There are two kinds of quiet people. There are those who are quiet because, to tell the truth, they have nothing to say! And then there are those who are quiet because they are simply content with what they know; they have no need to impress anyone else. There are two kinds of quiet people.
Two kinds of quiet people: some say little because they have little to say. They haven't thought much about anything. Not much is happening inside and so not much happens in their conversation. They have to be quiet because there just isn't much to talk about. Their lives are impoverished.
But others say little because in their wisdom they are content, they are secure, they are at peace. In them there is no need to compete with others, no motivation to impress others, no urgency to win points. In these quiet spirits, happy just to be alive, there is a very special power. It is the power of a gentle life, the power of a secure heart; it is what one writer called "the royalty of inward happiness."
There are, I say, two kinds of quiet people. I once saw it well laid out on a little poster next to someone's easy chair. The poster said, "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits!" Some who say nothing because they have nothing to say; they "just sits". And others who "sits and thinks,” who in their own souls are content; not competing with anyone, they feel no need to impress. They are at peace.
Such a spirit was Matthew Jackson. Gentle, secure, quiet, composed, able to contain himself and yet able to give himself. Strong even in these last months of weakness; composed even in these last days of his life. Happy even when the outlook seemed bleak. One of the images I have of Mr. Jackson is him sitting with his good friend John Sheppard ... neither of them needing to say much, neither of them needing to fill the air with idle chatter. Just quietly able to be in one another's presence. Sometimes he "sits and thinks"; others maybe "just sits". But he is quiet and secure.
What is the secret? How do we find our way to a quiet, gentle, peaceable life like his? We have come to honor this gentle spirit, this great heart. How can we, like him, live life knowing peace? How can we even approach the end of life knowing peace? The Scriptures instruct us.
I
James tells us first that gentleness is born out of God's gift of wisdom. Gentleness is born out of God's gift of wisdom. When our God gives a man wisdom, true wisdom, he no longer needs to compete, he no longer needs to be bolstered or praised or flattered. When God gives a man wisdom, his wisdom becomes gentleness and strength.
James says, "Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom ... if you have envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder ... But the wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle."
If there is any lesson our boisterous world needs to learn, it is that our need to compete with one another, our emphasis on winning at all costs, will destroy us. There is a healthy ambition, of course, but there is also selfish ambition and envy, there is also that sick need to get ahead. You see it everywhere ... you see it in politics, you see it in business, you experience it even while driving on the streets. Some folks just have a need to be there first. And the Scripture interprets the result of that .. "where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder."
But Matthew Jackson had learned that to be somebody does not mean pushing aside others on your way. Matthew Jackson had learned that real strength lies in being content, lies in lingering among family and friends, in possessing your own soul. Matthew Jackson's life and death both teach us how wonderful it is just to receive from a gracious God the art of gentle living, born out of wisdom. The secret of his peace begins with his receiving God's gift of gentleness born out of wisdom.
II
But Matthew Jackson's gentleness, his wisdom and ultimately his peace, had another distinguishing mark as well. Mr. Jackson learned how to yield himself to the demands of the hour; he learned to how give himself to what the Spirit called him to. And James says that this is a part of the gentleness born of God's gift of wisdom.
"The wisdom from above is … peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy …" Willing to yield, full of mercy.
We saw that in Mr. Jackson! Full of mercy, ready to care for William and to love him and embrace him; ready to accept responsibility, but knowing that William needed him and could and would bless him. I know, William, that you do honor and love him, and that you have over the years responded with gratitude for all that he did for you. His was a gentle spirit, born of wisdom and full of mercy.
Some of you know also that in just the last few days Mr. Jackson made a spiritual decision that appears to have given him special comfort. Though he had attended the church and the Galilean Bible class for many years, he had never formally joined or made a commitment to the church. Just days ago he responded to our invitation to commit himself to the family of God, in whose embrace he might spend his last days. It may seem a small thing, but I hear in it the wisdom that is willing to yield.
I hear in that the spirit of gentle wisdom. James says that such gentle wisdom is "willing to yield" … willing to yield to the call of the hour, willing to yield to the promptings of the spirit, willing to set aside pretense and pride, and just to come in simple faith to the heart of Christ. Wisdom and peace belong to him who is full of mercy and willing to yield.
III
Oh, I cannot say any better than the Scripture does what the results of that willingness to yield are. "A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace." A harvest now, peace now, for those who are willing to sow peace.
The Scripture tells us, "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ... we may boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through his Holy Spirit"
Matthew, our brother, you do have peace now because you learned how to sow peace in this life. You do have peace now because you received God's gift of wisdom and you were able to let it give birth to gentleness. You do have peace now because you were full of mercy and you were willing to yield when the Spirit called. You do have peace now, "a harvest of righteousness, sown in peace for those who make peace."
God grant that we who knew him and loved him might quiet our hearts and strengthen our souls by his example of gentleness born of wisdom.
