Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
James 3:13-4:5
The very word ‘gentle’ can strike a negative chord with many people. And on the other hand, it can be a one-note song for others. Yes, gentleness is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, but what is it? The view prevailing in the church today is a picture of coddling a little baby. But Jesus, the God-Man, demonstrated perfect gentleness in his own life, and he turned a temple courtyard upside down…twice. This ought to lead us to pause and consider what gentleness really looks like. It may surprise us that sometimes the most gentle actions can, at face value, seem rather brash.
‘Gentle’ Does Not Mean ‘Pushover’
There is no denying we are in a vicious battle. Everyday temptations beset us and seek to draw us away from the Spirit and towards flesh-indulged patterns. Some days they are simple temptations which seem harmless, others are more outrageous, menacing temptations. But in each day God gives sufficient grace to those he calls his children. He gives good gifts to bless his people. One such gift is that of heavenly wisdom. Not just an intellectual wisdom, but a real insight into the mind and heart of God himself. With wisdom comes understanding. It does the believer no good to peek into the heavenlies and know the Eternal God but not understand how the glory of God Almighty transcends creation while penetrating to the heart of men. Only when a man has received wisdom from God, can he truly understand and respond in a holy manner to his life here on earth.
It has been said that any excuse will suffice when your heart is open to compromise. The young men presented in the early chapters of Daniel would have had a myriad of excuses to comply with the blasphemous commands of their king. Their refusal to worship the idol of their government is an admirable one. They tell the king they have no reason to give him an answer on the matter. Their wise response came not as a desire to fulfill any selfish ambition, but to walk uprightly before their God. They didn’t start a revolution, nor did they roll over and play dead. They knew the truth and knew they must defend it.
This is where most Christians often find difficulty. Our government does not set up idols for us to bow down and worship. For that, we should be grateful. Yet at the same time, we should be doubly wary. Because there’s not a 100-foot statue does not mean we do not have any idols to deal with. Our enemy is much more subtle and devious than that. There’s not one idol, there are thousands and they are not made of gold, they’re made of bright lights and flashing screens. There may not be money changers in the courtyard, but there are wolves who pick off the gullible sheep. How do we respond? We tell our kids to look the other way, try to take a different route home to avoid that certain billboard. We try to scroll past them on our Facebook page. We take Jesus’ words of “shrewd as serpents, innocent as doves” to mean remain unspotted and to act like the hognose snake and play dead when confronted. I would submit to you that real gentleness should often entail biting back. It should look more like a bull in a china shop than a lamb in a meadow.
On another hand, take Jesus. He was known for being a rabble-rouser, an unruly zealot. Why? Because he turned the norms on their head. He drove out money changers and he called out sin. Jesus was known also as a tender, loving teacher, known form bouncing little kiddos on his knee and telling great stories. But one thing he did not tolerate was sin. Whether in the house of God or in the public square. When he encounters the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, he points out rather bluntly that what she is doing is adulterous and sinful. We love the part where he talks about living water, and never thirsting again; what is so often missed in this exchange is how clearly he points out her sin, and it is clear that when he does so it is the most loving, gentle thing he could do. Putting a bandaid over a cancerous tumor does nothing for the patient. Likewise, trying to lead convince someone to tear down their idols when they don’t think they have any does them no good.
The Gentle Bull in the Fragile China Shop
The apostle James says we are to be peaceable and gentle. When we think of these character traits, a bull in a china shop is not usually the picture that comes to mind. Now, to be clear, the Bible does teach that we are to weep with those who weep and to comfort the orphans and widows in their distress. I am not advocating here for a disregard of humility and sensitivity. What I am presenting is a concept that’s largely foreign to many. The gentleness the Christian church requires is a defense from the corruption of outside foes and defense from impurity within.
James points to the source of wars among the believers as the warring of lusts and selfish ambition within the body (James 4:1). These wars and quarrels are not the results of gentleness, meekness, and respect, in fact, it is quite the opposite. When dealing with unchecked self-seeking, there is really only one practical solution: check it, beat it down with a big stick. The problem is our gentleness gets in the way. We don’t realize that the warring of our lusts competing with the lusts of others is a bunch of bulls in a china shop destroying everything. The only way to prevent far-reaching damage is to turn the circumstances on their head. The unrelenting selfish ambition will ravage the fragility of the members who are set on being peaceable. But the peacemaker will go to the fine china of the unruly member, that is, the idols they have spent so much time collecting at the expense of the peace of the congregation. God resists the proud, self-seeker, we are told to resist the devil. If the proud are resisted by God, we should not pretend like the enemy is not there and working in our midst. We need to deal death blows to idolatry wherever it rears its ugly head. These lusts can be status-seeking, pornography, influence, intellect, gossip, the list goes on. When dealing with these lusts, it will feel as though you have become the bull, but in the pursuit of peace, it must be done. You will be called judgmental, you will be called a pharisee, perhaps most difficult of all, you will be called divisive. But allow me to dispel the anxiety caused by these terms. Sin must be dealt with. It is not divisive or legalistic to treat sin as such. There can not be peace in the body if there is unrepentant sin present.
Likewise, resisting the devil comes in many shapes and forms. Namely, it begins with gearing up for battle. We have to take the full armor of God, wear it, and use it. When our culture says we need to be more tolerant, we stand on an unmovable foundation. When the world says we need to call sin a virtue, we draw the sword of the spirit and gently say, “no” with gritted teeth and steady feet. The fruit of wisdom is without hypocrisy. The world accuses the church of being hypocrites, preaching love and yet condemning people for their “life choices.” They are in no place to lecture on the ethics of equitable treatment. However, there is a valid point to be made, just not in the way the world would like it. Yes, Christians do often hold a double-standard. But the double standard that has been created is to preach a gospel to the lost and dying that is void of any demand for repentance. The author of Hebrews puts it this way, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). The church’s doors are open to all the rebels, delinquents, idolaters and fornicators. All are welcome, believers and unbelievers alike are met there with this one charge, repent from your sins and believe the gospel.
Know Where You Stand
The final note I would like to reiterate is the emphasis that this brash gentleness is not a license to go and wreak havoc wherever you go. The gospel is powerful, it is a sure foundation and it is good news. Treat it as such. Boldness can get people into trouble. We get into arguments. We try to prove our point. But what good is winning an argument if the other person walks away with a hardened heart? With wisdom, respect and gentleness, give the unrepentant sinner what they need, a good kick in the pants, and a loving brother to lift them up and bear their burdens. It’s not either-or, it’s both-and. Brash Gentleness is not an oxymoron, it’s a practice that rises from an understanding of the true gospel.
