Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2005 : August 14, 2005

Theme: The Fruit of the Spirit -- Gentleness

Church year occasion: Pentecost 13

Who was the first person to go to heaven? Abel. What do we know about him? He was a believer. He had an unbelieving brother named Cain. When they both gave offerings to God, Abel put God first by giving him his best offering; Cain kept the best for himself. God accepted Abel's offering because Abel had faith, but God rejected Cain's because he saw no faith in Cain. Abel walked away from God's altar at peace with God. Cain walked away from God's altar with hatred and jealousy in his heart. Cain's hatred consumed him -- if he couldn't be first, then no one would be. So he murdered his gentle brother Abel. Abel, who was content to serve God above himself, ended up being the first person in heaven. Cain, because he wanted to put himself above God and others, kept himself out of heaven.

Which one of these men does God want us to imitate? Obviously Abel. Abel was a good example of the fruit of the Spirit we're looking at today -- gentleness. What does it mean to be gentle? Sometimes it's easiest to describe something by describing its opposite. The opposite of gentleness is exactly what we see in Cain. He was self-absorbed and arrogant. It's the opposite of the person in that country song who said, "O Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way." Instead God wants us to be gentle. The word "gentleness" is a term used to describe a once wild and unbridled horse that has now been tamed. As Christians, God wants us to leave behind our wild, unbridled lives, running around free doing our own thing. Being gentle means the same as being humble and willing to serve.

It's hard to be gentle. We live in a world that doesn't value gentleness at all. Our world is based on arrogance and being self-absorbed. We learn to push, shove, scream and scramble to the top. We fight for our rights, believing that no one has the right to curtail our rights. We idolize braggarts on the football field who have to make a little spectacle of themselves after they make one decent play. What we don't see are the ten plays where they got burned. We stand knee deep in arrogance and pride. Our society is drowning in it. Ask almost anyone outside the United States what they think of Americans and most of them can sum up Americans with one word: arrogant.

And it rubs off on us. We are much more proud and arrogant than we care to admit. But it can be subtle. Most of us wouldn't walk into a room a think, "I'm the greatest" like Muhammad Ali. But if we do something of note, or help someone out with a selfless action, like helping a stranded motorist or going out of our way to help someone with a disability, we like to get some recognition. If we win a race or some competition, we like the attention we get as people talk about how good we are. We crave attention. If we don't get it, we might even feel a lack of self-worth. Our subtle arrogance and attitude of looking out for number one is the opposite of being gentle. Instead of wanting to serve others, we want to be served. Instead of being the waiter or waitress, we want to be the ones sitting at the table telling the waiter or waitress what we want.

Then along comes Jesus who tells us, "Let him who would be the greatest among you be your servant." We scratch our heads in confusion. According to Jesus, serving others makes us great. Humbly being a God-fearing spouse or obedient child or nice person. But that's not the kind of greatness this world teaches us. Being a God-fearing spouse or obedient child doesn't make the headlines. Those who make the headlines are the Alexander the Greats of this world, who conquered the world by age 33. But God says real greatness, the kind of greatness he looks for in us, was shown by a seeming nobody from Nazareth who died as an outcast and criminal at age 33.

What it means to be gentle, meek, humble -- in other words, being great in the eyes of God -- we see in Jesus. Jesus didn't just tell us to be gentle -- he showed us how. Paul says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8) God the Son didn't have to leave heaven behind with all its comforts. What did he care about man and his sin and its unending punishment and damnation? It was man's own fault. Let him rot in hell. But God is love, so God the Son did come. He put himself in man's place. Although he knew no sin, he was condemned by God as a sinner instead of us. Although he was the only person who was great in God's eyes because he served others always, yet to save us God condemned him as if he had only been arrogant. That's because our arrogance was on him. Instead of boasting in his own goodness, Jesus was happy to give that goodness to you and me. So all of the times we wanted to be first, all the times we showed a lack of gentleness, all of those times are ancient history. They are forgotten by God and forgiven in Christ. Instead, when he looks at us, he sees his Son Jesus. Jesus allowed himself to be dead last so we could be first in line for eternal life. As the Bible says, "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28) The Bible described Jesus as being gentle as he rode into Jerusalem to die for your sins and mine. Serving us was the only thing on his mind.

Can people say that about you -- that you are gentle? Are you genuinely gentle, humble, always ready to serve others?

To be gentle, we need three things: 1) a Christian's repentant heart. Someone gave me this a while back: "So far today, Lord, I've done alright. I haven't gossiped; I haven't lost my temper; I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, overindulgent or proud. I'm very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, Lord, I'm going to get out of bed. And from then on, I'm going to need a lot of help."

That leads us to the second thing we need if we want to be gentle: 2) God's constant help. After you've repented of your pride and arrogance, let the peace of forgiveness earned by Jesus wash over your heart and change your whole way of thinking. That's how God will help you -- by having his forgiveness change you. When you see God's forgiveness given to you, you will go out of your way to serve others. That is no easy task. It's no secret...we don't like to make ourselves nothing like Jesus did. We don't like to play the part of the suffering servant like he did. But now that we have Jesus' righteousness credited to our account, we also have a responsibility to live for our God. "You are not your own," the Bible says, "You were bought at a price. So honor God with your body."

That brings us to the third thing we need to be gentle: 3) Jesus' perfect example. Don't be proud, but polite and humble and gentle, as Jesus was. Look for opportunities in your life everyday, as he did. When he was on trial, Jesus was silent -- he didn't have to prove he was right. Let your spouse win an argument for a change instead of you getting the last word. Jesus never had to be told to do something twice. Do what your parents tell you the first time, not the 4th or 5th -- or better yet, clean your room without being told. Then wait to have your parents ask you where the aliens took their real child. Jesus always put others above himself. As you walk down the hallways at school or as you pass someone at work, instead of them thinking of you as a mover and a shaker, let them think, "Now that person always puts others above himself."

It reminds me of a story I heard. It's about a country whose grain was poisoned. Anyone who ate it would become insane. Only a little bit of good grain that had been stored elsewhere was safe to eat. The king fell into a quandary. Should people eat the poisoned grain and become crazy? Or starve to death? Finally the king decided to feed the people the contaminated grain. But he reserved the unpoisoned grain for a handful of people so they would know the rest of the people were crazy.

Does your life seem crazy and out of control when you are trying to make it to the top? Then do the opposite -- strive for the bottom. When Christians soak in the gentle, self-giving life of Jesus and humbly show that same gentle spirit in their lives, it's like they are eating that unpoisoned grain. While everyone else is living an insane life that says, "Me first," let us have a clear vision of what God wants of us -- to live to serve others. Others might not notice it, but God will.

Paul encourages us in this way: "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."