The Strength of Gentleness – Zach Groff

Published Dec 19, 2024, 3:19 PM

Gentleness is often misunderstood. When we think of a man being gentle, we might picture some guy being weak or timid, but that’s not what gentleness truly means. In fact, gentleness is a strength of character—a willingness to humble ourselves and put others first, even when we have the power to act differently. Many great men throughout history have displayed gentleness in remarkable ways, showing us that true greatness is not about asserting power but about choosing humility and self-control. The Bible has a lot to say about gentleness! 

https://gentlereformation.com/2024/12/02/the-strength-of-gentleness/ 

Mornings, not just on the radio. It's a podcast, too. Here's the deal gentleness is often misunderstood.

Yes, it really is. And it's so important for a Christian, especially a Christian man.

Yeah. And, you know, you go to the Bible and there are so many examples of men who are meek and gentle, but they are not wimps. Can I just say that? Correct. Top of the list is Jesus himself. This is a wonderful conversation we want to share with you today. Zach Groff is a pastor and an author, and what he had to say might be eye opening for you. It might be encouraging. Might be all of the above. I'm so glad you tackled this, because I think gentleness is, like I say, often misunderstood. Uh, and it's not. Okay, well, let's go to the Bible, and I'm thinking immediately I don't know why this popped up in my mind, but I'm thinking Galatians five, The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness is included in there as well. So gentleness is something that God wants us to embrace. Let's define it biblically.

Well, when we look at the Bible, we see gentleness described for us directly and also indirectly. By directly, I mean those statements of commands or direction that tell us to love one another, to bear with each other in our burdens and our weakness. A husband is to bear with his wife, for example, and not to exasperate his children. But we're also given many clear examples of what I call great men of meekness in the Bible, meekness being another word for gentleness. Moses, job, Jeremiah, and of course, pre-eminently. So our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who described himself as gentle, gentle, and lowly. And so gentleness is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian and to be a follower of God, and to reflect the goodness of God to the world and in the world as as we seek to be faithful in our lives.

So gentleness really doesn't mean weakness, you know, just because weak rhymes with meek, you know, you have to be careful there. So, so gentleness doesn't mean weakness, but it does mean strength under control. Man, that's a great description of Jesus.

Absolutely. And and I know you all like to rhyme on this show, so I'm glad that you that you picked up on that, that brought a smile to my face. But gentleness certainly does not mean being passive or weak. We we tend to think so because there are two dimensions of gentleness. There's a gentleness according to nature. You know, the the man who is is a bit more reserved and soft spoken and, and just by natural temperament. But then there's a gentleness according to grace, and that is gentleness or meekness as a fruit of the spirit. Transforming us from the inside out. And there's a decisiveness to that kind of gentleness. That spirit wrought heaven born gentleness which every Christian ought to live out in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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The Apostle Paul, if we go to let's see Colossians 312, I think it is he described gentleness as a very important character trait that we need to develop as believers. So being clothed with humility. Right. And to bear with one another in love. Paul was a gentle guy, wasn't he?

He was. And that didn't mean that he lacked boldness. If we look at his letters to the church in Corinth, for example, we know that this was a very difficult church to deal with, but one that was near and dear to his heart as a church which he planted, and which God had richly blessed. And when he pleads with them to reform themselves after the pattern and likeness of Christ, he writes to them to. To put on the meekness and gentleness of Christ in Second Corinthians chapter ten. And that's really the model that he sets before them. And he likewise directed his protege Timothy to be gentle, directing him to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, or gentleness. And first Timothy six and more generally he states, the servant of the Lord, the minister of the gospel, the follower of Jesus Christ, must not strive or fight, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patient in gentleness, instructing those that oppose themselves in Second Timothy chapter two. So the Apostle, insofar as he imitated Christ himself, was a great man of meekness and gentleness.

The.

Enemy of gentleness, of course, is pride, but also anger. It's really easy for us to have a short fuse, and it's also easy for us to make excuses for being quick to anger. Well, I've always, you know, I was born this way. I come from a family of angry people. Whatever the case may be, we can rationalize anything, but it's very difficult to be gentle when you are constantly lashing out. And I understand that none of us are perfect this side of heaven. But even if you go through the book of Proverbs, you know having a cool spirit slow to anger is great wisdom. This is something that the Holy Spirit needs to help many of us with. And that's why we go back to Galatians five with the fruit of the spirit included in the list there. Yeah, you have gentleness. Um, so he helps us, but we still we don't want to be passive about this either. Maybe we just need to sit ourselves down and say, you know what? First of all, I have a problem here and I am not gentle with other people. I am not loving others and treating others the way I would like to be treated myself. Which of course is what Jesus talked about loving God and loving others. So maybe we just need to have a come to Jesus moment and just, you know, say, okay, well, Lord, this is what I'm dealing with. I have no excuses. Could you please help me here?

You know, I love how you put this, Kurt, because some of the phrases that you used really get to the heart of the matter here. You said we need to avoid having a short fuse. We don't want to be people characterized by anger. We can't use those rationalizations. At least as Christians. We can't use this rationalization saying, well, I'm just an angry person. I come from a family of angry people. No, the one of the fruits of the spirit. Or we might say, one of the aspects of the fruit of the spirit is self-control and biblical gentleness. Redemptive meekness, we might say, isn't about being passive or weak, as we've said, but it's about having the strength to control one's emotions and actions, especially in difficult situations. And there is a time for holy, righteous anger. We are to mourn over our sin and to strive against it. Our Lord marched into the temple courts and turned over the tables. Very famously so, and we recognize that there was no sin in that action. But our God is always described as long suffering and patient, surely not a God of wrath in terms of how we describe ourselves as angry people, but rather a God of love who seeks always to deal with us tenderly as a father, good father, dealing with his children with tenderness and patience.

That's so good.

And it's a wake up call for all of us. So as we kind of wrap up our conversation here, there's been so many good things you pointed out. What are some next steps for us, you know, for us to take today as we are convicted by the Holy Spirit. Um, what would you recommend for us if we realize you know what I do? I've got a kind of an issue going on here. What do we do?

Well, we need a motivation, and we need a model. We know that the power comes from the Holy Spirit. But I want to give you a very clear motivation, especially to any men that are listening in on the program today. A great teacher named Sinclair Ferguson makes this observation as he's working through the Beatitudes. He observes that gentleness or meekness enhances manliness. And so we are so tempted to think that a gentle guy is a pushover and he's not a real man. But precisely the opposite is true. True gentleness born from above enhances manliness, and so have that as a motivation for you. And then the model sort of like going to the gym and having an idea of what you want to achieve in your goals for your physique. Well, how about for your spiritual physique? Set the model before you. Of the men that we've talked about, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is gentle and lowly of heart, who taught that the meek shall inherit the earth. The Apostle Paul, who always conducted himself with love for those to to whom he ministered, and also other figures such as Stephen and Jeremiah, and Job and and Moses, who is described as being more gentle than all the men on the face of the earth when he was confronted with sin, even in his close family. So have that motivation, have that model acknowledging at all times that the power comes from God.

How do I if I have boys as sons or grandsons, how can I encourage them to be gentle men?

Mhm. That's a great question. I think what we need to recognize is that our boys and I have three sons of my own. They are growing up in a world filled with self-appointed big men asserting power and preeminence over others, usually with coarseness and even profanity. But the Christian virtue of gentleness reminds us that true strength comes down to lowly little us from heaven above. And you have to know that your boys, they want to be strong. They want to be strong like their dad, and like the other men around them. So surround them with men who have Christian strength, who demonstrate and really show forth this strength of gentleness so that they will follow after them as those men follow after Christ. I think that's probably the most important thing we can do, even beyond didactic instruction, is put our boys in situations where they are surrounded with healthy models of strong Christian gentleness and masculinity.

Thanks for listening to Kurt and Kate Mornings podcast. Please take a minute to follow, subscribe and review us. And no matter where in the world you are, you can listen to us live from 6 to 9 a.m. weekdays on the Moody Radio app.

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