Fruit Produced by the Spirit in a Life

Transcript

GR 1170
2/20/2000
Fruit Produced by the Spirit in a Life
Galatians 5:22b-23a
Gil Rugh

Galatians, Chapter 5, talking about the fruit of the Spirit. The song written by the Gathers, back in the beginning of the 70’s, titled Something Beautiful, last line goes He made something beautiful out of my life. That’s really what Paul is talking about with the fruit of the Spirit, the beautiful work of God, in taking fallen, sinful human beings and transforming them by His grace into something beautiful, into people who manifest the beauty and loveliness of His very nature of His character and being. The fruit of the Spirit is the manifestation of the presence of God in the life of the one who has been redeemed. Paul is presenting these qualities called the fruit of the Spirit as a stark contrast to what he has termed the deed or works of the flesh. In Chapter 5, verse 19 Paul said, Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are . . . He went on to give examples of the deeds of the flesh. Then in verse 22, But the fruit of the Spirit is. . . ., and that’s the contrast. The deeds of the flesh are . . ., but the fruit of the Spirit is. And the manifestation of a life that has not been redeemed is the works of the flesh, but the presentation of new life in Christ is seen in the fruit of the Spirit.

Leave a marker in Galatians and turn back toward the back of your New Testament to the book of II Peter, just before the epistles of John and the book of Revelation. II Peter, Chapter 1, verse 4 Peter says, For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. You note the contrast there, you have become partakers of the divine nature, and that is the fruit of the Spirit, the divine nature being manifest in and through your life. You have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust and that is manifest in the works of the flesh. So that contrast drawn by Peter, it is common through the epistles of the New Testament, to see the dramatic change and transformation from something ugly and vile and sinful, corrupt and condemned into something that is beautiful because it is the manifestation of the grace and mercy of God in producing the beauty of His character in the lives of His children.

Come back to the book of Galatians and turn back to Chapter 2, verse 20, Galatians, Chapter 2 and verse 20. There Paul writes I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Christ lives in me, and thus it is His life being lived in and through me. Remarkable, we have become partakers of the divine nature, the Son of God lives in us, the Spirit of God has made our bodies His residence, His holy temple, as I Corinthians, Chapter 6 tells us. And now the life of God is being lived out with the beauty of His character being seen in us. The fruit of the Spirit is simply the manifestation of God’s presence in a life.

Come back to Romans, Chapter 8 if you would, Romans, Chapter 8. The contrast that Paul is talking about in Galatians is between the flesh and the Spirit, the flesh being what we are as fallen beings, the Spirit referring to the Holy Spirit who now dwells in the redeemed person. Verse 8 of Romans 8 says, Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, but if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him. That transformation from being in the flesh to being in the Spirit occurs at salvation and the Spirit of God now dwells in you, and if the Spirit of Christ, and you note the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ used interchangeably here, the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. If He does not dwell in your life, you do not belong to God. And even though the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit dwell in us, the focus in the New Testament epistles is on the ministry of the Holy Spirit, controlling the believer, producing His gifts in a life, producing His fruit in a life.

Back up to Matthew, Chapter 7 and then we will be ready for Galatians. I take it Paul has presented the works of the flesh and a sampling of those works and contrasted them with the fruit of the Spirit so that we might appreciate the greatness of God’s work and also have clear understanding of the difference between being in the flesh and being in the Spirit. In Matthew, Chapter 7 Jesus has been unfolding the truth of the broad gate and the broad way and the narrow gate and the narrow way in verses 13 and 14. “Enter through the narrow gate. The gate is wide; the way is broad that leads to destruction. There are many who enter it. The gate is small, the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it.” We have a growing debate going on in our country about the appropriateness of evangelism, and people are offended to be told that they are lost and without hope apart from Jesus Christ. That ought not to surprise us. The many have gone through the broad gate and are on the broad road, it leads to destruction. Jesus Christ is Himself the narrow gate and only those who believed in Him travel the way to life. “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, the bad tree bears bad fruit.” It seems a rather simple picture. I was reading an article in a theological journal, appeared about 10 years ago now, I’m a little behind on my reading.
I had read it before but I was reading it for a study I’m doing. The person was arguing in that article, published by an Evangelical organization, that you should not expect or require that a person manifest fruit or evidence in their life that they are the child of God. I read and reread the article, I am unable to comprehend the thinking, and I am greatly disturbed by the misuse of scripture to support it. I don’t know how clear the illustration could be in Matthew 7. You know you’re not a genius if you go out, take some grapes and say, oh, this is a grapevine. How do you know? Grapes are growing on it. This is an apple tree. How do you know? Apples are growing on it. This is an orange tree. How do you know? Roses are growing on it. No, oranges don’t grow on rose bushes. Roses grow on rose bushes, oranges grow on orange trees. You see Jesus is using the ultra simple illustration to show that you know the false and the genuine by their fruits. Verse 16, “You will know them by their fruits.” Verse 20, “You will know them by their fruits.” Verse 21, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of My Father.” And in verse 23, “I will declare to them, the lost, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” The flesh manifests itself in its deeds. The Spirit manifests his presence in a life through the fruit that he produces, the divine nature of God being evidenced. The fruit of the Spirit, in Galatians, Chapter 5 is simply the manifestation of the character of God being produced in the life of one who has been redeemed by God’s grace.

We looked at the first part of Galatians, Chapter 5, verse 22 already in our studies, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. Love, that’s self sacrificing love, not a love based on a mutual relationship, not a love based on a response that is given back, but a love that gives itself, sacrifices itself for the good and benefit of the one that is loved. The Spirit produces that sacrificing love, which was so exemplified by God in Christ. Now it’s produced in the lives of those that have been redeemed. The joy, the inner happiness and joy that the Spirit of God produces that is not dependent upon circumstances, situation, health and wealth, but has its source within supernaturally, as the Spirit produces the joy of the Lord within a believer. That is a joy I can have in all circumstances and all situations, a joy that I can experience even during times of tears and sorrow and grief. Peace, that tranquillity and rest of heat and mind that so alludes the world. The world seeks it in pills and drugs, something to calm me, something to settle me down, something to enable me to sleep, something to help me forget. But the Spirit of God produces peace. Philippians 4 says, “The peace of God shall stand guard at your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” It’s like a sentinel, to protect my heart and mind from what would unsettle me, put me into turmoil. Jesus promised us His peace, His peace not as the world gives, but true genuine peace that He produces within.

There are nine of these qualities that mark the fruit of the Spirit. They are a sampling, as we’ll see as we get to the end, of what the Spirit produces in a life. They ought to characterize us, each one who have been redeemed. They must characterize us. They are to be a growing evidence in our lives, as we mature and the fruit of the Spirit becomes more mature and the character of Christ is seen more clearly with the passing of time in the lives of the believer. We pick up with the fourth quality listed in the fruit of the Spirit, that of patience, patience, a favorite, something that we all have in great abundance! And we joke about, don’t pray for patience. Why, because you get patience in difficulty. The word is a simple word. It means long tempered, compound word, simple in understanding, long tempered. We use the expression short tempered, but we usually don’t use the converse long tempered, but this would be it. We know a short-tempered person; he has a short fuse. He gets irritated easily, loses his temper quickly. The long tempered person is patient. He never loses his temper we might say. He endures a lot, patient. One person said it’s the ability to put up with other people even when that is not an easy thing to do. Patience is one of those qualities that needs difficulty, that needs trial for it to become evident. We’re all patient, so to speak, when there is no need for patience. What do you say when you say to your kids, you’re trying my patience. They know what you mean, you know what you mean. What they’re doing is bringing you to the point of trouble for them. Now this patience, this word patience is used a number of times of God the Father and of Christ in the New Testament. It’s a quality that characterizes them.

Turn back to Peter, back toward the back of your New Testament again. You get two references, one in I Peter, Chapter 3. You see the character of God manifest in His patience. His long tempered dealing with sinners. In I Peter, Chapter 3, verse 20 talks about the disobedience and rebellion of the people on earth during the time when Noah was building his ark. And verse 20 says, “They were once disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, when the ark was being built.” So for 120 years Noah, the preacher of righteousness, proclaimed righteousness, warned of coming judgment, and God was patient, long tempered, in dealing with those people. Turn over to II Peter, Chapter 3, verse 15, talking about believers looking in anticipation of the culmination of their salvation, that time of glory when Christ will reign, and we will have a new heavens and a new earth and we will be in glorified bodies. Verse 15, And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. You know the world mocks us for our hope in Christ. They say, according to verse 3 of this chapter, where is the promise of His coming. You’ve been saying the Lord’s coming for centuries and millenniums and it hasn’t happened, and we get weary and tired, lose heart. Wouldn’t it been wonderful if the Lord had come during breakfast this morning? Oh boy, we would be in glory right now. Think of the blessings. But isn’t it wonderful He didn’t come this morning, because now there is opportunity for salvation, for people not only here, but around the world. Because of God’s patience and grace, there will be people saved all over the world today. So we, as God’s people, need to appreciate all we long for the coming of the Lord, but we appreciate the patience of God in giving another opportunity, another hour, another day for people to hear the gospel and believe and be saved.

Paul appreciated God’s patience in dealing with him in I Timothy, Chapter 1. Paul wrote to Timothy regarding his own salvation. In I Timothy, Chapter 1, verse 15 Paul says, It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Then he adds, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost. Paul saw himself as the worst of sinners. He realized he was guilty of persecuting believers, of attempting to have them imprisoned and even executed for their faith in Christ. Yet in me I found mercy, that Jesus Christ might demonstrate, note, His perfect patience. There’s our word, patience. Christ has perfect patience. He was long tempered with me, Paul says. He was patient and that was to demonstrate to all the world, if Paul wretched, vile, worst of sinners can be saved, anybody can be saved. And God’s mercy and God’s perfect patience is so that you might believe in the Savior and be saved.

Well in our lives then as those who have been the recipients of God’s patience, His character is to be manifest in our dealing with others. And as those who have been the recipients of Christ’s perfect patience, we are to manifest that patience in dealing with others. This virtue, this quality keeps us from being frustrated, losing our temper, from retaliating when we’ve been wronged. Paul told the Colossians, he prayed for their patience. In Colossians, Chapter 1, verse 11 Paul said that he was praying for them, that they might be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience. Really you have two Greek words for patience or endurance here. The first translated steadfastness really means enduring under the pressure of circumstances and patience perhaps dealing more with patience with people and those difficulties, words very close in meaning. And you note, he wants them to be strengthened with all power, according to the glorious power or might of God, that they might attain all patience and be joyously giving thanks. You see that quality growing and increasing, all steadfastness and patience. Not, I’m a pretty patient person. I have all patience, because I have been the recipient of the patience of God.

In I Thessalonians 5:14 Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to be patient with everyone, be patient with everyone. So you think, wow, you know, there are just some people that try my patience. You know what I need to do? Thank you, Lord, I really need them in my life, because I need to grow. I need to mature in this beautiful virtue and quality that is so characteristic of you. And oh, they try my patience, boy do they get on my nerves, all I can do not to explode. And, Lord, I need your glorious might to produce all patience in my life. Thank you for bringing them as a trial to me, so that I can learn and grow and become more like you.

Back up to Ephesians, just after Galatians, the book of Ephesians, Chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility. Now we see what it means to walk in a manner worthy, according to the standard of our calling, with all humility and gentleness. We’re going to see these qualities as we move through the fruit of the Spirit. With patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. So there we have it, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. Note verse 3, “Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” People are trying. You know your patience are tested when you’re around people. There are people who get on your nerves, and you know if we are not developing this quality in our lives, and having it grow and mature, we will not have unity and peace in the body of Christ. It ought not to surprise us that there are fellow Christians whom we find exasperating, who literally get on our nerves. But you know, we need patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, so that we can preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Without this fruit of the Spirit, we’ll lose our temper, we’ll get exasperated, and we’ll shatter the unity of the body of Christ. And that easily happens. You know we have two ways that we manifest the lack of this quality in our lives. Sometimes we just lose our temper with people. There are people even in this wonderful body of believers who are touchy, and you know, you have to walk on egg shells, so to speak, be careful what you say, you’ll set them off. They haven’t talked to me for months. Why, I don’t know. Something I did set them off, we might say. That’s a tragic thing to go on in the body of Christ. Sometimes it happens because they’re unbelievers who manifest the works of the flesh, even though they attend the church like this. Sometimes it’s because we are grieving the Spirit and find delight in allowing the flesh to manifest itself on occasion, because we’re irritated about something or with somebody. Sometimes we show that exasperation to them. Sometimes we show it to others. You know, it easily becomes a divisive quality, because I don’t want to look unspiritual enough to lose my temper and show my exasperation with them, so I talk to you about it, and pretty soon you’re exasperated and irritated and you don’t even know for sure why, and we bring division into the body, and the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace is broken.

I want you to read quickly, how can you read quickly. Go to the book of Proverbs. I have them written down but I want you to see them as I read them. Proverbs, Chapter 14. You note, we’re not spending equal amount of time on each of these. I have just completely subjectively decided which ones to elaborate longer and which ones to elaborate more shortly. I asked Marilyn, which ones do you think are lacking in my life, and I’m going to speak briefly on those! Proverbs 14, verse 29, He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick tempered exalts folly. And the mark of understanding, a quality of maturity, that a person is long tempered, slow to anger. Look in Chapter 15, verse 18. A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger calms the dispute. The battle is only intensified. If someone loses their temper and you lose your temper back. What happens, you walk in the door from work and you’re late and your wife says you’re late again, supper is cold. Do you think I labor all day long and then you don’t get here on time? And you fly back, what, did you ever think maybe I had a hard day. Now we’ve got not a battle, a war. But what, if one of you defuses it and is long tempered, slow to anger you can defuse it. Someone reacts with exasperation to you and instead of reacting that way back you said, you know, I can appreciate the frustration I’ve might have caused to your life. It wasn’t my intention to be an irritation to you. Maybe we could talk about it. That defuses it a lot more than if you respond in kind. That’s all Proverbs is saying. That’s what happens in the body. That’s what Ephesians 4 told us. We need this quality of patience to sustain the unity in the body of Christ. And Proverbs 19:11 says, “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger.” It is his glory to overlook a transgression. You see, when you’ve been wronged, when someone has transgressed against you, it’s an opportunity to overlook it, to be patient, long tempered, slow to anger.

Come back to Galatians, Chapter 5. Patience, kindness, and you note some of these qualities, as you would expect, overlap, because they are the character of God being produces in us. We move from patience to kindness and this is a term frequently used of God’s dealing with sinners. Just turn over a page or two to Ephesians, Chapter 2. In the opening part of this chapter he talks about how lost and dead we were in our sins before God intervened. We lived in the lust of the flesh, verse 3, indulged our flesh. We were by nature children of wrath, but God, verse 4, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us. And you note these qualities and attributes of God all mixed together, His mercy, His love, His grace. Down to verse 7, He did this in redeeming us, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, His kindness, His benevolent to us. It’s not just a soft sentimentality, because the book of Romans, Chapter 11, verse 22 says, Behold the kindness and the severity of God. We sometimes try to play the attributes of God off against one another, but they exist together in Him. His kindness and His severity, which in the context of Romans 11, that kindness brings salvation and that severity will send people to hell. The kindness of God. We as God’s children have experienced His kindness in redemption, so we are to demonstrate kindness toward others. So many of these qualities, as we have received them in Christ, it is to be expected that we will demonstrate them to others.

You’re in Ephesians, turn over to Chapter 4, verse 30. We’re in the context of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Verse 3l, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander be put away from you with all malice, those works of the flesh. Be kind to one another.” There we are. Tender hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ has forgiven you. So in the context of God’s forgiveness we are to be forgiving others, and that’s in the context of His kindness, His tender heartedness. He forgave us, so we in kindness, tender heartedness ought to be of all people the most forgiving. How can you offend a Christian? How can you do something to a Christian that he would say I can’t forgive you? I mean it’s totally inconceivable, for it’s nothing in comparison to the forgiveness that we have received in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:12 says we’re to cloth ourselves with kindness, just to be part of our demeanor, our behavior. Both patience and kindness are listed as essential ingredients of love in I Corinthians 13:4. Love is patient, love is kind, and you see you just can’t break out and take one of these virtues, and oh yes, I want to manifest this but not this. They are the fruit, singular of the Spirit in a life.

Back in Galatians 5, Goodness. Again, it sometimes becomes difficult to sort out the distinctions in some of these words, goodness in Galatians 5:22. The idea of benevolence, generosity is included in the word. It’s the opposite of evil or malice in some forms of the word, as we saw in Ephesians 4, that we are to put off all malice. But goodness has the idea it’s the opposite of envy. It is a generosity. We speak of people doing something out of the goodness of their heart. There is the human imitation of the divine quality. They do something out of the goodness of their heart. It wasn’t deserved, it wasn’t merited, but they did it out of their generosity, their thoughtfulness, their kindness, their benevolence. Well here you have the Spirit of God producing the genuine article here, the goodness of God. Paul told the Romans in 15:4, I am confident you are full of goodness, filled with goodness, that generosity, that magnanimous spirit that stands in contrast to the envy and jealousy of the flesh, the goodness, the readiness to give for the other person. Faithfulness, at the end of verse 22 in Galatians 5. This is literally the noun for faith and it’s used many times in the New Testament, most often for the faith that we have in Christ. We believe or place our faith in Christ for salvation. This is the word used, this is how Paul has used it in the book of Galatians. Here it seems to be used, even though it’s a noun, as you would the adjective faithfulness. That fits the other qualities here and it is used this way in other places. In Romans, Chapter 3, verse 3 it’s used of the faithfulness of God. You might translate it the faith of God, but we’re not talking about the faith of God, because God doesn’t believe in anyone. He is God. There is no one outside Himself to believe in, but God is faithful, and the adjective faithful is used numerous times. I Corinthians, Chapter 1, verse 9, He is faithful. I Corinthians, Chapter 10, verse 13, There is no temptation overtaken you, but such is common to man, but God is faithful to provide the way of escape. God is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is reliable. He is always true to His word, the concept that we have in the word faithful.
He can be dependent upon. James 1 talks about every good and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow caused by turning. He is the unchanging God. You can depend upon Him. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13 says of Christ. So He is faithful, He is unchanging. It is an attack on the very character of God to imply that He would not fulfill even one of the promises that He gave in His word. Jesus said it is not possible, even for a jot or a tittle, the smallest marks in the Hebrew text to pass away without being fulfilled. Why, God is faithful, God is faithful.

Thus He comes to be used of a characteristic that He produces in His people, faithfulness, trustworthiness. One described it this way. It describes a man on whose faithful service we can rely, on whose loyalty we may depend, whose word we can unreservedly accept. It describes the man in whom there is the unswerving and inflexible fidelity of Jesus Christ, the other dependability of God. In I Corinthians 4 Paul said the apostles were stewards of the mysteries of God. And he goes on in those opening verses of I Corinthians 4 to say, “Above all, it is required of a steward that a man be found faithful, a man be found faithful.” As God’s servants we are His stewards. We have been entrusted with spiritual gifts to exercise. We have been entrusted with material possessions to use.

Turn quickly back to Luke 16. In Luke 16 verse 10 Jesus said, He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. He who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust true riches to you. You see, we are on trial so to speak, we are going through a test. We have material affluence and abundance. Are we being faithful. This is the unrighteous wealth, the riches of the world. Are we being faithful with that? The true riches, the truth of God, all that He has promised and given to those who believe in Him, that’s genuine wealth. How often we are unfaithful even in the little things. We think, well it’s a little thing, it won’t matter. I so appreciate so many in this body who faithfully, regularly do what would be called the little things, the unnoticed things that enable this body to function for the glory of God, faithful in what seems to be little. But it’s pleasing to God, that makes that little thing awful large. Faithfulness to our Master, the context of Luke 16. Paul did tell Timothy in II Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 2 that he is to take the truth of God that had been entrusted to him and teach it to faithful men who will teach others also.

That ought to be a defining characteristic of us as God’s people, that we can be trusted, that we can be depended upon, that your word is good, your commitment is honored. It’s a faithful person, he takes a job it will be done and be done well. You can rely upon him. He doesn’t give his word, walk away and forget. Oh, I forgot, oh, I forgot. We all forget at times, not saying we’re perfect. But I am saying they ought to be faithful. It’s a commitment and a diligence to follow through. If I give you my word it ought to be something you can depend upon unless it is out of my hands. I don’t take an oath. If I tell you I’ll meet you tomorrow at 3 o’clock for coffee, I am committing myself to do that unless circumstances are out of my hands. If I have a heart attack at 12 o’clock I probably won’t be there. But to the best of my ability I am going to honor my word. Shouldn’t need 10 contracts, to have it in writing. Let a believer’s yes be yes and no be no, faithful, dependable, reliable. God’s character is seen in us. Oh, you can’t depend on them. Ought to be true at your job, no matter what the other employees are like. You, as a believer, ought to be a faithful, dependable, loyal employee. He takes a job, you can depend on it will be done and done right. Why, I’m manifesting the character of my God, His dependability, His reliability, His faithfulness. Crucial quality in our lives as God’s people.

Galatians 5:23, and to look at one more. I’m saving one, so I have another week to work on it. But the quality of gentleness, at the beginning of verse 23, gentleness. This is a word that a Greek lexicon defines as gentleness, humility, courtesy, considerateness, meekness. It really stands against all the self-emphasis of our world. One wrote this, it’s important for the Christian to see that the self-assertiveness that is so much part of 20th century life should not be valued highly. This is the opposite of arrogance. That’s self centered, self-confidence, self esteem that the world is in love with. You have to assert yourself so we take assertiveness training. The last thing the flesh needs is assertiveness training. The last thing the flesh needs, men who are lovers of self to begin with, then we’re going to give them classes on why they ought to love themselves. But we as believers ought not to be surprised, that we are to be different. What a tragedy, what a travesty, what an attack on the truth of God, that the church picks up the pattern of the world. We’re trying to help Christians have self esteem and self love and self confidence, so they’ll better be able to do the work of the Lord, and they are unusable in that kind of condition, because the quality that is desired by God is meekness, gentleness, humility, lowliness. We’re not talking about weakness or timidity. We talk about gentleness and meekness the world thinks of a coward, someone who has no strength, someone who is afraid to step forward. Number, Chapter 12, verse 3 says that in his day, Moses was the most gentle or meek or humble man on the face of the earth. Yet by the grace of God, he had enough strength, authority, power to lead a nation of 2 million. At time you see anger flashing through. It’s not always wrong. You see strength in decisions that are made and judgments that are given. You see the character of God in pleading for an undeserving nation, not seeing himself as better and so on. Jesus Christ himself in Matthew 11:29 describes himself as gentle and humble in heart. That first word, gentle, is the word we’re talking about in the fruit of the Spirit. The next word to be related, humble, lowly, I am gentle and lowly in heart, but He is not weak, He is not a coward. We see Him driving out the money changers from the temple. We see Him speaking directly and harshly to the religious leaders and calling them open graves. He is a man of gentle and meek spirit. Some have defined it as strength under control because it’s a word that would have been used of the training of animal, when a horse or an animal had been tamed. Then you could speak of it as gentle or meek, using this word, because now it was under control. Didn’t mean it had become weak and useless, now it had become useful, because of the control that that strength now had.

It’s joined with patience in a couple of passages like Ephesians 4:2. Remember one of the beatitudes, Matthew 5:5, Blessed are the meek, for they share inherit the earth. That’s our word, Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. You say, boy, you know, can I survive in the world, you know I got to go out in the working world. It’s one thing for you, a pastor. You get up and run to your library, then you come here and work with people that are believers. I have to go out in that doggy, dog world. I have to go out there where it’s, you know, bite or be bitten, kill or be killed, you know, every man for himself. And you want me to go out and be meek and gentle, get serious. Well, I’d like for you to inherit the earth. There’s going to be a contrast with the world. Jesus was abused, He suffered. That doesn’t mean you will be weak. Even the world admires such a quality in its own way. “Mahatma Gandhi” is used by the world as having a quality associated with meekness and gentleness and that may be a world’s imitation of what we’re talking about here, but at least the quality there of a certain aspect that we see here. Now we’re talking about the genuine article. Now you have to be careful or you’ll get frustrated, because you say, well, I tried it. For six months at work I was gentle, I was meek, and they walked all over me, and I said enough is enough. Well you know what that reminds me of, reminds me that I’m doing this for myself. You know what I’m saying. I was gentle and humble but nobody honored me for it, so I’m not going to do it any more. Well then I’m really turning this virtue into something for self. I’d like to be gentle and meek as long as I get recognized and honored for being gentle and meek. Wait a minute, you can’t put those two together. I can’t serve self and exalt self and seek glory for self and be gentle and lowly in heart as my Redeemer is. So be careful you may be a gentle, meek person, manifesting the character of Christ in the proper way and never get recognized for it.

Titus 3:2 says we are, and this is in the context of earthly rulers, we are to show every consideration for all men. Literally, we are to show all gentleness to all men. So this character and quality of life is to be manifest in our lives in all of our dealings. Now the Apostle Paul wrote this and he has just written a pretty hard letter to the Galatians, called them foolish, said they looked like they were living under a spell, someone had bewitched them, told the false teachers maybe they ought to go on through and mutilate themselves. We say, doesn’t look like gentleness to me. But indeed he did have the Spirit of Christ. He wasn’t asserting himself there. Doesn’t mean sometimes there’s not firmness. He could appeal to the Roman authorities, use his rights in that way with the proper spirit. So we need to have a biblical understanding of these qualities. In I Peter 3:15 we’re to be ready to give a defense of the faith that is in us, and we’re to do it with gentleness. So it is to be a quality that pervades our life, even when we’re being opposed by unbelievers. II Timothy 2:25 says we respond with gentleness. Now doesn’t mean we can’t respond with forcefulness, aggressiveness. We must respond with the truth as Paul did with the Galatians and to the Judaizers. We need to be careful that self doesn’t insert and assert itself and we are functioning with the genuine character of Christ even in that conflict.

They’re beautiful qualities aren’t they. I can’t change someone else, but I am responsible before God to submit to that indwelling spirit, so that He can grow these qualities in a greater way in my life, bring them to greater maturity so they are more evident in my life. And you know, if they were evident in their fullest in my life and in the life of everyone who is a believer in this body, where would be the conflict, where would be the division. Truly we would be a beautiful people, because the character of God is lovely, it’s beautiful, it’s desirable. What a contrast to the world. This indeed is to be a spot of heaven on earth. We are lights in the darkness. We have the nature of God and we live among people who are by nature children of wrath. What a contrast, what a difference. What a joy to know God has provided everything necessary for life and godliness. We have the indwelling Spirit. Why would we need the Mosaic Law for sanctification and holy living? What could it add to the beauty and fullness and completeness of the character of God? Remember that’s the context of the argument of Galatians. Do you need the Mosaic Law for salvation, do you have to keep the Mosaic Law for sanctification? No! We have the indwelling Spirit and with Him we have everything necessary for life in godliness and the beauty of God’s character, as it’s produced in us, will make us everything that God intends us to be in preparation for the glory of His presence. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for the richness and fullness and completeness of our salvation. Thank you for your presence in our lives, for the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit. Lord, the grief of our heart would be that the beauty of your character is not more completely and more fully seen in every situation and every circumstance, in every personal relationship. Lord, may our hearts be challenged and may we long and desire for more of the beauty of your person to be seen in and through us, individually and as the body of Christ in this place. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.