Fruit of the Spirit - Lecture Notes for Lesson 9

Opening Prayer: Lord we know you desire us to be Gentle, as such help us to fully grasp what this means so that we might receive the blessings of producing this Spiritual Fruit. Amen!

INTRODUCTION: As I was going through scriptures for today's lesson I ran across the ultimate beauty tip, it promises to make anybody beautiful at any age & without fail.  Sounds too good to be true doesn't it?  You want to know what it is?  Here it is:

1 Peter 3:3-4: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

PRINCIPLE: A Gentle Spirit is of Great Value to God

Why is a Gentle Spirit (or the Spirit of Gentleness) so valuable?  I'm going to be spending most of the rest of this lesson trying answer this, and clearing up some misconceptions about Gentleness.  At this point I'm simply going to state that a Gentle Spirit is a spirit of willingness & obedience, a spirit that does not resist God's will or ways.

I. Clearing up what it means to be Gentle

I don't know about you, but when I started reading up on Gentleness, both in our book and in the scriptures, I was surprised how much more there was to Gentleness than I realized.  The word in the Greek for Gentleness, as used in the list of Spiritual Fruit, is Praos; there is another word that also gets occasionally translated as Gentle or Gentleness but it has a slightly different meaning - I'm going to focus on Praos in its various forms.  

The word Praos gets translated to the following words in English New Testament translations: Meekness, Humility, Gentleness (being meek, being humble, being gentle).  What more can we learn about this word Praos, more specifically what is this Spiritual Fruit that we call Gentleness?

Some other aspects of Praos / Gentleness that may help our understanding: Being even tempered, tranquil, unpretentious, and having passions under control.  Strength under control.  Understanding the strength of being tender.  Balanced & disciplined.  Approachable & kind.  Temperance in personal responsibility, conversations, and decisions.  Polite, tactful, and courteous. Touchable.  Treating others with dignity.  Calm & peaceful in a heated situation.  Soothing and diffusing anger.  Respectful.  Focuses on God & Others more than self (Selfless).

Some things Praos / Gentleness is not: Argumentative. Needing to prove themselves.  Trying to win over others or get ahead of others - Competitive.

Praos includes Biblical Humility, which is described as follows: Not belittling oneself, since we are precious treasures for which God paid dearly; but rather, exalting or praising others - especially God.  Understanding that by ourselves we are inadequate, without dignity, worthless; however, by virtue of belonging to Christ we are enabled to be more than adequate (this by the Holy Spirit), and of infinite worth & dignity.  True Biblical Humility produces Gratitude rather than Pride.  Biblical Humility is the opposite of angry harshness that grows out of personal pride and a dominating selfishness.

Praos also includes Meekness, a frequently misunderstood concept.  Meekness is Strength and Courage under control & coupled with Kindness.  It is rooted in the recognition that God is in control.

I found it interesting that Praos as used by the Greek speaking world of Jesus day would also be used of a wild horse who had been tamed (broken & trained) - how true this is of those who come to faith and grow in Gentleness, we must be broken and trained in order to have a Gentle Spirit usable by God.  How like wild horses we all once were, all needing to be broken to some extent, and all needing to be trained up by God.  How much God has to do to break us varies based on our resistance to Him, and how trained/disciplined depends on how quickly we choose His ways over our own.

PRINCIPLE: Gentleness develops as we submit ourselves to God

King David, the one called by God "a man after my own heart" (Acts 13:22), understood the need to be broken & submitted to God.  Psalm 51:16-17: "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."

II. The Ultimate Example of Gentleness

Jesus is the clearest example of Gentleness acted out.  Jesus was gentle with people, even those who arrested / flogged / beat Him.  He was God, but did not use His power as God either to gain human power or to stop His crucifixion.  Wow!!

Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus encourages us to take on His yoke, to learn from Him because He epitomizes all the facets of Gentleness / Meekness / Biblical Humility, and has a tender heart toward us.  He tells us that when we take on His yoke we will find rest for our souls - that the yoke He offers is easy, and the burden He asks us to carry is light.  He could be demanding & harsh, it is His right, but He chooses to be patient & tender with us instead - wanting us to experience life in Him to the fullest (Ephesians 4:13).

Let's take a look at a few examples of Jesus choosing to be Gentle (there are many):

• When the people of Jesus hometown were angry & ready to throw Him off a cliff Jesus used His power, but not to harm the people, instead to walk through the crowd and leave. - Luke 4:28-30 
• When a detachment of soldiers bearing torches & weapons approached Jesus to arrest Him Jesus used His power in a very controlled (and I think humorous) manner.  He simply said "I am he" when they asked for Jesus, and at his words they drew back & fell to the ground.  How simply amazing that a trained group of fighting men, who's very lives depended on their courage, were knocked down by the words of our Lord.  - John 18:3-5
• Most beautiful to me, however, is His gentleness with those who were broken.  He reached out to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) who's life was so full of shame that she chose to draw water at midday.  He called to Zaccheus (Luke 19), a Jew who had turned against his fellow Jews for personal profit as a tax collector.  His protection of the unnamed woman caught in adultery (John 8), even the fact that she is unnamed guards her dignity.  And there are so many more!!

PRINCIPLE: Gentleness is a nature that imitates that of Christ

1 Peter 2:21-23: "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.  'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."

III. Gentleness with People

We are called to be Gentle with others as Christ was, this will be demonstrated in both words & deeds.  I was tempted to do a whole section on our tongue, and the damage it can do, but for brevity's sake I resisted - we're going to do this as a Group Exercise instead.  Suffice it to say our words can either build up or destroy - Proverbs 10:20; 12:18; 15:2; 15:4; 18:21 (among many others).

I have an old friend who is an Atheist, there are times when he tries to lure me into arguments (on Facebook no less) - I have learned not to take the bait.  2 Timothy 2:25-26 tells us we must be gentle with these sorts of opponents, so that they might escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.  We must be especially careful with our written Words.  This electronic age makes it tremendously easy to express ourselves widely with our written words; however, many misunderstandings have come from misinterpretations of what we have written.  If it's something sensitive try to be face-to-face, even Skype (which allows us to see people we're speaking to at a distance) doesn't carry the nuances that communication in person does.

All believers are called to be Gentle, Titus 3:2 tells us we are always to be gentle toward everyone. Gentleness is also a quality necessary for leadership within the church.  1 Timothy 3:3 tells us that Overseers must be Gentle.

PRINCIPLE: Our Gentleness attracts people to the Lord

Just as Magnets are powerful to attract & repel, our Words & Deeds are as well.  When we are living lives that are in synch with God we will grow the fruit of Gentleness that will attract people to the Lord.

James 3:13 Ties our Gentleness to Wisdom: "Who is wise and understanding among you?  Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."

CONCLUSION: Were you aware that by growing the Spiritual Fruit of Gentleness we receive a very interesting promise from the Beatitudes?  This time Praos shows up as the English word: Meek.

Matthew 5:5: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

This runs counter to what the "powers" of this world would have us think.  This world is currently controlled by those who are quite the opposite of Gentle. I'm not exactly sure what this blessing entails, but I for one will gladly pursue & accept blessings of the Lord!

Closing Prayer: Lord teach us to be Gentle, to demonstrate it in all our ways so that we might perhaps participate in your process of drawing unbelievers to you.  What an amazing gift it is to be included in the work you are doing in this world.  Thank You!  Amen!