The Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness

The Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness

Matthew 11:28-30

I. Introduction

A. Shock and awe – 1996, Harlan Ullman and James Wade, military strategists started advocating for rapid dominance, or shock and awe. Many people today feel like this is the way we should evangelize. But, as the enemies of God in our sin we can be thankful that Jesus’ approach was not shock and awe, but gentleness

B. What is gentleness: It is the ability to show love and compassion instead of impatience and anger over people who believe differently or are not yet transformed by Christ. It does not imply a lack of difficulty, obedience, trial, or pain.

C. Context: Jesus has Talked about John the Baptist and how people rejected his message.  He also condemns certain cities who have rejected him. Now he comes around to talk about who can come to Him

II. He invites the tired and weak –

A. Illustration – George Costanza wanted to convert to the Latvian Orthodox church to win a girl. When talking to the priest George expresses his desire to join the church by saying, “So, am I in?” The priest tells him that first he must read these texts and hands him a stack of about 5 think books. George asks, “So do you offer any kind of ‘express conversion?’” The Jewish leaders offered no hope of an express conversion for Jewish disciples.

B. Explanation

1. Come to ME– The me is an emphatic – it is not just come, but specifically, Come to me – to Jesus.  He is the one who can bear the load and help those who are tired and weary

2. All who are:

a. Κοπιάω – Weak/tired – Tired from trying to live up to a standard that is impossible – Perfection in the law

b. Φορτίζω – to load/burden – Burdened and weighed down by a law you cannot fulfill. Being led by religious leaders who care more about their own self-righteousness than your spiritual growth

3. And I will give you rest –

a. ἀναπαύσω – Give you rest.  One word.

b. He will give rest that is not found elsewhere

C. Application

1. Many of us are on the same spiritual journey – We want to be good, righteous, holy people, pleasing to God, but the burden is too big to carry. Our sin continues to pursue us and drag us away from achieving our own righteousness

2. This is the beauty of the gospel – Jesus bears our load.  He takes our sin upon himself and gives us His righteousness

3. We no longer must follow a law or seek self-righteousness – We find it in Him

4. And since we are no long trying to bear this burden we can find rest

III. He is gentle and lowly in heart

A. Explanation

1. Context: Judaism was a religion of laws.  There are 613 laws in the Torah. The true Jewish disciple was expected to study and know the Torah with all its laws.  They were to try and commit to every one of them.  When they did not succeed, they were considered sinful by the rabbis who would hold themselves in a higher position of holiness and perfection. To take upon themselves this burden of studying and enacting the law was to take upon themselves the “yoke” of the law

2. Take my yoke upon you

a. This is an act of the will of the believer – We are to take the yoke upon us.  He is not thrusting it on us

b. To take the yoke of Jesus was much lighter than the law. For Jesus faith in Him gives righteousness, not adherence to this massive law

c. He is inviting them to set aside the yoke of the law so they can take upon themselves His yoke

3. The yoke is to learn from Jesus – It is a call to discipleship – To learn from Him to live out righteousness, not by the law, but through Him

4. For I am: The reason you would take his yoke

a. Gentle – This is the key idea of who Jesus is.  This is why we love Him, and we take His yoke.  He is not lording over us the hope of salvation is we get enough right. He is the Savior who has secured our salvation apart from our own works and handed it to us as a free gift.  We need only receive His yoke.

b. And lowly of heart – One who understands humility. He understands the lowly because He humbled Himself – Philippians 2:5-11

B. Application

1. For the Jews it was trying to be perfect in the law, an impossible feat. They could come to Jesus and find Him humble and gently calling them under His yoke

2. For, while much the same, he is also calling us to give up the demands of this world.  The demands to be perfect, to measure up, to try to live by the ever-changing standards of our world.  We can get out of the rat race and place his yoke upon us and follow the one who leads, not in judgement for our wrongs, but through Gentle love and desire to see us be fulfilled in Him

3. When we take His yoke, we find rest

a. Peace with God – Romans 5:1

b. Peace of God – Philippians 4:6-8

IV. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light

A. Explanation

1. For my yoke is easy – χρηστός – Well-fitting, beneficial or useful, easy

2. The yoke of Jesus is meant to be easy – we trust in Him

3. And my burden is light – The burden of Jesus is not massive perfection in good works.  His burden is to place your faith in Him

B. Application

1. This was intended to give relief to those who had struggled to be perfect in life

2. Jesus shows His gentleness in that He doesn’t need us to be perfect. He will perfect us if we take His yoke upon us

V. Conclusion

A. Jesus is a gentle master. He is the perfect example of what gentleness looks like for those who come to Him

B. It applies to us as we become the conduits of this gentleness. We get to share the gentleness of Jesus with others. How do we do?

1. When we are in public and we are dealt with unfairly and mistreated

2. In politic when we feel others are wrong

3. In our relationships when we feel others have wronged us

C. Do we extend the same gentleness through love that Jesus did

D. The only way to do it is to take Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves

E. 5 ways to be a gentle Christian

1. Remember that Grace is the good news: The good news is God’s grace, not His punishment

2. Love the lost: We should show genuine love to those who are lost that they may find grace

3. Channel God’s Grace: We channel God’s gentleness because he gave it to us first

4. Live in the Fruit of the Spirit: Remember that living the Christian life is not checking a list of dos and don’ts, but living out the Fruit of the Spirit

5. Find hope in the Gentleness of Jesus: He does not want to condemn you, but to give you life!

The Military Doctrine of Shock and Awe

In 1996 two military strategists, Harlan Uliman and James Wade, started advocating a more focused approach to war. Uliman and Wade argued for engaging the enemy with an overwhelming show of force that will destroy "the adversary's will to resist before, during, and after battle." They titled their book Shock and Awe.

Shock and Awe, also known as Rapid Dominance, is defined as "a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight." The goal is to render your opponent impotent by using "superior technology, precision engagement, and information dominance."

Shortly before the first Iraq War, Uliman described what would happen with this Shock and Awe approach: "You're sitting in Baghdad and all of a sudden you're the general and 30 of your division headquarters have been wiped out. You also take the city down. By that I mean you get rid of their power, water. In 2,3,4,5 days they are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted."

In response to human sin and evil, God could have used Shock and Awe. He could have employed Rapid Dominance to crush us with his "overwhelming power, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force." Instead, the God of all authority and power, chose a radically different strategy: redemptive love, being delivered into the hands of sinners and then laying down his life at the cross. No wonder Paul had to acknowledge "the foolishness of the cross."

Source: Brian Blount, Invasion Of The Dead, (Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), pages 90-91

Illustration – Imagine your job is to pack a huge load up a mountain.  With each step you get wearier.  Every time you look up the mountain you are more convinced it is an impossible task.  Suddenly someone comes up behind you. He is a mountain man, huge muscles, he has a cart that is motorized, he is fully prepared to bear the load. He comes to you and takes the load from you, telling you to rest, he has it from here. All you must do is hand him the load

Philippians 2:5–11

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 4:6–8

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.