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🔴 The Fruit of the Spirit-Gentleness

Fruit of the Spirit - Gentleness 8-12-18 We are continuing our series on the Fruit of the Spirit. Open your Bible to Galatians 5:22-23. This morning we are going to focus on the fruit of Gentleness. The words ‘gentle’ and ‘gentleness’ are found several times in the Bible and are sometimes translated meekness, humility, lowly, poor. Again this is the nature of Jesus Christ when He walked the earth and now is in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was meek. He was humble. In order to understand what meekness is we need to look at Jesus’ life, His character, His attitude. As with all the fruit of the Spirit, gentleness is not a natural human trait. It is not produced by human effort or skill. It is produced in those believers who are filled with, and walking in the Spirit. Although it is similar to humility when it is observed in action, it is, at the same time, different. We can ‘humble ourselves.’ The Bible says that Jesus humbled Himself. We can’t ‘meek ourselves.’ We are commanded though, to humble ourselves. 1 Peter 5:5–7 (NKJV) We also can be humbled by God, circumstances, people, illness, fasting, trials, etc. Let’s look at Jesus and what He said about Himself. Matthew 11:28–30 (NKJV) This is an amazing thought: The most powerful being in the entire universe is gentle, meek, and humble! In our thinking it is the powerful person who displays his prowess by wiping everyone out! The strong person doesn’t need any help; he can ‘go it alone.’ Don’t misunderstand. Jesus will come again in power, glory, and flaming fire (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). His desire though is to show mercy not judgment. If He were not meek we could not be saved. He is gentle, good and kind. This is why Jesus can be patient with sinners. It is His goodness that leads us to repentance. Matthew 12:20 (NKJV). We can reflect the same attitude as Jesus. We are encouraged to do so in the Scriptures. Philippians 2:1-11 Jesus humbled himself more than anyone else ever has. He went from the highest place of glory to the most humiliating death on a cross for the sins of the world. He became sin for us. Isaiah 57:15 (NKJV) The Problem with pride is that it keeps us from Jesus and the presence of God. It cuts us off from salvation. It’s not an unforgiveable offense but it is often an insurmountable obstacle to faith. PRIDE deceives us. It blinds us to our need. It is a sin that is most often committed by Christians. And, lost people are too proud to come to Jesus. There is nothing worse than a proud Christian. PRIDE has the letter I in it. I am the problem. Self is the problem. That is why we were crucified with Christ…to get ME out of the way. “No longer I but Christ who lives in me….” Christ lives His resurrection life in and through us. True humility is “not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.” C.S. Lewis Pride only glances at a beautiful sunset while posting selfies on Facebook. We live in a selfie world. We are preoccupied with making ourselves look better on the outside. We filter out our wrinkles and snap chat our photos while all the while we are bankrupt of the inner beauty that God is looking for: meekness and gentleness. This message is really hard to preach because God has repeatedly shown me this past week that I am not meek. But I want to be! I want Jesus to produce His character in me. I want to learn from Him. I want to come to Him! Matthew 11:28–30 (NKJV) First the commands: 1) Come to Jesus 2) Take His yoke 3) Learn from Him Next the promises: 1. Rest from your burdens 2. Rest for your souls In the context of this verse we see that God keeps proud people from perceiving who He is. Proud people won’t come to Jesus. They prefer to trust themselves. They don’t need God. They think that they are autonomous and therefore self-sufficient. What a tragedy! Look at this verse: But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:40 (NKJV) As we prepare for our invitation God is asking us to simply come to Jesus. To lay down our burdens, our cares, our worries. Pride won’t come. Pride says, “I won’t humble myself before these people and bare my soul. I can figure it out.” There are two kinds of people here today. Those that are saying: I can’t when He can (the dark side of pride)…OR I can when they can’t… BOTH refuse to come. Will you come? Will you lay down your pride? Will you admit that you are needy? Will you ask God to fill you with His Spirit?