Trinity Streetsville
Gentleness | Organic - Growing the Fruit of the Spirit | Prayer and Worship Night
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 the, 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 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 going to talk a little bit about this fruit of the Spirit gentleness and I want to kind of confess to you that gentleness has not been always in my life 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 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 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 swing the back door which was glass of course as she swing 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 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 going to 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 so 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 even remember when our kids were young and we would like let's say we 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 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 than 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 you're 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 on in the Greco-Roman world gentleness and humility were not regarded as you know great qualities to have right gentleness 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 exercised 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 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 as a way of getting at this time this is look at four things I've got them laid out there on your sheet there we're going to 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 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 he's 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 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 oh he needs encouragement he needs to hear from God and this is what we 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 ooh then a great and powerful wind 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 so let's move on to the second one let's talk a bit about Jesus gentleness 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 him up 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 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' 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 not worthy to come and hang around him and Jesus says 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 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 quarrelling 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 2 Corinthians 10 verse 1 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 and dominance 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 gentle-hearted Christians just revolutionizing the way that people treat at 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 into the tension and as we do this just always remember almost 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 ball over the floor 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 you you you you You [BLANK_AUDIO]