Gentleness

Some people think of gentleness as a sign of weakness. But today on Truth for Life, we'll find out why it's actually a kind of strength that's essential for spiritual growth. Alistair Begg is teaching from Galatians chapter 5.

We're focusing on verse 23. Well, we are getting to the end of our studies in the fruit of the Spirit. We are here penultimately this evening with this matter of gentleness. Writing on the fruit of the Spirit in 1839, a Dutch Reformed pastor by the name of Bethune observed, quote, There may be no grace less prayed for or cultivated than gentleness. A hundred and seventy-seven years later, and I think we would be forced to agree that his comment still stands. I wonder how long it is since any of us actually knelt down and said, Lord Jesus Christ, produce in me the fruit of a gentle spirit.

It may be some time. Whether we as a church have actually gone to God and said, Lord Jesus, will you make amongst us such a spirit of gentleness that those who are most in need of your care may encounter it here? One of the reasons that it is neglected is because it is misunderstood. It is as misunderstood as it is undervalued. When people think of gentleness, they often think that it means some kind of spinelessness or weakness. And so, particularly men who have been interested in muscles and being macho, I do not find themselves immediately drawn to the idea of a gentle and a quiet spirit.

And indeed, many females in contemporary society apparently are not very interested in it either. Now, the Greek word is prauteis. That is the word that is most used. It is translated meekness, almost routinely in the authorized version, and variously here in the ESV and the NIV, and so on. Meekness or gentleness is essentially strength under control. If you had opened your Bible at Galatians 5, you would see that gentleness stands in direct contrast to the works of the flesh, which Paul points out before he comes to the fruit—works of the flesh which include enmity and strife, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions. And gentleness is particularly the counterpart of anger. Of anger.

It is not a temperament, nor is it a personality. It is, with the rest of the fruit, an outflow of the love of God, the love which heads the list, as we've seen each time. And as I've studied it this week in preparation for tonight, I've looked down two lines. One, I've realized that this gentleness involves a Godward dimension inasmuch as it involves, first of all, submission to God—submission to God in all of his Word and in his works—and then, in its manward side, consideration of others. Aristotle, who was good at definitions, defined meekness as the happy medium between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness—a balance that we discover only perfectly in the Lord Jesus. In fact, in one sense, in relationship to the totality of this orb of Christian godliness, as well as in relationship to it in its individual aspects, to think gentleness, think Jesus. Think gentleness, think Jesus. James, the brother of Jesus, has urged his readers to conduct themselves in the meekness and gentleness of wisdom—a wisdom which, he goes on to say, not only is pure and peaceable and reasonable, but it is also gentle.

Now, we have to acknowledge that this comes really out of left field when you think about the climate in which we're living. We live in a culture where gentleness is arguably not a commonly admired quality. That's why, you see, as we've said, in making the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ attractive in a dark culture, these characteristics are wonderful. That's why Paul, not only in Galatians but also in the rest of the epistles, is saying to his readers again and again, Make sure you're not wearing your old clothes. Make sure you have taken off the clothes that marked your pre-converted life. And make sure that you're wearing the clothes that are provided by the grace of God. I want us, first of all, and briefly, to look at three pictures, then take a lesson from Paul, and then we'll close with a spiritual MRI.

All right? So, first of all, three pictures. The first of these is in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 11, speaking of God, a picture of God that is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young.

In verse 10, God is described in all of his sovereign power. Here in verse 11, the sovereign is also shepherd. He tends his flock. He has a general care of those who are his own. He does so as a shepherd. Those who have particular needs, the lambs he gathers in his arm. He carries them in his bosom, and he gently leads those that have young.

It's a wonderful and a compelling picture of the might, the majesty, the untrammeled strength, authority, and sovereignty of God stooping down into our little lives and dealing with us in this way. Gentle. And when this servant steps forward, Isaiah prophesies, you will notice, that he's not a bully. He doesn't cry aloud. He doesn't lift up his voice. He is not ostentatious. He is tender, so much so that a bruised reed he will not break. In common parlance, he wouldn't hurt a fly. And a faintly burning wick, he won't put it out.

He won't say, Well, that thing's useless. Let's get rid of it. Or in human terms, she doesn't amount to much. We can discard with her. Or there'll be no tune out of her pipe again. We can throw that one out too.

No. And when you fast forward and find this quoted in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 12, where it is quoted, in verse 15 or so, Jesus withdrew from there, and many followed him, and he healed them all, and he ordered them not to make him known, and, says Matthew, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. Here he is.

He doesn't quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He deals gently with the hurting, those who are spiritually weak, those who are of little faith. The third picture is still in the prophets, and that's in Zechariah.

You'll be familiar with it, won't you? Zechariah 9.9. Again, a prophecy that we find fulfilled in Matthew, in Matthew 21, where we read again of the servant of the Lord, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey. What an amazing thing this is, that the King of the universe, the Creator of it all, the Lord of glory, as he steps down into time, as he makes himself known, he does so with such amazing tenderness and gentleness. It's interesting, isn't it, that in his self-designation he refers to himself as gentle? Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest and take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am gentle. You're not gonna come to somebody if you're afraid, if you think they're gonna send you away, if they'll throw out the smoking flax, if they'll dump the bruised reed.

No! He's gentle—gentle with his disciples when he looks at them and sees that they're really tired, when they've come back and reported on their travels. And in Mark 6, Jesus says to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place, and rest for a while. Such gentleness! Three pictures that in the Old Testament are in black and white, and when you move into the New Testament, there you find them in resplendent color.

Those are the pictures. Now, learning from Paul. Learning from Paul.

The apostolic pattern follows the pattern of the Lord Jesus. And we often say that after the resurrection of Jesus, in terms of an apologetic, in terms of a testimony to the truthfulness of Christianity, probably the most compelling testimony and argument in defense of Christian truthfulness is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Anybody who reads that story realizes there's a dramatic change that we have to explain as having taken place in this man—a radical change in him, because he had been such a tyrant. He was, Luke tells us, there at the execution of Stephen. He was such a fearful figure that when, actually, he professed to be a follower of Jesus, the followers of Jesus didn't want to have anything to do with them.

They were afraid that he would even show up at their assemblies, because he had been breathing out threatenings and slaughter. But what in the world happened to him? Well, he was transformed by the power of Christ. And the work of the Holy Spirit in his life was to produce the fruit of the Spirit in his life.

So much so—and these are just random, you can amplify them yourself—so much so that, for example, when he writes to the Thessalonians, he's able to say to them, quote, We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother, taking care of our own children. What? You mean Mr. Threatening? Mr. Slaughter? Mr. Murderer?

Yes! He asks the Corinthians, when he writes to them, and he is concerned for them that they would be under his directive in his discipline, he says to them, What do you prefer—this is 1 Corinthians 4—"shall I come to you with a whip or in love and with a gentle spirit?" He knew what it was to be involved in the former situation, but now his life has changed. In the second letter to the Corinthians, he says that he is entreating them by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. Now, when you read that—and you will read it on your own, I'm sure—I wonder, at least I wonder, maybe you will wonder with me, if it was not that he was just temperamentally so other than gentle. You know, I mean, he obviously was able to do a pretty good job of hounding down these believers.

He wasn't a sort of milk toast kind of character. He was a well-educated fellow. He knew where he stood.

He had convictions about certain things, and enough to make sure that he would drive these people underground if he could. So I wonder if it is not simply this, that his recurring emphasis—and it is a recurring emphasis on gentleness—that as he urges those who are under his care and those to whom he writes in relationship to this, that it is a reminder to him of the wonder of God's grace. It is a reminder to him of the fact that apart from the work of the Spirit of God, he would know nothing about gentleness, because he was the blasphemer, the persecutor, the insolent person who had been shown mercy. When he explains the nature of discipline within the church at the beginning of Galatians chapter 6, what does he say? He says that you who are spiritual, who exercise the role of discipline in the life of someone who has fallen, by the way, you should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

So that the whole understanding of discipline, exercised within a fellowship, exercised on a one another basis, is in recognition of the fact that the one to whom we ultimately go is the one who doesn't cry aloud in the streets. He's not a bully. He's not ostentatious. He doesn't snuff us out. He doesn't ditch us. He gives us an opportunity again and again and again and again. He responds to us with amazing gentleness. Therefore, how then could I be the child of that King and operate in any other way?

It's not an option. Thirdly and finally, a spiritual MRI. I don't know much about MRIs. In fact, I've never had one.

I'm actually afraid of having one, but that's a conversation for another evening. I do know, because I'm told, that it is an effective means of showing what's really going on inside. It can reveal the absence of something that we were hoping to find there, and it can reveal the presence of something that we don't want to see there. I don't know about you, but as I've gone down this list—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and now gentleness—it doesn't mean like a spiritual MRI. Showing up in my heart things that I hoped I wouldn't see, and failing to show up things that I long to see. So let's take the test.

Two parts. In relationship to our submission to God, in relationship to our consideration of others. Submission to God, part one of the test. Do I have a teachable spirit? Therefore put away all filthiness, writes James, rampant wickedness, and receive with gentleness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls. You're never gonna benefit from the Bible, he says. If you come with a filthy mind, if you come with an argumentative spirit, you can sit for a thousand years and listen to the Bible taught, and it will be as water on a duck's back.

It will be as rain on a tin roof. That's why he says, you see, it is essential that the fruit of gentleness or humility of heart is revealed in the way in which we listen to the Word of God being taught. Also, a repenting heart in submission to God.

Gentleness, sensitivity—not only teachable to his Word but repenting when confronted by the truth of his Word. None of us tonight's perfect. All of us make mistakes. We do bad things that we didn't want to do. We fail to do good things that we should have done. And we suffer if we fail to face up to these things.

If we try to simply ignore them or to hide them, we will find at least this. One, that our fellowship with God is spoiled, and two, that our usefulness for God is diminished. That's why Luther said repentance is a daily activity. So, sensitive to the teaching of the Word of God, repentant as the Word of God comes to convict us, and then thirdly, that we would be marked by a trusting faith. A trusting faith.

You see, it's very easy to talk about submission to God when everything is going well. But the sun is not always shining down on us. It was this morning that we sang about when the trials come and difficulties come and so on. A trusting heart. Because, you see, gentleness is not mainly developed in tranquility.

Gentleness is developed in trials and difficulty. So the very things that I don't want to have in my life are the very things that in my life will make me the full-orbed person that God wants me to be. I don't want to be sick. I don't want to be disappointed. I don't want my heart to be broken.

I don't want any of these things. But God is sovereign in his dealings. He knows what he's doing. And he is expressly committed to conforming his children to the image of his only beloved Son to make us in short order like Jesus in gentleness as in everything else. M.R.I.

Listening to God's Word with a Repentant Heart, a Teachable Spirit, and a Trusting Faith. Part Two of the Test in Consideration of Others. And I'm just gonna frame this in the questions that I wrote down for myself. If you find them painful, I'm absolutely thrilled.

I don't see why I should have to find them as uncomfortable as I have found them. So here we are. This is the M.R.I. Here's the test.

You're sliding down the tube. We're talking about a gentleness in relationship to God who is there and out there. But what about in relationship to one another? What about a gentle spirit in consideration of the needs and concerns of others? Here are the questions.

The first one. Are we considerate, generous, and fair in our dealings with others, or are we rigid, exacting, and demanding? Am I prepared to be gentle and sensitive to the pressures and insecurities that are the portion of my friends and my families and my colleagues?

Do I show consideration to the mail carrier, the checkout clerk, the bank teller, and everyone else? Do we tell ourselves we are standing on principle when, in fact, we are merely insisting on our own opinions? Are we becoming increasingly compassionate, genial, reasonable, and kind, or disturbingly crusty, rigid, unyielding, and inflexible? Jerry Bridges, whom I quoted this morning, recalls a friend who used to sign off his letters in this way, Keep tough and tender. And Bridges observes, Tough on ourselves and tender with others.

The absence of a gentle spirit reverses it and does so with relative ease. Isn't it wonderful that this is the fruit of the Spirit? That this is not a lecture this evening, this is an opening up of the Bible, this is not me saying, Now, look, your life is like a Christmas tree, an artificial Christmas tree, and here's another thing for you to go out and try and stick on it in the hope that you will be a much better person to live with and so on.

No. We started, Come, Holy Spirit, dwell here among us. We need your power, your saving grace. Show us yourself. Do something. You're the only one that can make us like this.

We can't make a church like this. You can. You want to. You will.

And in our own personal lives, the same way. Are you impatient? I'm impatient. I'm just impatient generally.

I want Instagram. No, I want it all to grow now, tonight, tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll be so joyful, so peaceful, so gentle. Nobody will be able to stand me. I'll be so radiant and amazing.

People will be coming over and taking their vacation just to be near me. Make me like this now, will you? But that just shows how impatient I actually am. And part of the fruit is patience. Trusting God. Asking him, Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Make me fruitful by your power that work in us. Do it for us as individuals. Do it for us as a church.

Please. We ask you. You're listening to Truth for Life. That is Alistair Begg with some soul searching questions about gentleness. Well, as Alistair just reminded us, we should long to be fruitful, not just for our sake, but for the sake of the church. And I want to tell you about a book Alistair is recommending titled Honor, Loving Your Church By Building One Another Up. It's a book that explores what true reverence for God looks like within a local church and how we're to build one another up out of love and humility. It paints a beautiful picture of a church where everyone is serious about Jesus' command to sacrificially love one another in the same way that he loves us. It's a challenging book. It requires us to remove the spotlight from ourselves and refocus it on God's glory and on caring for those in the church family. You can request your copy of the book Honor today when you donate to support the ministry of Truth for Life at truthforlife.org slash donate or call 888-588-7884. Thanks for listening. When we sin, it is tempting to search for someone or something to blame. Tomorrow we'll find out why every sin is actually an inside job. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.