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GALATIANS 5:23a
(Reading: Matthew 21:1-11; Galatians 5:13-25)
The Fruit of the Spirit is ... Gentleness
Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ…
That marvellous and beautiful cluster which makes up the fruit of God’s Spirit in us is once again added to. For here is number eight to the list.
Those qualities which blossom forth in a ripening believer’s life are so involved and varied. And at first, with the beginning of this list in verse 22, these aspects were within. “Love”, “joy”, and “peace”, start here – inside me!
Yet it must also be on the outside. It has to flow to others. Love and joy and peace cannot help but bubble over! For what Jesus has done in me has made that much difference to me! We’re different! And it has been through “patience”, “kindness”, “goodness”, and “faithfulness” that we’ve seen this mighty divine force at work in our lives touching others.
Mind you, they took a lot out of us. The battle for these to bring across the new life has taken quite a toll on our old life. Something, congregation, we’ll see even more so with this quality called “gentleness”.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is … gentleness.” Gentleness. Such a soft word. A word that brings with it all the connotations of somehow not being strong.
Yet the word “gentle” here is quite the opposite! In fact, this quality of the Spirit’s fruit has an enormous amount of power. But it does so in a special way.
So let’s consider “gentleness”. And first of all we see that ... GENTLENESS IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO BE.
Here that struggle of our own flesh against the will of God comes out. For what we naturally want to do is seen in the verses 19 till 21 before our text. And although we may have recoiled in horror at even the mention of those evil things, yet without God that’s exactly what we do. Even now it’s only the grace of God which gives some kind of order to the chaos of what we’re really like underneath.
There is an illustration which shows this well. So let me ask you: Who’s ever been to circus? Wasn’t that exciting? There’s a real atmosphere there. And especially because you’re there – you’re seeing it live!
When those high-flying trapeze artists swing across the top, way above your head, it’s all very real. And, then, when those lions and tigers come out, don’t we feel a huge tension? Those big cats are not pussy cats! They don’t purr ever so softly and want you to pat them. They roar!
And what a power they have! Even as they walk around, you see the gleaming muscles, and their big paws. But do they attack? Will they hurt anyone?
No, they very rarely do! They have been brought under control.
Not that they wanted to be! They naturally belong in the jungle, fighting and dominating other creatures. But now someone else is in charge. And much as they might resent that animal tamer, and snarl ever so menacingly, the moves they make, and what they do, belongs to the mind of someone else.
This same thought has been drawn out by Paul in this fifth chapter of Galatians. The believer is not a law unto him or herself. Rather, all that we have is harnessed to the service of the human trainer. For just as wild animals need an animal trainer so we humans need a human trainer.
You see, what we do naturally doesn’t please God. And, in particular, there’s no gentleness in what we would want to do ourselves. Look at that list of the acts of the sinful nature!
If anything, aren’t there several things which are quite the opposite? How about “jealousy”, and “fits of anger”? Actually, what about them? Who of us hasn’t ever felt the brunt of someone else’s fit of rage or that intense jealousy which penetrates like a razor-sharp knife? And wasn’t there an enormous power behind it?
Oh, yes, it was a terribly negative and evil force. And wasn’t it strong? Men and women have real strength. Whether that be physically or psychologically.
Mums and Dads, don’t you know that with the control you have over your children? Much as we might not realise it, our power there is very great! The pattern you draw on them is indelibly stamped upon them for the rest of their lives.
This is a responsibility we can take seriously, and so, with the Lord’s help, do our best. Or we can abuse that trust. Maybe just at certain times, yet enough to make you realise that just under the surface you are a dangerous force.
Our Lord Jesus drew into same power in Matthew chapter 6. There, in the verses 21 and 22, he declares, “You have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.”
Brothers and sisters, we, and all mankind, share a tremendous power. It’s an influence which can deeply affect other’s lives. We can hurt someone really badly. And, you know, without Jesus, that’s exactly what we do! No matter how much you try, you have a strength misused! I mean, how can it be right? Aren’t we so very wrong?
This is why our Lord can speak of being subject to judgement in Matthew 5. For in being angry in this way we aren’t under the human trainer. Then our souls aren’t being led the right way.
So we desperately need to have a difference. From where we saw, firstly, GENTLENESS IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO BE, we move on to see that ... GENTLENESS IS BECAUSE CHRIST HAS MASTERED ME.
Congregation, the paradox - the strangeness - of our faith comes out. And that’s how the Heidelberg Catechism begins. For after the first question asks, “What is your only comfort in life and death?” the answer begins, “That I am not my own!”
I don't count! In the light of the eternal realities of this world, I don’t have any rights. As that Catechism further states in its first answer, “That I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death - to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Here is that mastery over the believer. Someone far greater is at work. The divine trainer is ever so busy at his task. And he captured me exactly for his glory!
We wonder why. There is the sheer amazement at just how he made you to be part of his plan. Yet you know him as King! Jesus has conquered our hearts through his doing and dying. And as he rose victoriously, and claims his right to rule, so your soul is under him, too!
In his earthly ministry to achieve this position of ultimate strength our Lord speaks of and shows the perfect gentleness. He tells what it is in the beatitudes of Matthew 5. There he teaches this quality in verse 5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
And he shows it with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. For there was the man who was God; there was the One who before time itself began was born to rule. And, still, in humble obedience to the will of his Heavenly Father, he does what he must.
Notice, though, how he does it! We read in Matthew 21 verse 5, “This took place to fulfil 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.”’”
Fancy, he’s gentle and riding on a donkey! That goes right against any earthly concept of kingship! I mean, a triumphal entry for any one of us would involve all sorts of elaborate who-ha. The Romans had their long victory marches with all the captives and plunder and there are huge ticker-tape parades today. We would be sure to put our strength right up front: “I’ll make them see just how important I am!”
Jesus’ great power, though, shows in what is within. Because we know that his triumphal entry was no failure. The divine force itself was at work. And with this spiritual knowledge, our Lord places himself under the eternal plan. This is the last place for any fleeting moment of earthly pride. This has to be the complete opposite!
We note here a difference from those wild animals who become trained. For that happens to them is without their choice. After all, they’re only animals. But Jesus, as one of us, takes all that terrible anguish of sin upon himself! He puts aside whatever human aspirations he might have.
We know that quite vividly from the great torment he suffered on the Mount of Olives. There in the Garden of Gethsemane he pleaded with his Father in prayer. As we read in Luke 22 verse 42, he cried out, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
And that’s how he used his power. He bore it all for us - all our struggles become drawn together in him. No wonder that Luke continues that scene with writing about Jesus in verse 44, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Now, if that’s what our Saviour went through, what about us? Yes, those who dare to worship him in this very place! Well might we have sung those opening verses of praise but how humbled are we before God?
And don’t think, congregation, this is something which comes naturally. GENTLENESS IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO BE. In fact, GENTLENESS IS BECAUSE CHRIST HAS MASTERED ME. And that’s why, in the third place ... GENTLENESS IS WHERE BALANCE IS THE KEY.
Before Jesus came our lives had been so extreme. We couldn’t put things in their right perspective.
And don’t we still find this whenever we imagine we can do it on our own? We fail to put ourselves under the Lord and what do we find? Why, aren’t we then lured, even dragged, away by bad desires and temptations?
If we apply this to the way we treat others, isn’t it true that to let go of the Lord’s gentleness is only going to make us go to the wrong extremes? To not submit to our Master, and so to also not properly consider our fellow man, leads to a real lack of discipline.
It’s interesting that the Greek philosopher Aristotle defined the original Greek word for this “gentleness” as the balance between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. In other words, it’s between a real nasty temper and just sheer apathy. This is the quality of the person who’s always angry at the right time, and never the wrong time.
Quite a tall order! Because reflecting on our lives shows how we jump from one extreme to the other. It’s so rare to have that essential balance. And that’s what you find everywhere!
But the balance is here. Our text says that it can be the possession of each one of us here - and all of the time, too!
“Well, now,” you might say, “it would certainly apply to Jesus, but you can’t say the rest of us could be anywhere near it!” But whose power is it? It was never yours to be able to do anyway, was it? This is a fruit of the Spirit!
Congregation, if we see this it will change our lives. Then what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in his first letter, chapter 2, can be true for you, too. There in the verses 7 and 8 he says, “As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of Christ but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”
There is another way of dealing with each other. And it’s the right way.
You know, this is despite however much we may be so used to what we are that we have trouble seeing how wrong we’ve been. Because we might have thought that outburst cleared the air. But, if anything, it’s only shown that we’re as insecure as those who do nothing at all! It’s like the preacher, who, when he gets to the weakest point in arguing his sermon, really shouts it out loud! Then it sounds strong. But it won’t honestly help anyone for long. And that kind of approach from us doesn’t help you and your neighbour to get along.
Our Lord convicted Pontius Pilate of his innocence not only with his logic. As we read in Mark 15, the verses 3 till 5, “The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, ‘Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of?’ But Jesus made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.”
Before Pilate there was no weak, lily-livered specimen of humanity! You wouldn’t put white feathers in his letter-box! This was real power. The Spirit of Christ is seen most vividly in the Son of God himself.
And that same Spirit is promised to us now. This very “gentleness” can be shown today! It is ours simply for the asking: “Lord, make me a gentle person.”
Then, having prayed this prayer, and pleading for it, as we would all these essential qualities, we work for it. Each time of meeting others steadily, but surely, becomes placed under the Lord’s searchlight. And we study Scripture, and read Christian literature, and seek our fellow believer’s advice, exactly so that we can become “gentle”.
Then, when the opportunity presents itself, we aren’t found with the wrong extreme. We don’t explode in fury. And we don’t let it roll all over us, with no concern whatsoever. Instead, by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we will ripen into the fruit that is so pleasant and refreshing. Then they will taste that the Lord is good. He is completely fulfilling!
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
O Lord God, do so grant your Spirit that we will ripen into the fruit that’s so pleasant and refreshing. May we know more and more how pure and gentle you are.
Then we will be truly Christian gentlemen and gentlewomen.
Through Christ our Lord, we pray, Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright, Rev. Sjirk Bajema
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