Vibe Check 9 – Gentleness

 

Welcome back to Redemption Church in Plano Tx. My name is Chris Fluitt and I want to welcome everyone. Greetings to everyone who has found this message online.  God loves you.

We are in the 9th week of our series, Vibe Check.

What is a Vibe?

Vibe – A person’s emotional state, felt by others; The tangible atmosphere created by the disposition of our being.

The world needs good vibes.  Many people are looking for “good vibes only.”

In this series we have taught you what produces the worst and the best vibes.

 

• The worst vibes come from the flesh.
• The best vibes come from the Spirit.

Galatians 5 tells us what vibes the Spirit of God produces.

Galatians 5:22 (NIV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

 

Today we are talking about the Vibe of GENTLENESS.

Gentleness

What is gentleness?  Do we really understand this word? Do we recognize gentleness when it shows up in our life?

Some may mistakenly think gentleness is simply the absence of warlike behavior. A pacifist is someone who is opposed to violence. Pacifism will refuse to join a physical fight, and some may view that as gentleness.

Other may attribute gentleness to a feminine quality. I may have lost the majority of the male audience because they think gentleness is a female thing.

Some may view gentleness as weakness rather than strength.

 

Whatever gentleness is, it is produced by God’s Spirit, and God thinks you need it.  Lord, help us to understand gentleness, and let your Spirit produce it within us.

Gentleness – The attitude of heart that temper our strengths, opens our spirits to be teachable, and makes us gracious even when we’re right. The opposite of gentles is arrogance, selfish ambition, and stubbornness.

The vibe of gentleness will temper your attitude. Can we be honest and just admit that we need an attitude adjustment sometimes?

The vibe of gentles will remind others of God. Having a humble, gentle, meek attitude will remind others of Jesus Christ. Christians we do not need an “I told you so” attitude. That attitude comes from the flesh.

Arrogance, stubbornness, and selfish pride are not personality traits… they are vibes of the flesh.

 

Please turn in your Bibles to James the 3rd chapter. While you are turning I want to tell you what gentleness will say.

I don’t have to be first and I don’t have to be right, I just want to honor the Lord.

Jesus taught us to not worry about who is seated in the first position. In Luke 14:10 Jesus teaches us to choose the humble seat and in Matthew 20:16 Jesus informs us that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Let’s not focus on being first. Let’s put Jesus first and honor others.

 

Scripture teaches us that none of us are right.  We have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Most arguments are a fight to be right and the other person wrong. And does anyone win a prize for being right? Your prize is that you have ticked off someone else.

We need to choose the gentle way especially in argument.

 

Oh that our attitudes, the way we think and treat others, would be honoring to the Lord.

 

James 3:13 (NIV) 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.

Could it be that we are correct about faith, Jesus, and life, but who we are is screaming so loud that no one can hear our profession of faith? No one can hear John 3:16 over your attitude.

Showing a good life by deeds done in humility is a far better evangelistic approach that hitting someone over the head with a Bible.

Humility is James 3:13 is the same (root) word translated as gentleness in the Galatians 5 list of the fruit of the Spirit.

There is a humility, a gentleness that comes from wisdom. We need that wisdom.

James 3:14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

-I have seen professing Christians boast about their bitterness rather than repent.

-I have witnessed the boasting of selfish ambition to the extent that it denied the truth of God. I have heard the revelries of great self-worth because they can preach better, sing better, have a more successful business, drive a better car, have more money in the bank, or more religious children… all the while they have forgotten the truth is that they could never have earned these gifts of grace. 

Instead of plunging this bitter, prideful, envy into the blood of Jesus, they will celebrate it.

Do not boast about bitter envy and selfish ambition for it denies the truth.

Do we realize how evil envy and selfish ambition are?

James 3:15 (NIV) Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

Earthly, Unspiritual, Demonic Wisdom

James is not speaking about the gentle humble wisdom in verse 13. James is talking about a wisdom that has not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

Not all wisdom is the same.

Some wisdoms have varying degrees of success and usefulness.

You can get some strange college degrees that may be very expensive but very useful wisdom.

• Auctioneering
• Bagpiping
• Turf grass science
• The Beatles specialty in music history
• The Bowling industry
• Canadian studies
• Surf studies
• Jazz Studies
• Pop Culture studies

 

Some wisdoms may be more useful than others.

Some wisdoms do not come from heaven… but they are demonic wisdom.

Do we realize how evil envy and selfish ambition are?  They are DEMONIC WISDOM.

James 3:16 (NIV) For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Envy and selfish ambition are the recipe for disorder and every evil practice.  EVERYTHING EVIL!

If you don’t want evil in your life, you better get envy and selfish ambition in your life. You better get GENTLELNESS IN YOUR LIFE!

Gentleness is the recipe for a wisdom that comes from Heaven.
A recipe for…

• reconciliation and restoration
• grace and mercy towards others
• evangelism and discipleship making
• glorifying God, because people will see your good works and glorify God.
• Friendship
• A Christlike life

 

Gentleness – The attitude of heart that temper our strengths, opens our spirits to be teachable, and makes us gracious even when we’re right. The opposite of gentles is arrogance, selfish ambition, and stubbornness.

If you are overbearing in your strengths… you need gentleness.
If you are pridefully closed to learning from others… you need gentleness.
If you unbearable when you are correct and others are not… you need gentleness.

 

Gentleness opens the door to the wisdom of Heaven
Arrogance closes the door to the wisdom of heaven

 

Arrogance opens the door to the flesh
Gentleness closes the door to the flesh

 

The character is the Bible who comes to mind as lacking gentleness is Cain.

Cain, whose name means possession, did not possess gentleness, humility, or meekness.

In his arrogance he brought an offering that he himself preferred and did not seek to bring what God preferred.

In his envy he grew angry at his brother Able.

Because of His pride Cain would receive correction from the Lord.

Genesis 4:6-7 (NIV) 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain’s name meant possession. Sin desired to possess Cain. 

Sin is crouching at your door…  Gentleness could have closed the door to the enemy, but the arrogance of Cain kept the door of the flesh open.

Will sin possess you or will God possess you?

In the very next verse of scripture Cain took his brother Able out to a field and killed him.

 

Do we understand that sin crouches at our door? Do you realize sin wants to possess you?
Gentleness closes the door on the enemy.

If you want protection from the enemy, you need gentleness.

If you want to be useful for God and honoring to God, you need gentleness.

 

 

Gentleness makes us Tameable

I know that the idea of being tamed my really get under our skin, but I am going to attack it anyway. 

It is arrogant to say no one can tame me. If you consider yourself un-tameable then you have no God but consider yourself to be god.

God is not your God until you surrender and yield to Him.

A powerful horse that is wild is not useful.  Warhorses must be tamed and trained to ride at top speed into a chaotic battle.

Can the Holy Spirit train you to ride past your fears, temptations, and selfish ambition and to go where He leads?

I invite you to pray this prayer, “God tame this wild heart of mine… tame this rebellious spirit of mine… cynical unbelieving spirit… judgmental angry attitude…   tame me and make me yours.”

Once God can tame your wild heart, God can teach you.

 

Gentleness makes us Teachable

There are people who have a great deal of resources, talents, and degrees on the wall, yet they lack a teachable spirit. Their arrogance has formed a lid above them where they can grow no higher because they have lost the ability to learn.

How many times has Got sought to teach us, but we were to arrogant to listen to his messenger?

You and I have a lot to learn still.

To the person who has been a Christian for many years, please DO NOT feel like you have nothing left to learn.

Open your Bible with a teachable attitude.
Pray with a humble spirit.
Take part in a small group ready to learn from others.
Come to Church to grow in the wisdom from Heaven.

Please receive this harsh thing I need to say.
If you are done learning – God should just take you.

If you are still learning, then there is not telling the opportunities that lie ahead of you.

Opportunity Chart

Things change when someone humbles themselves.

Things would change in our government if Democrats and Republicans would discover gentleness and become humble and teachable. Imagine how the opportunities would increase.

Things would change in your marriage and home if husbands and wives, dads and moms, would rediscover the gentleness of not being first or correct, but being honoring to the Lord.

Things would change in Redemption Church if we would pray “God, tame my wild heart.”

Gentleness

When was the last time you set aside your ambitions for God’s opportunities?

When was the last time you repented of pride and knelt before the Lord?

Has Envy and Self Ambition been at work in you? That is the recipe for every evil practice.  Repent of that today.

 

“Tame my wild heart.”