CHRISTIAN CHARACTER IN THE AGE OF COVID-19: Gentleness - November 1, 2020
INTRODUCTION
Gentleness
“Gentleness is required to heal a violent world.”
At their school carnival, our kids won four free goldfish (lucky us!), so out I went Saturday morning to find an aquarium. The first few I priced ranged from $40 to $70. Then I spotted it--right in the aisle: a discarded 10-gallon display tank, complete with gravel and filter--for a mere five bucks. Sold! Of course, it was nasty dirty, but the savings made the two hours of clean-up a breeze.
Those four new fish looked great in their new home, at least for the first day. But by Sunday one had died. Too bad, but three remained. Monday morning revealed a second casualty, and by Monday night a third goldfish had gone belly up. We called in an expert, a member of our church who has a 30-gallon tank. It didn't take him long to discover the problem: I had washed the tank with soap, an absolute no-no. My uninformed efforts had destroyed the very lives I was trying to protect. Sometimes in our zeal to clean up our own lives or the lives of others, we unfortunately use "killer soaps"--condemnation, criticism, nagging, fits of temper. We think we're doing right, but our harsh, self-righteous treatment is more than they can bear.
Richard L. Dunagin
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
Galatians 5:13-26 NIV
Fruit and its counterfeits
Love - pleasure
Joy - happiness
Peace - satisfaction
Patience - passivity
Kindness - nice
Goodness - self-righteousness
Faithfulness - knowledge
I. GENTLENESS AND ITS COUNTERFEIT
Strong's Concordance
prautés: gentleness
Original Word: πρᾳΰτης, τητος, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: prautés
Phonetic Spelling: (prah-oo'-tace)
Short Definition: mildness, gentleness
Definition: mildness, gentleness.
HELPS Word-studies
Cognate: 4240 praýtēs (compare 4236 /praótēs, another feminine noun which is also derived from the root pra-, emphasizing the divine origin of the meekness) – meekness("gentle strength") which expresses power with reserve and gentleness. See 4236 (praotes).
For the believer, meekness (4240 /praýtēs, "gentle-force") begins with the Lord's inspiration and finishes by His direction and empowerment. It is a divinely-balanced virtue that can only operate through faith (cf. 1 Tim 6:11; 2 Tim 2:22-25).
copyright © 1987, 2011 by Helps Ministries, Inc.
For complete text and additional resources visit:
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from praus
Definition
gentleness
NASB Translation
consideration (1), gentleness (8), humility (1), meekness (1).
NAS Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries
Copyright © 1981, 1998 by The Lockman Foundation
All rights reserved Lockman.org
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 4240: πραΰτης
πραΰτης, see πραότης.
THAYER'S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used by permission. BibleSoft.com
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
meekness.
From praus; mildness, i.e. (by implication) humility -- meekness.
see GREEK praus
Strong's Greek: 4240. πραΰτης (prautés) — 12 Occurrences
GRK: πνεύματί τε πραΰτητος
NAS: with love and a spirit of gentleness?
INT: spirit moreover of gentleness
GRK: διὰ τῆς πραΰτητος καὶ ἐπιεικείας
NAS: urge you by the meekness and gentleness
INT: by the gentleness and gentleness
GRK: πραΰτης ἐγκράτεια κατὰ
NAS: gentleness, self-control; against
INT: gentleness self-control against
GRK: ἐν πνεύματι πραΰτητος σκοπῶν σεαυτόν
NAS: in a spirit of gentleness; [each one] looking
INT: in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself
GRK: ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πραΰτητος μετὰ μακροθυμίας
NAS: humility and gentleness, with patience,
INT: humility and gentleness with patience
GRK: χρηστότητα ταπεινοφροσύνην πραΰτητα μακροθυμίαν
NAS: humility, gentleness and patience;
INT: kindess humility gentleness patience
GRK: ἀγάπην ὑπομονήν πραϋπαθίαν
INT: love endurance gentleness
GRK: ἐν πραΰτητι παιδεύοντα τοὺς
NAS: with gentleness correcting those
INT: in gentleness disciplining those that
GRK: πᾶσαν ἐνδεικνυμένους πραΰτητα πρὸς πάντας
NAS: every consideration for all
INT: all showing humility toward all
GRK: κακίας ἐν πραΰτητι δέξασθε τὸν
NAS: of wickedness, in humility receive
KJV: with meekness the engrafted
INT: of wickedness in humility accept the
GRK: αὐτοῦ ἐν πραΰτητι σοφίας
NAS: his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
KJV: works with meekness of wisdom.
INT: of him in humility of wisdom
GRK: ἀλλὰ μετὰ πραΰτητος καὶ φόβου
NAS: that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
KJV: you with meekness and fear:
INT: yet with gentleness and fear
A. Gentleness
1. Meekness
2. Power in control - a bridled horse
3. Popeye
B. Counterfeit
1. Weakness
2. Timidity
"For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
II. GENTLENESS AND OUR PRESENCE
"Gentle Giant" - Not powerless, but not an ogre
A. Power in control
B. A force
C. Difference makers determined to change the world
III. JESUS AND GENTLENESS
A. Did not confuse authority and power
B. Did not abuse his power
“The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;”
Luke 4:9-10 NIV
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”
Matthew 26:52-56
Power under control
We need to display more power with control
CHALLENGE
Display gentleness by appropriately standing up for righteousness this week. Help the weak and hurting. Show the restrained power God has given you through the Holy Spirit.
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, I would be honored to speak with you in the upper parking lot following the service about what God is doing in your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment