THE FRUIT OF GENTLENESS
James 1:19-27
INTRODUCTION: The nine facets of the Fruit of the Spirit is available to every son and daughter
of God! Not some of the facets, but all of the facets! When it comes to the Fruit of the Spirit,
God doesn’t give some of the facets to some of the saints. God gives all of the facets of the
Fruit of the Spirit to all of the saints. The Fruit of the Spirit describes the very nature of God!
Today we will look at the facet of gentleness: Galatians 5:22-23.
I. WHAT IS GENTLENESS?
What is gentleness? Are we becoming more gentle as we continue to grow in Jesus Christ?
Do you know that the Bible promises a special blessing for those who are becoming more
gentle? Matthew 5:5: Yes the same work for gentleness is meek here in this verse. Meekness
or gentleness is not mildness nor is it weakness. This facet of the Fruit of the Spirit literally
means: “strength under control!” The Greek word was used to describe a wild stallion that had
been broken by his master. Gentleness or meekness is our strength under God’s control!
II. EXAMPLES OF GENTLENESS!
The ultimate example of gentleness or meekness would be Jesus Christ our Lord.
Matthew 11:28-30. Now that you know that Jesus was meek; do you think He was weak? Not
on your life! Jesus had calluses on His hands from working as a carpenter. Jesus drove the
money changers out of the Temple of God. Our Lord Jesus fasted for forty days and forty
nights. Has anyone here done that? The only thing similar between meekness and weakness is
that they rhyme. The Bible says other than our Lord Jesus the meekest man was Moses:
Numbers 12:1-3. Now, was Moses a weak man? I don’t think so. Meekness or gentleness is
our strength always under God’s control! Yet even Moses did not always keep his strength
under God’s control: Exodus 2:11-12. Do you have a temper? You do know the emptier the pot
the quicker the boil! God doesn’t want you to get rid of your temper, He just wants you to put
your temper under His control. There are some things that ought to make a Christian hot! You
really can be good and mad! Ephesians 4:26. Is your temper under God’s control today? How
about your tongue? Our tongues under God’s control makes a mighty witness for Jesus!
However an uncontrolled tongue gossip, slanders, and cuts other down: Ephesians 4:29. J. C.
Penny was a Kingdom Builder, not just a wealth builder.
III. THE EXPERIENCE OF GENTLENESS!
How do we experience the facet of gentleness? Do you even want to become gentle?
What kind of a Christian would you become if you surrendered your temper, your tongue, your
ambitions and placed them all under the control of Jesus Christ? Let’s learn together how to
make gentleness or meekness a reality in our lives: James 1:19-21. We need to embrace the
engrafted word of God into our hearts! God’s Word is like a seed and our hearts are like the
soil. God places His Word in our hearts and we are to receive it as a seed. We must put away
some things before God’s Word will grow in our hearts: James 1:21. James here is talking to
Christians not the unsaved. The Greek word for “filthiness” means “to get the wax out of your
ears!” What most keeps us from gaining the facet of gentleness is our sin that is still hanging
around in our lives since we got saved! We are allowing our sin to control us instead of God’s
Spirit! Isaiah 59:1-2; James 1:21-25. We must receive God’s Word and repent of our
wickedness! When we receive the engrafted Word of God we will submit to the leadership of
the Spirit of God and then we can determine His will for our lives: Romans 12:1-2.