Galatians 5:22-23
The Fruit of the Spirit Is Gentleness
April 23, 2006
The fruit of the Spirit is...gentleness...(NIV)
If people had to choose one word to describe you, how many of you would want them to choose the word “gentle”? Or how about “meek”? I didn’t think so. After all, meekness is fine--if you’re a church mouse. And if you’re handling a baby, you ought to be gentle. But overall, meekness, gentleness is not a trait that is widely respected today. In fact, even those of you who believe that gentleness is ideally a good trait to have are not sure that it is a good trait to have in reality. Because in reality, today’s society doesn’t generally reward gentleness and meekness.
But today I am here to talk to you about and to encourage you in gentleness and meekness. My name is King David. Yes, that’s right--King David. The one who, as a young boy, stood up to Goliath. The one who killed lions and bears. The one who gathered around him a group of 400 “mighty men”, a real rough and tumble bunch. The greatest battle king that Israel ever knew.
Yes, I’m here to talk to you about gentleness, about meekness. The first thing I want you to is to forget whatever narrow definition and preconceived notions you have when you hear the word “gentleness.” Because the Greek word that is used in your reading this morning embraces and calls to mind something more the word “gentleness.” The word that Paul used here that is translated “gentleness”, but in the Sermon on the Mount, the NIV translated it as “meek”—as in “Blessed are the meek.”
When you hear the word “meekness” you probably think of quietly and humbly submitting to someone else’s wishes, will, and force. It’s an attitude that one would think should come to us very naturally as we consider the Almighty God. But I had to be taught such meekness by the Spirit of God.
Sadly, one of the things for which I am most known is my adultery with Bathsheba and my subsequent murder of her husband Uriah. I knew what God had said in his law about his guidelines for marriage. And I certainly knew what God had said about murder! But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I wasn’t going to halt the plans of my sinful nature just because God said so. I acted boldly and arrogantly. I ignored the testimony of the Holy Spirit in my heart, and I refused to meekly, humbly submit to God’s laws.
Thankfully, God in his grace sent a prophet named Nathan to accuse me of sin and to call on me to repent. And accuse me of my sin he did! He did so politely and respectfully, but he also did so quite plainly. He left me no room to brush it off or ignore it. A part of me didn’t appreciate this one bit. After all, I was the king! I was God’s chosen leader of his people! For nearly a year now I had been refusing to listen even to the testimony of my own conscience!
But fortunately, God’s Holy Spirit worked in me so that, as I sat there in my royal robes surrounded by the riches of my palace, and as I looked at the simply-dressed Nathan, I meekly bowed my head and humbly confessed that I had sinned against God.
Friends, the first part of that fruit of the Spirit known as gentleness shows itself in your attitude towards your sins. Do you meekly confess them before God—including also the times that you have been harsh towards others instead of gentle? Do you meekly confess them with a head bowed in guilt and shame like the tax collector in one of Jesus’ parables? (Luke 18:9-14) I certainly hope that you don’t exhibit the fruit of the devil like the Pharisee in the parable did, boldly telling God what a good boy or girl you have been! I hope that you don’t exhibit that fruit of the devil which masquerades as meekness and humility, but quickly reveals itself as something far different. That is, I hope that you don’t “modestly” confess your sins--and then spend the next 10 minutes explaining to God why you had pretty good reasons for doing what you did, and that--while you aren’t perfect--you are still better than a lot of people that you know.
I know it’s not easy. I know--believe me, I know!--that your sinful nature absolutely bristles at the thought of anyone telling you what you can and cannot do. And I know that it rebels even more against the thought of someone telling you that you need to repent and to say that you are sorry for your sins.
But this is where meekness begins--with your attitude towards your sins—with a completely submissive, humble, meek bowing of the head and saying as I said: “I have sinned against the Lord.”
But do so confident of what the Holy Spirit led James to write: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10) When I meekly confessed my sins, Nathan announced to me that God had forgiven my sin! I was not going to suffer hell, but instead I would go to heaven!
Why had God forgiven my sin? Because we have a gentle Savior, a Savior who has been gentle in the all the ways and for all the times that we have not. Look at how he cared for the little children. Look at how gently he instructed the disciples in their foolishness and in their slowness of heart. It makes me think of the prophecy of Isaiah, who wrote, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” (Isaiah 40:11) For the many, many times that you have failed to be gentle towards those who were weaker than you, towards those who were less talented than you--for all those times you have failed, Jesus succeeded, Jesus obeyed, Jesus lived a perfectly gentle life in your place.
And then he meekly suffered and died for your sins. Look at how he meekly submitted to God’s good and gracious will in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Look at how him when he was on trial before Pontius Pilate, refusing to raise his voice in an angry defense of himself. And just before that, he was perfectly meek in his trial before the Sanhedrin, not even defending his body from the fists of the Jewish leaders. Finally, on the cross he meekly endured the taunts of angry men, never lashing out with an angry response--which would have been only a fraction of what they deserved. There the very Son of God meekly endured abuse from those whom he had created. For all the times when you’ve “stood up and been a man” (as the world defines being a man), for all the times when you’ve boldly swung the sword of your tongue to hurt those who were hurting you, Jesus succeeded, Jesus obeyed, Jesus was meek.
But don’t misunderstand. The world equates gentleness with meekness. Jesus’ suffering and death proves that there can be strength in meekness. For it was through his gentleness and meekness that he managed the most mighty feat of all--making a satisfactory payment for the sins of the world.
May you, out of thankful love to him, imitate his meekness! I had an opportunity to do that very shortly after I meekly confessed my sins and received the assurance of God’s forgiveness from Nathan.
You see, immediately after my relationship with God had been restored, immediately after I had finally humbled myself before God and received the forgiveness of my sins, Nathan went on to say that the son born to Bathsheba and me would die! For 7 days I prayed to the Lord. I knew that he had promised to hear the prayers of believers, and I knew that I was once again a believer. I prayed so feverishly and so intensely that when my son finally died, my servants were afraid to tell me. I supposed they were afraid that I wouldn’t accept this real gently or meekly. I suppose they thought that I might say, “Hey, wait a minute here God! Haven’t I repented of my sins? Don’t I now deserve better than this from you? Aren’t there many of my subjects who had had illegitimate children, who had never repented, and yet their sons were allowed to live?”
And it’s true that the devil made all those thoughts run through my mind. But when I found out that my child was dead, I finally got up from my praying, and I did all the things I hadn’t taken the time to do during the past week. I washed myself, changed clothes, put on lotions, and sat down for a meal. No, I wasn’t acting irrationally because I was in shock. I was simply meekly accepting God’s judgment.
How could I do so? Well, it wasn’t merely because I knew there was no point in arguing with the almighty God. It wasn’t a hopeless, sad meekness. No, rather it was an assurance that if God had loved me so much that he would actually suffer and die for me, then he also could be trusted to do what was best. I didn’t necessarily like it or feel real good about it, but I trusted that he knew what was best.
If God at times decides that even though you have repented of your sin, it is good for you to bear some additional suffering in order that it remind you of the dangers of straying from him and his Word again, may you accept that with the gentle attitude that I did--not raging against God, not withdrawing from God, but knowing and trusting that he is a good and gracious God. Or if God decides to allow you to experience suffering--loss of income, loss of health, loss of a friendship--for reasons unknown to you, may you have the strength of faith to meekly and even joyfully accept it, knowing that what God ordains is always good, knowing that he does not deal with you as your sins deserve, but that he deals us with you out of gracious love, that he deals with you gently.
May that goodness, that graciousness, that gentleness which God displays in his dealings with you--may that gentleness show itself in how you deal with others.
It certainly did in my case. Of course, there are times when gentleness is easier to show than at other times. That was the case with Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the 5-year old son of my dear friend, Jonathan. After Jonathan died, Mephibosheth and his nurse had been fleeing the city when the nurse dropped him, crippling him for life. When I found out about this many years later, I brought Mephibosheth to my palace, gave him land and a place to live, and made sure that he would always eat at my table.
As I said, perhaps you view that as one of the finest examples of gentleness on my part--caring for the crippled son of my dear friend. And I won’t deny that it is an example of gentleness. But if you think that is what gentleness consists of, if you think gentleness is being nice to those whose health is not as good as yours, if you think gentleness is being nice to the friends and family of those who have been nice to you...well, I might have thought that once upon a time, too, I suppose.
But seeing how God dealt with me when I deserved exactly the opposite made me realize what true gentleness is.
A while after the incident with Nathan, my son Absalom rebelled against me and my kingship. He tried to take over the rule of Israel. The rebellion was so serious and so formidable that I was forced to flee Jerusalem. While I was fleeing, a man named Shimei approached us. He was a descendant of Saul, the last king of Israel (a man who had tried to kill me on numerous occasions, even though when I had opportunity to kill him, I had responded with gentleness). Now Shimei, came running up to me and my officials, my troops, and my special guard. He cursed us, and he threw stones at us.
Now I may have been on the run, but I was still the king of Israel. And while my men and I didn’t quite have the sophisticated weapons that you do today, one man armed with a couple rocks still wouldn’t last long against us. Abishai, one of my men, wanted to cut off Shimei’s head, but I stopped him. In fact, I simply let Shimei go. That was gentleness--suffering undeserved abuse without responding in anger. Later on, when the rebellion had been put down, I was on my way back to Jerusalem when Shimei approached me and begged me to forgive him. Again, Abishai wanted to put Shimei to death. And now, having had my power as king fully restored, it would have been the perfect time to do so. But how could I, while Shimei was confessing his sin to me and asking for my forgiveness--how could I refuse to gently forgive him as God had gently forgiven me? I made a solemn promise to him that I would not kill him.
That is meekness and gentleness. You don’t merely show meekness when you have no power to strike back at those who mistreat you, but you show gentleness especially when you do have the power to get revenge on them--and you don’t use it.
Do not be misled, though. As is the case with many of the fruits of the Spirit, the rest of the world will mistake them for weakness on your part. As I said, Abishai was absolutely incredulous that I refused to take vengeance on Shimei. When people mistreat you today, and when you meekly accept it, those people will find it laughable, weak. They won’t understand why you don’t do whatever you can to get back at them.
But be that as it may, continue to show gentleness. For it is God’s will.
There is another way, another area in which you may show gentleness, and it is absolutely critical that you do so. That is in your dealings with the sins of others. Paul told the Galatians, “If someone is caught (read: ensnared) in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.” (Galatians 6:1)
There will be brothers and sisters in Christ who fall into sins. Some of them will fall into “greater” sins such as adultery--as I did. Some of them will fall into “lesser” sins--declining church attendance, misplaced priorities. All of them are in grave danger and need to have those sins dealt with. (Do not ever suppose that you are showing humility by telling yourself that you yourself have fallen into that sin, and that since you are no better than they, the meek thing to do would be to remain silent!)
But do so gently. Do so in a way that has one goal--to “restore him gently.” That is, do so in such a way that the only concern is getting that sinner to repent and regain a right relationship with God. Don’t chastise them for their spiritual weakness--although their actions may have shown a dreadful weakness on their part. Don’t angrily point out that they have disgraced themselves and their family--although they may have done so. Don’t tell them that you simply can not understand how they could have done such a thing--especially after they had been taught better than this in years of Sunday school and catechism class. First, don’t do that because the fact is that the devil is always near you, just a short distance away from ensnaring you in doing something about which you know better. But most of all, don’t do it--indeed, don’t do any of these things, because those things are not the point. The point is that they have sinned against God and need to repent of and receive forgiveness for that sin.
Is any of this easy? No, it isn’t. It certainly wasn’t easy for me, and it won’t be easy for you. That’s why Paul wrote to Timothy, “You, man of God...pursue...gentleness.” (1 Timothy 6:11) He says to “pursue” it. This means there is effort involved. Our sinful nature makes us the opposite of gentle. But, led by his Holy Spirit, you can be gentle, you can be meek. You can meekly confess your sins to God. Then, motivated by God’s gentleness and forgiveness toward you, you can show that same gentleness towards others--to God’s glory. Amen.
God has shown that same gentleness and makes that same promise to you. While those who attempt to argue their case before God will be condemned to hell, those who humbly confess their sins will be saved.
As I’ve already said, may you do so in your attitude towards your sins, but may you also do so in your attitude towards and acceptance of God’s decrees and plans.
Now I had acted similarly years before when dealing with King Saul. A jealous, bitter man, King Saul had tried to kill me with a spear, and although I had never made any attempt at seizing power from him, although I had always been a faithful supporter of him, although I had fought valiantly in his army, he pursued me all over the country until it became an obsession for him, causing him to neglect other basic duties of being a king.