Sermon Tone Analysis
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G E N T L E N E S S
The Greek word used here is prautēs.
It’s defined “as gentleness, meekness, humility.”
Meekness isn’t weakness.
Being gentle isn’t being passive.
Being humble isn’t being insecure.
It would be easy to see this fruit of the Spirit as being lesser than the others.
It’s toward the end of the list.
It’s harder to fully grasp, because it seems like it’s just a synonym for kindness, which has already been covered in this series.
How, then, should we approach this fruit?
I believe Paul gives us a clue just a few verses later about the important of gentleness in our lives, especially as believers.
Paul uses the same word in both passages, which gives us some insight into what he’s saying we should do in these situations.
Let’s also clarify that these letters are written to churches, which presumes that Christians are the target audience.
So what Paul is saying here is applicable to us, because we are the Church.
Listen to this, Church.
If anyone is caught in transgression (or sin), we as people who are spiritual should bring about their restoration in a spirit of gentleness.
A spirit of humility.
A spirit of meekness.
Humility because we aren’t perfect.
It doesn’t matter who’s wrong and who’s right.
What matters is that we don’t push people away from the very thing they need in their lowest moments.
Restoration means bringing them back to the cross, back to repentance, and back to God’s plan for their lives.
It’s hard to effectively do that recklessly.
Handling fragile things requires gentleness.
People who are hurt and broken, whether by someone else or their own mistakes, require restoration not through our aggressiveness, but through our gentleness.
That’s what a life lived by the Spirit should produce in us as the body of Christ equipped to help people return to faith.
Let’s take it a step further.
Many people want to justify their harsh words and thoughtless communication with the excuse that they’re just telling the truth.
“I’m an enneagram 8; this is who I am.”
The fruit of the Spirit is LOVE and it should manifest in the way that we communicate with people, EVEN THOSE who are stuck in junk.
Gentleness doesn’t mean not correcting issues.
It just means the way we correct it is in a spirit of humility and not arrogance.
It means that we approach people with the goal of bringing them to repentance and restoration, not of shame and exposure.
The truth without love is like surgery without anesthesia.
The words that you speak matter.
The way that you say them matter.
Are you words spicy or sweet?
The fruit of the Spirit that begins from the place of love should manifest in gentle words and actions.
In order to do that, you have to decide what strength looks like.
Strength isn’t swinging back.
It takes more strength to walk in restraint when people attack you.
That’s gentleness.
It’s the response to adversity.
It’s how you take what’s being thrown at you and allow the fruit of the Spirit to be what comes out of you.
Don’t forget what Paul tells us in Galatians 5 before listing the fruit of the Spirit.
Gentleness.
Where is that fruit needed in your life?
Where can it be cultivated?
Where does it need to grow?
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