Good morning. We are coming to almost the end of our series on the fruit of the Spirit in ministry, asking the question how each of these elements of the fruit of the Spirit are to be applied in our own personal life and then together corporately as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I'd have you turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 1. That's not where you're going to find the fruit of the Spirit particularly, but you will find the one we're looking at today called gentleness. During our Sunday school hour, we've been having a good time in the adult class looking at this topic, discussing the dynamics of marriage. A number of our young people are at a point in their lives when they're considering very seriously what marriage might look like in their case. What was that going to look like? How, as they look around at them and the people that they know, not necessarily just here, but looking everywhere and their contacts with people, who are the people of certain quality character that are marriable? What is that like? And the questions they're asking are very important questions to ask. And I know that parents have a lot to say on that matter. In fact, we have great suggestions of who that might be in some cases. We have ideas of the kind of person they ought to be looking for. But we don't live in a culture of matchmaking anymore. Sometimes, I guess, in our culture, in the United States, we've not ever been that way, particularly, but there are other cultures that still practice this idea of matchmaking. Marriage is a permanent relationship. And so when you have a culture where arranged marriages are taking place, it's always a concern that the one who is making the match takes into consideration how much is at stake. It's a serious business. It calls for living with someone the rest of your life in a very close proximity and certain characteristics are very desirable in that case. We had the question to us this morning in our Sunday school class, what are those characteristics? What are the kinds of things you want to look for? Well, in one of my favorite movies of all time, Fiddler on the Roof, We have three daughters who are Jewish daughters in a culture where there's matchmaking and they are discussing what kind of match would be made for them by Yenta, the matchmaker. Stories like that, this cultural movie that we have before us is sort of a reflection of the real life we're living and therefore it's noteworthy that when these young women are looking for a life partner, they express their concerns. They're sharing it with one another and they're just having these conversations. But the first express their desire that marriage is a good thing. Matchmaker, make me a match. Find me a find. Catch me a catch. Up to this minute, I've, well, before I get into that part, she says, night after night in the dark, I'm alone, so make me a match of my own. You see, each one of them is expressing that good desire to not be alone, but to be with someone else. But then, as they begin to contemplate this, the realities of what might actually happen if they do get a match by somebody else making that match come to bear on their minds, and so they begin to express their greatest concern. And I find it fascinating that the next thing they say is, Yenta, see that he's gentle. Remember that you were also a bride. It's not that I'm sentimental, it's just that I'm terrified. That's the phrase that's used there. But that description there of this desire for gentleness, it's a high priority for women looking for a man. And perhaps that's because Masculinity in most cultures is often associated first and foremost with strength and with being in charge, being tough and sometimes even gruff. If men are seen that way, it's not surprising that many women are terrified of being married to them. Instead, what's expressed by this story is that what is being sought after is a gentle man. a gentleman. If we are taking our definition of gentleness, not from just popular culture, but from the scripture, and that's what we're going to do this morning, in fact, if we can take it from this particular fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5.22 of gentleness, then we will realize that to be a gentle man is not to be weak, but instead to be meek. We've sung many Psalms this morning already of meekness. To be meek and humble and mild in our dealings with others. But before I lose half of the congregation because I just said, well, we're gonna address men there, we have to realize that men are not the only ones called to be gentle. Women, too, are called to be gentle women. Notice in the passage that we're about to read that the command is to every person. Every person, so listen to James chapter one, I'm going to begin reading at verse 19, and read down to verse 25. This is God's word, let's hear it carefully. Know this my beloved brethren, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive, here it is, with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away at once, forgets what he was like. but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. And I'll end the reading at that point. Let every person put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with gentleness the implanted word. The word gentleness there or translated in the ESV meekness, that's the word in Galatians chapter 5 that's translated gentleness. So like in previous fruits of the spirit that we've been addressing, sometimes we may have to tweak our understanding of what the word itself that we often are familiar with in a translation means. What does it mean when we use the word gentleness? When we think of gentleness, we tend to think of a sort of a softness or a tenderness, mildness, calmness, perhaps even a placidness in our dealings with others. Maybe you could picture a gorilla trying to handle a little posy, a flower, a little posy, trying not to bruise the petals. And we might say, that's gentleness. Well. That's not entirely a bad picture, because it does suggest that you don't have to throw out strength, the gorilla is strong. You don't have to compromise that, but really what you have, though, is strength under control, a demonstration of that control. But there's part of our definition missing, if you use that understanding of gentleness. Because the scripture has much more emphasis on one other thing, and that is the idea of humility. When we see the word gentleness in the scripture, we need to think humility with gentleness, okay? The word used in Galatians 5.22 for gentleness is the Greek word prautes, and it clearly indicates the idea of being meek and tender, yes, because we have, though, a right understanding of ourselves, we have a humble understanding of ourselves, and that's why we are tender, and that's why we're meek. We come to see ourselves as God has seen us. And there's a right understanding there. And all believers are called to receive the word of God and not merely be a hearer of it, but a doer of it. And that happens when we receive the word, according to this passage, with gentleness. Now what do we mean with that? Are we talking just about being very tender? No, it really is emphasizing that idea with humility. We respond to the word of God with humility. We're not proud, we're not inflexible, but we're sensitive and teachable. We're willing and desiring to be changed by that word. Yenta, see that he's gentle. That is, see that he will deal with me, not in gruffness and tyrannical strength, but in humility and sensitivity. And again, women must put that virtue on just as well, because women can be just as inflexible, just as tyrannical, if the spirit of God is not working in them. So as we consider the believer bearing the spiritual fruit of gentleness in our lives, then we must think of it in terms of a meek humility that deals with others tenderly, carefully. And the first way I'd like to approach this for us to see is this morning is that gentleness really is a matter for us of personal godliness. Like the other fruits that we've been looking at and studying all the way through this series, the virtue of gentleness, and again, keep in mind humility and meekness here, it must be actively pursued by a believer. We shouldn't expect that this will just come to us naturally. As with several of the other fruits, we've turned to a couple different passages again and again, and we did it again this morning, I noticed. We'll do it here, 1 Timothy 6-11 is one we've often gone to because it has a list of several of those fruits together. And here's what it says, it calls believing men and women, it calls boys and girls in this way, it says, but as for you, oh man of God, and I think he's speaking not just to men, he's speaking to women as well, flee these things and pursue these things, pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love and patience and gentleness. We're to pursue being a gentle people. How do you do that? Well we just read James 121 which gives us a direction of how to grow in gentleness. Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Now I don't know if you see a little cyclical thinking here. You see because we're to grow in the attribute of meekness as we receive the word with meekness. How do you grow when you're trying to, well you do it with meekness. God's word must humble our hearts here. I think if you're reading God's word and it's not humbling you, you're not listening. You're not listening. If you're not humbled by God's word, you're not listening, or at least you're not listening with a receptive spirit. Perhaps you're stubborn, you're hardened, inflexible. As with the other fruits of the spirit, we have to ask this morning, am I a gentle person? Are you a gentle person? Are you humble in your dealings with other people? The translation of the word prautes in Titus chapter three verses one to three gives us further insight into the meaning. It says, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities. We're familiar with that, right? To be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people, for we ourselves were once foolish. Now I have underlined in my text that I wrote down on that, I've underlined the two words, gentle, be gentle, and show perfect courtesy. Interestingly, the word translated to be gentle in that word isn't our word. It's not praeutes there. That's another Greek word that's very similar. It has a synonym to it. But interestingly, the next phrase is the one that has the word praeutes. This idea of being, showing perfect courtesy to someone else. That's the word praeutes. To be a gentle man or a gentle woman. We show that courtesy to others because, you see, we were once foolish ourselves. We can see that humility influencing there our reaction to other people. As we were once foolish and we understand that, that's why we show perfect courtesy to others. We're not gruff, we're not tyrannical, we're not inflexible, we're not demanding because we have been humbled by God's word. It's a matter of our godliness in our life. But in keeping with our series theme that we're trying to work through, the question is not just having a personal gentleness, but what does that impact our ministry? As a church together here in Columbus, how do we demonstrate gentleness in our ministry? So we need to look then at gentleness as a matter of ministry to others in the faith. How do we need to show that within the believing household of God? You know, one of the aspects of our mission statement that we've been working through is the doing of discipleship. And specifically, we set the task for ourselves, and here's the wording of the task, to equip individuals at all levels of spiritual maturity to grow in faith and in the knowledge of God, yielding a life of obedience to Jesus Christ and a capacity to disciple others. So discipleship is gonna be key here. We're not just gonna be hearers of the word, we wanna be doers of it. And that doesn't happen outside of a relationship with one another. But as we're members of one body and we're interested in seeing each other walk more closely with Christ, as we desire for each other to be transformed by the word of God and by his person, we must do that work with each other very carefully. Indeed, Galatians chapter 6-1, and I always think it's, when you hear all these verses thrown at you, it's hard to picture where we are, but Galatians 6-1 comes right after Galatians 5-22, okay? Galatians 5-22 is the list of the fruit of the spirit. Then we get Galatians 6-1, which immediately says, after our fruit of the spirit, it says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of Gentleness, okay, there's the word. It's part of the fruit. Now, if you run into a situation when you're working together in the life body and you find that someone is in sin, you've discovered a transgression in their life, exercise the fruit of the spirit as you deal with one another in that situation. You see? Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. That's humility. You carry this humility with you, that's why you deal with others a certain way. That's what we're getting at in our definition here. And so we're committed in our church, of course, to root out sin in ourselves, and helping others root it out in their lives as well, but the moment we try to help one another in that work by pointing out a sin in their life, and we do that without prautes, Without a gentle, mild humility as we interact with them, then we have not been helpful to them, but more likely we've created a hindrance to sanctification in their life. We've actually now got a problem between two believers in the church. One has not shown gentleness, they've been gruff or they've been forceful or they've been proud in their interactions. You know, the church is a hard thing to work with. It is. The church is often full of hurting people. I've often described it. We should expect to see sick people in a hospital. We find hurting people in the church. And they're hurting for all kinds of different reasons. But something you often find is that hurting people often lash out and hurt others at the same time. Not often even in meaning to, but they do. And that's why Paul is so adamant in his instructions in the scripture over and over again. He writes to the church of Ephesians, and this is one of those passages we've gone to again and again. Ephesians 4, 1 to 3, he writes this and he says, I urge you, brothers, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness. with patience, and he starts adding the other fruits of the spirit as well. You're going to have to deal with the fruit of the spirit as you interact with one another. Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bonds of peace, and he goes on. Humility and gentleness yield peace, and they work together. So realize with me that the church is made up of hurting people. who are trying to minister outside of themselves too. And too often we are so concerned about those own hurts that we have ourselves, which we all have hurts, that we have a hard time getting past ourselves and our own hurts to think about the needs of others. But one thing that allows us to get outside of that box is humility. Gentleness allows us to do it in a way that doesn't tear down our fellow laborers. We may have great strength ready to lash out and tear down, but God calls us to check our strength. Check it and humbly use it to restore the other person. You who are spiritual should restore the other in a spirit of gentleness. Well, how careful we ought to be to be about this work of letting God's word in our lives. One of those passages, Colossians, that we read, 3, 12, and 13, transforms how we deal with one another. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness. Here comes the list of the fruit of the spirit, humility. And meekness, there's the word prautes, with patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you. Remembering what he has done, that's humility, that's humbling. Because if we're willing to meekly let the word of God impact our hearts and realize that he has forgiven us much, then we may be free to show that gentleness and kindness to others. Well, the church the world over is plagued by the problem that's warned about in Galatians 5.15, which comes just before our fruit of the spirit list. It says, but if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you're not consumed by one another. That's a problem, okay, it happens often. How is that overcome? Well, the answer, at least in part, is our word, prautes. It's as we are humble and gentle with one another, remembering what God has done. So, check your heart this morning, as we often have to do. Check our heart. How are we doing in the fruit of prautes? Again, it has to be pursued by all of us. And I just want to encourage you that God will grant it to you. Perhaps you don't see yourself as particularly gentle, but God says, ask and you will receive. Let me just remind you of Matthew 7, 8 through 11. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give you a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Well surely the fruit of the spirit is one of his good things. So we need to ask him for this and be direct in asking for these things and we will be certain that we receive it with a genuine heart. And now I want to move on to the last application of that word and that is gentleness as a matter of ministry now outside ourselves to the world. As servants of God on a mission, which we are, and we've tried to define that mission a little bit in this congregation to say we're hoping to offer help to people, hope, and also a home. We're offering that not only to those within the church, but we're certainly offering that to the lost in the world. And we must put on prautes in order to do that, gentleness. Because what are we doing? Well, we are to be dedicating ourselves to good works. That's the call that we've had. James 3.13 then says, who is wise and understanding among you by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom, in the gentleness of wisdom, in the humility of wisdom. Now remember that what we're doing as an outward-focused church is proclaiming the Word of God, and that's a countercultural work. We're confronting unbelievers with their commitment to a false worldview, a false life view. That's what we're doing is taking the Word to them and saying, you know what? You're living based on a lie. And that can go one of two ways. It can go well and it can go poorly. And a lot of that has to do with how we do that ministry. How are we confronting a fallen world? You've seen how it's been done well. You've seen when it was done gently with a loving heart, with the fruit of the spirit of work, and you've seen it when it wasn't done so much. Perhaps you've seen the bad example of waving of placards and shouting at protesters, or shouting in protest against the wickedness of the world. I have to say that you can't blame all of the evil of this epithet on the Christian, but largely the term hate speech as it's applied to Christians has come about at least in part because that's the impression the world has gotten from some Christians who have confronted falsehood in the wrong spirit. There has been no humility. There's been no gentleness. There's been no meekness. and therefore the confrontation has come across, it's been interpreted as hateful. Our ministry must most certainly be one that confronts falsehood in the world, that's what it's to do. We must not remain silent, but speak openly against some of the evils that are being readily accepted in our day. But friends, if we don't do it with love, 1 Corinthians 13 tells us very plainly, if you don't do it with love, it'll profit you nothing. You must be peaceable. You must be patient. You must be kind. And of course, you must be gentle. But again, this gentleness does not suggest weakness or timidity, but rather strength under the influence and control of genuine humility. That's really my best definition of what is gentleness. Strength under the influence and control of true humility. It's stated well in 2 Timothy 2, verses 24 and 25, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, he goes on to say, if you're doing this this way. Well, there's no exception to this approach. It's an approach in our ministry that is reiterated over and over again. It's found, for example, in 1 Peter 3, 15. And this is one we often hear. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that's in you. Yet, do it with gentleness. and respect. This is the directive for our ministry as we're ministering to those who are believing a lie, who are living in the dark, who are blind to the truth. We must speak the truth in love and show gentleness and patience and kindness and faithfulness and so on. Well, the spirit of God must work in and through us so that our ministry is pervaded by his spirit and his fruit. Only then will we see God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So let it be, amen. Let's pray. Oh God, you give such clear descriptions in your word of how we're to live. of what our ministry is to look like, our interaction with others, our speech. You call for us to live by the spirit and to bear the fruit of gentleness, humility, and meekness. So, Lord, bless us as a church. Bless us individually because each one of us have to see this putting off of the old and putting on of the new in our lives. But then, as we desire to labor together in this place and serve you in ministering to those outside of the church, we ask that you would bless us in our corporate gentleness, that our message might be seen as the beautiful message of the gospel. The hope that there is to be found in the person of Jesus Christ who forgives sin, who has imputed his righteousness to us, who has promised his Holy Spirit to go with us and to guarantee our inheritance. Father, may that be a beautiful message, but may it be communicated not just in word, but in our gentleness as well. Give us each one, Lord, a humility because of what you have done for us. We ask these things that your kingdom might come and your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, that the name of Jesus would be lifted up when we ask this in his name. Amen.