Matt 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Gentleness is a Fruit of the Spirit. We can grow to be gentle and humble, like Christ.
Gentleness is not regarded as something good today. We view it as a sign of weakness.
• “Don’t let people push you around; you must take a stand.” Gentleness is seen as being pushed around or taken advantage of.
• In fact, if someone tells you, “you’re being gentle”, that is not a compliment. It probably means you have no backbone; you need to be firm.
This is surely a wrong understanding of this attribute, because Jesus says He is like this and we are to learn from Him.
• In the Beatitudes, He said “Blessed are the meek [gentle], for they will inherit the earth.” (Matt 5:5) In other words, they are blessed because they will be fulfilled in life.
• They will inherit the earth – meaning they will experience the abundance of life; fully satisfied.
• Therefore gentleness in the biblical sense is not a sign of weakness but strength.
Jesus placed it in the context of “taking up the yoke”.
• The yoke is a crossbar that is used to harness the strength of a pair of oxen or more. It is similar to the bar used to connect the collar of horses in a wagon.
• The yoke makes the task easy and the burden light.
• The strength of these animals is brought under control. Their strength is focused (and not wasted wildly) to fulfil a purpose.
That’s the picture of gentleness – it’s not weakness, but strength under control.
A guide was taking a group of visitors through a factory. One of the things he showed them was a giant steam hammer capable of flattening a scrap car.
Then the guide put down a walnut and had the hammer break the shell without flattening the nut. That’s gentleness – great power under perfect control!
I came up with this definition: Gentleness is having the right, the power and authority to do something but choosing to bring it under control to fulfil a higher good.
• And for us, it’s a divine purpose. It is a Fruit of the Spirit.
(1) Gentleness Seeks to Fulfil the Will of God
When Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, Peter drew a sword to defend Him but Jesus said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" (Matt 26:53-54)
• He can call for 12 legions of angels (that’s 72,000 angels), at once, but He did not.
• Isaiah rightly prophesied, “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.” (Isa 53:7)
• Jesus: “How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled?”
Being gentle is to leave room for the workings of God’s will.
• It is not about fighting for what is right, but for God’s will to be done. It is not so much about defending self, but upholding God’s will.
• So our responses are tampered with graciousness and gentleness, because we want the purposes of God to be fulfilled.
God’s desire is to restore and redeem, not to judge and condemn.
• Isa 42:3 “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
• Isaiah prophesied that Jesus will come to “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (Isa 61:1)
Jesus was gentle with the woman caught in adultery (John 8) not because He was unjust or unrighteous, but to give room for her to recover from her sinful ways and through His forgiving love restarts her life anew. This was what happened – she was changed.
• Jesus made a detour to Samaria to meet another adulterous woman, by the well (John 4). She has had 5 husbands and the man she now have is not her husband. He did not judge her, but rather led her to salvation, for He has come to seek and save the lost.
• Jesus noticed Zacchaeus, a chief tax-collector when the world hated him and He invited himself into the sinner’s house. His gentleness touched Zacchaeus in a way that no one did and that changed his life.
(2) Gentleness Shows Concern for the Needs of Others
Gentleness restores because it looks at the welfare of others. It is motivated by a concern for the well-being of others.
• It is for this same reason that Paul instructs Timothy: 2 Tim 2:25-26 25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
• Gal 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
• Gentleness is more concerned with the welfare of others than with self.
Jesus demonstrated that at the Last Supper.
John 13:3-5 “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
• All power and authority were in His hands, yet Jesus washed His disciples’ feet.
• They needed something – physically speaking, their feet need washing, and spiritually, more importantly, they need to learn the importance of serving others, not self.
• Jesus explained in John 13:14-15 “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Jesus introduced a spiritual principle here – greatness is defined by servanthood.
• At a time such as this, Jesus should be concerned about self but He wasn’t. He set us an example to follow - be concern for the needs of others.
• For those who have the power and authority over others (by virtue of the position we hold at work, home or church), take note of how we exercise those rights.
• Use your power and authority with respect and consideration for others. That’s exercising gentleness. That’s the example we’re called to follow.
In reflecting on Christ’s character, Paul paints it well in Phil 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
• That’s the example Christ set for us.
Gentleness flows from an attitude of selflessness and humility.
• That is, don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Don’t get too caught up in defending your rights, exercising your powers, and stamping your authority.
A corporal at Valley Forge was directing 3 soldiers to lift a log into place. It was too heavy, but the corporal commanded again and again, “All right, men, one, two, three, lift!” It was obvious they were struggling.
A man in an overcoat came by and said to the corporal, ‘Why don’t you help them?” The corporal pulled himself up to full height and replied, “Sir, I am a corporal.”
Without a word the man stepped over and with his help the log went easily into place. The man was George Washington, a General.
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981), in writing the Sermon on the Mount (p.69) says:
The man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive.
... when a man becomes meek he has finished with all that; he no longer worries about himself and what other people say. The man who is truly meek never pities himself, he is never sorry for himself. To be meek, in other words, means that you are finished with yourself altogether…
Don’t take yourself too seriously, and gentleness will flow.
• The world says, “Don’t be gentle. Don’t let people push you around.” God says, “Be gentle, and in so doing, you pushes people nearer to Christ.”
• You have nothing to lose being gentle. You may even gain a soul for Christ.
Violet Slaughter’s father died in 1969. Before he died he gave her an antique pitcher and wash basin that before the turn of the century used to be found in guest bedrooms. The pitcher would be full of water and the guest would pour water into the basin to wash off at night before going to bed.
It was Violet’s most prized possession because it came from her parents’ home. And it became even more precious to her after her father died. She kept it on display in a very special spot in her home.
One day guests came to visit, and they brought with them an unruly dog that jumped around a lot. In doing so it wrapped its leash around the little table on which this pitcher and basin were displayed, causing the pitcher and basin to fall and break.
It was a tragedy to Violet. Her husband says, "I watched as she took the dust pan and picked up every piece of that broken basin and pitcher. She kept all the pieces. And every evening, she would bring out the ceramic glue and glue pieces back together again."
We are called to be gentle, and that’s what gentleness does. It mends brokenness. It restores to wholeness what is broken.
• The Lord restores our soul, David says in Psalm 23. He has been gentle with us, and we are now called to be like Him.
• The world needs to see the Jesus who has made a difference in our lives. And by the grace of God, we shall show gentleness and change lives.
PRAY:
We thank you, Lord for being gentle with us. Thank you, Lord, also for the gentleness show to us by others. Lord we ask for Your spirit of gentleness to shine through our lives. May we reflect Your kindness to all that we meet. May we be considerate and loving, and may our words and deeds bring healing and comfort to everyone. Help us walk with humility and gentleness through life. Let the world be touched, the way we have been touched by your gentleness with us. In Jesus’ Name we pray, AMEN.
