dirty, but the savings made the two hours of cleanup a breeze.”
Those four new fish looked great in their new home, at least for the first day. But by Sunday one had died. Too bad, but three remained.
Monday morning revealed a second casualty, and by Monday night a third goldfish had gone belly up.
“We called in an expert, a member of our church who had a 30-gallon tank. It didn’t take him long to discover the problem: I had washed the tank with soap, an absolute no-no.
My uninformed efforts had destroyed the very lives I was trying to protect.
“Sometimes in our zeal to clean up our own lives or the lives of others, we
unfortunately use “killer soaps”—condemnation, criticism, nagging, fits of temper.
We think we’re doing right, but our harsh, self-righteous treatment is more than they can bear.” (NCBSIQ. pg. 338-339)
The Bible says: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.
10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10, NIV)
James was reminding us to be careful of what we say, for sometimes we can use words that do more damage than good to the very people that we are trying to reach.
This is why it’s so important for us to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit called Gentleness.
For its gentle words, we are told, that will help people find faith in Jesus, again, or for the first time:
“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” (Gal. 6:1, NIV)
We are to respond to all people in a gentle way, so I wonder this morning,
how do we respond to people? How do we treat people? Are we gentle with them, or are we harsh with them?
This includes the people that you know, and the people that you don’t know—especially the clerk at Tim Horton’s.
While it’s true that this last batch of fruit deal with the relationship that we are to have with ourselves, this fruit expresses itself in our relationships to others, so if we do not have Holy Spirit produced gentleness growing in our lives, we will not be able to deal with all people in the way that we should.
Are you using “killer soap words” when you should be using gentle words? Are you showing compassion and love to all people?
The Good News is that if you aren’t responding to people in the way that you should, you can ask God to fill you with Holy Spirit produced gentleness; you can start cultivating gentleness in how you respond to people, one ¼ second at a time.
“Let it be clearly understood: meekness is not weakness, but strength. It is strength held under control; power kept in reserve”
“Remember that steam does the most work when it makes the least noise, some of us need less noise and more poise” (Glenn D. Black, article on FoS. Filed Under Gal 5:22-23)
Jesus said: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
(Matthew 5:5, NIV)
Jesus reminded us that meek people, gentle people, will inherit the earth.
Not the loud, the boisterous, the ones with the most money, or the best toys, but the meek will inherit all of God’s blessings.
Jesus said: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 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.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)
What is Gentleness? How does Gentleness express itself? Gentleness is Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment