A FRUIT-FULL MARRIAGE: GENTLE LOVE *
GALATIANS 5:13-26
Sermon Objective: Communion reflection from the Fruit of the Spirit on the character of Christ … specifically, gentleness.
GALATIANS 5:13-26
SERMON
As we prepare for communion we want to pause and shift our morning’s emphasis on the Fruit of the Spirit away from marriage and towards Christ. As I mentioned to you last week, the Fruit illustrate the character of Christ that the Holy Spirit is imparting to His followers. These are not simply human virtues. They contrast with the works of the flesh; they are spiritual virtues with spiritual implications. When we look and love, joy, faithfulness, gentleness, etc … we are seeing the character of Jesus and the Father and when those virtues are birthed within us and they affect our relationships … others see Jesus in us.
In Lee Strobel’s book, “God’s Outrageous Claims” (1997) he records the following. It is called “Maggie’s Poem.”
Do you understand that you represent Jesus to me?
Do you know, do you understand that when you treat me with gentleness, it raises the question in my mind that maybe He is gentle, too. Maybe He isn’t someone who laughs when I am hurt.
Do you know, do you understand that when you listen to my questions and you don’t laugh, I think, "What if Jesus is interested in me, too?"
Do you know, do you understand that when I hear you talk about arguments and conflict and scars from your past, I think, "Maybe I am just a regular person instead of a bad, no-good little girl who deserves abuse."
If you care, I think maybe He cares- and then there’s this flame of hope that burns inside of me and for a while I am afraid to breathe because it might go out.
Do you know, do you understand that your words are His words? Your face, His face to someone like me?
Please, be who you say you are. Please, God, don’t let this be another trick. Please let this be real. Please.
Do you know, do you understand that you represent Jesus to me?
Gentleness.
Sadly, too many people make gentleness a feminine quality rather than a human quality. They simply cannot think of a male as manly when they think of gentleness. But no one was ever more human or more male than Jesus; and he was … gentle.
In a similar manner – many people cannot think of God as gentle. Their image of God doesn’t allow it. If your God-concept is one of judgment, anger, indifference, vengeance, etc. then gentleness does not fit. If you serve what Philip Yancey calls “The God of Gotcha” (“What’s So Amazing About Grace?” p. 191) then you cannot grasp a God who is gentle. But, if you understand the Fruit of the Spirit is God’s character then you have to rethink gentleness.
Never mistake gentleness with weakness. Gentleness stands up boldly to defend or plea for justice, but it suffers in silence when the attack is against self. That is because gentleness is more concerned with the welfare of others than it is with the welfare of self.
I have recently been meditating on the final days and hours of Jesus’ life and how the Fruit of the Spirit reveal themselves during the horrific events that the Christ underwent. Remember, the Fruit show their existence and maturing during times of stress and in relationships. They certainly show forth in Jesus during those times.
They show forth in you during times like that too.
• Maybe a spouse has just told you they want a divorce.
• Maybe your mate has been diagnosed with a serious illness.
• Maybe you are having overwhelming financial problems.
• Maybe you or your spouse’s past has come back with consequences.
• Maybe there is persecution.
• Maybe there are employment problems, or children problems, or parent problems … or … ad infinitum!
IT IS IN RELATIONAL ISSUES THAT GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT IMPARTS AND MATURES HIS CHARACTER WITHIN YOU AND SHOWS IT TO THE WORLD.
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU REPRESENT JESUS TO ME?”
Stuart Holden (1874-1934), the author of “Prevailing Intercessory Prayer”, was in Egypt and met a sergeant in a Highland regiment. “How were you brought to Christ?” he asked this bright Christian.
The sergeant responded: “There was a private in the same company as myself who had been converted in Malta , and I gave him a terrible time. I remember one night in particular when it was very rainy and he came in wet and weary from sentry duty. Yet, as usual, he still got down on his knees before going to bed. My boots were covered in mud and I threw them both at him and hit him twice on the head. He kept kneeling and praying. -- The next morning when I woke up I found my boots beautifully cleaned and polished at my bedside. This was his reply to me and it broke my heart. That day I was brought to repentance.”
What if this sergeant had got angry, and thrown the boots back, or reported him?
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU REPRESENT JESUS TO ME?”
Holden’s story is a good illustration of what the word “gentleness” used in Galatians 5 (and by Jesus in the Matthew 5:5 and 11:29) means. The word used is “Prautes.” It is the same word often translated in the KJV as meekness. Aristotle said that prautes is “the ability to bear reproaches and slights with moderation, and not to embark on revenge quickly, and not to be easily provoked to anger, but to be free from bitterness and contentiousness, having tranquility and stability in the spirit.” (On Virtues and Vices)
Prautes does not eliminate anger (this is important) it controls/channels anger. Aristotle says that prautes gets angry “on the right grounds, and against the right persons, and in the right manner, and at the right moment, and for the right length of time.” (Nicomachean Ethics)
Would you like another illustration of the power of the Spirit to change our character – to make us gentle? Here is one that is foretold in Isaiah 53:2-7.
2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
As I think of the horrific events that Jesus experienced the last days of His life and how the Fruit of the Spirit flowed through him … that passage becomes even more meaningful to me. What if Jesus had shown the “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21) instead of the Fruit of the Spirit? If Jesus had shown “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, or factions” during his trial and crucifixion no one would have blamed him. But we would not have a Savior either.
It was Jesus who ultimately taught us what gentleness means. The “meek and lowly” one (Matthew 11:29) was falsely accused, beaten, mocked, spat upon, stripped naked, and nailed to a tree. His response? “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter… so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). He said nothing in his own defense but rather prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU REPRESENT JESUS TO ME?”
Have you ever noticed the actions of the sinful nature are called “works” in Galatians while the actions of the Spirit are called “Fruit?” Why is that? I think it is because one of them is the result of what we as humans can create while the other … the Fruit of the Spirit … is something only God can produce within us.
You cannot force yourself or anyone else to be filled with peace, for example. Only God’s presence can bring that.
Only God’s presence can give a person a gentle, Godly Spirit. No need in trying to do it yourself. No need in using the Bible like a billy-club to try and produce it in others either. Only Jesus can do it and as we abide in him like the branch does in the vine God will produce that fruit.
GOD WILL PRODUCE THAT FRUIT!
You see, God is not simply trying to make a “better” you … God is creating a “different” you.
WRAP-UP
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU REPRESENT JESUS TO ME?”
Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Matthew 5:5 “5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
COMMUNION
1 Corinthians 11:13-26:
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
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** I am grateful and indebted to those who have shared their applications from the Fruit of the spirit for marriage. I found the following authors particularly helpful: Rev. David Maxson of Embry Hills Church of Christ, Mr. Stephen Gla of Divorce Hope, and Paul Canner.
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
